A rotor assembly (5) for a rotorcraft, such as a helicopter, includes rotors (7) rotatable about a hub (17). The assembly (5) is operable to vary the angular speed of the rotors (7) about the hub (17), relative to one another. The assembly (5) may include a drive operable to drive each of the rotors (7) at a different radial distance from the hub.

During forward motion of a rotorcraft, such as a helicopter, there is a difference between the relative air speed of an advancing rotor blade and a retreating rotor blade. As the lift generated by a rotor blade is dependent on the speed the rotor blade passes through the air, this imbalance in relative air speed tends to shift the centre of lift to one side of the rotorcraft. To maintain a balanced lift profile across the rotorcraft, the higher lift generated by the faster-moving advancing rotor blade is typically offset by decreasing its pitch (i.e. its angle of attack) relative to the retreating rotor blade. Nevertheless, the maximum forward speed of a rotorcraft may still be limited because the retreating blade may approach stall and/or the tip region of the advancing blade may approach a supersonic speed.
The pitch control on known rotor assemblies may also enable the rotorcraft to be manoeuvred by moving the centre of lift away from the axis of rotation. Known pitch control mechanisms can give rise to a number of disadvantages. For example: the mechanisms tend to be extremely complex and typically comprise various hinges and levers which have high maintenance costs and onerous safety requirements; excessive noise and vibration can occur because the pitch of the blade is altered, at relatively high frequency, during revolution of the rotor blades; and/or the rotor hub must be extremely strong as it is subjected to the intertial loads of the rotor blades and the loads associated with pitching the rotor blades, and it also transmits the lift force from the blades to the rotorcraft fuselage.


An endoscope system includes an operation invalidating device which invalidates the operation of a switch or key which is actuated to control the operation of a device connected to an endoscope. The operation invalidating device begins operating automatically after a lapse of a predetermined time from actuation of a power source or after a lapse of a predetermined time from operation of a switch or key.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope system having a switch or key which is adapted to control the operation of an instrument connected to an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
A key board or the like, connected to an operation panel of a video processor for an electronic endoscope system or a video processor is usually provided with a switch or key, etc., to control the operation of a device or instrument connected to the endoscope.
In many cases, the switch or key is set in an appropriate state immediately after the power source of the video processor is turned ON, and the appropriate state is kept until the examination or inspection using the endoscope (endoscope inspection) is completed.
However, if an operator accidentally touches the switch or key during the inspection, the initial state is changed, so that, for example, an air supply pump is stopped or the state of an image of an object to be viewed through the endoscope, displayed on a monitor is changed. Consequently, a re-adjustment or re-setting of the image state is needed, thus resulting in no smooth endoscope inspection.

Endoscope system with operation invalidating device


A molded body cutting apparatus according to the present invention comprising a first conveyer member that conveys an extrusion-molded pillar-shaped ceramic molded body a cutting member that moves in a direction parallel to a movement direction of the above mentioned first conveyer member while moving also in a vertical direction, and cuts the above mentioned ceramic molded body to a predetermined length by passing through the interior of the above mentioned ceramic molded body and a second conveyer member that conveys a cut ceramic molded body cut to a predetermined length by the above mentioned cutting member, wherein a conveyance speed of the above mentioned first conveyer member and a movement speed of the above mentioned cutting member in the above mentioned parallel direction are almost the same, before the above mentioned ceramic molded body is cut, and each of the conveyance speed of the above mentioned first conveyer member, the movement speed of the above mentioned cutting member in the above mentioned parallel direction, and a conveyance speed of the above mentioned second conveyer member becomes faster toward the latter, after the above mentioned ceramic molded body is cut.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molded body cutting apparatus, a method for cutting a ceramic molded body, and a method for manufacturing a honeycomb structured body.
2. Discussion of the Background
Harm to the environment and the human body caused by particulates such as soot contained in exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engines of buses, trucks and other vehicles, construction equipment and the like has recently become a problem.
To remedy this, there has been currently proposed numerous kinds of ceramic filters using a honeycomb structured body made of porous ceramic as a filter for capturing particulates contained in exhaust gas, thereby purifying the exhaust gas.
Conventionally, when manufacturing a honeycomb structured body, for instance, first a ceramic powder, a binder, and a liquid dispersal medium are combined to prepare a wet mixture. Then the wet mixture is extrusion-molded continuously with dice, and the extrusion-molded body which has yet to be cut is then cut to a predetermined length using a molded body cutting apparatus. Thus a rectangular pillar-shaped honeycomb molded body is produced.
Next, the honeycomb molded body attained above is dried, and afterward, plugs are filled into either end of predetermined cells using the plug material layer in order to achieve a sealed state of the cells. After the sealed state has been achieved, degreasing and firing treatment is carried out thereon, thus manufacturing the honeycomb fired body.
Afterward, a sealing material paste is applied onto the side faces of the honeycomb fired body, and the honeycomb fired bodies are adhered together to manufacture an aggregate of the honeycomb fired bodies comprising a multitude of the honeycomb fired bodies being bound together by interposing a sealing material layer (the adhesive layer). Excision is then carried out on the resulting aggregate of honeycomb fired bodies using a cutting machine or the like to form a ceramic block of a predetermined shape, such as a cylindrical or cylindroid shape or the like. Finally, a sealing material paste is applied over the outer periphery of the ceramic block to form a sealing material layer (a coat layer), thereby finishing the manufacture of the honeycomb structured body.
Here disclosed as an apparatus for cutting an uncut ceramic molded body continuously extrusion-molded is an automatic cutting apparatus that supplies a receptacle underneath the molded body extruded from an extrusion-molding machine, and places the extrusion-molded body onto the receptacle and moves a cutting piece at a speed and in a direction both identical to the movement speed and movement direction of the extrusion-molded body while detecting the space between receptacles by a space detection device, to cut the extrusion-molded body in the direction perpendicular to the movement direction (see, for example, JP-A S61-241094).
The contents of JP-A S61-241094 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Method for cutting ceramic molded body and method manufacturing honeycomb structured body


In the same row access, a voltage level of word lines WLA and WLB is set to a power supply voltage VDD−Vtp. On the other hand, in different rows access, a voltage level of word line WLA or WLB is set to power supply voltage VDD. Therefore, when both ports PA and PB simultaneously access the same row, the voltage level of word lines WLA, WLB is set to power supply voltage VDD−Vtp. Thus, a driving current amount of a memory cell is reduced, thereby preventing a reduction in a current ratio of a transistor. As a result, deterioration of SNM can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) having a multiport.
2. Description of the Background Art
Recently, digital signal processing for processing a large amount of data such as sounds and images at a high speed has been increasingly important with the widespread use of portable terminal equipment. SRAM allowing fast access processing plays an important role as a semiconductor memory device mounted on such portable terminal equipment.
On the other hand, a multiport semiconductor memory device receives attention, which uses each port to allow data reading and writing independently, and SRAM having a multiport has been in increasing demand.
In a dual-port that is a kind of multiport, data writing and reading can be executed simultaneously from two ports.
In the case of SRAM having such a dual-port, however, data writing may be executed on the same row simultaneously, for example. Particularly in this case, a high load may be applied to a memory cell, and thus an input of such a command is exceptionally prohibited in general.
In this respect, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 07-141859 discloses a technique for easily detecting simultaneous access to the same row.
However, in the simultaneous access to the same row, although simultaneous data writing on the same row is prohibited, simultaneous data reading can be executed without any trouble.
On the other hand, in designing SRAM memory cells, a static noise margin (also referred to as SNM hereafter) is generally known as a margin index for preventing destruction of data reading.
In an SRAM memory cell with a dual-port described above, two word lines are provided on the same row, where two word lines may simultaneously rise or only one of those word lines may rise. Therefore, it has been necessary to design a margin of an SRAM memory cell in view of SNM, in consideration of both cases.
In this respect, SNM is smaller when two word lines rise simultaneously than when only one word line rises.
Therefore, in order to improve SNM, the SRAM memory cell with a dual port is designed such that SNM is secured by increasing the size of a driver transistor of an N-channel MOS transistor forming an inverter, as compared with an access transistor electrically coupled to a word line on the same row.
Thus, as compared with an SRAM memory cell having a single port, a dual-port SRAM memory cell is disadvantageously increased in cell area as a whole since the number of transistors is increased by two and, in addition, the size of the driver transistor needs to be increased.
Moreover, the increased size of the driver transistor increases leak current during standby.


