A controlled corrosion release system for a payload is provided. The payload is submerged in a conductive medium, such as seawater. The system includes clips which restrain the payload against a housing. A circuit is established to allow electrical current to flow from a power source contained within the housing, through the clips which serve as anodes, through the seawater, into the housing which serves as a cathode, and back to the power source. Accordingly, the clips corrode and weaken structurally. The clips eventually fail and the payload is released. The time for release is proportional to the power supplied, such that the release time can be controlled.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to release systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to controlled corrosion release systems for underwater payloads.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A number of applications require the placement of a payload in an underwater environment. Typically, the payload is buoyant and is attached to an anchor that holds the payload underwater. After a period of time, the payload is released from the anchor and rises to the surface. The well-known options for securing and subsequently releasing the payloads from the anchor in these applications include constant corrosion releases, mechanical releases utilizing a motor/actuator, or burn wire releases.
A constant corrosion release starts corroding the moment it is emplaced. Therefore, with this method the actual moment of release cannot be changed. Also, the mechanical strength of the restraining member that forms the release will necessarily decrease, as this restraining member must also be the corroding member. Additionally, the corrosion release cannot be guaranteed to release when desired.
A mechanical release requires more volume for an actuator and more complexity and cost. This type of release will have a lower reliability and does not have an efficient or practical fail-safe release feature should the mechanical release fail to operate. A burn-wire release burns through a tensioned wire, releasing the pay load item. This method requires a more complex mechanism overall and has limited holding strength. As in the case of a mechanical release, a burn wire release does not have a fail-safe release feature. If the mechanism for initiating the burn-wire fails, the payload will not be released.
Thus, a need has been recognized in the state of the art to provide a release mechanism that reduces both complexity and costs, while increasing reliability. There is also a need to provide a release mechanism that includes a fail-safe feature, i.e., the release mechanism should eventually release the payload regardless if the primary release mechanism fails.
As in the case of a mechanical or burn-wire release, the payloads need to be released within a predetermined time after the release command is issued. Additionally, there is a need to provide a release mechanism that requires a small amount of volume to implement, while being able to vary the holding strength of the mechanism.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The present invention provides a method for controlling pressure in a chamber during a time division multiplexed process. A throttle valve is positioned based on an open-loop pressure control algorithm within at least one step of the time division multiplexed etch process. A pressure response of the step is evaluated and compared to a desired pressure response. The throttle valve is then positioned through a proportional, integral and derivative controller step to step of the time division multiplexed etch process based on the evaluation to the desired pressure response.

The fabrication of high aspect ratio features in silicon is used extensively in the manufacture of micro-electro-mechanical (MEMS) devices. Such features frequently have depths ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers. To ensure manufacturability, the etching processes must operate at high etch rates to maintain reasonable throughputs, along with other performance requirements such as smooth etch profiles.
Conventional, single step, plasma etch processes cannot simultaneously meet these needs, and time division multiplex etch processes have been developed. Time division multiplexed (TDM) approaches for etching silicon have been described by Suzuki et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,623), Kawasaki et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,529) and Laermer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,893). TDM etch processes typically employ alternating etching and deposition steps. For example, in etching a silicon (Si) substrate, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is used as the etch gas and octofluorocyclobutane (C4F8) as the deposition gas. In an etch step, SF6 facilitates spontaneous and isotropic etching of silicon (Si); in a deposition step, C4F8 facilitates protective polymer passivation onto the sidewalls as well as the bottom of the etched structures. In the subsequent etching step, upon energetic and directional ion bombardment, the polymer film coated in the bottom of etched structures from the preceding deposition step will be removed to expose the silicon surface for further etching. The polymer film on the sidewall will remain, inhibiting lateral etching. TDM processes cyclically alternate between etch and deposition process steps to enable high aspect ratio structures to be defined into a masked silicon substrate at high etch rates.
In each process step, gases (for example, SF6 and C4F8) are introduced into the reaction chamber through a gas inlet at flow rates specified in the process recipe. TDM etch process are typically performed in high density plasma reactors (e.g., inductively coupled plasma (ICP), electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), etc.).
TDM process recipes consist of a series of process loop(s) and steps. Each loop consists of two or more process steps controlling the process variables (e.g., gas flow rates, chamber pressure, RF powers, process step times, chamber temperature, wafer temperature, etc.). The steps within a loop are repeated a number of times before executing the next step or loop in the overall process recipe. It is known to make changes to the process step parameters as a loop repeats to improve etch performance, this is known in the art as process morphing (see Teixeira et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,013).
Pressure control is an important component of etching and deposition processes. The flow rate and pressure of the process gases present in the chamber must be carefully controlled to provide the desired deposition and etch characteristics for a repeatable manufacturing process.
A TDM plasma reactor evacuation system typically comprises a turbo pump separated from the reaction chamber by a throttle valve. A pressure controller uses reactor chamber pressure data from a manometer to control a throttle valve. The controller opens or closes the throttle valve to increase or decrease the vacuum supplied from the turbo pump to the reaction chamber. In this manner, the controller maintains the desired pressure in the reaction chamber. During the TDM process chamber pressure set points and gas flow rates cyclically alternate within the process loops. The gas flows can be either single component or mixtures of multiple components. The pressure controller must adjust the throttle valve position to compensate for these changing flow and pressure conditions. Ideally, the pressure controller adjusts the throttle valve position to instantly achieve the pressure set point without pressure set point overshoot or undershoot.
Throttle valves and controllers, currently available, typically operate in either Pressure Control mode or Position Control mode. In the Pressure Control mode the controller monitors the pressure in the reaction chamber and maintains the set point pressure by adjusting the position of the throttle valve (i.e., closed loop pressure control). In position control mode the controller positions the throttle valve to a set point position without monitoring the chamber pressure (i.e., open loop pressure control).
A number of groups have looked at means for process control in plasma chambers. Kessel et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,480) describes a pressure regulator that employs an adjustable solenoid valve to control pressure. Kessel teaches the fundamental mechanism dictating the operations of many throttle valves used in vacuum chambers. The actual pressure in a container is measured and converted to electrical signals. A comparator generates a regulation signal that represents the difference between the actual pressure and a command pressure. A regulator uses the regulation signal to direct the valve in such a manner that the valve member is adjustable between intermediate positions within a range between the open and closed positions of the valve. In fact, the throttle valves used in TDM process tools are operated following such principles. However, as described earlier, the inability to control pressure during the transition of the constantly alternating TDM process steps is the real issue, and cannot be addressed by Kessel's technique.
Kaveh et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,680) and McMillin et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,163) describe the use of a ballast port for inserting gas into the evacuation system to compensate the pressure fluctuations in the reaction chamber so as to minimize throttle valve movement between different process steps. They further disclose a method to reduce the time for gas stabilization in a vacuum chamber. A throttle valve is first pre-positioned to the desired position. The desired position is estimated using pre-determined estimation curves. Then for a specified period of time, proportional and derivative (PD) control is enabled to control throttle valve movement. Then proportional, integral and derivative (PID) control is enabled to regulate throttle valve movement. The examples taught in the disclosure show that the time period for pressure stabilization is reduced from ˜20 seconds to at least 3-5 seconds. While Kaveh and McMillin contemplate the change of gas flow rates and pressures when process steps change from one to the next, the use in cyclical and alternating TDM processes is not taught. Additionally, many TDM processes employ alternating process steps which last only a few seconds or shorter, which makes pressure control impractical using the disclosed technique.
Brown et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,710) describes the use of adjustable gas flow into the reaction chamber to compensate the pressure variations in the chamber. However, in many TDM processes, changing process gas flow rate during a process step is undesirable.
Beyer et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,049) describes regulating chamber pressure by controlling either the exhaust pressure at the exhaust side of a vacuum pump or the internal pressure at a compression stage of the first vacuum pump. Adjustments on vacuum pumping speed or injection of inert gas into the exhaust side or the compression stage of a vacuum pump are used to control reaction chamber pressure. Beyer does not teach how to use this technique in TDM processes.
Puech (U.S. Patent Application 20020168467) describes a way to control pressure by injecting passive control gas at a complementary flow rate into an area near the evacuation port. The flow rate of the controlled passive gas is regulated so as to maintain the total gas flow into the vacuum enclosure at a substantially constant rate. While Puech teaches the control of pressure in the TDM processes that employ process steps on the order of one second, the method does not teach the use of actively regulating throttle valve in pressure control.
The current methods of pressure control for TDM processes, Pressure Control and Position Control, have limitations. One problem with pressure control mode in a TDM process is that, in practice, there is typically a trade off between achieving fast pressure response time while minimizing set point deviations. Fast response times are possible at the expense of a period of pressure set point overshoot. Optimizing available Pressure Control mode algorithms to minimize set point overshoot results in slow response times. As the TDM step durations decrease, the time spent trying to reach the recipe specified set point becomes a significant fraction of the processing time.
A problem with the current method of Position Control mode in a TDM process is unacceptably long pressure response times. While position mode minimizes process overshoot, the slower response times result in the chamber pressure spending a large fraction of the process time approaching the requested set point value (i.e., out of compliance with the recipe specified set point).
Another problem with the position control mode method is that it is an open loop pressure control algorithm. Therefore, there is not any correction for perturbations in gas flow or pumping efficiency. These perturbations tend to cause the process pressure, and subsequent process performance, to vary with time.
Therefore, there is a need for a pressure control means for TDM processes, preferably for those processes that employ process steps that are a few seconds or less in duration.
Nothing in the prior art provides the benefits attendant with the present invention.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the inadequacies of the prior art devices and which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the semiconductor processing art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for anisotropically etching a feature in a substrate comprising the steps of: subjecting the substrate to an alternating cyclical process within a plasma chamber, said alternating cyclical process having an etching step and a deposition step; introducing into said plasma chamber a first process gas for depositing a film onto the substrate during the deposition step of said alternating cyclical process; introducing into said plasma chamber a second process gas for etching the substrate during the etching step of said alternating cyclical process; regulating pressure of said plasma chamber by setting a throttle valve at a predetermined position set point for a predetermined period of time during at least one step of said alternating cyclical process; igniting a plasma for a recipe period of time for the deposition step of said alternating cyclical process and the etching step of said alternating cyclical process; enabling a closed loop pressure control algorithm after said predetermined period of time expires; and controlling pressure at a recipe specified pressure set point in said plasma chamber through a closed loop pressure control for a period that lasts the remaining time of the step.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of pressure control in a time division multiplex process comprising the steps of: regulating a process pressure in a vacuum chamber in at least one step of the time division multiplex process by setting a throttle valve at a predetermined position set point for a predetermined period of time; introducing into said vacuum chamber at least one process gas; enabling a closed loop pressure control algorithm after said predetermined period of time expires; and controlling pressure at a recipe specified pressure set point through a closed loop pressure control for a period that lasts the remaining time of said step of the time division multiplex process.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling pressure in a vacuum chamber, the method comprising the steps of: regulating a process pressure in the vacuum chamber by setting a throttle valve at a predetermined position set point for a predetermined period of time; introducing into said vacuum chamber a gas; enabling a closed loop pressure control algorithm after said predetermined period of time expires; and controlling pressure at a recipe specified pressure set point in said vacuum chamber through a closed loop pressure control.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling pressure in a chamber during an etch process, the method comprising: placing a substrate in the chamber; executing a time division multiplexed etch process within the chamber; positioning a throttle valve based on an open-loop pressure control algorithm within at least one step of said time division multiplexed etch process; positioning said throttle valve based on a closed-loop pressure control algorithm from step-to-step of said time division multiplexed etch process; and removing said substrate from the chamber.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling pressure in a chamber during an etch process, the method comprising: placing a substrate in the chamber; executing a time division multiplexed etch process within the chamber; positioning a throttle valve to a predetermined position within at least one step of said time division multiplexed etch process; maintaining said predetermined position of said throttle valve for a predetermined period of time; repositioning said throttle valve to a recipe specified position for the remainder of said step of said time division multiplexed etch process; and removing said substrate from the chamber.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling pressure in a chamber during an etch process, the method comprising: placing a substrate in the chamber; executing a time division multiplexed etch process within the chamber; controlling a throttle valve through a throttle preset parameter within at least one step of said time division multiplexed etch process; evaluating a pressure response of said step compared to a desired pressure response; applying a control algorithm to modify said throttle preset parameter step to step of said time division multiplexed etch process based on said evaluation step; and removing said substrate from the chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling process execution during an etch process, the method comprising: placing a substrate in the chamber; executing a time division multiplexed etch process within the chamber; modifying an execution timing of a subset of recipe parameters in at least one step of said time division multiplexed etch process; and removing said substrate from the chamber.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of controlling pressure in a chamber during an etch process, the method comprising: placing a substrate in the chamber; executing a time division multiplexed etch process within the chamber; controlling a throttle valve through a throttle preset parameter within at least one step of said time division multiplexed etch process; evaluating a pressure response of said step compared to a desired pressure response; applying a first control algorithm to modify said throttle preset parameter step to step of said time division multiplexed etch process based on said evaluation step; positioning said throttle valve based on a second control algorithm from step-to-step of said time division multiplexed etch process; and removing said substrate from the chamber.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method and apparatus for process control in time division multiplexed (TDM) etch processes


