A toy vehicle racing system in which sparks are created as the vehicles travel around the racing track. The system includes a sparking rail having a rough surface which interacts with a sparking element mounted on a toy vehicle to create the sparks. The sparking element may be mounted on a swinging member that is adapted to pivot out from the vehicle to engage the rough surfaced sparking rail. The system further includes a sparking vehicle with a rough surface that interacts with a sparking element mounted on another vehicle to create sparks as the vehicles move past one another along the track.

Children and adults alike enjoy racing slot cars, and over the years there have been a number of innovations in track configurations, motor performance and body styles. However, even with all of these innovations there have been few developments which add to the realism and excitement of these miniature racing systems.
Typically, toy racing sets include toy vehicles, a series of interconnecting tracks having imbedded electrical power conducting strips and a center slot running the length of the track, power controllers for regulating the electrical current supplied to the conducting strips, and an outside power supply. The vehicles themselves have electrically powered motors which receive electrical current from the conducting strips and guide pins which rest in the track's center slot to help direct the vehicles around the track. Additionally, interchangeable body styles are available which fit over the vehicles' chassis.
As entertaining as these slot car sets can be, they often lack the realism of full-sized auto racing. For example, when full sized stock cars race, the cars frequently brush against the walls of the track. This can create sparks and even accidents, but it is also a very real part of racing. Likewise, the cars themselves sometimes run into each other, again creating sparks. Current toy racing systems lack that realism.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a toy vehicle racing set which simulates the realism of full-sized auto racing.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a toy vehicle racing set in which sparks are created when the vehicles move around the track.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a toy vehicle racing set which utilizes a guard rail and a flint for creating sparks.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and drawings.


A method for generating an image in a virtual space seen from a predetermined viewpoint, has: judging whether to start a motion of a first object placed in the virtual space; if it is judged to start the motion of the first object, automatically controlling the motion of the first object in a predetermined moving direction; if it is judged to start the motion of the first object, locating a plurality of effect objects at a front side in the moving direction from a location of the first object; and making the plurality of effect objects sequentially not displayed in proximate order from the location of the first object at time that it is judged to start the motion of the first object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for generating an image, an information storage medium, an image generation device, a data signal and a program for making a computer device execute judging whether to start a motion of an object positioned in a virtual space, automatically controlling the motion of the object in a predetermined moving direction if it is judged to start the motion of the object, and generating an image in the virtual space as seen from a predetermined viewpoint.
2. Description of Related Art
For example, in a video game, a CG movie or the like where an appearance in a virtual space is expressed by a CG (Computer Graphics) image seen from a predetermined viewpoint by controlling a motion of an object positioned in the virtual space, an image effect process for more effectively expressing the appearance of the object moving is applied on the CG image.
"blur effect" is a well-known effect. The blur effect is a process to display an effect corresponding to a blur or after-image of an object, along a path where the object moves. By the blur effect, it is possible to provide a viewer the impression that the object is moving at high speed.
As a method to achieve the blur effect, for example, known is one for determining a displaying position in an opposite direction (at a rearward) to a moving direction of a character (object), positioning a plurality of after-image data having the identical shape as the character, and synthesizing the data so as to make image data of a background see-through (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (Unexamined) No. Tokukai-Hei 7-328228).
As another method, known is one for positioning N (N is a natural number) polygons of a character in an opposite side to a moving direction of the character, and generating images for the N polygons by setting N different colors and N different brightness levels (see, for example, Japanese Patent 3059956; corresponding to all the claims).
By the way, for dramatizing and expressing, there is a request for effectively expressing not only an object already moving but also a momentum (start-dash) of the motion start of the object. However, there has been no art disclosing a way of effectively expressing the momentum at the motion start.
In the conventional image effect represented by the blur effect according to the moving object, expression of the effect is added to an opposite side (rearward) to the moving direction of the object. Therefore, there is a problem that it is not possible to obtain a desired result when the effect is applied to the object which is about to start moving. In addition, as a method to express the momentum of the motion start, known is a comic-like expression where the object itself is deformed in an opposite direction to a moving direction of the object as if power were being charged by compressing a spring. Similarly, an expression method of having a description such as injection indicating a propulsive force of the motion or the like, at rearward of the object. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to apply the same method in a case where another object crashes into the object, or the like.

Method for generating image animation effect


The present invention generally relates to the field of electronic document storage and management, and more particularly to systems and methods for computer based text or information from text databases. More specially, the present invention relates to taking a set of URLs provided by an Internet search engine/agent, and presenting summaries of the web sites associated with the URLs in an easily readable and understandable format.

Information has recently undergone a transition from a scarce commodity to an overabundant commodity. With a scarce commodity, efforts are centered on acquiring the commodity, whereas with an overabundant commodity, efforts are centered on filtering the commodity to make it more valuable. The prime example of this phenomenon is the explosion of information resulting from the growth of the global Internetwork of networks known as the "Internet." Networks and computers connected to the Internet pass data using TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) for reliably passing data packets from a source node to a destination node. A variety of higher level protocols are used on top of TCP/IP to transport objects of digital data, the particular protocol depending on the nature of the objects. For example, e-mail is transported using Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), while files are transported using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
Hypertext documents and their associated effects are transported using the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). When many hypertext documents are linked to other hypertext documents, they collectively form a "web" structure, which led to the same "World Wide Web" (often shortened to "WWW" or "the Web") for the collection of hypertext documents that can be transported using HTTP. Of course, hyperlinks are not required in a document for it to be transported using HTTP. In fact, any object can be transported using HTTP, so long as it conforms to the requirements of HTTP.
In a typical use of HTTP, a browser sends a uniform resource locator (URL) to a Web server and the Web server returns a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document for the browser to display. The browser is one example of an HTTP client and is so named because it displays the returned hypertext and allows the user an opportunity to select and display other hypertext documents referenced in the returned document. The Web server is an Internet node which returns hypertext documents requested by HTTP clients.
Some Web servers, in addition to serving static documents, can return dynamic documents. A static document is a document which exists on a Web server before a request for the document is made and for which the Web server merely sends out the static document upon request. A static page URL is typically in the form of "host.subdomain.domain.TLD/path/file" or the like. That static page URL refers to a document named "file" which is found on the path on the machine which has the domain name host.subdomain.domain.TLD. An actual domain such as "www." followed by "Xerox" followed by ".com" refers to the machine (or machines) designated "www" at the domain "xerox" in the ".com" top-level domain (TLD). By contrast, a dynamic document is a document which is generated by the Web server when it receives a particular URL which the server identifies as a request for a dynamic document.
Many Web servers operate "Web sites" which offer a collection of linked hypertext documents controlled by a single person or entity. Since the Web site is controlled by a single person or entity, the hypertext documents, often called "Web pages" in this context, have a consistent look and subject matter. Especially in the case of Web sites put up by commercial interests selling goods and services, the hyperlinked documents which form a Web site will have few, if any, links to pages not controlled by the interest. The terms "Web site" and "Web page" are often used interchangeably, but herein a "Web page" refers to a single hypertext document which forms part of a Web site and "Web site" refers to a collection of one or more Web pages which are controlled (i.e., modifiable) by a single entity or group of entities working in concert to present a site on a particular topic.
With all the many sites and pages that the many millions of Internet users might make available through their Web servers, it is often difficult to find a particular page or determine where to find information on a particular topic. There is no "official" listing of what is available, because anyone can place anything on their Web server and need not report it to an official agency and the Web changes so quickly. In the absence of an official "table of contents", several approaches to indexing the Web have been proposed.
One approach is to index all of the Web documents found everywhere. While this approach is useful to find a document on a rarely discussed topic or a reference to a person with an uncommon first or last name, it often leads to excessive numbers of "hits." Another approach is to categorize web documents and make them searchable by category.
Although the use of the Internet search engines/agents to gather information from the Internet reduces the voluminous amount of information on the Internet, the search engines still return a very large number of Internet sites (URLs), which the person searching must tediously "visit" to extract applicable information and then make a determination to do more searching. Often the person finds an "alternate link" which may be interesting yet not in the search criteria, and the person spends time visiting other sites which are not directly applicable. This results in wasted time, and longer overall information collection times. Therefore, there is a need to decrease the overall information collection time by extending the use of Internet search engines by providing an alternate methodology for information extraction.

Method and system for information retrieval from query evaluations of very large full-text databases


A tunable property bracket for a vehicle body, includes a support member comprising a first active material configured to provide support for static and dynamic loads during normal operation of the vehicle body, wherein the first active material undergoes a change in a property upon exposure to an activating condition during a loading event or a sensed loading event, wherein the change in the property is effective to provide a load bearing capacity change to the support member.