It is disclosed a system comprising a display characteristics evaluation unit configured to evaluate display characteristics of a display of an electronic device, a media access unit configured to receive a source media file from a media storage, and a display-dependent processing unit configured to perform, based on the display characteristics, a display-dependent processing of the source media file to obtain a display-dependent media file.

Modern display technology is heavily depending on digital processing. From basic stream decoding, to advanced frame rate conversion, a lot of computation is required in order to fit and match characteristics of display devices.
A lot of content to be displayed is available on network based services, for example on "cloud" services. The content could for example be third party content (movies, advertisements) or user generated content (cloud storage).
When watching this content on a client device, all the processing required by the display is typically done in the client device itself. Each device has to run all the respective algorithms by itself. This needs computing power and uses battery power. Further, a cloud platform may provide its service to a large number of client devices and all client devices have to run the computations in the same way separately and independently.
In the light of this it is desirable to find better ways of doing the processing required by a display device.

System, device and method for displaying display-dependent media files


A measuring device for performing an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) test on a device under test is provided. The measuring device comprises a first emulator adapted to emulate a first station for communicating with the device under test. The measuring device further comprises a second emulator adapted to emulate a second station for communicating with the device under test. The measuring device further comprises a controller adapted to configure the first and second emulators. The configuration by the controller comprises configuring at least one of the first and second emulators with respect to one or more of a modulation scheme, a data rate, an emulation of one or more specific applications, a signal strength, an output power, a deterioration of received packets, and a reply failure rate with regard to received packets.

The WLAN 802.11ax standard offers a broad bandwidth which can be split among two or more stations (STA, clients), which is a new feature with regard to the older 11ac standard. This new feature is also known as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA).
Currently, no wireless communication tester is available that is able to verify OFDMA functionality of 802.11ax-access points (APs) under close to reality conditions.
Only as a general background, the document US20170126450A1 shows a trigger information exchange between wireless systems, and OFDMA is shown therein.
Accordingly, there is a need for a measuring approach that facilitates OFDMA testing under conditions representative of real-world conditions.

Measuring device and measuring method for OFDMA testing


There is provided a power inductor, including a magnetic body including a substrate having coils formed thereon, a first metal-polymer complex layer formed on upper and lower surfaces of the substrate, and a second metal-polymer complex layer formed on upper and lower surfaces of the first metal-polymer complex layer and including a higher content of a polymer than that included in the first metal-polymer layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power inductor having excellent inductance characteristics and improved reliability, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of electronic components using a ceramic material include a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric element, a varistor, a thermistor, and the like.
Among these ceramic electronic components, an inductor, an important passive element configuring an electronic circuit, together with a resistor and a capacitor, may mainly be used as a component for removing noise or configuring an LC resonance circuit.
An inductor may be manufactured by winding coils around a ferrite core or printing a coil pattern on the ferrite core and forming electrodes at both ends thereof, or may be manufactured by printing internal electrodes on a magnetic material or a dielectric material and then stacking layers of the magnetic material or the dielectric material.
An inductor may be divided into one of several types thereof, such as a multilayered type inductor, a winding type inductor, a thin film type inductor, and the like, according to a structure thereof. Manufacturing methods of the respective inductors, in addition to ranges of application thereof, differ.
Among the types of inductors, the winding type inductor may be formed by winding coils around, for example, a ferrite core. However, in a case in which the number of windings is increased in order to obtain high inductance, stray capacitance between coils, that is, capacitance between conducting wires may be generated, such that high frequency characteristics are deteriorated.
In addition, a power inductor may be manufactured as a laminated body in which ceramic sheets formed of a plurality of ferrite or low-k dielectric materials are stacked.
Here, the ceramic sheets may have coil type metal patterns formed thereon. The coil type metal patterns formed on the respective ceramic sheets may be sequentially connected to each other by conductive vias formed in the respective ceramic sheets, and may form an overlapping structure in a vertical direction in which the ceramic sheets are stacked.
According to the related art, an inductor body configuring the power inductor has generally been formed of a quaternary ferrite material including nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and iron (Fe).
However, this ferrite material has a saturation magnetization value lower than that of metal, such that high current characteristics required in a recent electronic product may not be able to be implemented therein.
Meanwhile, in the case in which the inductor body of the power inductor is formed of a metal component, the saturation magnetization value may be relatively increased as compared to the case in which the inductor body is formed of ferrite. However, in this case, eddy current loss and hysteresis loss may be increased at a high frequency, such that material loss may be intensified.
In order to reduce material loss, according to the related art, a structure in which metal powder particles are insulated from each other with a polymer resin has been used. However, in this case, a volume fraction of metal may be decreased when the content of the polymer resin is increased, such that an effect of increasing a saturation magnetization value by the use of the metal component, may not be sufficiently implemented.
Meanwhile, in the case in which the volume fraction of metal is increased, the content of the polymer resin is decreased. In this case, a high level of acidic or basic solution used in the manufacturing of an inductor permeates into a chip, which may cause a reduction in inductance characteristics.

Power inductor and method of manufacturing the same


Compositions and methods effective to provide therapeutic benefit for disorders of the central nervous system via oral or systemic delivery of therapeutic proteins produced in plastids are disclosed.

Several publications and patent documents are cited throughout the specification in order to describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains. Each of these citations is incorporated herein by reference as though set forth in full.
Drug delivery of biologics from bloodstream to the brain across the blood brain barrier (BBB) has long been a major challenge to treat neuronal degenerative disorders (1-3). Invasive approach to bypass the BBB includes intracerebro-ventricular infusion, convection-enhanced delivery or microchip systems to release such therapeutics. However, these strategies are neither efficient to deliver optimal concentrations of drug to the brain parenchyma, nor patient friendly, enhancing tumor dissemination (4). Modification of chemical properties of drugs can facilitate penetration across BBB but often results in losing the desired CNS activity (2, 4). Although the transcytosis mechanism (4) across polarized endothelial cells at BBB is not clear, selection of high affinity GM1 binding ligands, like the cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) should address the process of transcytosis across BBB. However, no attention has been paid for developing oral drug delivery systems to address neurological diseases.
Likewise ocular drug delivery, particularly to the posterior segment of the eye, is also a major challenge due to several anatomical and physiological constraints of the eye (5-6). Topically administered drug cannot reach the retina and vitreous cavity because of the ocular surface barriers, which include cornea epithelium, stroma, and endothelial layers, and continuous tear drainage, frontward flow of aqueous humor, and surrounding blood circulations, all limiting the penetration of topically administered drug. Although intravenous administration is extensively used for delivering drugs to the posterior part of the eye, ocular pharmacologists face major obstacles (7) like retinal detachment, endophthalmitis, and high intraocular pressure through this accessible route.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neuro-degenerative disease and the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, affecting an estimated 5.4 million Americans and 36 million people globally (8), with treatment cost exceeding $600 billion, posing a major healthcare challenge. By the year 2050, it is estimated that the incidence of AD will reach >100 million patients worldwide (9). One of the major pathological hallmarks of AD is the deposition of amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) as extracellular neuronal plaques (10). The Aβ42 peptide is produced by the sequential cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) within lipid rafts by endo-proteolytic enzymes β and γ secretase, respectively (11). Following cleavage of APP, Aβ fragments of different lengths Aβ42, Aβ38, and even Aβ46 are produced, with the predominant form being Aβ40 (12). Although the Aβ42 is a minor species, it has a greater propensity to aggregate and form plaques. This leads to a detrimental loss of synaptic structural integrity/communication between axon and dendrites, contributing to cognitive dysfunction leading to neuronal degeneration (13). Current FDA approved pharmaco-therapies provide some symptomatic benefits but they don't prevent disease progression (14).
Furthermore, visual abnormalities are also prevalent among AD patients. Visual disturbances in AD patients include impaired motion and depth perception, spatial contrast sensitivity and color recognition (15), associated with degeneration and loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and reduction of retinal nerve fibers (16). Aβ deposition in the retina appeared to be associated with RGC apoptosis and retinal structural and functional impairment (16). In addition, Aβ deposits have been reported in glaucomatous optic nerve heads, drusen of age-related macular degeneration, and lens with cataracts (17-20). Intravitreal injection of Aβ causes RGC damage, illustrating Aβ toxicity to retinal tissue (21). Therefore, for diagnosis of AD, retinal scans have been used to identify Aβ plaque deposits.
Recently, FDA approved a carrot cell based system for production of the first human therapeutic protein (22). Oral delivery of chloroplast-derived therapeutics bioencapsulated in plant cells eliminates the need for expensive fermentation, purification, cold storage and transportation and sterile delivery (23). Bioencapsulation of therapeutic proteins by plant cell wall ensures their protection from proteolytic degradation in the stomach and facilitates their delivery to the circulatory system by the action of commensal microbes and receptors present in the gut (23). The delivery of fusion proteins across intestinal epithelium is facilitated by transmucosal carrier, CTB by binding to the ganglioside receptor (24).