A vent apparatus of a fuel tank comprising a housing having a through-hole at the bottom communicating with a fuel tank; a valve body mounted on the housing, having a flange, vent slots and a partition wall; a lower cover mounted under the valve body, having a through-hole communicating with the through-hole of the housing and the lower space of the valve body; a ball for opening and closing the through-hole of the partition wall of the valve body; a pushing weight mounted on the upper compartment of the valve body, having a protrusion formed on its bottom to prevent adhesion of the ball to the partition wall of the valve body; and an upper cover positioned on the top of the housing, having a plurality of outlets around its periphery. The amount of the gas vapor to be discharged per unit time in proportion to the pressure of the gas vapor in the fuel tank is controlled to maintain a stable pressure in the fuel tank, and the prevention of fuel leakage via vent apparatus, in case that the automobile is overturned, is effectively enhanced.

In general, the generated gas vapor in the fuel tank should be discharged to the outside as the generated gas vapor increases the pressure in the fuel tank and leads to an explosion.
In order to discharge the generated gas vapor, a vent apparatus is installed in the fuel tank of the automobile. The vent apparatus, such as a fuel cap, prevents fuel leakage in the event of a sudden shock to the automobile. Such a fuel cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,584.
However, the conventional fuel cap has disadvantages in that the amount of the generated gas vapor to be discharged is limited by a time constraint. Therefore, the fuel cap cannot discharge all the generated gas vapor when the pressure of the fuel gas in the fuel tank is suddenly increased.
Further, when the fuel is smeared on a ball utilized for opening and closing a valve body, the ball adheres to the vent opening part due to the viscous property of the fuel so that the exhausted gas cannot be discharged properly through the vent opening on the rivet.

Quick release vent apparatus for a fuel tank


A device is provided for the exhaust gas treatment of a combustion system, e.g., a diesel combustion system. The device has a first storage unit for storing at least one urea-water solution, and an exhaust gas treatment is implemented without great expenditure. According to the present invention, this result is achieved by the urea-water solution including at least one additive for chemically influencing the urea-water solution.

For exhaust gas aftertreatment, e.g., of diesel exhaust gases of diesel vehicles, the so-called "Selective Catalytic Reduction Method" (SCR method) for the removal of nitrogen oxides (NOx) has been used. For this purpose, in appropriate reactors in the vehicle, the reducing agent ammonia (NH3) is recovered, which selectively reacts with nitrogen oxides, among other things, to form molecular nitrogen.
In the most widespread SCR method in the vehicle field, a urea-water solution (UWS) is sprayed into the exhaust tract, the UWS decomposing by urea hydrolysis to NH3 and carbon dioxide (CO2). To support the hydrolysis, there is usually a so-called "hydrolysis catalyst" in the flow direction of the exhaust gas, after the the injection point.
A urea-water solution (UWS), for the purpose of understanding the present invention, is understood to be a liquid or solution containing at least urea and water. In the case of the conventionally used 32.5% solution, however, the low antifreezing property (eutectic at −11° C.) may be disadvantageous, e.g., in vehicle applications.
In addition, it may be disadvantageous when using an UWS that it is decomposed by elevated temperatures beginning at 60° C. to 80° C. This generates ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from urea. The result may be that the solution, which is frequently originally a 32.5% solution, has a lower, generally unknown urea concentration because of this thermoses. However, without knowledge of the urea concentration, an optimal nitrogen oxide control of the exhaust gas cannot be ensured. This is so because if too much urea is added, poisonous ammonia is emitted, and if too little urea is added, a relatively large quantity of NOx is emitted.
At this time, discussions are already being held about a direct or indirect identification of the changing urea concentration of the UWS. The measuring methods appropriate for this, however, may only be able to be implemented at comparatively high cost and manufacturing complexity.