The present disclosure generally relates to tunable property automotive brackets.
Brackets utilized in and about the front ends of automotive vehicles are commonly formed of a high modulus (stiffness) metal, such as steel. Prior art FIG. 1 illustrates one such bracket, generally designated by reference numeral 10, wherein the entire structure is formed of a high modulus metal, such as steel. Generally, these brackets are disposed intermediate a vehicle frame and a vehicle body, e.g., a fender, hood, headlight, grille, other adjoining components, and the like. The brackets are used to fix and hold such components in proper relative position and support static and dynamic (due to driving inputs) loading of components of the vehicle body relative to the underlying framing members. These static and dynamic loads are related to the inertial masses of the components and thus are in general low, and the bracket stiffness must be greater than what is required by these in order to be effective to prevent dimpling and/or excessive displacement upon an individual leaning or sitting on the vehicle exterior surface. During a discrete rapid short duration loading event of the hood, current brackets, because their stiffness is not tunable, necessarily provide a fixed response, which response is inherent to the properties of the rigid metal used to form the bracket.
It would be desirable to have a tunable bracket that can variously and selectively change the stiffness, yield strength, damping capabilities and/or force/deflection characteristic of a vehicle structural member in cooperative communication therewith. In this manner, the bracket can be used to meet the desired static load requirements for the location of the bracket, yet selectively provide energy dissipation, direction, and absorption properties that are desirable in a rapid loading event or during another situation when a variation in bracket properties would result in advantageous performance.

Active material based tunable property automotive brackets


A thermal cycler system for use with a sample holder configured to receive a plurality of samples includes a sample block having an upstanding peripheral side wall and being configured to receive the sample holder and an adaptor having an upstanding peripheral side wall configured to be positioned about the peripheral side wall of the sample block. When the peripheral side wall of the adaptor is positioned about the peripheral side wall of the sample block and the sample holder is received in the sample block, the peripheral side wall of the adaptor extends in an upward direction toward the sample holder.

Testing of biological or chemical samples often requires a device for repeatedly subjecting multiple samples though a series of temperature cycles. To prepare, observe, test, and/or analyze an array of biological samples, one example of an instrument that may be utilized is a thermal cycler or thermocycling device, such as an end-point polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrument or a quantitative, or real-time, PCR instrument. Such devices are used to generate specific temperature cycles, i.e. to set predetermined temperatures in the reaction vessels to be maintained for predetermined intervals of time.
Generally, thermal cycler systems include a sample block that has a plurality of reaction regions or sample block wells and that is configured to receive a plurality of samples contained in sample wells of a sample holder. The samples may be sealed within the wells of the sample holder via a lid, cap, sealing film or any other sealing mechanism between the wells and a heated cover. A variety of sample holders are used in thermal cycler systems including, for example, a multi-well microtiter plate, a micro card, or a through-hole array. Due to the variety of available sample holders, thermal cycler systems are often designed to be compatible with more than one type of sample holder. For example, sample blocks may be configured to receive a sample holder having either a full skirt or a semi-skirt. A full-skirted sample holder has skirting that generally extends on at least two opposite sides of the sample holder to the bottom portions of the sample wells, while the skirting of the semi-skirted sample holder leaves lower portions of the sample wells exposed. Designing a thermal cycler system compatible with sample holders having different designs often leads to inefficiencies depending on the actual sample holder used. To perform the PCR process successfully, efficiently, and accurately, these inefficiencies should be minimized to the greatest extent possible.
There is an increasing need to provide improved thermal cycler systems that address one or more of the above drawbacks.

Thermal cycler systems and methods of use


A flexible hinge including a first set of plies and a second set of plies, and a hinge area where the first set of plies and the second set of plies bend. A damping material is disposed between plies of the first set and the second set at least at the hinge area thereof to control the deployment of the hinge.

Key optical components of large aperture, space based optical instruments may be deployed on orbit to provide an aperture large enough to increase the resolution and optical performance by several orders of magnitude. The performance of such instruments depends on maintaining the precision and stability of the deployed structural geometry to within nanometers of an ideal shape. Nonlinear contact mechanics and freedom in the components of deployed structures mean that deployed instruments will have the capacity to change shape at the micron and nanometer level of resolution. Eliminating such nonlinearities as load path friction and freeplay would enable a deployed structure to be as linear and precise as a monolithic block of material.
In most mechanically deployed structures, components are moved from their stored positions into their final operational positions by some type of actuator and then locked into place with a deployment latch. For high precision structures, it is critical that the load paths and load predictable for the reliable operation of the instrument.
Existing deployable structure joints have several limitations that either completely prevent them from being used in high precision deployable instruments or require complex analysis and additional launch mass to provide deployment actuation and post deployment locking. Hinge joints previously used in moderate precision structures have relied on high levels of preload and friction to eliminate freeplay and geometric ambiguity. These joints have been shown to be unstable at the micron level, causing the structure to "micro-lurch" or change shape and thus move the instrument's optics far out of alignment.
Existing joints for precision space structures relied on high levels of preload between the many components to eliminate gaps and free play that cause inaccuracies in the structure. Unfortunately, these high levels of preload introduce correspondingly high levels of friction both during the deployment and after deployment has been completed. Friction mechanisms are nonlinear and thus are more difficult to control and less predictable.
Other hinge designs such as latch and actuator type systems suffer from the same disadvantages.
Recently, foldable truss members have been developed so that a truss structure can be collapsed and compactly packaged to save space during delivery and then released to expand and return to its original shape in orbit. All of these mechanisms add to the mass, expense and complexity of the structure and to the difficulty and expense of transporting it. These foldable members reduce the mass (and the delivery cost) of the structure by replacing the hinge, latch and actuator mechanisms with one single device. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,391 incorporated herein by this reference.
Solid rods are joined on their ends forming a truss structure (a square frame for a solar panel array or a superstructure for a communications satellite antenna, for example) and pre-selected rods are cut in sections to form a hinge between the two sections. The rod sections are joined with spring steel elements similar to, if not actually, lengths of a carpenter's tape measure.
The rod sections can be folded with respect to each other by imparting a localized buckling force to one of the spring steel elements. Simply letting go of one rod section, returns the two rod sections to an end to end alignment due to the potential energy stored in the biased spring steel hinge elements.
In this way, a truss structure made up of several of these foldable rods can be designed on earth, collapsed for delivery to space, and then released once in position in space where the foldable rods flex back into position forming the truss structure designed and constructed on earth.
In use, this spring steel hinge design suffers from a number of shortcomings. First, hinges formed of spring steel elements require joining the ends of each spring steel element to a rod section. These joints and the spring steel elements themselves add significantly to the overall weight of the truss structure which is an undesired factor in space launch capability.
The spring steel elements also result in dimensionally unstable truss structures. The dimensional instability is caused by the relative motion of the internal components including the joints between the spring elements and the rod sections and permanent yielding of different areas of the spring elements themselves.
The result is that the shape of the truss structure may change when it is erected in space from the shape of the truss structure before it was collapsed on earth. This can have disastrous effects on instrument performance as even a ten nanometer to ten micrometer displacement can severely affect the performance of primary and secondary optics attached to the truss structure.
The inventors hereof have developed flexible material hinges or "strain-energy" hinges of various configurations which bend and fold and then, when released, automatically unfold. These types of hinges are used to fold and then deploy structures and structural system in which simplicity of operation and reliability of performance are greatly desired. Such systems have been used with great success in the deployment of spacecraft components such as solar arrays and antennae.
In traditional strain energy deployment, a flexible material such as a spring steel or thin fiber-reinforced plastic (composite) flexes to allow motion about a bending hinge line and is held in its stowed configuration until such time as deployment is desired. Once released, the stored strain energy in the flexed material provides the motive force to unfold the structure. In some systems, a lenticular or curved shape of flexing material is used so that once the flexing hinge straightens out, it locks into place with a curved shape that is significantly stronger in cross section than its bent, stowed shape.
Since the hinge is only flexing, there is no inherent friction to retard its deployment and, when such a folded hinge is released, the unfolding deployment action is very fast, almost violent.
Uncontrolled deployment of purely elastic systems results in extremely fast speeds at the end of deployment at latch-up that result in either excessive momentum loads being transferred into the structure, or an overload of the hinge as the momentum of the deployed article carries through to the latched hinge.
Existing solutions are either at the system level, providing mechanical restraint through a lanyard, or are at the material level, replacing the steel or composite hinge material with shape memory alloy or shape memory reinforced polymer. Both of these potential solutions have significant shortcomings that add to the overall weight and cost.
Mechanical restraint systems typically rely on a lanyard or linkage that connect the structure being deployed to an energy absorbing device such as an eddy current damper or visco-elastic damper. Devices such as these add to the mass and complexity of the overall system as well as complicating the kinematics of the deployment through the introduction of additional elements that must be managed and controlled.
Active materials such as shape memory alloys, shape memory plastics, and shape memory composites require the use of a heat source to raise their temperature above the phase change temperature. Once above the phase change temperature, the strain embedded in the material is released, causing actuation of the overall structure. However, the addition of the electrical components also adds to the cost and weight of the overall system and adds power, command and control requirements that previously did not exist. Additionally, active materials must make stiffness and density sacrifices in order to provide for the active material properties. The resulting mass and complexity additions reduce the advantages provided by the rate control inherent in the use of active materials.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A plastic refractory composition in which the constituents are silicon carbide grain having a SiC content of at least 92% SiC, a calcined or reactive alumina, up to 10% bentonite, and 0.5 to 5% boron phosphate. A phosphorous-containing liquid is used to bind the composition when used.. Also disclosed are pressed shapes, particularly tiles, made from such compositions in which ball clay is substituted for the bentonite.