Compositions and methods for delivery of bioencapsulated proteins across blood-brain and retinal barriers

THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA


An occupant determination apparatus includes a load sensor and a determination section. The load sensor detects a load of an occupant seated in a seat of a vehicle to provide the detected load as a load signal. The determination section determines presence or absence of the occupant and a physical size of the occupant by classifying the load signal into a subject class among a plurality of classes that are ordered from small to large according to the physical sizes based on predetermined threshold loads. The subject class is stored as a determined class. The determination section permits the determined class to transition from a present class to an immediately adjacent larger class when the load signal equal to or larger than a threshold load between the present class and the immediately adjacent larger class continues being received for a threshold time.

[Patent Literature 1] JP 2003-240628 A (US 2003/0154805 A1)
In order to control inflation of an airbag, it is desirable to (i) recognize beforehand the physical size of an occupant, who is to be protected and (ii) control an inflation mode of the airbag. To that end, a load sensor has been built into a vehicle or a seat in the vehicle to provide an output voltage according to a load due to an occupant. The output voltage is then classified into one of classes (i.e., states) including a vacant seat class, a child class, an adult class, etc. based on predetermined threshold loads.
The output of a load sensor varies according to the change in occupant's posture or an acceleration G at travel motion. The resultant change in the output of the load sensor provide outputs of temporary incorrect determination when threshold values are fixed.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology to overcome such an issue, for example. The technology includes a load sensor to detect a load, which is applied to a seat in a vehicle; and a determination section to determine (i) presence or absence of an occupant and (ii) the physical size of the occupant by classifying the detected load into one of several classes using predetermined class threshold loads. When a detected load continuously remains in a subject class among a plurality of classes longer than a predetermined threshold time (duration), an inter-class transition into the subject class is determined to have arisen. Mutually different predetermined threshold times are prepared to at least some of the inter-class transitions.
Incidentally, in order to improve occupant protection, the number of classes of occupant physical sizes tends to increase to realize an airbag control that can respond to an individual occupant physical size. To that end, an occupant determination apparatus is also required to prepare multiple classes of occupant.
Patent Literature 1 discloses an example that classifies an occupant state into three classes of (i) a vacant seat class, (ii) a child class; and (iii) an adult class. One of the conditions of loads for such classification is as follows. For example, when the child class is in between the vacant seat class and the adult class, the child class is determined by whether a load W is detected in between a threshold load Wth2 for the vacant seat class and a threshold load Wth1 for the adult class.

Occupant determination apparatus using load sensor


An apparatus and method for allowing multiple individuals to view discrete images while remaining in close proximity to each other. It encompasses a split screen polarized lens, with alternate polarization portions, fitting over a viewing monitor and pairs of corresponding polarized glasses. Each pair of polarized glasses matches a portion of the screen lens with the same polarization so that the human viewer wearing vertically polarized glasses may only view the vertically polarized portion of the screen and the human viewer wearing horizontally polarized glasses may only view the horizontally polarized portion of the screen.

The present invention relates to the field of optical viewing systems and, in particular, to the viewing systems that display images in a "split screen" mode where it is desirable for multiple persons to discretely view portions of a screen. A split screen may be a single screen with the image divided or it may be multiple display apparati closely situated.
The current state of the art of video monitors consists of various cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD), plasma displays, digital light projection (DLP) displays, and many other types of displays and projections. The CRTs, in particular are quite old in the art while the other types are of newer origin.
Often, in the art of video viewing, it is desirable to have multiple viewers simultaneously view a split screen. Further, it is often preferable for these viewers to each only view a portion of a split screen directed to them. These situations are known in the art as "split screen viewing." Typically the screen will be divided into two parts either vertically or horizontally. Similarly, multiple screens may be horizontally aligned side by side, stacked vertically one on top of the other, or otherwise arranged in close proximity.
Many situations require the splitting of a screen and the segregation of viewers. For instance, doctors conducting a medical procedure may view a monitor with a split screen but at points during the procedure may need focus only on a portion of the screen. In such situations, the other, temporarily superfluous, half of the screen could be a distraction to the doctor. If the doctor could view only the relevant portion, he could be more efficient. Similarly, during flight and flight training, there exist times when aircraft pilots may benefit from limiting their vision to one set of screens versus contending with a multitude of superfluous split screens or sets of screens.
Similarly, in the field of television and video entertainment it is often the case that multiple persons wish to view separate programming in the same physical proximity as each other. To this end, many televisions offer a feature known as picture-in-picture where video images from different sources are shown on the television at the same time. Also, it is common for more than one video monitor to be placed in a room at the same time for viewing different programming. However, there is a recurring problem in the art where program viewers of one video image are distracted by the additional programming images.
Another common situation involving split screen viewing occurs in the video gaming community. In these situations, it is quite common for games to allow for multiple players on a single computer or gaming console. In this way, video gaming has been a social experience since its inception. Players build comradery through such personal interaction in addition to virtual interaction. These are experiences that either do not occur or are greatly weakened when players participate in remote locations.
These multiplayer features of video gaming are facilitated through multiple player input devices. Such games cover the spectrum of the gaming community from sports games, to strategy games, to action games, to fighting and war games, to simulation games, and to racing games. Moreover, most of these games are competitive such that each of these players is competing against each other. The principle image is of players crowding around a television screen, an arcade console, or a computer screen.
In the multiplayer video game situation outlined above, the split screen mode presents several problems. First, having multiple screens creates distractions. In what may be the most common situation player one, viewing the first half of a screen, is distracted by the second half of the screen just as player two is distracted by the first half of the screen. Additionally, with respect to the competitive games, players are disclosing to their opponent "privileged" information such as their location on a gaming map or their avatar's fictional health points. Such distractions and disclosures limit the effectiveness of split screen gaming.
To overcome this problem, there has been some suggestion that players physically distance themselves and view separate screens. For instance, some gamers place different monitors in separate rooms or on opposite sides of a room. However, such solutions ring hollow because they dissipate the social experience of multiplayer gaming.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a device which facilitates split screen viewing whereby viewers need not be physically segregated in order to view discrete portions of video display.


The present invention provides a liquid crystal display device, which includes a plurality of pixel units. Each of the pixel units further includes a liquid crystal layer, a pixel electrode and a corresponding electrode. The pixel electrode and the corresponding electrode are disposed on two opposite sides of liquid crystal layer. The corresponding electrode further includes a first electrode pattern disposed oppositely to the pixel electrode, and a second electrode pattern connected to the first electrode pattern for applying an external voltage to the first electrode pattern so as to form an alignment electric field for the liquid crystal layer between the first electrode pattern and the pixel electrode. The present invention changes the way in which the external voltage is applied, and introduces the external voltage from one side of the color filter substrate to improve success rate of liquid crystal alignment, reduce energy-consumption and reduce waste.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal displaying techniques, and in particular to a liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof.
2. The Related Arts
The current liquid crystal display device employing polymer sustained vertical alignment (PSVA) display modes mainly includes an array substrate (TFT substrate), a color filer (CF) substrate disposed oppositely to TFT substrate, and a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the two substrates. Compared to liquid crystal display panels using wide view angle display modes, such as, multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA), patterned vertical alignment (PVA), PSVA display mode has an advantage that the CF substrate includes neither bumps nor slits in indium tin oxides layer.
During the cell process, the known PSVA technique achieves liquid crystal alignment through applying external voltage on array substrate and CF substrate, and using UV radiation to make reactive monomers in the liquid crystal to line up according to electric field formed by applied external voltage. The way to apply external voltage is usually performed by introducing an external voltage from one side of array substrate, and then external voltage is conducted to CF substrate through conductive seal disposed between the two substrates. The approach of applying voltage through array substrate is restricted by the yield rate of the array substrate, and no repair can be performed after the cell process is completed.
In summary, it is desired to have a liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing method thereof to change the way to apply external voltage and to improve the yield rate of the cell process.

Liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method thereof

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd


A disk drive system provides a low height device by mounting a circuit board or boards containing the electronic circuitry in the same enclosure with the head-disk assembly (HDA). The drive actuator mechanism is positioned at one side of one end of the enclosure and the circuit board or boards are positioned at the other side of that end of the enclosure. A gasket seals the HDA from contaminants, while the enclosure protects the electronic circuitry and cables from physical damage, electrostatic charges and electromagnetic interference. The circuit board or boards can be removed from the enclosure without removing the entire disk drive from the using system, and the entire drive assembly can readily be removed from the using system for replacement or use in another system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to disk drive systems, and relates more particularly to such disk drive systems having a low height or profile, improved serviceability, reliability and removability without sacrificing capacity or performance.
2. Prior Art
Over the past ten years, disk drive devices for use in computer systems have been dramatically shrinking in size. One of the factors responsible for this rapid progress has been the ability to reduce the space required to house the electronic components of the devices, made possible principally through very large scale integration of the electronic circuitry. Additionally, substantial advances have been made in reducing the size of the major mechanical components of disk drive devices such as the motor which rotates the disk or disks, the flexure mounting mechanism for the read/write heads and the actuator mechanism which moves the heads to different track positions on the disk surfaces.
With the increasing popularity of portable, laptop, notebook and smaller desktop personal computers employing disk drives, the pressure to reduce the volume of the disk drive enclosure without sacrificing the capacity, performance and cost of the storage device is significant. A hard disk drive manufacturer must supply a product having a very high linear bit density and radial track density in a device that is resistant to shock and vibration, is temperature and environment tolerant, is producible in high volume at a reasonable cost, has high throughput performance, and has a storage capacity that meets the increasing data storage requirements of the computer system market. In most small computer systems, the size of the keyboard and the visual display or monitor will dictate the mandatory X and Y dimensions for the system. This means that the most critical disk drive dimension that can be controlled is the height or Z dimension of the drive.
The relatively recent introduction of 2.5 inch and 1.8 inch "form factor" disk drives has been a response to this demand for high capacity, low volume storage for the smaller types of computers. Representative examples of prior art disk drive designs directed to the 2.5 inch and 1.8 inch form factor drives are the following.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,335, Stefansky, shows a disk drive employing a 2.5 inch disk in a housing whose length is described as equal to the width of a conventional 3.5 inch disk drive (4 inches) and whose width is approximately one half the length of a 3.5 inch drive (2.75 inches). In an embodiment with one disk in the housing, the height of the unit is 0.68 inches, with a printed circuit board containing the drive electronics mounted adjacent to and outside the bottom of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,025,336, Morehouse et al, discloses a reduced height disk drive with a single 2.5 inch disk therein, the drive housing having a width of approximately 2.8 inches, a length of approximately 4.0 inches and an overall height no greater than 0.63 inches. The patent attributes this reduced height to the use in the disk enclosure of disk spin motors, actuators and head flexures of smaller height. This drive utilizes a printed circuit board with the drive electronics therein disposed below the base which supports the disk and actuator and outside the disk enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,785, Morehouse et al, shows a drive containing at least two 2.5 inch disks therein, with the printed circuit board containing the device electronics mounted below and spaced from the disk enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,239, Vettel et al., discloses a disk drive in which the electronic circuits are disposed mounted on a number of circuit cards which are mounted in different areas in the drive housing, with interconnections between the multiplicity of cards.

High capacity, low profile disk drive system


A display device includes a display panel; a plurality of lamps facing the display panel and arranged in parallel; and at least one transformer connected to the plurality of lamps, wherein the at least one transformer is disposed at a lower portion of the display device adjacent to a ground. A transformer may include a driving transformer and a compensation transformer, where the compensation transformer may be connected to one or more lower lamps and the driving transformer may be connected to the remainder of the lamps. The output voltages of the compensation transformer and the driving transformer may differ.

Display devices have typically used cathode-ray tubes (CRT). Presently, much effort has been made to study and develop various types of flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panels (PDP), field emission displays, and electro-luminescence displays (ELD), as a substitute for CRT. Of these, flat panel displays and LCD devices have advantages, such as high resolution, light weight, thin profile, compact size, and low power supply requirements.
In general, an LCD device includes two substrates that are spaced apart and face each other with a liquid crystal material interposed between the two substrates. The two substrates include electrodes that face each other such that a voltage applied between the electrodes induces an electric field across the liquid crystal material. Alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal material changes in accordance with the intensity of the induced electric field, thereby changing the light transmissivity of the LCD device. Thus, the LCD device displays images by varying the intensity of the induced electric field. LCD devices are non-luminous display devices in that they cannot display images without some light source (e.g., ambient light or a backlight).
A backlight unit for the LCD device is categorized as a direct type or an edge type. The direct type backlight unit has a plurality of lamps directly below a liquid crystal panel, and the edge type backlight unit has a lamp at a side of the liquid crystal panel. The direct type backlight unit uniformly supplies light to the liquid crystal panel and, in particular, the large sized liquid crystal panel.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display module includes a liquid crystal panel 13, a backlight unit 20, a main support 17, a bottom cover 27 and a top cover 11.
The backlight unit 20 includes a plurality of lamps 23 arranged in parallel below the liquid crystal panel 13, a reflector 21 and a plurality of optical sheets 19 including prism and diffusion sheets. The plurality of lamps 23 are retained by a pair of lamp guides 25 combined with the bottom cover 27. The main support 17 surrounds peripheral portions of the backlight unit 20 and is combined with the bottom cover 27. The liquid crystal panel 13 is laid on the backlight unit 20. The top cover 11 is combined with the bottom cover 27 such that the backlight unit 20 and the liquid crystal panel 13 are retained thereby. The lamp 23 includes a CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent lamp) having electrodes at both ends. The electrodes of the CCFL are supplied with driving voltages to supply light to the liquid crystal panel 13.
FIG. 2A is a plan view illustrating lamps and a driving circuit for lamps of a direct-type backlight unit, and FIG. 2B is a plan view illustrating lamps and another driving circuit for lamps of a direct-type backlight unit.
As illustrated in FIG. 2A, a plurality of lamps 23 are arranged in parallel, and the lamp 23 has a glass tube. The glass tube is filled with a discharge gas including an inert gas and mercury (Hg). A fluorescent material layer is formed on an inner surface of the glass tube. First and second (left and right) electrodes are formed on ends of the glass tube.
The lamp 23 of FIG. 2A is operated by a high-high method. In other words, each of the both electrodes is supplied with a high voltage. When the lamp 23 is operated by a high-low method i.e., high and low voltages are supplied to the electrodes, as a length of the lamp 23 increases, a power operating the lamp 23 increases. Accordingly, when the lamp 23 is operated with the high and low voltages, the lamp 23 is problematic for the large sized LCD device. Therefore, high voltages are supplied to the both electrodes of the lamp 23 to operate the large sized LCD device. To operate the lamp 23 with high voltages, a ground portion (ground terminal) is disposed at a center portion of the lamp 23. The high voltages supplied to the lamp 23 are AC (alternating current) voltages.
To supply the AC high voltage, a driving circuit is used. The driving circuit includes a plurality of inverters 33 and a plurality of transformers 31 each connected to each electrode of the plurality of lamps 23. The inverter 33 converts a source voltage into an AC voltage, and the transformer 31 increases the AC voltage from the inverter 33 so as to output a AC high voltage. The AC high voltage outputted from each transformer 31 is supplied to each electrode of the lamps 23, and thus the lamps 23 are operated independently from each other. As the lamps 23 are operated separately, transformers 31 and inverters 33 corresponding to the both electrodes of the lamps 23 are required. Accordingly, as a size of the LCD device increases, and a number of lamps 23 increases, and also, a number of the transformer 31 and the inverters 33 increase. Therefore, fabrication cost increases.
As illustrated in FIG. 2B, a plurality of lamps 23 are arranged in parallel and operated by a high-high method, as similarly in FIG. 2A. Each lamp 23 has first and second (left and right) electrodes. Each of the first and second electrodes is supplied with high voltages. The first electrodes are supplied with the high voltage from one or two transformers and inverters 31 and 33, and the second electrodes are supplied with the high voltage from one or two transformers and inverters 31 and 33. In other words, the driving circuit of FIG. 2B includes the fewer transformers 31 and inverters 33 than the driving circuit of FIG. 2A, and thus fabrication cost is reduced.
However, lamp currents flowing in the outermost lamps 23 (that is, the lamps at the top and the bottom of a plurality of lamps arranged in parallel) are distorted due to structure and thermal distribution of the LCD device. With regard to the structure of the LCD device, since upper and lower portions of the bottom cover (27 of FIG. 1) are made of metal are bent toward a front, the bent upper portion forms a parasitic capacitor with the uppermost lamps 23 adjacent to the bent upper portion, and the bent lower portion forms a parasitic capacitor with the lowermost lamps 23 adjacent to the bent lower portion. Since the parasitic capacitor causes leakage of the lamp currents, the lamp currents in the outermost lamps are distorted.
In addition, with regard to the thermal distribution of the LCD device, there is difference of temperature between the upper portion and the lower portion of a space where the lamps are arranged. When a user looks at the LCD device displaying an image, the lowermost lamps face a ground and the uppermost lamps face a sky. When the lamps 23 are operated, heat is generated by the transformers 31 at the center portion of the LCD device. The generated heat moves toward an upper portion of the space where the lamps are arranged. Therefore, the upper portion of the space has a higher temperature and the lower portion of the space has a lower temperature. Non-uniformity of the thermal distribution in the space causes distortion of the lamp currents in the lamps.
As a result, due to the structure and thermal distribution of the LCD device, the lamp currents in the outermost lamps and, in particular, in the lowermost lamps, are distorted.