Device for exhaust gas treatment of a combustion system


An adapter for mating with a receptacle comprises a cylindrical outer conductor, a columnar center conductor disposed in the outer conductor, and an insulator disposed between the outer conductor and the center conductor. The outer conductor has a recess in an inner wall at a first end of the outer conductor. The insulator electrically isolates the outer conductor from the center conductor.

In the prior art, an electrical connector assembly for connecting a PCB (Print Circuit Board) to another PCB typically comprises two receptacles and one adapter. Each receptacle generally comprises a cylindrical outer terminal, a column center terminal, an insulation body, and an insulation housing. The center terminal is disposed in the outer terminal and the insulation body is disposed between the center terminal and the outer terminal to support the center terminal and electrically isolate the center terminal from the outer terminal. The outer terminal is accommodated and positioned in the insulation housing.
The adapter generally comprises a cylindrical outer conductor, a column center conductor, and an insulator. The center conductor is disposed in the outer conductor and the insulator is disposed between the center conductor and the outer conductor to support the center conductor and electrically isolate the center conductor from the outer conductor. Both ends of the adapter are adapted to be mated with the two receptacles, respectively. In the prior art, a first end of the adapter is locked and engaged with a first receptacle and an opposite second end of the adapter is slidably engaged with the second receptacle.
In order to lock and engage the first end of the adapter with the first receptacle, two technical solutions are typically proposed in the prior art. In a first solution, the cylindrical outer conductor of the adapter is assembled with the outer terminal of the first receptacle in an interference-fit. However, in the first solution, a contact area between the cylindrical outer conductor of the adapter and the outer terminal of the receptacle is too large, even if there is a multi-point contact in an axial direction of the connector assembly, which reduces the mutual adjustment performance. In a second solution, the insulation body of the adapter is assembled with the insulator of the first receptacle in an interference-fit. However, in the second solution, engagement strength between the insulator and the insulation body does not provide sufficient mechanical retention, which causes the one end of the adapter to be easily separated from the receptacle.

Connector assembly having an adapter to connect two circuit boards


An inner leg telescopically fits within an outer leg and includes a motor coaxially mounted to an end remote from the outer leg. A drive screw is coupled to the motor shaft and extends through a drive nut in an axially extending drive nut riser. As the motor rotates the drive screw, the inner leg extends and retracts from the outer leg. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the drive nut riser is a hollow cylindrical tube extending substantially the length of the outer tube to position the drive nut near the intersection between the inner and outer legs when fully extended. Such an arrangement allows a motor to be coaxially mounted within the inner leg and, therefore, concealed and provides the desired extension and retraction of the legs for adjustment to different operative positions.

Linear actuators are employed in a variety of applications including, for example, adjustable legs for a work surface which can be moved between lowered and raised positions for use when an operator is sitting or in a standing position. Such actuators typically employ a motor mounted to the undersurface of the table and a right angle drive which extends within the telescopic table legs and couples to a drive screw for raising and lowering one of the telescopic legs with respect to the other leg utilizing a drive nut threadably coupled to the drive screw. Although such systems have found widespread use and operate to provide the desired range of motion, the utilization of a motor external to the telescopic leg is somewhat unsightly and, in many applications, esthetically unacceptable. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a motor-driven telescopically adjustable table leg in which the drive motor can be concealed within the table leg itself.
The system of the present invention provides such an advantage by providing a drive system for an adjustable leg which includes an outer tubular leg with an inner tubular leg telescopically mounted therein. Extending from the base of the outer leg upwardly and in concentric relationship thereto is a drive nut riser tube having a drive nut mounted to an upper end thereof substantially near the upper end of the outer leg. An inner tubular leg telescopically fits within the outer leg and includes a motor mounted within the inner leg at an end remote from the outer leg. A drive screw is coupled to the motor shaft and extends through the drive nut in the drive nut riser. As the reversible motor rotates the drive screw, therefore, the inner leg extends from and retracts into the outer leg.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the drive nut riser is a hollow cylindrical tube extending substantially the length of the outer tube to position the drive nut near the intersection between the inner and outer legs when fully extended. Such an arrangement allows a motor to be coaxially mounted within the inner leg and, therefore, concealed to provide the desired extension and retraction of the leg for adjustment to different operative positions.
These and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following description thereof together with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A system and method of processing a print job of a user includes providing a print processing system registry having at least one of a storage capability of a print job storage provider, a processing capability of a print job processing provider, and a printing capability of a print job print provider registered therewith. A communication network links a print job service provider and at least one of the print job storage provider, the print job processing provider, and the print job print provider. The print job service provider receives the print job and distributes the print job to the at least one of the print job storage provider, the print job processing provider, and the print job print provider via the communication network.

Typically, a party having a print job with print processing needs must either fulfill the print processing needs on their own or contract with a print processing provider offering print processing services which can fulfill the print processing needs. Before contracting with a print processing provider, however, the party must identify which print processing providers offer specific print processing services such as storage, conversion, translation, enhancement, printing, delivery, etc., which can fulfill the print processing needs of their print job.
Unfortunately, identifying which print processing providers provide specific print processing services for a print job is often difficult. A party, for example, may find that the print processing providers do not provide the specific print processing services required or that the print processing providers do not provide the specific print processing services required within desired or necessary parameters. In addition, managing distribution of a print job among one or more print processing providers as required to fulfill the print processing needs of the print job is often a tedious task.
Accordingly, a need exists for processing a print job of a user and identifying which print processing providers can fulfill the print job. More particularly, a need exists for managing distribution of the print job among one or more print processing providers each providing a print job processing service.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention provides a system and method for integrated, optimized data storage infrastructure performance in a distributed computing environment using a storage resource management application. The invention may include a storage resource management application that receives and stores data regarding one or more infrastructure components of a distributed computing environment. A request related to performance of a data storage infrastructure of the distributed computing environment, may then be received. A request type may then be identified from one or more predefined request types. Examples of request types may include new asset addition requests, data storage provisioning requests, performance review requests, reporting requests, backup/recovery requests, and/or other requests. One or more infrastructure components, management agents, and/or service level agreements are then identified and associated with the request.

With the advent of distributed networks and the increase of communication speed between network elements, the amount and complexity of data used throughout networks has increased. These large, complex, computing environments often include a number of elements such as, for example, servers, routers, databases, mainframes, personal computers, intelligent agents, and business applications. The complex data used in these environments must be accessible through various aspects of the distributed networks. Furthermore, administrators of these networks require tools to manage stored data for performance of, for example, backup operations, security audits, data mining operations, or other features. To adequately manage and maintain such a vast amount of data, the various elements of the distributed network must be able to retrieve the data located on several different forms of storage medium.
A Storage Area Network (SAN) type infrastructure is an example of a complex distributed network. A SAN is a network that connects multiple servers and multiple storage devices. SAN operations include input to and output from various storage devices. A SAN, for example, may be configured such that various servers are allowed to access data located on various storage media (RAID, a DVD-RAM library, or other media) within subsections of the network. This access may be provided via local servers, LAN arrangements to storage elements, individual servers, and/or other network elements. A SAN realizes the sharing of various storage devices, high-speed data processing between servers and storage devices, and long distance connections between its elements.
One of the concerns regarding storage in SAN implemented enterprises is whether data stored on the storage devices is being managed properly to ensure data availability. Data availability requirements typically include ensuring that the data is available to the applications that need it, when they need it, and with quality of service requirements being met. In addition, administrators need to evaluate the level of available storage capacity and the level of usage for elements and storage units in the enterprise. Significant storage-related expenditures of an enterprise make storage management a critical part of running the enterprise. One of the main reasons for high management costs is that managing storage (and ensuring data availability) requires a comprehensive and diverse set of tools, which generally present a further management challenge. Conventional storage management tools typically have different strengths and weaknesses and often provide different views of the same limited set of information.
Furthermore, the multiple management tools necessary to successfully manage a distributed environment are not available in the form of an integrated solution such as, for example, one offered or serviced by a single vendor. Accordingly, conventional storage management tools do not perform well with one another throughout the entirety of a distributed network. Specifically, while there may be many different management products available, most if not all do not work well together and do not appear to have a common goal in mind (i.e., maximizing the performance of a storage infrastructure by enabling an end user to perform and automate tasks that need to be completed on a daily basis in order to effectively manage a storage environment).
To overcome these and other shortcomings of conventional storage management systems, the invention provides comprehensive systems and methods that optimize complex data storage environments by providing tools allowing for data protection and classification to best suit the needs of an enterprise.