The present invention relates to silicon carbide refractory compositions and, in particular, to silicon carbide based plastic refractories.
Plastic refractories comprise a blend of ground refractory materials and clays and occur in a plastic consistency suitable for ramming into place to form monolithic linings.
Such plastics (including silicon carbide-based plastics) are used in a variety of high temperature furnaces and metallurgical vessels, and while generally satisfactory have a number of deficiencies in certain particular uses. Specifically, such plastics are used in vessels which contain molten aluminum such as in troughs which are used to transfer molten aluminum from melters to holders, ramps in aluminum reverberatory furnaces which experience mechanical wear from charging, and other high wear areas of aluminum reverberatory furnaces such as hearths and bellyband areas. In these areas plastics do not have sufficient resistance to aluminum adhesion and penetration, thus limiting the service life of such plastics.
Moreover, due to erosion and/or aluminum metal penetration of the silicon carbide plastic, there is a contamination of the metal being processed in high wear areas of the trough or furnace. Also, the plastics do not have sufficient abrasion resistance for long term service.

Silicon carbide refractory composition and products


A steam coil apparatus for transferring heat between steam passing through the apparatus and air flowing past the apparatus, the apparatus including a plurality of spaced outlet tubes extending substantially parallel to one another in a direction generally transverse to the direction of flow of the second fluid, and a plurality of fins or other extended surface attached to the outlet tubes and extending generally transverse to the outlet tubes. A plurality of inlet tubes are provided, each being received within one of the outlet tubes and formed of a diameter smaller than the diameter of the outlet tube within which it is received. The inlet tubes are provided with axially spaced orifices through which the first fluid passes from the inlet tubes to the outlet tubes. An outlet header is provided in fluid communication with the outlet tubes, and first and second opposed inlet headers communicate with the inlet tubes. The first inlet header communicates with a first set of the inlet tubes and the second inlet header communicates with a second set of the inlet tubes, wherein each inlet tube of the first set is spaced from each adjacent inlet tube in the first set by an inlet tube of the second set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to heat exchangers and, more particularly, to a steam coil apparatus having opposed inlet headers which feed steam into alternating rows of tubes in order to provide for more even distribution of the steam through the apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is known to provide a steam heater including a plurality of generally horizontally extending outer tubes extending across a region past which air flows during heating of the air. In such devices steam and the resulting hot condensate water is delivered to the outer tubes via inner tubes received therein. The inner tubes receive steam from a laterally disposed inlet header, and are provided with spaced-apart openings which discharge steam into the concentric outer tubes. An example of such a device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,978 to Jones, issued Jul. 11, 1961.
This general type of device remains in use today in ventilators, heaters and air conditioning systems, for transferring heat between the steam supplied to the apparatus and air flowing past the device. During normal operation, at steam pressures of 2-5 psig or greater, steam from the inlet header fills the inner tubes and is forced somewhat evenly under the pressure into the concentric outer tubes and delivered from the device. This even distribution of the steam through and along the inner tubes provides an even distribution of heat across the fins connected to the outer tubes so that the temperature of air passing the device is raised evenly, with few isolated, localized hot spots or cold spots forming.
A drawback to the conventional construction arises when the pressure of the steam fed to the apparatus drops below the design full load operating pressure, and is magnified at very low pressures of below 2 psig. It is often necessary to operate a steam coil apparatus at such low pressures in order to obtain the desired heating capacity of the heat exchanger. However, when such low pressures are employed in the conventional construction, hot spots and cold spots develop in the streams of air passing across the device, which can cause the system which the apparatus is installed within to malfunction or freeze under certain circumstances.
For example, it is known to employ a steam coil in a ventilation system for hospitals, laboratories or the like, wherein the steam coil is used to warm incoming, outdoor air to a desired, controlled temperature (e.g. 45.degree. F.) as the preheat coil in the air conditioning system which also utilizes chilled water coils in the same system. Typically, the chilled water coil is located from 1-6 feet downstream of the heating coil such that any stratification of temperature across the air stream remains substantially unchanged between the steam coil and the chilled water coil.
Where a safety assembly is included in the air conditioning system for shutting down the system when the temperature of the air entering the chilled water coil is below a predetermined temperature (such as 38.degree. F.) the possibility arises that cool air from within a localized cold spot will trip a sensor of the safety assembly causing the system to shut down even though the average temperature of the air reaching the chilled water coil is still at the desired operating temperature. Alternatively, without safety shutdown, the localized cold spot could result in freezing in the chilled water coil and resulting damage and repairs.
These localized hot spots and cold spots are created by uneven distribution of steam within the steam coil. At low pressures, steam fed to the inlet tubes of the conventional construction travels to the distal ends of the tubes before passing through the holes to the concentric outer tubes. Or, in the case of a steam coil with inner tubes supplied from both ends; steam fed to the inlet tubes travels to the midpoint of the tube length before passing through the holes to the concentric outer tube. This uneven distribution which occurs within each inner tube is due to the inertia of the fluid and causes the temperature at the distal end of each tube or the midpoint, in the case of the coil supplied from both ends, to rise above the temperature at the proximal end thereof. Because steam is fed to all of the inner tubes in the same direction, the temperature along the lateral side of the steam coil aligned with the distal ends of the inlet pipes increases or the midpoint, in the case of the coil supplied from both ends, while the temperature along the opposing lateral side of the steam coil drops.
When the temperature of the incoming, ambient air drops below freezing, and the steam coil is operated at lower than design steam supply pressures, the localization of heat at the distal ends of the inlet tubes heats the air to a temperature much greater than that desired, while air adjacent the proximal ends of the inlet tubes may allow water within the steam coil or the downstream chilled water coil to freeze. This extreme variation within the steam coil can cause failure of the device, or of the downstream system components (e.g. chilled water coil), or safety shutdown of the system.

Steam coil with alternating row opposite end feed


The invention is directed to elastomeric meltblown webs having desirable strength and stretch/recovery properties which can be produced at relatively high throughputs and/or relatively low die pressures. The meltblown webs of the invention comprise a blend of (i) a fully hydrogenated diblock or triblock thermoplastic elastomer copolymer or mixtures thereof based on polystyrene and poly(ethylene-butylene) blocks; and (ii) from about 5% by weight up to about 50% by weight of a copolymer of ethylene and acrylic acid or ethylene and a lower alkyl ester of acrylic acid in which the ethylene content ranges from about 5% by weight up to about 50% by weight.

Elastomeric meltblown webs have been proposed for use in a variety of products including composite fabrics including hydroentangled fabrics; in diapers, training pants and other personal hygiene products in which stretch and conformability to body shapes are considered important. Fully hydrogenated (saturated) diblock and/or triblock copolymers and mixtures thereof based on polystyrene blocks and poly(ethylene-butylene) blocks have been the subject of considerable attention for producing meltblown elastomeric webs because of their high temperature stability and their ability to produce meltblown webs with desirable properties.
Commercially available polystyrene-(ethylene-butylene) diblock and triblock copolymers include the KRATON-G resins commercially available from Shell Chemical Company. Because of the high viscosities associated with these resins, the manufacturer's literature suggests blending of the resins with certain relatively low molecular weight materials. The blending of such materials with the KRATON resins can reduce the processing temperatures, thereby minimizing the degradation of the materials, or can reduce melt processing viscosities, thereby enabling throughputs to be increased at lowered pressures in extrusion processes, such as meltblowing processes. The Shell literature teaches that the lower molecular weight materials which are useful in blends include those which are compatible with the polystyrene (PS) segments of the copolymer, and materials which are compatible with the ethylene-butylene (EB) segments. Materials which are compatible with the (PS) segments include polystyrene and poly(methylacrylate) while polyolefins are compatible with the (EB) segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,220 to Wisneski and U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,371 to Morman disclose the preparation of meltblown webs from blends of saturated (PS)-(EB) diblock and triblock elastomers together with polyolefin resins. However, the preparation of meltblown webs at high throughput rates using these blends can result in processing difficulties rendering the high throughput meltblowing process uneconomical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,534 to Des Marais discloses the use of fatty acids or fatty alcohols as plasticizers useful in the meltblowing of KRATON G, fully saturated elastomers. More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,203 to Himes discloses blends of the fully saturated KRATON G-type resins plasticized with anionically polymerized styrene or alpha-methyl styrene or their copolymers, or hydrogenated polystyrene. Optionally, a microcrystalline wax may also be added.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,447 to Hazelton discloses a method for preparing a nonwoven web from a blend comprising (i) an elastomeric copolymer of an isoolefin and a conjugated diolefin, and (ii) a thermoplastic olefin polymer resin. The elastomers (i) disclosed include copolymers of styrene and butadiene, but none of the fully hydrogenated block copolymers of the KRATON G-type are disclosed. A wide range of thermoplastic resins are disclosed as component (ii), including polyolefins, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polybutylene, polypentene, copolymers of ethylene and propylene, copolymers of ethylene with unsaturated esters of lower carboxylic acids including copolymers of ethylene with vinylacetate or alkyl acrylates, and the like. However, the unsaturated block copolymers lack the high temperature stability of the saturated block copolymers, and thus elastomeric webs from these materials or blends of these materials can be more difficult to process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,279 to Graham discloses meltblown webs formed from blends of ethylene-acrylic copolymer or ethylene-vinylacetate blended with a second fiber-forming polymer such as a polyolefin. However, the elastomeric webs formed from blends based on ethylene-acrylic copolymers and/or ethylene vinylacetate copolymers, as the elastomeric material, have only limited stretch and recovery properties.
Despite substantial effort and experimentation in the art, only a limited number of elastomeric materials have been used with any substantial commercial success to produce elastomeric webs. Moreover, various processing difficulties are still encountered when attempts are made to produce meltblown elastomeric webs at relatively high throughput rates.