Display device including lamp driving circuit


A graphical user interface (GUI) for visualization of a logical topology of a system can include a plurality of node user interface elements to represent respective components in the system. The GUI can include a plurality of link user interface elements, each connected between an associated pair of the node user interface elements to represent a logical connection between a given component and at least one other component in the system. In response to a user input for a selected node user interface element, at least a portion of the plurality of link user interface elements can be modified to represent the logical connectivity and associated status such as from a perspective of the component represented by the selected node user interface element.

A network can be configured to perform various types of functions. The operation of a network depends on cooperation between different components that collectively form the network. In order to ensure that the network and its associated components operate within expected operating parameters, diagnostic tools can monitor operation of components within the network and provide corresponding information to users. Many tools available for monitoring networks tend to be cumbersome, and may not provide an easily understandable and comprehensive view of network operation.


Disclosed is a method for producing single microlenses or an arrays of microlenses composed of a glass-type material, in which method a first substrate is provided with a surface containing impressions over which a second substrate composed of a glass-type material is placed at least partially overlapping it and is joined therewith under vacuum conditions. The substrate composite is tempered in such a manner that the second substrate softens and flows into the impressions of the first substrate, thereby structuring the side of the second substrate facing away from the first substrate in order to form at least one microlens surface.

The present invention relates to a method for producing single microlenses or an array of microlenses composed of a glass-type material. According to the method, a first substrate having a surface containing impressions is provided, a second substrate composed of the glass-type material is placed over the first substrate at least partially overlapping it and is joined with the same under vacuum conditions, moreover the substrate composite is tempered in such a manner that the second substrate softens and flows into the impressions in the first substrate thereby structuring the side of the second substrate facing away from the first substrate to form at least one microlens surface.
Furthermore, an alternative method for producing single microlenses or an array of microlenses made of a glass-type material is described in which a first substrate having a surface containing impressions, a second substrate composed of the glass-type material is placed over the first substrate at least partially overlapping it and is joined with the same, with a gaseous medium being enclosed in the impressions between the first substrate and the second substrate and the substrate composite being tempered in such a manner that the second substrate softens and the expanding gaseous medium is displaced in the region of the impressions, thereby structuring the side of the second substrate facing away from the first substrate to form at least one convex microlens surface.
WO 01/38240 A1 describes a method for producing micromechanical and, in particular, microoptical components composed of glass-type materials using technologies to structure semiconductor substrates in order to produce functional elements made of glass in the micrometer and submicrometer range by means of glass-flow processes. In a first step, the impressions, which may be obtained by means of prior art standard lithography and etching methods, are placed in a preferably plane semiconductor surface. The prestructured semiconductor substrate is then joined with a plane substrate composed of a glass-type material, for example by means of anodic bonding, and then heated above the softening temperature of the glass-type material. If a vacuum or low pressure prevails in the cavity enclosed by the respective impression in the semiconductor material and the plane glass-type substrate, parts of the softened glass-type material are able to flow into the cavity. However, if a gaseous medium, for example air, is enclosed in the cavity in which, for example, the plane glass-type substrate is joined with the structured semiconductor substrate under normal pressure conditions, the gaseous medium located in the cavity expands due to tempering and displaces the softened glass-type material located directly over the cavity.
In the first case, a concave shaped microlens structure forms inside the surface of the glass substrate facing the semiconductor substrate. On the other hand, in the second case the local displacement leads to a convex shaped microlens structure. In both cases the resulting curvature of the microlens surface is dependent on the type and duration of tempering but, in particular, on the shape and size of the respective individual impressions inside the semiconductor substrate. With the aid of the prior art method described in the preceding, spherically or elliptically symmetrical microlens surface can be produced.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,524 also describes with reference to FIG. 6 shown therein a glass-flow method which determines the shape of a binocular lens, in which local flowing off of the melted glass into a concave impression in the form of an ophthalmic lens of the optical near part of a two-focal lens glass is producible.

Method for producing single microlenses or an array of microlenses

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.


A method and apparatus for compressing and packaging compressible materials. The compression is carried out continuously between parallel plates which come closer to each other as they advance. As the plates advance, the materials are accompanied by a lower packaging film and an upper packaging film which are joined at the sides of the compressed materials at the end of compression.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the techniques of compressing and packaging compressible materials such as, in particular, sets of mineral fibre panels.
2. Discussion of the Background
In order to transport and store at reduced cost products which are bulky but compressible and capable of recovering their volume and all their original characteristics after they have been released, it is necessary to provide suitably adapted techniques and machines. They should make it possible to obtain effective compression and quality packaging rapidly and automatically while preserving the characteristics of the products in question.

Method and device for compressing and packaging compressible products


A kneading apparatus includes a processor, and a extruder. The extruder includes a screw. The screw includes a screw main body. A conveyance portion, a barrier portion, and a path are provided at places of the screw main body. In at least one of the places, the path is provided inside the screw main body, and includes an entrance and an exit. The raw materials, pressure on which is increased by the barrier portion, flow in from the entrance. The raw materials flowing in from the entrance flow through the path toward the exit. The exit is positioned to be remote from the entrance in an axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a kneading apparatus comprising an extruder which kneads blended raw materials while imparting shearing action and extension action to them, and a kneading method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, if raw materials obtained by blending incompatible resins are kneaded by an extruder wherein the rotational rate of a screw is set at approximately 300 rpm, it is necessary to add a compatibilizer having affinity for or adhesive properties to one or both of the blended components. However, even if the compatibilizer is used, the blended components are not mutually melted at a molecular level. Thus, naturally, there is a limit on the improvement in the capabilities and the functions of kneaded materials produced by the extruder.
To solve such a problem, there has been conventionally developed a high shearing and forming apparatus capable of producing kneaded materials having a microscopic structure in which if one macromolecular component is formed into a matrix, the dispersed phase size of the other macromolecular component is controlled to a diameter of 300 nm or less, or a structure in which both the macromolecular components are microscopically connected to each other, without using any additives such as a compatibilizer.
The high shearing and forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1 comprises a feedback-type screw accommodated in a cylinder. The screw has a structure in which raw materials obtained by blending incompatible resins are sufficiently kneaded inside the screw.
Specifically, the screw has a straight axial line in the conveyance direction of the raw materials, and is configured to rotate on the axial line inside the cylinder. A spiral flight which conveys raw materials supplied from one end portion of the screw in the axial direction of the screw is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the screw. The raw materials conveyed by the flight are trapped in a gap between a tip surface of the screw and a sealing member closing an opening end of the cylinder.
Moreover, the screw has a hole having an inside diameter of approximately 1 to 5 mm substantially at its central portion. The hole extends in the axial-line direction of the screw. An upstream end of the hole is opened in the gap in the tip surface of the screw. A downstream end of the hole branches bifurcately, and is opened in the outer circumferential surface of the one end portion of the screw.
Thus, the raw materials trapped in the gap flow into the hole from the upstream end of the hole with the rotation of the screw, and are returned to the outer circumferential surface of the one end portion of the screw from the downstream end of the hole. The returned raw materials are conveyed again toward the gap by the flight.
In this manner, by using the feedback-type screw, raw materials supplied to the screw are subjected to shearing action in the process of being conveyed by the flight and subjected to extension action in the process of passing through the hole. As a result, the degree of kneading of raw materials is increased by high shearing. Thus, macromolecular components of the raw materials are dispersed at a nanolevel, and kneaded materials having a microscopic dispersion structure can be obtained.