System and method for optimizing storage infrastructure performance


In a venting arrangement for an internal combustion engine including a crankcase with a cylinder block, a cylinder head mounted on the cylinder block, a cylinder head cover mounted onto the cylinder head, and an oil separator integrally formed with the cylinder head cover, the oil droplets contained in the vent gases are separated from the vent gases as the vent gases are drawn through the oil separator and the oil-free vent gases are then supplied to the engine air intake duct. The oil is collected and drained by way of a siphon consisting of a cavity formed in the cylinder head and a drain pipe extending from the oil separator in the cylinder head cover into the cavity which, at its bottom, includes a bore through which a cylinder head bolt extends for mounting the cylinder head onto the cylinder block.

The invention relates to a venting arrangement for the crankcase of an internal combustion engine including a cylinder head and a cylinder head cover with an oil separator which is integrally formed with the cylinder head cover.
D 41 18 557 A1 discloses such a venting arrangement for the crankcase of an internal combustion engine. The cylinder head cover includes two integrally formed oil separators which have collection cavities and are arranged opposite one another with respect to the longitudinal engine axis. A siphon-like duct structure extends from each collection cavity to the camshaft space. During venting the vent gases escaping the crankcase flow, by way of the camshaft space, to the oil separators. The oil separated from the vent gases is collected in the collection cavities and then flows into the camshaft space via the duct structure. From there, it is returned to the crankcase by way of an oil return passage. The oil-free vent gases are supplied to the intake system of the internal combustion engine.
For general technical background information reference is made to EP 0 732 484 A1 and D 37 13 210 C2.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a venting arrangement including a siphon which can be inexpensively made, which is easy to assemble and which does not require additional space.

Venting arrangement for an internal combustion engine


A probabilistic system and method facilitates the sharing of a secret among participating users in a private way. The secret shares satisfy the condition that their sum equal a predefined number that is chosen by a third party aggregator. Without interacting with any other user, each user computes a secret share according to a predefined probability density function. If enough parties join, their secret shares can be combined by the aggregator with relative efficiency into a secret with a high likelihood of success.

Secure multiparty computation (SMC) is an area of cryptography concerned with providing multiple parties with the protocols for jointly computing a function over their inputs, while keeping the inputs private. Each party is presumed to possess private data that the party does not want to reveal to anyone else. One type of SMC protocol allows the parties to compute a combined or aggregate value using a public data sharing function for jointly sharing their respective private data while ensuring that their individual privacy is preserved.
Secret sharing is one form of SMC protocol. Secret sharing can be used, for example, for secure data storage or computing an aggregate value. Consider secure data storage. Here, a secret is split or shared across the computers of multiple users and each secret share is used in the public data sharing function. All, or a subset, of the secret shares are required to reconstruct the secret. Secret sharing is considered to be more secure than other forms of data security that rely on the storage of a secret on a single computer, as a compromise of any one computer will only leak a part of the secret.
Secret sharing has also been used in the context of online private data sharing. Here, a public function is considered secure if no party can learn any more from the description of the public function and the resultant aggregate value than what could be learned from knowledge of their own data. Parties may desire to permit the revelation of their personal information only under a veil of privacy that disassociates the private data from the contributing party. For instance, many online service providers harvest personal indicia, such as mobility, application usage patterns, browsing history, and social interactions, to build detailed user profiles that can be of potential value to advertisers and businesses. Despite being tracked and profiled, users invariably are not compensated for their private data contributions and online service providers often justify data harvesting as falling under their terms of service.
Until recently, by lacking an active role in the process, users have had little choice but to trust their service providers with their personal data, despite the risk to and loss of their privacy. However, secret sharing has provided one way for users to tolerate the seemingly-inevitable harvesting of their personal data by allowing users to instead offer a model or "gist" of their personal data in a privacy-preserving way. With secret sharing, each user encrypts his private data using a share of a secret. A central data aggregator combines the users' individually encrypted private data into an aggregate value that, upon being decrypted, provides a value representative of the private data without revealing either each user's identity or the actual value of their data contribution. For instance, some secret sharing schemes allow the central aggregator to obtain the sum of all private data contributions without knowledge of each specific input.
Conventionally, secret sharing assumes either trust or participant collaboration for secret establishment. For instance, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2010/0054480, published Mar. 4, 2010, to Schneider, describes sharing a secret using polynomials over polynomials. In one embodiment, N shares of a secret are distributed by a distributor among cooperating entities by representing the secret as a secret polynomial over GF(q), where q is a prime number or power of a prime number. A splitting polynomial of degree (K−1) over GF(qm) is then constructed, where K is the number of shares necessary to reconstruct the secret and m is a positive integer. To reconstruct the secret, a reconstructor collects secret shares to form interpolating polynomials, and linearly combines the interpolating polynomials to recover the splitting polynomial. The original secret can then be extracted from the splitting polynomial. However, Schneider assumes the existence of a trusted entity willing to generate a splitting polynomial and that users are willing to cooperate with each other, which may be an unrealistic adversarial model.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,565, issued Jan. 23, 2007, to Rajasekaran, describes efficient techniques for sharing a secret. In one embodiment, a custodian computes n unique keys to be distributed to users and an exponentiated version of the secret. After key generation, the custodian deletes the secret itself and, following key distribution, also deletes its copies of the n unique keys. To reconstruct the secret, k of the n users must transmit their keys back to custodian. However, the custodian has no ability to reconstruct the secret without the collaboration and cooperation of at least k of the users and, as with Schneider, assuming such user cooperation may be an unrealistic adversarial model.
E. Shi et al., "Privacy-Preserving Aggregation of Time-Series Data," Net. and Distrib. Sys. Sec. Symp. (February 2011), describes a privacy mechanism, such that, for every time period, a data aggregator is able to learn some aggregate statistic, but not each participant's value, even when the aggregator has arbitrary auxiliary information. A group of participants periodically uploads encrypted values to the data aggregator, who is able to compute the sum of all participants' values in each time period, but is unable to learn anything else. However, Shi assumes a trusted data aggregator able to generate secret keys for each participant and itself and, after distributing a key to each user, the same data aggregator would destroy all participants' keys and retain only one extra key for itself.
Other secret sharing schemes, such as described in T. Jung et al., "Data Aggregation Without Secure Channel: How to Evaluate a Multivariate Polynomial Securely," arXiv:1206:2660 (June 2012), and K. Xing et al., "Mutual Privacy Preserving Regression Modeling in Participatory Sensing," IEEE INFOCOM (April 2013) require participants to interact in a pairwise fashion to agree on secret shares, but such schemes scale quadratically with the number of participants and are impracticable in all but the smallest of populations.
Therefore, a need remains for an approach to forming secret shares that is both scalable and does not rely on blindly trusting a central data aggregator.