Removal of the nucleotide sequence encoding the signal peptide from the INGAP coding sequence allows cultured cells to express substantial amounts of INGAP activity. Previous attempts have provided only low yields of INGAP, possibly because the signal sequence of INGAP is toxic to the cells.

Pancreatic islets of Langerhans are the only organs of insulin production by β cells in the body. However, they have a limited capacity for regeneration. This limited regeneration capacity predisposes mammals to develop diabetes mellitus. Thus there is a need in the art of endocrinology for products which can stimulate the regeneration of islets of Langerhans to prevent or ameliorate the symptoms of diabetes mellitus.
There are many factors regulating pancreatic β cell mass. (Vinik, et al., Diabetes Reviews 4: 235-263, 1996.) A pancreatic extract called ilotropin induces β cell regeneration and reverses diabetes. (Rosenberg et al. (1996) Diabetologia 39: 256-262. A gene encoding a protein within ilotropin has been identified and isolated; the protein is responsible for stimulating islet cell regeneration. (Rafaeloff, R. Journal of Clinical Investigations 99: 2100-2109, 1997.) This protein is called INGAP, and is disclosed in patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/401,530, 08/709,662, and 60/006,271. The disclosure of these applications is expressly incorporated herein. Despite the knowledge of the complete nucleotide sequence of the INGAP gene, expression of the protein has been limited. Thus there is a need in the art for methods of expressing and isolating large quantities of the INGAP protein, especially in eukaryotic systems.

High level of expression of INGAP in bacterial and eukaryotic cells

Eastern Virginia Medical School of the Medical College of Hampton


Transparent egg cartons suitable for being made from a variety of transparent polymeric materials and particularly from polylactic acid or other biodegradable polymers are described. The egg cartons use a “W” shaped hinge or box hinge element for hingedly connecting the lid to the tray or a flap to the tray. The flap is made with lattice struts to increase the lateral strength thereof, and contains at least three button tabs for interlocking the flap with the lid. The lateral most button tabs are located about ⅛th the length of the flap from the ends of the flap. The egg cartons have an awning portion that extends from the front surface of the lid to cover the “W” shaped hinge or box hinge when the lid is closed. A space is provided between the edge of the awning and the hinge for a consumer to place a finger for disengaging the lid from the flap.

Conventional egg cartons in wide use today are typically made either of a fibrous material, such as cardboard, or a foamed polymeric material, such as foamed polystyrene (Styrofoam™). While these materials are inexpensive to prepare they share the same disadvantage of being opaque, requiring a consumer to open the lid of the egg carton to inspect the eggs for damage.
Egg cartons made of a transparent polymeric materials, such as poly ethylene terephthalate (PET) polymers have also come into use, although to a more limited extent than cardboard and foamed polystyrene cartons. Such transparent egg cartons exhibit various disadvantages that result from the properties of the materials used. For example, while these materials are recyclable, they are not biodegradable. In addition, most plastic materials, such as PET, have too much resiliency to easily operate as a crease type hinge between the lid of the carton and the tray that holds the eggs.
One method of solving the hinge problem with transparent egg cartons is illustrated in FIG. 1 where the edges between the lid and the carton that define the hinge are connected by a series of micro-battens that extend into slots formed along the edges of the lid and the tray. The series of battens are more bendable than a creased strip of PET. A disadvantage of this design is that it is more costly to produce than a standard type of hinge, such as used with foamed polystyrene and cardboard cartons, where the hinge is formed by continuous crease in the strip of material that defines the junction between the base and lid. Another method of solving this problem is to use a two hinge design, where two rounded hinge portions of the plastic are separated by an intermediate panel as illustrated in FIG. 2. One problem with this design is that the lid must be closed by rotating about two axes rather than one, making proper alignment of the lid over the tray more difficult.
Another problem with hinge junctions for egg cartons made of transparent plastics relates to difficulty in securely interlocking the lid onto the tray. In the typical cardboard or foamed polystyrene carton, a front flap is provided on the front of the tray and the flap also has a crease hinge along the junction between the flap and the tray. The flap contains two tabs positioned to fit into two holes formed in corresponding positions of the front surface of the lid, each positioned about ⅓rd the length of the flap from the edge. Because transparent polymeric materials tend to be relatively pliable, a full egg carton made with a flap and two tabs would tend to bend downwardly when grasped by the end, causing failure of the carton or premature release of the tabs from the lid. Moreover, because the resiliency of transparent polymeric materials is relatively large, a creased hinge for the flap has the same problems as a creased hinge for the lid.
One method to overcome this problem illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 is to dispense with the flap altogether. In the trifold design of FIG. 1, instead of using a flap, two lids are used. The first lid is conformed to fit over the top of the eggs, and the second lid is conformed to fit over the first lid. In the design of FIG. 2, instead of using a flap, the lid and tray of the carton are configured with a series of snap locks 103 around the rim. One problem with this design is that it is difficult to precisely align each of the snap locks into position. Another problem is that a relatively large amount of force is required to snap and unsnap the lid to the tray. Yet another method of solving this problem, exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,240,575 is to form the locking flap and hinge at an obtuse angle so that the flap is situated in a partially closed position. However, this design does not eliminate the problem of bending of the egg carton when grasped from the end.
Another problem with resiliency in egg cartons made of transparent plastic materials is difficulty for a consumer to release the lid form the interlocking tabs and holes. In the cardboard or foamed polystyrene designs, the consumer typically pulls the front of the lid forward from the center to clear the holes from the tabs and rotates the lid upward to open the carton. However, if the flap and lid are made of typical transparent polymeric materials, which are more pliable than cardboard or foamed polystyrene, pulling the front surface of the lid forward from the middle creates a bow action that results in bowing of the middle of the flap outward and the lateral sides of the flap inward, making it difficult to release the lid from the button tabs on the flap. One method of overcoming this problem exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,894 is to make the lateral portions of the flap thicker than the central portion to reduce the bowing effect. A problem with this design is that more material is required to form the flap.
Accordingly there is a need in the art to provide transparent egg cartons that have the advantages of cardboard and foamed polystyrene egg cartons while lacking the disadvantages inherent to cartons made of transparent polymeric materials.

Transparent egg carton with closure flap


The present invention relates to a hydrodynamic brake which comprises a stator, a rotor, a toroidal space defined by the stator and the rotor, a medium which is intended to be supplied to the toroidal space when the brake is activated, and a multiplicity of components for allowing regulation of the flow of the medium to and from the toroidal space. The hydrodynamic brake incorporates a structure with a multiplicity of recesses which each have an opening in a substantially common plane and each is intended to accommodate one of the components.

The invention relates to a hydrodynamic brake and particularly to structures housing components of the brake.
Hydrodynamic brakes such as retarders incorporate not only a stator and a rotor but also a number of components which are necessary for ensuring proper functioning of the retarder. Such components may comprise valves of various kinds which regulate the oil flow in a number of pipe circuits for the retarder. Another component is a pump (which may be a gear pump) which is required for transferring oil from an oil sump. A further component is an accumulator which caters for rapid filling of the retarder when necessary. Conventional retarders are usually constructed in such a way that the majority of said components are relatively dispersed in the retarder. This renders the fitting and servicing of components of a conventional retarder laborious and relatively complicated.