Kneading apparatus with first and second extruders


Using laser patterning for an optical assembly, optical features are written into photonic elements at the end of a manufacturing sequence in order to prevent errors and damages to the optical features. The optical assembly is manufactured by affixing a photonic element to a substrate which includes one or more optical features and mapping one or more optical features for the photonic element. The optical features are then written into the fixed photonic element using laser patterning and the optical assembly is completed by connecting components, such as optical fibers, to the photonic element.

In the manufacture of silicon photonics, optical fiber to chip coupling remains a challenging aspect of production. Current fiber to chip coupling relies on alignment approaches (both passive and active) at an individual die level. The processes and piece parts involved in the individual alignment are high cost and the processes are time consuming, requiring assembly at the die level (one unit at a time) resulting in low production throughput.
Additionally, current production methods require careful precision during assembly to prevent misalignment of previously aligned parts on the optical components. Any small errors in the manufacturing process can result in yield losses for the photonic devices. Separating the electrical and optical assembly steps for the silicon photonics can greatly increase the throughput and yield during production.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.

Passive fiber to chip coupling using post-assembly laser patterned waveguides


A method for forming a vented end closure in a shirred food casing stick by forming an unshirred tail on the food casing stick, inserting a rod through the tail and into the stick, plunging the tail into the stick, and tamping the tail to form a closed end with a vent defined by the shape of the rod. A tamping rod may be used to pierce a tab on the opposite end of the food casing stock. Once pierced the tab can be ripped off the stick to leave a shard-free open end.

This invention relates to provision of a new improved means of providing an end closure for cellulose casing, normally referred to as skinless sausage casing, while coincidentally adjusting the stick open end to be free of shards, burrs, etc.
Tubular cellulosic casing is well known, and has been widely used for many years by numerous manufacturers. The basic process for manufacturing regenerated cellulosic casings is through the wellknown viscose process, which creates a liquefied colloidal dispersion of cellulose fibers in a alkaline liquid carrier. Viscose is described in English Patent 8700 to Cross, et al. and in U.S. Pat. No. 1,036,282 to Lilienfield. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,070,776; 1,158,400; and 1,163,740 to Cohoe and Fox describe the use of viscose to manufacture a tubular cellulosic casing. Henderson provides basic technology to manufacture viscose into tubular casings with regenerating baths touching the inner and outer surfaces of the tube in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,601,686; 1,612,508; 1,645,050; and 1,654,253.
Very specific details for manufacturing modern-day casings from viscose into regenerated cellulose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,999,756 and 2,999,757 to Shiner; U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,113 to Burke; U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,107 to Bridgeford; U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,639 to Jon; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,765 to Markulin. These patents describe extruding viscose (sodium cellulose xanthate, sodium hydroxide, and water) through an annular die, into a coagulating and regenerating bath, to produce a regenerated cellulosic tubular casing.
The artificial sausage casing is conventionally shirred, a process in which long tubular lengths of casing are compacted to provide shorter, coherent (straight and rigid) tubes. This is difficult to achieve, considering the shirring operation includes moisturizing and the addition of oil. The shirring operation is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,001,461; 2,010,626; 2,583,654; 2,722,714; 2,983,949; 3,110,058; 3,397,069; 3,454,982; and 3,898,348. Further, the casing has a thickness of 20 to 40 microns and can be easily damaged.
Small diameter shirred food casings must be end closed on one side to be used on commercial stuffing machines, such as those sold by Townsend Engineering under model names such as RT7, RT8, or sold by Handtmann under the tradename PAL. These machines require an end closure to be applied to one end of the casing so that the casing itself provides the closing means.
The stuffing operation will handle shirred sticks typically from 265 mm in length to 546 mm in length, which expand to form casing from 16.5 meters up to, and in excess of, 69 meters in length. Thus, one shirred stick could provide in excess of 500 frankfurters.
End closures must satisfy many criteria:
they must provide a means to stop leakage of meat emulsion at the start of the "stuffing" operation (filling a casing with meat emulsion); PA1 they must be able to be "milked" out easily, so all meat in the end closure portion which is not up to full casing diameter can be collected and returned for reuse; PA1 the end closure must be easily dislodged by the stuffing horn at the start of stuffing, but must not leak or tear in any manner; and PA1 the end closure should unshirr (expand longitudinally) and fill with paste without leaking, yet not leave too much unused casing, nor be soft, or too long in length such that excessive meat must be milked out.
As well, the other end of the stick, also referred to as the "open end," since it is always without an end closure, must be free, clean, and without any burrs, shards, or flakes which could then be free to enter the inside of the stick, and eventually end up in the meat itself.
Many types of end closures have been proposed. Hensel proposes using metal closures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,042,227; 2,103,258; and 2,114,077. Frank proposes using alternate metal fasteners in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,493,063 and 2,670,294. Eichin shows metal clips, with accordion-style pleating in U.S. Pat. No. 3,064,803. Frederick shows a riveted end closure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,401,042. A plastic coated wire end closure is shown by Schroader in U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,170. Loop hanging end closures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,483,801 and 4,969,233.
With the advent of Townsend Engineering stuffing machines, end closures could not use metal clips. Thus, Townsend shows an end closure device in U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,893 that basically twists the end of the shirred stick to create a twisted end, offering some resistance to meat flow.
Alsys in U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,005 discloses an end closure where an arbor reaches into the casing, and pulls a piece of casing back into the casing bore, while twisting it first externally outside the stick, and the completion of the twist inside the stick wall.
Alsys also shows in U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222 an end closure, commonly referred to as the Push-Pack closure in the industry, where some of the casing is deshirred from the stick to create a "tail" that is then inverted as it is plunged back into the stick bore. Finally, a plug is tamped by a tamping rod into the stick bore from the opposite direction of the plunge to create a tamped plug. The Push-Pak closure remains very popular today, and varieties of its use represent over 75% of the commercial skinless casings used. The key is inverting the casing which increases the time the casing requires to fully unfurl during stuffing, giving excellent ability to vary the casing length in the closure, to vary the compaction, and to allow more or less resistance time to suit various machinery and meat emulsions.
Matecki provides an end closure in U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,401; 3,550,191; 3,564,647; and 3,570,045 where a portion of the shirred stick is pushed into the stick bore by a staker hook. The casing is not deshirred, and is obviously not inverted. This end closure is vented, which provides time for humidification of the shirred sticks in their package using moist steam. The Matecki end closure plug is not solid.
Tums provided an end closure in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,865,954; 3,914,447; and 4,070,729 where the shirred casing stick is twisted and inverted into the stick inner bore to create a vented end closure, but the casing was not deshirred. Winkler shows in U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,252 various methods to twist the shirred stick wall to create a twisted and compressed end closure that is not inverted. Sheridan addresses the need to reduce the adhesion of the end closure plug with the stick bore and performs an end closure operation similar to Alsys U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222, but Sheridan compresses the plug inside a hollow tube inserted into the stick bore. Thus, when the hollow tube is removed, the plug floats somewhat inside the bore and there is reduced force required to dislodge the plug upon stuffing.
Stemmler shows in U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,568 an end closure where the casing is deshirred, and the deshirred portion is wrapped into a coil and inserted into the stick bore in a U shape. Becker, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,942,569 and 3,971,301, deshirrs casing and then leaves some casing shirred in the end closure region, with this still-shirred casing being compacted into a plug and inserted into the stick bore.
Heat sealed end closures for collagen casing are illustrated, for example in Ross, U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,537; Niedenthal in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,486; and Wood in U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,047. Greene, U.S. Pat. No. 4,411,048, shows an end closure which has casing twisted and deshirred simultaneously. The twisted knot is pushed into the stick bore while not inverted, and then the twisted portion is tamped into an inverted condition using a tamping rod entering the stick from the "aft" or "open end". Kubo in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,402 shows an inverted twisted end closure, using no tamping or plug compression.
Martinek in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,475,895 and 4,604,085 shows a transporting device that removes a shirred casing from a mandrel ("doffing") and then transports it into a device for the performance of end closing. Hanlon in U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,574 adds an adhesive coating onto the casing to close it. Kollross in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,525,984 and 5,088,956 provides an externally twisted end closure, which is plunged into the stock bore.
Arnold in U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,175 provides a conical twisted plug end closure, vented, inverted, and not tamped or compacted. The amount of casing provided is constant and does not depend on the turns of the twisting arbor. The winding is done inside the bore, not externally, and is done on deshirred inverted casing, and winding the twist is done in the inverted state.
Nausedas in U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,370 provides an end closure, Alsys-style (U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222) where the end closure plug is implanted into the stick bore. A vacuum plunge rod is inserted from the "aft", "open" end which is used to gather the casing together, and the vacuum is held while the plunge rod withdraws creating an inversion of the casing. The casing is then tamped into a plug. Nausedas also shows in U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,153 a method to make the Alsys-style end closure, of U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222 where the plug created can be implanted into the stick bore, not always being located at the extreme "fore" or "closed" end.
Beardsley recognized the need to reduce forces required to dislodge the plugs when using an Alsys (3,383,222) end closure system. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,280 and 4,759,100, an Alsys-style end closure is made using a vacuum during plunging to remove the casing from the bore of the shirred stick. Beardsley kept the plug "soft" so it unfurled easily and did not damage the stuffing machine. The plug was not firmly fixed to the stick bore, yet was restrained enough to contain the stuffing pressures. Beardley also provides a system in U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,443, where an Alsys-style end closure like U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222 is made, without a vacuum plunge, but rather with a tamping rod that is not flat. Part of the tamping rod inserts itself between the compressed plug and the stick bore, reducing plug contact with the stick, and thereby reduced friction and coincident deplug force.
Hutschenreuter et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,031 provides an end closure where the plug is a ruffled portion of the casing sitting inside an inverted casing tail. An alternate embodiment is a coiled plug similar to Stemmler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,942,568. Hendriks in U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,883 provides an end closure which is twisted inside the stick bore. The twist begins not at the end of the stick, but rather down several pleats from the end. Thus, the twisted knot feeds from both ends of the stick.
Meeker in U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,560 shows a hybrid end closure. Meeker explains advantages of vents in arbor closures (twisted plug) to allow gas to escape. But, arbor closures traditionally have a disadvantage of having too low a resistance against blow-out. Meeker mentions problems in stripping meat out of end closures which have a compressed plug. Meeker offers an end closure which is vented by radially twisting some casing while the twisting device is in contact with the tamp rod, and then providing a plug which encompasses the radially twisted portion to anchor it to the stick bore.
Madrigal, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,331, provides an end closure where the casing is externally twisted and then plunged into the stick bore. Twisting is finished while the twist rod contacts a tamp cylinder. The twist rod is then withdrawn and the plug is compressed. The resulting end closure is vented and retains the shape of the arbor as the vent.
Other twisted end closure patents include Spanish Pat. No. 526,460 to Fernandez de Retana (also German Pat. No. DE 3,405,445 A1), where the stick wall is grabbed and twisted into a knot.
The prior art also refers to methods to retain a clean open end of the shirred stick. The open end must be free of shards or flakes which can catch on the stuffing horn. The open end must present a round bore with no casing covering it (casing covering the bore is referred to as a "tab"). It has been customary for many years to manually rip a short piece of casing off the open end and spiral the piece slightly to create a "detabbed" or clean appearance open end although it is desirable to automate this procedure.
Majewski, U.S. Pat. No. 3,544,339, describes the need for a clean open end by using an adhesive wax stiffening agent applied to the casing at the open end, to retain integrity. Lofland, U.S. 4,307,488, uses a rotating or oscillating shaping device to dress the open end of the shirred stick during the compression stage.
DeJong, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,594,274 and 4,624,873, uses a heated cone to contact the stick open end and to mold the loose casing into a tight cone. Evyan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,748, uses a turning cone to burnish the open end and retain the casing.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,885,821; 5,173,074; 5,230,651 to Farkonas; U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,449 to Kazaitis; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,382 to Martinek all address the need for a cleaner "open end" by using better cutting techniques to provide casing cuts with shard-free cuts, again illustrating the need for better open ends.
Alsys, U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,222, discloses a casing that is recognized as a fundamental style in the manufacturing of end closures, but the prior art does not fully address the need for a good open end and a good closed end using fundamental principles. There remains inconsistent performance in end closures since many different meat emulsion compositions, stuffing machines, and emulsion temperatures place an unusual burden on the end closure.
There is a need for a system that addresses the combined needs of open ends and closed ends.