Computer-implemented system and method for establishing distributed secret shares in a private data aggregation scheme


A printing system includes a network, a plurality of printers and client devices, each connected with the network. Each of the client devices generates printing data and header information for printing data, according to a user instruction. The header information includes a user ID, a printer ID, and a printing condition. A print restriction server registers, for each user ID, print restriction information including a printer ID, printing functions of the printer usable by the user, and issues and transmits to the client device and in response to the header information, a ticket, when each of the printing functions specified by the printing condition is included in the print restriction information. Each client device generates a printing request. Each printer executes, under specific conditions, a printing operation to print the printing data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system including a plurality of printers connected with a network.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various printing systems in which a printer connected with a network is shared by a plurality of client devices on the network are known.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9-48165 discloses a printer which, in response to a printing request, outputs and records on a recording sheet printing data received with the printing request. The printer has a function to restrict users who may use the printer, and is configured such that printer use allowance/non-allowance information, which determines whether or not to allow use of the printer, may be registered for each user. When a printing request is received, the printer determines whether or not to allow printing based upon whether or not allowance/non-allowance information is received together with the printing request and upon the contents of the received allowance/non-allowance information.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9-288552 discloses a printing system in which a printer connected with a network is shared by a plurality of terminals via a print server and in which the users who can use the printer are restricted. The printer performs printing of printing data in response to a printing request received from each of the terminals. The printer includes a registration information storing device configured to register, for each of the terminals, printer use allowance/non-allowance information for restricting use of the printer. A control device controls whether or not the printer allows use of the printer when a printing request is received from each of the terminals together with use allowance/non-allowance information, based upon whether or not the received use allowance/non-allowance information is registered in the registration information storing device.
Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 9-185474 discloses a printing job management system in which a usage status of a network resource is precisely reflected on a charge for each printing job. The printing job management system includes a user identification information management device, which is configured to register user identification information and which is located between a first network with which a job issuing device is connected and a second network with which a printer is connected. User identification information is attached to each printing datum, and a job receiving and analyzing device extracts the user identification information from a received printing job. An authentication device determines whether or not the user identification information received from the job receiving and analyzing device is registered in the user identification information management device. A data transmission device transmits the printing data received from the job receiving and analyzing device to the printer only when the authentication device determines that the user identification information received from the job receiving and analyzing device is registered in the user identification information management device. When the data transmission device transmits the printing data to the printer, a charge calculation and management device calculates a charge for the job and registers a result of the calculation.
Japanese Patent Laid-open publication No. 10-161823 discloses a printing system including a printer shared on a network, in which each printing job record of each user is stored in a database in a print server for the printer. Based on the printing job record stored in the database, the number of prints each user may print and the printing functions of the printer each user may use may be restricted. The database stores restriction information specifying a range of usage privilege for the printer and a usage status of the printer, for each user identification information identifying each user of the printer. The restriction information specifies printing functions of the printer each user may use, and the number of prints each user can print with the printer. A printing authentication device determines whether or not to allow printing with the printer according to a printing request, referring to the database and based upon the contents of printing data and the user identification information, included in the printing request. A printing history recording device updates, after a printing operation is executed according to printing request, the usage status in the database, corresponding to the user identification information included in the printing request. A database reference and editing device makes reference to and edits the database in response to an instruction registered in advance.
In each of the above-described printing systems, information for restricting use of a printer is held in a printer or a print server for the printer, so that the decision as to whether to restrict use of the printer is made by either the printer or the print server for the printer.
However, in a printing system including a plurality of printers connected with a network, for putting restriction on the number of prints each user may print in the printing system, it is useful to manage the number of prints printed by each user at a single location in the system.
Further, some printers connected with a network can print printing data without involving a print server for the printer. In this case, the print server cannot manage the number of prints printed by each user, and accordingly restricting the number of prints for each user cannot be realized.

Printing system and method restricting functions of printers, usable by each user


An inflatable dunnage bag is comprised of a first and independently sealed bag that is inserted within a paper tube before the tube ends are sealed to form a second, independent bag. The combination of an inner bag within an outer bag provides increased bursting strength compared to similar ply bags created as only a single bag. The combination bag is much easier to construct since at least two plies of paper that are pressed to form the inner bag are no longer part of the bag end folding and sealing process. This is especially true if the outer bags ends are sealed by stitching them together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to dunnage bags for use in shipment of freight by truck, rail, aircraft, ship, and the like, and more particularly to an inflatable dunnage bag for such use having an increased bursting strength.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Inflatable, disposable dunnage bags are relatively inexpensive and provide a quick method of preventing lading and cargo damage that is caused by shifting and movement from unsecured loads. Inflatable dunnage bags are placed between individual and adjacent cargo pieces, or between cargo pieces and the freight carrier wall panels, in an initially deflated condition, and then are subsequently inflated with compressed air to a predetermined pressure, usually below a bag bladder bursting pressure. Most bags in use today are specially constructed such that they can withstand bursting pressure of 12-30 psig.
Such bags are typically comprised of a sealed plastic bladder such as polyethylene, which is surrounded by a multi-walled paper bag that functions to protect the bladder and increase the bursting strength thereof. A valve extends between the bladder and the outermost layer of the paper bags, such that the bladder and bag assembly can be simultaneously filled and expanded with compressed air from a compressed air source.
Inflatable dunnage bags are typically manufactured by folding a length of multiple-layered kraft paper onto itself at its edges, in order to form a rather long and overlapping seam generally along the bag centerline, thereby forming a multi-walled paper tube that has open ends. The sealed plastic bladder is inserted into the tube and then the paper tube ends are folded-over onto themselves. They are then either glued or sewn closed to form the completed air bag. The tube ends can even be closed by a combination of gluing and sewing.
Thus, it can be appreciated that when making multi-layered bags, the bag construction is ultimately limited by the ability to sew the multiple layers together, as well as being able to effectively fold and glue the layers together without the glued folds unraveling. There is also the associated problem of being able to acceptably cut the multiple layers of paper in one operation. Furthermore, construction of multi-layered air bags is relatively labor intensive, and the greater the number of layers, the greater the labor costs. Thus, a premium is certainly paid in trying to attain an inflatable dunnage bag which has a higher capacity to resist loading and hence, bursting through the addition of extra paper layers.