An electrical distribution harness assembly of a modular power assembly for providing power to an office furniture assembly including an exterior surface includes at least one electrical connector, a channel, and a cover. The channel includes a wireway and at least one slideway integral with the wireway. The channel is coupled with the at least one electrical connector and is configured for carrying a plurality of electrical conductors. The cover is slidably received within the at least one slideway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to modular power assemblies for office furniture, and, more particularly, to an electrical distribution harness assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Office furniture, such as tables or desks, often need electrical power, or data cabling, to be provided to work surfaces associated with these tables or desks. Electrical wires, for instance, are often routed from the nearest electrical service outlet in a wall either to a power strip placed on a floor near a desk or directly to an electrical load (such as a lamp) on or near the desk. This can often result in a multiplicity of exposed, entangled, insulated wires being deposited on the floor near the desk and/or hanging from the desk and extending towards the floor or service outlet. This entanglement of unsecured wires can result in disorder, unpleasing aesthetics, and, even worse, disruption to the user.
Furthermore, the electrical power to such office furniture can be provided using modular power assemblies, which can include one or more electrical distribution harness assemblies. Electrical distribution harness assemblies can transport wires between two electrical connectors using a conductor carrier. Each electrical connector can be riveted to the conductor carrier, which is not always desirable.
What is needed in the art is an electrical distribution harness assembly which can be attached under a work surface so as to present a low profile and which includes an electrical connector and a conductor carrier which couple together quickly and easily.

Electrical distribution harness assembly


A region of high metal density may be placed in metal layers proximate to an area of low metal density below an inductor on an integrated circuit without violating manufacturing design rules for reducing manufacturing defects and without substantially impacting performance of the inductor. These results are achieved by including a transitional region that includes conductive structures electrically isolated from each other between the region of high metal density and the region of low metal density. The transitional region has a structure that allows a negligible amount of current flow to be induced in the structure.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly to such integrated circuits incorporating inductors.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inductor formed on an integrated circuit is generally susceptible to performance degradation due to electromagnetic coupling of conductive structures near the inductor. In designs particularly sensitive to inductor performance, the impact of the coupling from these electromagnetic signals may be lessened by reducing or eliminating structures that affect performance. Accordingly, a design may reduce or eliminate conductive structures near an inductor, generating areas of the integrated circuit having a low metal density extending from the inductor through one or more integrated circuit layers. Unfortunately, in some integrated circuit manufacturing processes, areas of high metal density adjacent to areas of low metal density, in the same or even different metal layers, may have increased susceptibility to manufacturing defects and violate design rules implemented to reduce the impact of these defects in the particular process.
Accordingly, a technique is desired for forming high metal density integrated circuit structures near areas of low metal density without a significant impact on performance of nearby inductors and without violating design rules for a given manufacturing process.

Method and structure for forming relatively dense conductive layers


A method is provided for a planar surface of a semiconductor integrated circuit, and an integrated circuit formed according to the same. A conductive layer is formed over a substrate. A silicon nitride layer is formed over the conductive layer. A photoresist layer is then formed and patterned over the silicon nitride layer. The silicon nitride layer and the conductive layer are etched to form an opening exposing a portion of the substrate. The photoresist layer is then removed. The exposed substrate and a portion of the conductive layer exposed along the sidewalls in the opening are oxidized. An planarizing insulating layer such as spin-on-glass is formed over the silicon nitride layer and in the opening. The insulating layer is etched back to expose the silicon nitride wherein an upper surface of the insulating layer is level with an upper surface of the conductive layer. The silicon nitride layer is then removed. A planar silicide layer is then formed over the conductive layer.

The manufacturing costs of integrated circuits are largely dependent upon the chip area required to implement desired functions. The chip area, in turn, is defined by the geometries and sizes of the active components such as gate electrodes in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology, and diffused regions such as MOS source and drain regions and bipolar emitters and base regions. These geometries and sizes are often dependent upon the photolithographic resolution available for the particular manufacturing facility. The goal of photolithography in establishing the horizontal dimensions of the various devices and circuits is to create a pattern which meets design requirements as well as to correctly align the circuit pattern on the surface of the wafer. As line widths shrink smaller and smaller in submicron photolithography, the process to print lines and contact holes in photoresist becomes increasingly more difficult.
With circuit advancement to the very-large-scale integration (VLSI) levels, more and more layers are added to the surface of the wafer. These additional layers in turn create more steps on the wafer surface. The resolution of small image sizes in photolithography thus becomes more difficult over the additional steps due to light reflection and the thinning of the photoresists over the steps. Planarization techniques are generally incorporated to offset the effects of a varied topography.
In addition to the planarization techniques used to increase photolithographic resolution, the chip area also depends on the isolation technology used. Sufficient electrical isolation must be provided between active circuit elements so that leakage current does not cause functional or specification failures. Increasingly stringent specifications, together with the demand, for example, for smaller memory cells in denser memory arrays, places significant pressure on the isolation technology in memory devices, as well as in other modern integrated circuits.
A well-known and widely-used isolation technique is the local oxidation of silicon, commonly referred to as LOCOS. The LOCOS process was a great technological improvement in reducing the area needed for the isolation regions and decreasing some parasitic capacitances. LOCOS field oxide is generally formed to a sufficient thickness that a conductor placed over the field oxide will not invert the channel underneath, when biased to the maximum circuit voltage. The LOCOS field oxide, however, as well as other isolation techniques, adds topography to the integrated circuit surface. The additional topography is a result of the silicon dioxide necessarily occupying a greater volume than that of the silicon prior to its oxidation, due to the reaction of the silicon to oxygen. As a result, the surface of conventional LOCOS field oxide is above the surface of the active regions, with approximately half of the oxide thickness being above the active region surface. This topography requires overlying conductors to cover steps at the edges of the field oxide which presents the potential for problems in etching the conductor layer and in the reliability of the conductor layer. In addition, the depth of field for submicron photolithography can be exceeded by the topography of the wafer surface.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method of forming an isolation structure having a surface which is substantially coplanar with the surface of the adjacent active regions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a method which can be used for both wide and narrow isolation locations.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a method which utilizes thermal silicon dioxide as the isolation material.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a method which substantially fills the isolation recesses with a planarizing insulating layer.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification together with the drawings.

Method of forming a MOSFET structure with planar surface


A coin changer having a funnel portion, a coin changer body, and an acceptor removably mounted to the coin changer body. The funnel portion has a front funnel portion, two side funnel portions and a rear funnel portion. The rear funnel portion is attached to the coin changer body and the front funnel portion is attached to the acceptor.

Vending machines typically include coin changer devices for accepting coins of different denominations. These coin changer devices function to authenticate each of the coins inserted into the vending machine and to determine the denomination of each of the coins. Once this function is accomplished the coins are routed within the coin changer device to one of three possible destinations. The first destination, assuming the coin has been determined to be acceptable, is to a coin tube where the coin may be stored for subsequent payout or escrow purposes. The second possible destination, again assuming the coin is acceptable and the coin tube to which it should be routed is full, is to a cash box for later retrieval by a route man or other service personnel. A coin which is deemed unacceptable is typically returned to the customer via a coin return cup associated with the vending machine.
The acceptor portion of the changer is usually designed as a separate module that performs coin validation and routing functions. This module is connected to the changer mechanically and electrically with ease of installation and removal in mind. Presently, when a technician needs to remove the acceptor from the coin changer while the changer is installed in a vending machine, the chute that feeds coins into the changer often must be moved or disassembled. This is because the chute can extend into the funnel of the acceptor to prevent jams or coins inadvertently leaving their proper path. This causes the process of replacing the acceptor to take additional time in order to complete the additional steps. Therefore, there is a need for a coin changer that allows the removal of the acceptor when the changer is installed in a vending machine that does not require a technician to move, disassemble or remove the coin chute.

Coin changer with improved funnel design


Optical disc drives designed for reduced power consumption switch the supply voltage in three stages between first, second, and third power supplies. The reduction in power consumption that is possible in the focusing and tracking drive circuits with three stage switching control is limited. This drive apparatus enables further reductions in power consumption. A drive output tracking signal is generated according to the drive conditions of the focusing or tracking drive circuit. The drive output tracking signal is applied to the drive circuit power supply, and the power supply is controlled according to the drive output tracking signal. A power supply change detector detects sudden changes in the drive output tracking signal, and inputs the detection signal to the DSP controlling the entire system. The DSP determines whether to improve the power supply response by comparison with predetermined conditions, and returns the result to the power supply.