A method for implementing transaction-consistent resource recovery from catastrophic media failures in a single pass over a recovery log archive while permitting most UNDO log records to be discarded during log archiving. The media recovery procedure is based on a pseudo-crash recovery technique that simulates a system crash at a selected time by writing PSEUDO-RECOVERY records to the recovery log. Resource recovery is then performed by normal execution of the log archive records up to the most recent pseudo-crash followed by execution of the subsequent PSEUDO-RECOVERY records. The recovery log record execution procedures are compatible with the ARIES recovery method. One embodiment of this invention assumes that the recovery log records can be selected for archiving on the basis of a combination of record type and transaction identifier.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system for filtering recovery log archives to reduce the archive size while retaining all log records essential to transaction-consistent forward recovery solely from offline image dump and recovery log archive media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recovery from secondary stable storage media failures is an important problem to computer systems. In some cases, media recovery must be done entirely from offline storage media (such as a tape archive). This is particularly necessary in small systems with a single disk stable store but may also be required to recover from larger system disasters such as machine room fires or natural disasters. Transaction-based systems such as database management systems require recovery of a data resource stored on stable media to an atomic or transaction-consistent state. Conventional data resource recovery algorithms are intended for crash recovery and assume that the entire recovery log is available, including that portion of the log conventionally stored on-line in stable storage media. Loss of the on-line recovery log through stable media failure will prevent transaction-consistent crash recovery. Forward recovery using conventional recovery algorithms requires the recovery log archive tape to include all recovery log records. This requirement for storing all log records is troublesome because of the substantial storage volume occupied by such a recovery log archive.
A conventional recovery system known in the art is described by C. Mohan, et al, "ARIES: A Transaction Recovery Method Supporting Fine-Granularity Locking and Partial Rollbacks Using Write-Ahead Logging," IBM Research Report RJ 6649, revised Nov. 2, 1990, IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, N.Y., which document is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference.
As pointed out by C. J. Date, "An Introduction To DataBase Systems", Volume 1, 4th Edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Copyright 1986, Ch. 18, a "transaction" is a logical unit of work referencing a sequence of operations that transforms a consistent state of a recoverable resource into another consistent state without necessarily preserving consistency at all intermediate points in the sequence. For purposes of this discussion, a database is referenced as a typical instance of a recoverable resource.
Database management systems that maintain data in stable storage are subject to failures that leave the data in a corrupted or inconsistent state. Inconsistent data can violate integrity guarantees assumed by users and extreme cases can cause a database management system to operate improperly or crash. The database can be recovered from crashes by scanning the recovery log to determine which transactions have committed and which have aborted, using UNDO recovery log records to back out the actions of aborted transactions and using REDO recovery log records to repeat the actions of committed transactions that may not have been written to permanent storage before the crash. To recover from stable storage media failure, the archival dump of database and recovery log must be similarly processed.
A system supporting transaction processing guarantees that if a transaction executes some updates against the database and a system failure occurs before the transaction reaches its normal termination, then those updates will be undone as part of a recovery procedure. Consequently, the transaction either executes in its entirety or it is totally cancelled. Guaranteeing the atomicity and durability of transactions in the face of concurrent execution of multiple transactions and unpredictable failures is a very important problem in transaction processing. Many methods have been developed in the past to deal with this problem, but the related assumptions, performance, characteristics and complexity associated with such methods have not always been acceptable.
To meet transaction and data recovery guarantees, the transaction recovery system records in a recovery log the progress of a transaction and its actions that cause changes to recoverable data objects. The recovery log becomes the source for ensuring that either the transaction's committed actions are reflected in the database or its uncommitted (aborted) actions are undone despite various types of failures. When the logged actions reflect data object content, then those recovery log records also become the source for reconstruction of damaged or lost data. Conceptually, the recovery log can be considered as an ever-growing sequential file. Every log record is assigned a unique log sequence number (LSN) when that record is appended to the log. The LSNs are assigned in ascending sequence and are typically the logical addresses of the corresponding log records, or timestamps which measure elapsed time from some beginning point.
The non-volatile or stable version of the recovery log is stored on stable storage such as rotating magnetic media ("disk"). Such stable storage can be improved by maintaining two identical copies of the recovery log on different disks. These on-line stable storage log records are then occasionally copied to a cheaper and slower archive medium such as tape. The recovery log archive records may be discarded once the appropriate image copy (archive dumps) of the database is produced, making the earlier recovery log archive records moot.
When a transaction or process failure occurs, the transaction is typically in such a state that its updates must be undone. It is possible that the transaction has corrupted some pages in volatile storage if it was involved in performing updates when the process disappeared. When a system failure occurs, the volatile storage contents are usually lost and the transaction system must be restarted and recovery performed using the stable storage versions of the database and recovery log. When a stable storage media or device failure occurs, the contents of the stable storage media are usually lost and the database must be recovered using the most recent image copy (archive dump) of the data object and the recovery log archive.
The UNDO records of a recovery log provide information on how to undo changes performed by the transaction. The REDO records of a recovery log provide information on how to redo changes performed by the transaction. In Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) based systems such as ARIES, an updated database is written back to the same stable storage location from where it was read. The WAL protocol asserts that the recovery log records representing changes to some data must already be in stable storage before the changed data are allowed to replace the previous version of those data in stable storage. That is, the system is not permitted to write an updated data page to the stable storage version of the database until at least the UNDO records of the recovery log describing the page update actions have been first written to stable storage.
Since a transaction includes execution of an application-specified sequence of operations, it is initiated with a special BEGIN transaction operation and terminates with either a COMMIT operation or an ABORT operation. The COMMIT and ABORT operations are the key to providing atomicity, as is known in the art. Transaction status is also stored in the recovery log and no transaction can be considered complete until its COMMIT status and all of its recovery log records are safely recorded on stable storage by forcing to disk all recovery log records up through the LSN of the most recent transaction COMMIT record. This permits a restart recovery procedure to recover any transactions that completed successfully but whose updated pages were not physically written to stable storage before system failure. This means that a transaction is not permitted to complete its COMMIT processing until all REDO records for that transaction have been written to stable storage.
For systems with large amounts of data, image dumps to archival media may only be taken infrequently. The number of recovery log records that must be applied to recover forward of an image dump grows with time and eventually become quite large. The recovery log archive itself may grow so large as to require inconvenient amounts of offline log archive storage. The size of the log archive, and consequently the media recovery time, can be reduced by compressing (filtering) extraneous data from the log records during the log archiving process. In particular, as is well-known, the UNDO data can be discarded from the recovery log archive if it is reliably assumed that the on-line stable store portion of the recovery log will be available for recovery.
For the case of a catastrophic media failure in which the system must be completely restored from offline storage, this on-line recovery assumption is unacceptable. Clearly, even if all UNDO records are present in the log archive, the database can only be restored up to the most recently written log archive record. However, it is better to recover to a transaction-consistent state while losing some recent transactions than to recover to an inconsistent and possibly corrupt state that may itself cause the database system to crash. The fundamental problem in the art is that if the UNDO records are discarded during log archiving, it is not generally possible to recover the data object in a transaction-consistent state from archives alone. This is because the usual corrupt data object image dump is not archived in a transaction-consistent state and cannot be brought into a consistent state without performing UNDO operations for the transactions that were active at the time of the image dump.
The recovery of such an archived image dump is referred to as forward recovery. Forward recovery is similar, but not identical, to crash recovery, which is the process of recovering a data resource to a transaction-consistent state after a system crash by applying the recovery log to the data resource itself as it existed at the time of the crash. The "crashed resource" is also generally in a corrupt state at the time of crash and must be purged of incomplete transactions through the use of the on-line recovery log records. One difference is that the amount of recovery log that must be processed during crash recovery can be minimized by making frequent checkpoints during normal forward processing, whereas the amount of recovery log that must be processed during forward recovery from archives can be very large, motivating the log filtering schemes mentioned above.
Transaction-consistent forward recovery from a damaged recovery log is accomplished by applying to an image dump resource copy the recovery log records starting with the record corresponding to the time of the image dump and processing forward to some record before but in the vicinity of the earliest damaged log portion. If the recovery log archive has been filtered of all UNDO records, the incomplete transactions cannot be backed out, preventing transaction-consistent recovery from archived records alone.
For this reason, the extensive related data object recovery art uses unfiltered recovery logs. Such art is ineffective for resolving the forward recovery archive filtering problem. Refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,031 issued to Jenner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,751 issued to Gawlick, et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,474 issued to Elliott, et al. These practitioners disclose various techniques for compressing the recovery log and for efficient application of a recovery log to the corrupt data object but none address the problem of forward recovery from filtered log archives.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,167, Kapulka, et al describe a method for constructing a filtered "resource recovery" log for accomplishing forward recovery. Kapulka, et al describe a method for constructing a filtered log that supports forward recovery from an undamaged log but their filtered resource recovery log does no contain sufficient information to permit transaction-consistent recovery at any point from a damaged log.
Thus, a problem felt in the art is the need for an efficient recovery log archiving protocol that will guarantee transaction-consistent recovery from data resource image dump and recovery log archives alone without archiving every UNDO log record for the entire database system. This unresolved problem is clearly felt in the art and is solved by the present invention in the manner described below.