Method of making an inflatable combination cargo packing bag


The detection and elimination of viruses on a computer network is disclosed. An apparatus for detecting and eliminating viruses which may be introduced by messages sent through a postal node of a network electronic mail system includes polling and retrieval modules in communication with the postal node to determine the presence of unscanned messages and to download data associated with them to a node for treatment by a virus analysis and treatment module. A method for detecting and eliminating viruses introduced by an electronic mail system includes polling the postal node for unscanned messages, downloading the messages into a memory of a node, and performing virus detection and analysis at the node.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and computer networks. In particular, the present invention relates to a system and method for detecting and removing computer viruses. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for detecting and removing computer viruses from file and message transfers between computer networks and to an apparatus and method for detecting and removing computer viruses from files and messages accessed by electronic mail through a network postal node.
2. Description of the Related Art
During the recent past, the use of computers has become widespread. Moreover, the interconnection of computers into networks has also become prevalent. Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a portion of a prior art information system 20 is shown. The portion of the information system 20 shown comprises a first network 22, a second network 24 and third network 26. This information system 20 is provided only by way of example, and those skilled in the art will realize that the information system 20 may include any number of networks, each of the networks being its own protected domain and having any number of nodes. As shown in FIG. 1, each of the networks 22, 24, 26 is formed from a plurality of nodes 30, 32. Each of the nodes 30, 32 is preferably a microcomputer. The nodes 30, 32 are coupled together to form a network by a plurality of network connections 36. For example, the nodes 30, 32 may be connected together using a token ring format, ethernet format or any of the various other formats known in the art. Each of the networks 22, 24, 26 includes a node 32 that acts as a gateway to link the respective network 22, 24, 26 to other networks 22, 24, 26. Each of the gateway nodes 32 is preferably coupled by a standard telephone line connection 34 such as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) or a T-1 link to the other gateway nodes 32 through a telephone switching network 28. All communication between the networks 22, 24, 26 is preferably performed through one of the gateway nodes 32.
Also of increasing prevalence is the use of electronic mail to access information. Referring now to FIG. 9, an electronic mail system 200 is shown to include a plurality of client nodes 230, which preferably are microcomputers, connected to a postal node 232 arranged to facilitate electronic mail accesses such as those between the client nodes 230. The postal node may also include a communications link 234 to another network or may communicate with additional postal nodes (not shown). Electronic mail may be accessed from the postal node 232 to single or multiple users, and may include simple messages or complex information including files with viruses.
One particular problem that has plagued computers, in particular microcomputers, have been computer viruses and worms. A computer virus is a section of code that is buried or hidden in another program. Once the program is executed, the code is activated and attaches itself to other programs in the system. Infected programs in turn copy the code to other programs. The effect of such viruses can be simple pranks that cause a message to be displayed on the screen or more serious effects such as the destruction of programs and data. Another problem in the prior art is worms. Worms are destructive programs that replicate themselves throughout disk and memory using up all available computer resources eventually causing the computer system to crash. Obviously, because of the destructive nature of worms and viruses, there is a need for eliminating them from computers and networks.
The prior art has attempted to reduce the effects of viruses and prevent their proliferation by using various virus detection programs. One such virus detection method, commonly referred to as behavior interception, monitors the computer or system for important operating system functions such as write, erase, format disk, etc. When such operations occur, the program prompts the user for input as to whether such an operation is expected. If such an operation is not expected (e.g., the user was not operating any program that employed such a function), the user can abort the operation knowing it was being prompted by a virus program. Another virus detection method, known as signature scanning, scans program code that is being copied onto the system. The system searches for known patterns of program code used for viruses. Currently, signature scanning only operates on the floppy disk drives, hard drives or optical drives. Yet another prior art approach to virus detection performs a checksum on all host programs stored on a system and known to be free from viruses. Thus, if a virus later attaches itself to a host program, the checksum value will be different and the presence of a virus can be detected.
Nonetheless, these approaches of the prior art suffer from a number of shortcomings. First, behavior interception is not successful at detecting all viruses because critical operations that may be part of the code for a virus can be placed at locations where such critical operations are likely to occur for the normal operation of programs. Second, most signature scanning is only performed on new inputs from disk drives. With the advent of the Internet and its increased popularity, there are no prior art methods that have been able to successfully scan connections 36 such as those utilized by a gateway node in communicating with other networks. Third, many of the above methods require a significant amount of computing resources, which in turn degrades the overall performance of system. Thus, operating the virus detection programs on every computer becomes impractical. Therefore, the operation of many such virus detection programs is disabled for improved performance of individual machines.
Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for effectively detecting and eliminating viruses without significantly effecting the performance of the computer. Moreover, there is a need for a system and method that can detect and eliminate viruses in networks attached to other information systems by way of gateways or the Internet.
Another problem of increasing significance is the spread of computer viruses through electronic mail communications, including intra-network electronic mail accesses which do not need to pass through a network gateway node 33. The referenced prior art shortcomings are also present in the detection and prevention of the spread of viruses through electronic mail. Additionally problematic are electronic mail access by multiple users which may exponentially increase the potential for the spread of viruses, the detection of viruses on encoded or encrypted files, the tendency of computer users not to undertake virus detection and user impatience during virus detection intervals.
Therefore, there is also a need for an apparatus and method for detecting viruses which may be spread through electronic mail communications. Moreover, there is a need for such an apparatus and method which can prevent multiplied virus spreading, facilitate encoded file virus detection, trigger without requiring user intervention and operate in the background.

Apparatus and method for electronic mail virus detection and elimination


A fuel injector for a common rail fuel system includes a common rail inlet port fluidly connected to a high pressure common rail, and a cooling inlet fluidly connected to an output from a lower pressure fuel transfer pump. The cooling fluid circulates internally through the fuel injector to cool a single pole solenoid via both internal and peripheral cooling passages. In order to accommodate a small spatial envelope while providing superior performance, a thin insulating layer may separate the solenoid coil winding from an inner pole piece, and small flux gap clearances may permit a flux carrying portion of the injector body to be a portion of the single pole solenoid assembly.

Common rail fuel systems have shown considerable promise in providing the versatility necessary to improve performance while also reducing undesirable emissions, especially in relation to compression ignition engines. As the industry demands ever higher injection pressures, more problems have begun to reveal themselves. Among these problems may be a need to cool an internal electrical actuator, such as a solenoid or piezo, in order to maintain the electrical actuator in a temperature range that maintains high actuation forces coupled with fast response times. In some applications, especially those having electrical actuator spatial constraints, maintaining and improving actuator performance can be problematic. For instance, in many applications, one or more electrical actuators must be totally contained within an injector body, and a certain proportion of the electrical actuator, especially in the case of solenoids, must normally be occupied by insulating material. Thus, in the case of solenoid actuators, maintaining or improving flux transfer while also reducing the volume of material associated with insulating properties can be problematic. Prior art solenoid assemblies for fuel injectors typically include a pole piece upon which is mounted a plastic bobbin that carries the solenoid coil winding. Because the winding is typically wound onto the bobbin before attachment to the pole piece, the bobbin must have sufficient structural integrity to undergo the winding process. The end result might be more material volume being associated with the bobbin than might otherwise be needed for proper operation after the solenoid is installed.
In a typical fuel injector application, a solenoid actuator is coupled to a valve member to open and close one or more fluid passages to facilitate a fuel injection event. Two types of solenoids have appeared in the art. One type is identified as a dual pole solenoid and often is characterized by the fact that the peripheral edges of the armature have a diameter larger than the outer diameter of the coil winding. The armature moves between an initial air gap position and a final axial air gap position with regard to a stator. In another type, a so called single pole solenoid includes not only an axial air gap but a sliding air gap within which the armature moves. One such example is shown, for instance, in Coltec Industries Inc.'s U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,549 to Mesenich. Single pole solenoids are often identified by their armature peripheral edge having a sliding flux gap with a magnetic flux carrying member, and the diameter of the armature is typically smaller than the inner diameter of the coil winding. Regardless of the solenoid type, the flux transfer capability of the solenoid assembly, and hence the speed and responsiveness of the associated valve, can deteriorate substantially as temperatures increase beyond a certain level depending upon the solenoid structure and materials used. Increased temperatures can be attributed to leakage within the fuel injector, repeated actuation events, and even the transfer of temperature from the combustion chamber of the engine through other fuel injector components.
Another important feature that affects the performance of solenoids relates to the size of air gaps that separate the moving armature from stationary magnetic flux carrying components of the solenoid assembly. While smaller air gaps may facilitate better flux transfer, geometrical variations in component parts may make mass production of solenoid assemblies with uniform air gaps that yield consistent behavior illusive. For instance, maintaining smaller air gaps often requires the armature to be guided in its motion, such as via attachment to a valve member which moves in a guide clearance bore. However, geometrical tolerance stack-ups may limit the realistic air gaps available with such a strategy.
The present disclosure is directed toward one or more of the problems set forth above.

Stator assembly and fuel injector using same


This invention provides an air freshener dispenser device comprising (1) a disposable air freshener cartridge, (2) a disposable electrical plug housing, and (3) a reusable electrical plug for engaging a wall electrical outlet. The cartridge has an elongated thermoplastic hollow body configuration with a sealed internal reservoir chamber of liquid air freshener medium, and the upper section of the cartridge body is shaped to a flat shallow extension of the cartridge chamber. An electrical-resistance heating element is affixed on the inner surface of the cartridge chamber shallow extension. A thin wick matrix extends internally from the cartridge chamber bottom up to the top of the chamber shallow extension. The cartridge has an integrally structured means adapted for removal of a top portion of the cartridge chamber shallow extension to expose an upper section of wick matrix to the atmosphere. The disposable electrical plug housing is detachably secured and positioned in front of the cartridge and proximate to the cartridge heating element. The plug housing has two short metal blades which extend through the cartridge vertical slots and engage the reusable electrical plug for conduction of an electrical current to the cartridge heating element, and for heat-promotion of air freshener wicking into the atmosphere.