1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates generally to a drive apparatus for an optical disc recording and reproducing apparatus, and relates more particularly to technology for reducing the power consumption of the drive circuit for driving an actuator while assuring a high response rate in the drive circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical disc media offer numerous benefits, including long media life as a result of non-contact recording and reading, random accessibility enabling significantly faster access to desired content than is possible with magnetic tape, and a large storage capacity. Disc drives for reading and/or writing Compact Disc (CD) and DVD (digital versatile disc) have thus become standard equipment on most personal computers sold today. In order to meet the demand for ever higher data transfer rates, faster disc motors are being used to rotationally drive the optical discs.
Optical disc drives used in desktop personal computers generally have a 5-V power supply with an output voltage of 5 volts, or a 12-V power supply with an output voltage of 12 volts. Two types of actuators are used in order to track the laser spot with an optical pickup, which is a type of movable head. One of these is a focusing actuator for adjusting the focus by moving the objective lens of the optical pickup in the focusing direction. The other is a tracking actuator for tracking the recording path by moving the objective lens in the tracking direction. The 5-V power supply and 12-V power supply are generally used to drive the focusing drive circuit and tracking drive circuit that respectively drive these actuators. The highest possible power supply voltage is used to drive the disc motor in order to increase disc speed, and a 12-V power supply is generally used in desktop personal computers. With increased integration of the DSP (digital signal processor) chips, a signal process circuit that operates with an approximately 3.3-V supply voltage is also increasingly incorporated in the optical disc drive.
Depending upon the optical disc drive operating conditions, the supply voltage to both the focusing and tracking drive circuits is preferably as high as possible. When the disc motor speed increases, for example, the servo also accelerates more quickly to the point being tracked on the disc. This requires operating both the focusing and tracking actuators at a higher rate of acceleration, and requires a stronger coil current. As a result, a high supply voltage is preferable for both the focusing and tracking drive circuits.
Increasing the access speed during optical disc playback requires moving and stopping the light spot at high speed in the tracking direction, and this requires operating the tracking actuator at a high rate of acceleration. This also makes a high supply voltage preferable for the tracking drive circuit.
A high supply voltage is also preferable for the focusing drive circuit when playing a disc with warp. When playing a disc with eccentricity, the supply voltage of the tracking drive circuit is preferably high. There are thus various circumstances in which a high power supply voltage is necessary.
The need for faster operation as described above is complicated by strong demand for low power consumption. The drivers for driving the actuators use PWM (pulse width modulation) control instead of linear drive control based on BTL drivers using bipolar transistors. This is because PWM drivers can reduce the power loss resulting from the internal voltage drop of the circuit. Noise output by the PWM driver as a result of high frequency current switching is a problem for the optical disc drive, however, and thus requires a separate unit for suppressing such circuit emissions.
More particularly, the playback signal output from the optical pickup can be extremely weak in an optical disc drive that can both read and write. If the PWM driver is used to drive the actuator that moves the objective lens of the optical pickup at this time, electrical noise from the PWM driver will interfere with the playback signal from the optical pickup. This can result in optical disc drive malfunctions and a higher error rate.
To avoid this problem, optical disc drives for both reading and writing quite commonly drive the relatively low frequency, high current consumption disc motor drive circuit with a PWM driver, and drive the relatively low current consumption, high frequency focusing and tracking drive circuits with a linear drive BTL driver.
The product of the current times the difference between the power supply voltage and the voltage actually applied to the actuator in the focusing and tracking drive circuits is lost as heat energy in the BTL driver circuit. When an optical disc is played at low speed, a high power supply voltage is not required for the drive circuit. However, because a high supply voltage (12V) is used for the power supply of the drive circuit, a significant amount of power is wasted and excess heat is generated in the linear drive type BTL drive circuits. In other words, if the power supply voltage supplying the drive current is high even though the current required to drive the focusing and tracking actuators is low, power consumption by the power output transistors increases, and heat and power consumption by the chips containing the linear drive type BTL driver become a problem.
Setting the power supply voltage no higher than is necessary is one way to avoid this problem. However, when something with greater deviation than is expected during normal operation occurs, such as when a disc with warping or eccentricity very near the specification limit is inserted to the optical disc drive, the drive current supplied to the actuator that moves the objective lens of the optical pickup becomes insufficient, and the ability of the optical disc drive to play such discs drops. There is thus a trade-off between disc playability and the ability to reduce heat output by lowering the supply voltage.
Recent hybrid driver chips combine the functions of the disc motor drive circuit and focusing and tracking drive circuits in a single device. When the disc motor is driven at high speed, the motor current to the disc motor increases, and power consumption by the disc motor drive circuit in the hybrid driver chip increases. If the high supply voltage (12V) is used as the power supply for the focusing and tracking drive circuits at this time, the internal power consumption of the hybrid drive chip increases and the chip temperature rises. If the optical disc drive is used in a high temperature environment, the temperature of the hybrid drive chip may even exceed the maximum temperature limit. The problems of power consumption and heat output are thus tending to become even more pronounced in IC devices having an on-board linear drive type BTL driver and optical disc drives that use such IC devices.
To address these problems and needs, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. 2003-132555 teaches technology for switching the power supply voltage of the focusing and tracking drive circuits according to the operating conditions of the optical disc drive. FIG. 1 shows the optical disc drive taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. 2003-132555. Note that only those parts needed to describe the operating principle of this optical disc drive are shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, the optical pickup 130 emits a light beam to the optical disc 100, and the light reflected from the disc is converted to an electric signal that represents the information on the disc and is output to the playback signal processing circuit 140. The playback signal processing circuit 140 adjusts the amplitude of this playback signal, which is then demodulated by the playback signal demodulation circuit 150 to reproduce the information previously recorded on the optical disc 100.
The DSP unit 500 includes a microcomputer 510 and servo circuit 520. Rotation of the disc motor 110 is controlled by the disc motor drive circuit 120 based on signals output from the servo circuit 520 according to speed commands from the microcomputer 510, thereby driving the optical disc 100 at a specified speed.
The playback signal processing circuit 140 generates a focus error signal and a tracking error signal. The focus error signal indicates positioning error in the focal point of the laser beam in the focusing direction, and the tracking error signal indicates positioning error in the focal point of the laser beam in the tracking direction.
Based on the focus error signal output by the playback signal processing circuit 140, the servo circuit 520 controls the position of the focal point of the light spot in the focusing direction by the focusing drive circuit 220 and focus actuator 210 so that the light spot is focused on the recording surface of the optical disc 100. This is the focusing servo.
Based on the tracking error signal, the servo circuit 520 controls the position of the focal point of the light beam in the tracking direction by the tracking drive circuit 320 and tracking actuator 310 so that the light spot follows the recording track on the optical disc 100. This is the tracking servo.
In the optical disc drive taught in Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. 2003-132555, the power switching circuit 400 switches appropriately according to the operating conditions of the disc drive between the 5V power supply 162 that outputs 5V, the 12V power supply 161 that outputs 12V, and the 3.3V power supply 163 that outputs 3.3V to supply power to the focusing drive circuit 220 and tracking drive circuit 320 and thereby reduce the power consumption of the optical disc drive.
This optical disc drive thus has a first power supply that supplies a first output voltage to the focusing drive circuit 220 and tracking drive circuit 320 during normal playback and recording conditions, and a second power supply that supplies a second output voltage that is higher than the first output voltage, and at least one of these power supplies is externally sourced. A switching unit switches to the second power supply when actuator drive power must be increased. A third power supply unit for stepping down the power supplied from the first or second power source to a third voltage that is lower than the first power supply voltage is also provided, and the power switching circuit 400 switches the power supply for the focusing drive circuit 220 or tracking drive circuit 320 to this third power supply based a command from the control unit.
The 3.3V power supply 163 that is the third power supply is often a DC-DC step-down converter, and a typical DC-DC step-down converter 23500 is described below with reference to FIG. 2.
This DC-DC step-down converter 23500 has a voltage comparator 23100, a PWM comparator 23200, a switching circuit 23300, and a step-down voltage generator 23400. The voltage comparator 23100 comprises a voltage amplifier 23110, resistance RC, and capacitance CC. The input terminals of the voltage comparator 23100 are the non-inverted input terminal and the inverted input terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110, and the output terminal of the voltage comparator 23100 is the output terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110. The output terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110 is connected to one side of the capacitance CC, the other side of the capacitance CC is connected to one side of the resistance RC, and the other side of the resistance RC is connected to the inverted input terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110.