Log archive filtering method for transaction-consistent forward recovery from catastrophic media failures

International Business Machines Corporation


A method and apparatus for performing a plurality of network attachment procedures to support a plurality of cells for a small cell-based User Equipment (UE) service are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless access system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing a plurality of network attachment procedures to support a plurality of connections for a small cell-based User Equipment (UE) service.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Wireless access systems have been widely deployed to provide various types of communication services such as voice or data. In general, a wireless access system is a multiple access system that supports communication of multiple users by sharing available system resources (a bandwidth, transmission power, etc.) among them. For example, multiple access systems include a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) system, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) system, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system, and a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system.
Recently, a wireless access network configuration has been changed such that various types of small cells having small sizes such as a pico cell, a femto cell, etc. interact with a macro cell having a relatively large size. The wireless access network configuration aims to provide a high data rate to final UEs and thus increase Quality of Experience (QoE) for the final UEs in a situation where multi-layer cells co-exist in a hierarchical structure basically involving a macro cell.
According to one of the current 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization categories, Small Cell Enhancements for E-UTRA and E-UTRAN SI; e.g., RP-122033, enhancement of indoor/outdoor scenarios using low-power nodes is discussed under the title of small cell enhancement. In addition, scenarios and requirements for the small cell enhancement are described in 3GPP TR 36.932.
Considering the development trend, a larger number of smaller cells will be deployed within macro cells and thus final UEs will be located physically nearer to a network. Accordingly, it is expected that communication will be conducted through UE-based zones in a future-generation wireless access network, instead of conventional physical cell-based communication. To realize communication through UE-based zones with the aim of increasing throughput, technical issues should be handled to provide a service providing unit such as a UE zone, different from a conventional service providing unit such as a physical cell. The emergence of these small cells may significantly affect a current Remote Area Network (RAN).
According to 3GPP TS 36.300, a cell is basically composed of downlink resources and optional uplink resources. Linkage between the carrier frequencies of the downlink resources and the carrier frequencies of the uplink resources is indicated by System Information (SI) transmitted in downlink resources.
According to 3GPP TS 23.401, if a UE is to receive a service requiring registration, the UE should register to a network. The registration procedure is referred to as network attachment. During the network attachment, an evolved Node B (eNB or eNode B) and/or the UE establishes an Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer, thereby enabling 'Always on Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity' for the UE. In the network attachment procedure, one or more dedicated bearer establishment operations may be triggered to establish dedicated EPS bearers for the UE. In addition, the UE may request allocation of an IP address during the network attachment.
Considering a future high-density small cell deployment scenario, UE-based zone configuration will be a significant issue. Accordingly, a current network attachment procedure needs to be improved to support UE-based zone configuration.

Method and apparatus for performing plural network attachment procedures to support plural connections in a wireless access system