This invention generally relates to dispensers of vaporizable media. More specifically, this invention relates to a device for dispensing a fragrance or deodorant in the form of a vapor for air freshening in an enclosed environment.
The need for effectively combating airborne malodors in homes and enclosed public buildings, by odor masking or destruction, is well established. Various kinds of vapor-dispensing devices have been employed for this purpose. The most common of such devices is the aerosol container which propels minute droplets of an air freshener composition into the air. Another common type of dispensing device is a dish containing or supporting a body of gelatinous matter which when it dries and shrinks releases a vaporized air-treating composition into the atmosphere. Other products such as deodorant blocks are also used for dispensing air-treating vapors into the atmosphere by evaporation. Another group of vapor-dispensing devices utilizes a carrier material such as paperboard impregnated or coated with a vaporizable composition.
A number of recent developments include a liquid air-treating composition in an enclosure, all or part of which is formed of a polymeric film through which the air-treating composition can migrate to be released as a vapor at an outer surface. Use of this type of permeable polymeric membrane controls the dispensing of air-treating vapors and tends to eliminate great variations in the rate of dispensing over the life of the product.
Wicking devices are well known for dispensing volatile liquids into the atmosphere, such as fragrance, deodorant, disinfectant or insecticide active agent.
A typical wicking device utilizes a combination of a wick and emanating region to dispense a volatile liquid from a liquid reservoir. Wicking devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,994,932; 2,597,195; 2,802,695; 2,804,291; 3,550,853; 4,286,754; 4,413,779; 4,454,987; 4,913,350; and 5,000,383; incorporated by reference.
Of special interest with respect to the present invention are wicking dispenser devices in which the wicking action is promoted by a heat source. This type of wicking device is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,288,556; 3,431,393; 3,482,929; 3,633,881; 4,020,321; 4,968,487; 5,038,394; 5,290,546; and 5,364,027; incorporated by reference.
Some air freshener dispensers are expensive to manufacture. Other air freshener dispensers are inexpensive to produce, but tend to have inferior construction and functionality.
There remains a need for a well-constructed air freshener dispenser device which can be mass-produced economically and which can deliver a vapor medium at a controlled uniform rate over an extended period of time.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved air freshener dispenser device for delivering an odorant and/or deodorant vapor in an enclosed environment.
It is another object of this invention to provide an air freshener dispenser device with a primary structure which is a plastic assembly that can be produced economically by a thermoforming means.
It is another object of this invention to provide an air freshener dispenser device which has an interactive combination of an electrical plug and a disposable air freshener cartridge unit having an affixed heating element.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a disposable air freshener cartridge for utility in a plug-in air freshener dispenser device, wherein the cartridge has an affixed heating element, and an internal air freshener reservoir in contact with a wicking means.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention shall become apparent from the accompanying description and drawings.

Air freshener dispenser device with disposable heat-promoted cartridge


A driving control device of a motor includes a temperature sensing circuit, a comparing circuit, a rotation speed control circuit and a driving circuit. The temperature sensing circuit detects an environmental temperature for generating a sensing signal. The comparing circuit is electrically connected to the temperature sensing circuit, and compares the sensing signal with a reference voltage signal for outputting a comparing signal. The rotation speed control circuit is electrically connected to the comparing circuit and has a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, both of which are compared with the comparing signal for outputting a rotation speed control signal. The driving circuit is electrically connected to the rotation speed control circuit, and generates a driving signal to drive the motor in accordance with the rotation speed control signal.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a driving control device, and more particularly to a fan system and a driving control device of a motor.
2. Related Art
The heat dissipating problem of an electronic device is more and more important nowadays due to the increase of the data processing information and the processing speed of the electronic device. In addition, the integrated process had become advanced so that more electronic elements can be contained in the same electronic device. The major heat dissipating method is to provide a fan in or on the electronic device for inducing the air convection so as to achieve the heat dissipating effect.
Accordingly, the thermal controlled fan, which can sense the environment temperature by a sensing element and adjusts the rotation speed thereof in accordance with the temperature, is disclosed. The sensing element can be a thermal resistor, which is sensitive to the temperature variation and can change its resistance value according to different temperatures. In addition, the thermal resistors include a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistor and a negative temperature coefficient (NTC) resistor. The resistance of the PTC resistor increases and that of the NTC resistor decreases when the temperature increases. Now, the thermal resistor is widely applied as the sensing element in the electronic device for facilitating the control and compensation of other circuits in the electronic device.
FIG. 1A is a schematic block diagram of a conventional fan system 1, and FIG. 1B is a schematic circuit diagram of the fan system 1 in FIG. 1A. Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the fan system 1 includes a temperature sensing circuit 11, a driving circuit 12 and a fan 13. The temperature sensing circuit 11 senses an environment temperature for generating a sensing signal S11. The driving circuit 12 receives the sensing signal S11 and transfers it into a driving signal S12 so as to drive the fan 13.
The temperature sensing circuit 11 has a resistor R and a thermal resistor RT, which are connected in series so as to divide the operating voltage VCC. The thermal resistor RT generates a resistance in accordance with the environment temperature. The variation of the resistance causes a node voltage value V1 with variation between the thermal resistor RT and the resistor R so as to output the temperature sensing signal S11. The driving circuit 12, which is a chip or a microprocessor, receives the temperature sensing signal S11 and transfers it into the driving signal S12 so as to drive the motor 131 of the fan 13.
As mentioned above, the driving circuit 12 of the conventional fan system 1 must receive and transfer the temperature sensing signal S11 into the driving signal S12 with a high voltage level or a high current level so as to drive the fan 13.
In order to adjust the driving signal S12 in accordance with the temperature variation immediately, the chip of the present driving circuit 12 is usually integrated in a chip with multiple functions and the chip is expensive. In this way, the expensive chip also raises the cost of the whole electronic system. The expensive chip thus limits its application fields. Therefore, it is an important subject to provide a driving control device having low cost and suitable for more application fields.

Fan system and driving control device of motor


Described are embodiments of methods of obtaining three-dimensional (3D) surface data of an object scene such as an intra-oral cavity. For example, measured surfaces may include the enamel surface of teeth, the dentin substructure of teeth, gum tissue and various dental structures. The methods can also be applied in medical applications and other applications in which 3D measurement data are acquired with maneuverable 3D measurement devices. In certain embodiments, the measurement device is positioned and translated to enable 3D data to be acquired for a backbone 3D data set. Subsequent controlled motion of the measurement device enables additional 3D data to be acquired and accurately joined to the backbone 3D data set.

In a typical dental or medical 3D camera or scanner imaging system, a series of two-dimensional (2D) intensity images of one or more object surfaces in an object scene is acquired where the illumination for each image may vary. In some systems, structured light patterns are projected onto the surface and detected in each 2D intensity image. For example, the projected light pattern can be generated by projecting a pair of coherent optical beams onto the object surface and the resulting fringe pattern varied between successive 2D images. Alternatively, the projected light pattern may be a series of projected parallel lines generated using an intensity mask and the projected pattern shifted in position between successive 2D images. In still other types of 3D imaging systems, techniques such as confocal imaging are employed.
In a dynamic 3D imaging system, a series of 3D data sets is acquired while the camera or scanner is in motion relative to the object scene. For example, the imaging system can be a wand or other handheld device that a user manually positions relative to the object scene. In some applications, multiple objects surfaces are measured by moving the device relative to the objects so that surfaces obscured from view of the device in one position are observable by the device in another position. For example, in dental applications the presence of teeth or other dental features in a static view can obscure the view of other teeth. A processing unit registers the overlapped region of all acquired 3D data to obtain a full 3D data set representation of all surfaces observed during the measurement procedure.

Method of data acquisition for three-dimensional imaging

Dimensional Photonics International, Inc.


A search engine is provided that includes a refinement mechanism. The search engine receives and parses a search expression and delimits the expression into individual terms or words. The refinement mechanism includes a directory of related terms and a directory of compound terms. The refinement mechanism also includes a hierarchical data structure of refinement terms. The mechanism then identifies related terms for the individual terms in the search expression, compound terms that may be formed from individual terms in the expression, and terms in the expression that have sub structures or “sub trees” in the hierarchical data structure. An interface is generated in a graphical tree structure to present identified related terms, compound terms, and refinement terms. Based upon user interaction with the interfaces, the mechanism forms an enhanced search expression.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to data processing and, in particular, to search engines. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program for refining search criteria through focusing word definitions.
2. Description of Related Art
A search engine is software that searches for data based on some criteria. Search engines have become very popular and sometimes even necessary tools for locating information on the World Wide Web. Every Web search site uses a search engine that it has either developed itself or has purchased from a third party. Search engines can differ dramatically in the way they find and index the material in a data store, and the way they search the indexes from the user's query. The terms "search engine" and "Web search site" are sometimes used synonymously, although the former technically describes the software and methodology used, while the latter refers to the site itself.
Search criteria submitted to search engines are normally subject to interpretation. Typically, in a Web search engine, search criteria is submitted by a user as a simple search expression. While search engines exist that are able to process complex Boolean expressions, the average user of a Web browser does not know the proper syntax to take advantage of the more sophisticated search engines. Therefore, most Internet search engines receive search expressions with strings of words and use an "OR" as a default operator between words. Other search engines may use an "AND" operator or use weighting mechanisms to rank search results.
Other advanced search engines are able to process natural language expression. Natural language expressions allow the user to form search criteria in a human understandable format. However, the natural language expression is ultimately converted into a syntax that can be processed by the search engine and the resulting search is not necessarily more defined.
Some searches are intended to narrow results down to a single page or a finite few pages. These types of searches are looking for a "right answer." An ideal situation involves entering the magical combination of search terms that returns exactly one Web page that has the desired information. Other searches may seek to compile a set of pages pertaining to some criteria. If the search expression is too limited, many pertinent pages may be left unfound. Therefore, the searcher may wish to expand or enhance the search, rather than narrow the search. However, most search engines provide little or no assistance in focusing a search expression to achieve either goal.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an improved mechanism for refining and enhancing search criteria.