The output terminal of the voltage comparator 23100 is connected to the inverted input terminal of the PWM comparator 23200, and the sawtooth wave 23210 voltage signal is input to the non-inverted input terminal of the PWM comparator 23200. The output terminal of the PWM comparator 23200 is connected to the control terminal controlling the switching circuit 23300. The switching circuit 23300 uses a pnp transistor 23310 and a regeneration current diode 23320. The emitter terminal of the pnp transistor 23310 is connected to the 5V power supply, and the collector is connected to the cathode terminal of the regeneration current diode 23320 and the input terminal of the next-stage step-down voltage generator 23400. The anode terminal of the regeneration current diode 23320 is to ground.
The step-down voltage generator 23400 comprises a coil L and a charging capacitor CS, and the input terminal is connected to one side of the coil L. One side of the charging capacitor CS is to ground. The other side of the coil L and the other side of the charging capacitor CS are connected to the step-down voltage output terminal of the step-down voltage generator 23400 from which the step-down voltage VC is output. The step-down voltage output terminal is connected to the inverted input terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110 in the voltage comparator 23100, and the 3.3V reference voltage is input to the reference voltage input terminal, which is the non-inverted input terminal of the voltage amplifier 23110 and the input terminal of the DC-DC step-down converter 23500.
Operation of the DC-DC step-down converter 23500 is described below.
The voltage amplifier 23110 compares the reference voltage of 3.3 V with the step-down voltage VC, and steps up the output voltage if the step-down voltage VC is lower than the 3.3V reference voltage to raise the voltage applied to the inverted input terminal of the downstream PWM comparator 23200.
The PWM comparator 23200 compares the voltage of the sawtooth wave 23210 input to the non-inverted input terminal with the inverted input terminal voltage, and outputs a PWM signal with a short pulse width if the inverted input terminal voltage rises. This PWM signal makes the ON period of the switching circuit 23300, which switches the 5V power supply voltage, longer than the OFF period, the step-down voltage generator 23400 thus converts the switched 5V supply voltage to a nearly direct current voltage, and the step-down voltage VC of the step-down voltage output terminal thus rises.
Conversely, if the step-down voltage VC is greater than the 3.3V reference voltage, the output voltage of the voltage amplifier 23110 drops and as a result the step-down voltage VC of the step-down voltage output terminal also drops.
As a result of this negative feedback operation, the DC-DC step-down converter 23500 operates to make the 3.3V reference voltage and the step-down voltage VC nearly equal.
Separately from the above, Japanese Patent 3513062 teaches technology for reducing collisions between the objective lens of the optical disc drive and the disc media. Optical disc drives that uses dual-layer optical disc media such as DVDs use a focus jump technique to control movement and focusing of the laser spot between recording layers in order to read data from two data recording layers from one side of the disc. Focus jump control may fail repeatedly at the same place on the disc as a result of localized scratches on the disc or accelerated disc speed due to disc warping. The technology taught in Japanese Patent 3513062 reduces collisions between the objective lens and disc by stopping jumping where jumping fails repeatedly.
The technology known from the literature as described above provides the power supply voltage of the focusing and tracking drive circuits of the optical disc drive from a first power supply used for normal playback, a second power supply that outputs a higher voltage than the first power supply, and a third power supply that outputs a voltage lower than the first power supply, and switches to the second power supply voltage when faster response is needed. The operating status of the optical disc drive is also analyzed in order to handle varying degrees of disc warping and eccentricity by appropriately switching the power supply voltage between the first, second, and third power supplies, thereby reducing power consumption. However, there is a limit to the degree that power consumption can be reduced using a control method that switches the supply voltage to the focusing and tracking drive circuits in three stages, and the conventional technology described above does not address applying the optimal supply voltage required by the drive circuits for low power consumption.
An object of the present invention is to solve this problem by further reducing power consumption by the drive circuits while also affording fast drive circuit response.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An apparatus and method for facilitating the installation and removal of standard surface mount clock oscillator modules. A clock oscillator module socket is disclosed which can be mounted on a printed circuit board in the standard recommended land pattern for surface mount clock modules which will provide for easy installation of the clock module and easy removal of the module either for maintenance or for general replacement by a clock of different speed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic connector apparatus and more particularly to integrated circuit component sockets. The devices of this invention are particularly useful for electrically connecting crystal oscillators of various speeds to computer circuit boards.
2. Background
In a typical computer system today, many circuits are controlled by surface mounted crystal clock oscillators such as those supplied commercially by SaRonix, Pletronics, Inc. and others. The Pletronics SM1100 series of surface mount clock oscillators is a more specific exemplary type. Most computer systems installed today use clock oscillators at speeds below 40 MegaHertz (MHz). At these speeds oscillators have relatively low failure rates so that heretofore there has been little need for frequent replacement of the oscillator modules.
New computer systems are being designed to run at faster and faster speeds, requiring clock oscillators which run at 60 MHz, 80 MHz, and higher. Such higher speeds require design modifications of many of the standard circuits in these computer systems in order to avoid problems such as pulse echo, non-synchronization of multiple clocks, or general synchronization and reaction to more frequent clock pulses, etc. These circuit redesigns typically are tested at the prototype stage at low clock rates (for example, 20 MHz), and the clock rates then increased in a step-wise manner to isolate any rate-related problems. This step-wise increase in the clock rate is accomplished by demounting the 20 MHz clock oscillator, and mounting in its place a higher rate oscillator, say 40 MHz for example, and then retesting the circuits, boards, etc. with the higher clock rate. This procedure of de-mounting the clock oscillator module and mounting a higher rate module might be repeated with a 60 MHz module for additional retesting, and so on up to the highest clock rate for the particular circuit design.
A similar procedure occurs with these higher rate circuits during maintenance operations. In many cases, an apparent logic or circuit anomaly may not be correctly diagnosed or isolated without lowering the clock rate of the circuit. This requires removal (de-mounting) of the installed clock oscillator (for example an 80 MHz unit) and remounting a slower unit (for example a 40 MHz) in order to operate the circuit at the lower rate.
The problem which occurs in both the case of prototype testing and routine maintenance, is that there is no easy way to mount and de-mount the clock oscillator modules. All available clock oscillator modules are designed with either "J" leads compatible with the Electronic Industries Association (EIA) standard surface mount land pattern, or with "Gull-Wing" leads compatible with the semiconductor industry standard, SO-L-20 surface mount land pattern. These designs result in a mounting and de-mounting operation that typically requires removal of the circuit board involved, desoldering and often destructive removal of the installed unit, board cleanup, inserting of the new unit and resoldering. This procedure typically results in one-half to one and one-half days of reconfiguration effort on complex prototype boards, and unnecessarily increases development time and cost. This complex procedure for de-mounting and remounting a different clock makes trouble isolation and repair a difficult and time consuming task for service technicians. Thus there is a need for an apparatus which simplifies the insertion and replacement of clock oscillator modules. This need is further due to the dramatic increases in clock frequencies used by newer computer components, and the increasing density and complexity of related circuits and circuit boards.
Test sockets for integrated circuit devices have long been designed to allow easy and rapid replacement for mass testing and observation. Most such devices are designed for specific circuit modules. In the past, connector or socket type devices have been used or proposed for modules such as memory modules which can be added incrementally to a circuit board, or special configuration identification modules for parameters which change from time to time such as an ethernet address module. Such socket type devices generally contain female type jack assemblies into which the pins of the removable modules are inserted. However, many devices which are mounted on printed circuit boards have formed leads instead of pins such as the "J" leads of clock oscillators mentioned above. Socket assemblies to accommodate formed leads are not available for such devices as clock oscillator modules. The present invention fills this need.
An additional problem which has been experienced by users of pin type socket devices for component testing has been difficulty in obtaining acceptable electrical contact between the pins of the device being tested and the socket contacts. This problem is magnified when surface mount components are considered for use with sockets. However, the construction of the present invention provides greater surface contact and hence better electrical contact between the formed leads of the device and the socket contacts than the device normally has with the printed circuit board.
The socket apparatus of the present invention fills this need, and overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art devices as they relate to use with such surface mounted components.