Method, apparatus, and program for refining search criteria through focusing word definition

International Business Machines Corporation


The installation comprises a part (1) rotating about a fixed part (2) and provided with measurement instruments (3) with antennas (5) aimed radially towards a fixed antenna (6). This antenna comprises two pairs of arms (9, 10, 14, 15) in two concentric circles, and the spaces (13, 18) between the free ends of the pairs of arms are located at different angular positions so that signals emitted by the antennas (5) always arrive at one of the pairs of arms and supply a clear and distinct signal.

The invention described herein relates to a radioelectric transmission installation comprising a fixed part and a rotating part, remarkable due to the shape of one antenna in the fixed part which is arranged in the form of two concentric circles.
This type of installation can be useful in some range finding equipment in which one or more measurement instruments are installed to rotate about a fixed base. The measurement instrument is provided with a modulator itself provided with a rotating antenna aimed towards an antenna fixed to the base and connected to a demodulator that collects the signals from the measurement instrument. The rotating antenna is aimed towards the axis of rotation of the rotating part and one known form of the fixed antenna is in the shape of a folded T, in other words it is composed of a pair of curved arms each extending around almost half a circumference starting from their junction, as far as the ends facing each other and separated by a small angular space.
But this space is the source of signal disturbances when the rotating antenna passes in front of it, which is why the inventors wanted to improve this type of radioelectric installation and to design the fixed antenna described herein.
The installation proposed here is innovative in that it comprises a fixed antenna in the shape of what could be called a folded double T, composed of two pairs of curved arms laid out on two concentric circles; once again, the arms of each of the pairs extend around almost half a circumference, but the spaces between the free ends of each of the pairs are not in the same angular position, measured from the axis of rotation, without any overlap.

Radioelectric transmission system provided with a rotating part and a part fixed to an antenna extending over two circles


Thermal sensors are disposed with OLEDs across a display of an electronic device to measure temperatures across the display surface. Thermal sensors may be used to create a temperature map across the display surface due to both the ambient environment and the internal environment of the electronic device. The thermal sensors may be disposed in the OLED layer, on a separate layer, or both. Thermal sensors may be disposed in a substantially 1:1 ratio with OLEDs or with zones of OLEDs. Both the temperature history and usage history for OLEDs may be recorded and processed to determine the age of each OLED. Controllers may adjust the driving strength of OLEDs or adjust the operation of components within the electronic device to compensate for aging or temperature based on the temperature map and age determination. Controllers may move static images from one part of the display to another less-aged part.

The present disclosure relates generally to electronic displays and, more specifically, to displays with integrated thermal sensors.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic devices and systems increasingly include display screens as part of the user interface of the device or system. As may be appreciated, display screens may be employed in a wide array of devices and systems, including desktop computer systems, notebook computers, and handheld computing devices, as well as various consumer products, such as cellular phones, televisions, and portable media players.
To display images, videos, and user interfaces, displays use arrays of pixels, each pixel having multiple colors. Primary colors of light (e.g., red, green, and blue) may be combined in each pixel to create many other colors, including white. Controllers drive pixels with coordinated instructions to create an image on the display. Some displays involve illuminating a backlight through a light-modulating liquid crystal layer (e.g., typical liquid crystal displays) while others involve directly illuminating each pixel to a desired intensity (e.g., organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays).
Because each OLED may emit its own colored light, OLED displays may be thinner and lighter than displays requiring a backlight. OLEDs may also be desirable because they may be fabricated on flexible or rigid substrates. OLED displays may also allow better viewing angles and better color than some liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
However, the appearance of OLED displays may not remain constant indefinitely. As OLED displays age through use, their brightness and/or color may change. Some OLEDs, particularly blue OLEDs, age more quickly than others, which may change the appearance of the display. Furthermore, aging may be accelerated by heat.
While OLED displays do not require a backlight, a variety of other electrical components may be placed in various locations beneath a display. These components facilitate the operation and function of the electronic device. Some components of an electronic device that may be beneath an OLED display include processors, radio transmitters, batteries, speakers, cameras etc. Some of these components draw current and may warm during use. Some components, such as a processor or radio transmitter, may get particularly warm during use or extended use. As a result, portions of the display may also warm due to these warming components beneath the display. Moreover, because some components may warm more than other components, some portions of the display may warm more than other portions.
Heat may affect characteristics of emitted light from OLEDs. In addition to accelerating aging, the color and brightness of light emitted by OLEDs may be affected by the operating temperature. The brightness of some OLEDs, particularly red OLEDs, may decrease as operating temperatures increase. Over time as each OLED ages due to use and temperature, images shown on parts of the display may appear different from the intended image. Controllers may make changes to compensate for such shifts in brightness and color. However, color and brightness shifts may occur differently across a display due to unpredictable use of each OLED and the components beneath each OLED.

Display having integrated thermal sensors


A changeover plug-in device (50; 60) for a wire connecting strip device (34; 68) for the uninterrupted changeover of wires (26) of a telecommunications cable (24), the wire connecting strip device (34) preferably having a wire connecting strip (36), a base unit (40) and a cover unit (38) and the wire connecting strip (36) having contact units (42) for the respective connection of the incoming/outgoing wire (27; 28) of an incoming/outgoing telecommunications cable (32; 22) in order to produce an electrical contact between the respective incoming and outgoing wires (27, 28), and there being for each contact unit a test opening which is open to the outside, is distinguished by the fact that the changeover plug-in device (50; 60) has a first contact device (52) having contact elements (56) and a second contact device (54), in contact with the first contact device (52) and having contact elements (56), and the changeover plug-in device (50; 60) is designed in such a way that, in the plugged-on state, the contact elements (56), which can be guided into the test openings (44), of the first and/or second contact device in each case produce contact with the contact units (42) of the respective wire connecting strip device (34; 68).

The present invention relates to a changeover device, preferably for a wire connecting strip device, for the uninterrupted changeover of wires of a telecommunications cable having a plurality of (twin) wires, the wire connecting strip device having, in particular, a wire connecting strip, a base unit and a cover unit, and the wire connecting strip having contact units for the respective connection of the wire of an incoming telecommunications cable and an outgoing telecommunications cable, in order to produce an electrical contact between the respective wires of the incoming and outgoing telecommunications cable, the wire connecting strip having a test opening, open to the outside, for each contact unit. The present invention relates to a process for changing over from an existing damaged or disturbed, and therefore to be exchanged, telecommunications cable, or the wires of the telecommunications cable, to new undisturbed wires, in particular to a new telecommunications cable drawn in in parallel with the existing one in a cable duct between two connecting sleeves, the connection between incoming and outgoing telecommunications cable or wire being carried out at a connecting sleeve by means of a wire connecting strip device.
Wire connecting strips have been used for years for connecting the (twin) wires in telecommunications cable. As a result of cable disturbances and new plans, the previous lead- or plastic-sheathed cables are being exchanged daily. For this reason, more and more work occurs on existing cables which are coupled to one another using wire connecting strips. Even the latest generation of cables, for example PE cables, that is to say with plastic insulation of the copper wires, often have to be exchanged.

Method of switching over telecommunications cables without interruption, and switchover plug for use in the method