Method and apparatus for replacing electronic components on a printed circuit board


A method and apparatus for automatically changing a user's avatar's displayed view perspective in a virtual world upon execution of a gesture by the avatar, and in which the view perspective is changed for each gesture. The configuration of the view perspective switching specifies an action, a speed, a position and a return time. An avatar implementing the present invention allows the user to avoid manual view perspective switching which interferes with the immersive environment of a virtual world.

In recent history, computers have become much more pervasive in society. In addition, they have become more powerful and faster, and have significantly more storage than they did just a few short years ago. These exponential increases in speed, storage and processor power have provided the necessary infrastructure for computers to network together effectively.
The most publicized computer network in existence is referred to as the Internet. The Internet is a connection of computers using the TCP/IP protocol. This has evolved into what is now referred to as the World-Wide Web which provides a somewhat cognitive interface into the Internet. The World-Wide Web allows users to access information by indicating the location of the information which they desire to retrieve or by traversing hyper-text links which cross-reference information in many different locations. This is made possible by the implementation of a universal resource locator (URL) as a way of locating information on the World-Wide Web.
Many products have been developed which assist the user in searching the web for information. Access to the World-Wide Web can be accomplished very inexpensively using a phone line, an inexpensive computer and a software program called a web browser such as Netscape's Navigator (.TM.) or IBM's Web Explorer (.TM.). This ability to inexpensively connect into the World-Wide Web has encouraged its use for much more than business purposes. The World-Wide Web is used for educational research, shopping, games, making reservations, trading stock and numerous other purposes. Children, as well as adults, are frequent users of the World-Wide Web.
While it was the advent of two-dimensional, graphically intense Web sites that spurred the popularity of the Internet, the next wave of technology will bring new interfaces to Internets, intranets and networks in general. These new interfaces will enable a more sensual interaction between the user and the content provided by the Web site. In particular, when a user interacts with the site, he can be immersed in a three-dimensional rendering of the site's information. This immersion might include audio cues or the ability to interact with other users. Collectively, these immersive interfaces are referred to as Virtual Reality, which provides a user-centric view of Web site content.
While Virtual Reality is still in its infancy, it traditionally uses computer simulations containing three-dimensional (3D) graphics and devices to allow the user to interact with the simulation. Much of what the user has been able to browse as "data" on the web may be able to be experienced as 3D Web sites in the future. Such Web sites are constructed with a Virtual Reality Modeling Language, herein referred to as VRML, which allows for the design and implementation of platform-independent scene descriptions. VRML is a file format for describing interactive 3D objects and worlds to be experienced on the World-Wide Web utilizing HTTP (A HyperText Transfer Protocol used on the Internet) in its implementation.
In today's virtual reality environments when a user enters a virtual world they take on a character persona known as the user's avatar. While the user is present in the world the user sees through the eyes of the avatar as they communicate with other avatars. The user can also signal the avatar to execute a range of emotions or actions that are viewable by any avatars looking in the user's direction. As the user signals the avatar to change emotion or execute a gesture a few problems arise:
1. the user cannot see the change in his own avatar's state; for example a smile or frown; PA1 2. the user may not be able to see the reaction to his avatar's action or emotion among other avatars due to his close proximity to a single avatar; and PA1 3. if the avatar's head moves sharply during a gesture (such as a nod) and this is faithfully reproduced to the user, the user may find the panning of the display disconcerting.
Current avatar implementations solve some of these problems by offering a manual selection for third-person perspective. This allows the user to traverse the virtual world while maintaining a third-person view or perspective of their avatar's facial and body positions. However, traveling in a virtual world with such a perspective destroys some of the benefits of participating in a virtual environment. Such a continual third-person perspective limits the user's ability to immerse themself in their virtual world. In this regard, today's avatar implementations require a user to manually select their avatar's perspective in advance and, thus, tradeoff first-person immersion in the world for viewing their avatar's gestures and actions instead.

Automatic and configurable viewpoint switching in a 3D scene

International Business Machines Corporation


Which call feature module, if any, is invoked in response to a user's input of a feature access code is made dependent upon the context in which the feature request is made, in a call-processing arrangement (200) that uses stored definitions of syntax (320, 350) and grammar (400, 410) of the network numbering plan. The syntax definitions are definitions (312) of individual symbol strings, including the feature access codes, and include the string's associated virtual node-point identifier (VNI 334) which indicates the string's influence on feature selections. A VNI (254) resulting from the VNIs of symbol strings included in the entire symbol sequence input by a user serves, along with parameters (1230, 1231, 1232) of the context, as a multi-dimensional pointer into a matrix (1202) of feature numbers (1203). The feature module (205) which corresponds to the feature number pointed to in the matrix by the pointer is then invoked and executed to provide a corresponding call feature.

Prior art telecommunication systems allow users to access features on the telecommunication system by dialing a feature-access code that is, sometimes followed by an extension number toward which the feature is to be directed. In stored program controlled telecommunication systems, the individual features are typically implemented via individual software modules, whose execution is invoked by receipt of the corresponding feature-access codes.
In some applications, it is desirable to condition the execution of a feature on factors in addition to the mere dialing of the corresponding feature access code. These factors are generally referred to as the context of the request that the dialing of the access code represents. For example, it may be desirable to deny certain users access to certain features such as being able to make long distance calls. To accomplish this, the prior art conventionally requires that the software of the feature module itself be modified to implement the desired conditionality. The modified software module is then invoked by the mere dialing of the feature-access code, as usual; but instead of automatically providing the called-for feature, the module first checks whether the requisite factors for providing the feature have been satisfied. The module provides the feature only if the factors are found to be satisfied. These factors are stored in tables normally referred to as station or trunk translations. In the above example, the feature module itself accesses and checks the station or trunk translations of the user, who dialed the access code, or the translations of the dialed extension number for permission to invoke the feature.
The feature software modules are a part of the telecommunication system's operating software and are referred to as the feature software. The operating software is a highly-complex set of programs with many intricate interdependencies. Any modifications to the feature software must therefore be done with great care and with an understanding of how those might affect other parts of the operating software or else the telecommunication system may cease to operate properly. Further, these modifications require that the feature modules perform different low level operations such as digit collection which requires a detailed knowledge of the system. Consequently, the introduction of conditionalities into call-feature software, and the customization of those conditionalities, typically cannot be done by the owner of the telecommunication system but must be done by the telecommunication system manufacturer, as a custom development, at a cost of significant effort and expense.
Many telecommunication system owners (e.g., private-party owners of PBXs and public-network owners of central office switches) find this arrangement unsatisfactory. They would like to be able to customize the factors, i.e., the context, that condition the availability or behavior of individual features on individual ones of their telecommunication systems, and to be able to change those factors and their effects at will. For example, a service provider may desire to selectively deny certain features to certain users on one telecommunication system, while selectively disabling those features for all users on a time-of-day basis on another telecommunication system. In addition, a system owner may wish to deny availability of a feature on all systems to all users on the occurrence of conditions that a call has experienced which would make the feature difficult or impossible to use.
Furthermore, a system owner may wish to provide different species of a single generic feature depending upon the context in which the feature is invoked. For example, in response to activation of a call-forwarding feature by a customer service agent, a PBX owner may wish to provide "call forwarding-busy and don't answer" with respect to calls incoming on a customer service line and directed to the agent during the time of day that the agent is on duty, may wish to provide "call-forwarding-don't answer" with respect to calls incoming on the agent's private line during the time of day that the agent is on duty, and may wish to provide "call forwarding-follow me" with respect to calls incoming on the agent's private line during the time of day that the agent is off duty. At the same time, the PBX owner may always wish to deny call-forwarding to the agent's supervisor while the supervisor is on duty and provide the supervisor with "call forwarding-follow me" while the supervisor is off-duty if the supervisor dials a call-forwarding access code. The requirements of this illustrative example are summarized in the following Table A.
TABLE A ______________________________________ Activated Call Forwarding Station time-of-day class-of-service* On duty Off duty ______________________________________ private extension call forwarding- call forwarding- follow me follow me customer service call forwarding- call forwarding- agent busy/don't answer busy/don't answer other agent call forwarding- call forwarding- don't answer follow me agent supervisor not allowed call forwarding- follow me ______________________________________ *The station classof-service is here actually a collection of items of information included in the classof-service definitions that, when taken together, may be said to represent classes as defined in the table.
Due to the way in which feature conditionality is typically implemented in prior art systems, described above, such capabilities are rarely if ever available to system owners today and only if provided by the specific software feature module when it is created.


An electronic fuel control for a gas turbine engine monitors the mass density of the fuel. As the mass density of the fuel varies when the fuel temperature changes or when the fuel type changes, the electronic fuel control adjusts an initial mass density to a corrected value based on the most recent measurement of mass fuel flow that was taken when the mass fuel flow measurement was known to be accurate. Accurately controlling mass fuel flow permits gas turbine engine designers to reduce tolerances in moving parts which improves the efficiency of the gas turbine engine.

Control of a jet engine is accomplished by providing a known mass flow of fuel based on a demand which may be established by an electronic control. The electronic control may be digital microprocessor based or may be analog and constructed of discrete electronic components. Accurate and continuous control of mass fuel flow is required over a broad range of engine operating conditions in order to provide reliable, fuel efficient operation. Some mass flow meters may not provide an accurate indication of mass flow while engine conditions are changing or fuel flow is low.
Several seconds of constant fuel flow at a flow rate above 20% of the maximum rated fuel flow is normally required for a mass flow meter to generate a mass flow signal accurate enough for engine control use. Therefore, a volumetric fuel flow methodology is generally used instead. For example, a volumetric fuel flow methodology may be implemented by controlling the flow area of a metering valve while maintaining a known differential pressure across the metering valve. The flow area is the size of the metering valve aperture which can be measured and controlled by external means.
The volumetric flow method in general use assumes that the mass density of the fuel remains constant during operation. A preselected value of mass density is stored in the electronic control circuitry. The electronic control circuitry determines the desired volumetric flow by dividing the desired mass flow by the preselected mass density. However, discrepancies may occur between the actual mass density and the preselected mass density when fuel type changes or when the fuel temperature varies. Engine designers may compensate for these discrepancies by designing in increased tolerances in the rotating parts of the gas turbine engine, or by attempting to make corrections that simulate changes in the mass density, both of these techniques tend to increase fuel consumption or prolong engine transients.