This invention pertains to integration of nonlinear parametric waveguide spectrometer with polyimide waveguide focusing mirror. The waveguide spectrometer uses nonlinear counter-propagating .chi..sup.2 interaction to simulate the action of a grating and produce the required chromatic dispersion. To map the near-field to far-field and separate different wavelength components, an organic-dielectric (e.g. a polyimide/SiO.sub.2) guide and a 45.degree. RIE etched mirror were fabricated to simulate a concave focusing integrated mirror. The measured spot size at the focal plane of the mirror was about 0.7 .mu.m corresponding to about 1.6 Angstroms spectral resolution in agreement with the theoretical prediction. The device has good spectral resolution; however, the conversion efficiency is smaller than the theoretical prediction. Even with the low signal power level, the integrated deviced may be of use in applications that can take advantage of the visible output and do not require high power conversion efficiency.

Optical spectrometers are waveguide devices that use counter-propagating .chi..sup.2 nonlinear guide interaction to produce a required chromatic dispersion. In these devices, a reference guided mode interacts with a counter-propagating input infrared signal to generate a surface-emitting sum-frequency signal. The angle by which the up-converted visible signal is radiated is a function of the difference in the wavelength of the reference guided mode and the input signal. By fixing the reference wavelength, the frequency spectrum of the input signal is mapped to an angular spectrum of the up-converted signal in the far-field. The physical principle of the nonlinear parametric waveguide spectrometer is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The nonlinear guide acts as a grating in a conventional spectrometer. Two counter-propagating waves, one being a reference mode and the other an input signal, interact and generate surface-emitting sum-frequency signal radiating out of the top surface of the guide with an angle that is defined by the principle of momentum conservation. If one of the counter-propagating beams (reference beam) has a fixed wavelength, the frequency spectrum of the other counter-propagating beam (input signal) is mapped to the angular spectrum of the sum-frequency signal in the far-field. For example, see R. Normandin et al. "Monolithic, Surface-Emitting Semiconductor Visible Lasers and Spectrometers for WDM Fiber Communication Systems", IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 27, No. 6, June 1991, pages 1520-1530, and D. Vakhshoori and W. Wang, "Integrable Semiconductor Optical Correlator Parametric Spectrometer for Communication Systems", Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 9, No. 7, July 1991, pages 906-917.
A structure of a nonlinear guide which would be useful for generating green or blue light from radiation injected into the nonlinear guide was suggested by D. Vakhshoori et al. Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Technical Digest, Series 1991, (Optical Society of America, Washington, D. C.) Vol. 10, page 134, R. Normandin and R. L. Williams, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Technical Digest Series 1991 (Optical Society of America, Washington, D. C.) Vol. 10, page 136, D. Vakhshoori et al., "Blue-Green Surface-Emitting Second Harmonic Generation of (111)B GaAs", Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 59, No. 8, 19 August 1991, pages 896-898, and D. Vakhshoori, "Analysis of Visible Surface-Emitting Second-Harmonic Generators", Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 70, No. 10, 15 November 1991, pages 5205-5210. Such a structure would include a multilayer structure consisting of paired alternating compound semiconductor layers, each layer in a pair having different composition than the other layer in the pair. However, it is still desirable to provide the nonlinear parametric spectrometer with an imaging system which could map the near-field to far-field on compound semiconductor substrates.

Integrated nonlinear waveguide spectrometer


An object identification device includes an image capturing device to capture images polarized in different directions. A noise removal unit removes noise in the polarized images using a noise removing parameter. An index value computing unit computes an object identification index value for identification-processing areas in the polarized images using data of noise-removed polarized images. An object identification processing unit conducts object identification by determining identification processing areas corresponding to an identification target object based on the object identification index value. An environment information obtaining unit obtains environment information. An environmental condition determination unit determines an environmental condition based on the environment information. A parameter storage unit stores noise removing parameters prepared for mutually exclusive environmental conditions. The noise removal unit reads a noise removing parameter from the parameter storage unit to conduct noise removal. A method of identifying an object and a spectroscopic image capturing apparatus are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object identification device to identify objects existing in an image capturing area, a moving object controlling apparatus to conduct a movement control of moving vehicles such as automobiles, ships, airplanes, and industrial robots using an identification result of the object identification device, and an information presenting apparatus to present useful information to operators of the moving vehicles. Further, the present invention relates to a spectroscopic image capturing apparatus to obtain a two-dimensional spectroscopic image, in which wavelength information is correlated to each point in an image capturing area.
2. Description of the Background Art
Object identification devices are widely employed for moving object control apparatuses to control moving vehicles such as automobiles, ships, airplanes, and industrial robots, and for information presenting apparatuses to present useful information to operators of moving vehicles. Specifically, for example, the object identification devices are employed for a driver support system such as adaptive cruise control (ACC) to reduce burden on operators of vehicles.
Such vehicle driving support systems implement an automatic braking and warning to evade obstacles and to reduce the shock of impact in the event of a collision; vehicle speed adjustment to maintain the vehicle-to-vehicle distance with a vehicle ahead; and driving assist to prevent a vehicle from straying out of its lane. Such vehicle driving support systems must be able to effectively differentiate, and recognize or identify, objects such as obstacles existing around one vehicle, another vehicle in front of one vehicle (in-front vehicle, hereinafter), lane markings, and the like.
Hitherto, several object identification devices have been disclosed. For example, JP-H11-175702-A discloses an object identification device that identifies objects such as lane markings, in which lines in a captured image of roads are detected to detect a change in relative position of a vehicle such as an automobile with respect to traffic lanes as defined by lane markings such as white-painted lines or white lines.
In general, when puddles of water are present on a road due to rainy weather, sunlight reflected off the puddles as specular reflection may be captured with a same light intensity as that of the lane markings (e.g., the white lines) on the road and misidentified as lane markings. The object identification device is used to solve such problem.
Specifically, the effect of puddles is removed from the road image before conducting white line identification processing by removing a specular reflection component (i.e., noise component) from the captured road image, after which the white lines are recognized using the scattered light component. The specular reflection component can be removed by taking advantage of the fact that the horizontal polarized component of the specular reflection has a Brewster's angle of substantially zero, and the scattered light component has substantially the same level of vertical polarized component and horizontal polarized component. A difference between the vertical polarized component and the horizontal polarized component included in the captured road image is computed and a correction coefficient dependent on an angle of incidence included in the horizontal polarized component is multiplied by the computed difference to a compute specular reflection component. The computed specular reflection component is then subtracted from the horizontal polarized component to obtain a scattered light component image from which only the specular reflection component is removed from the road image.
JP-2004-299443-A discloses a road condition detector to detect whether a road surface is wet or dry. A captured image of the road surface includes a vertical polarized component of a vertical polarized image and a horizontal polarized component of a horizontal polarized image. A ratio of the polarized components is computed as a polarized light intensity ratio. Based on the computed polarized light intensity ratio, the road condition detector detects a road surface condition. The road condition detector uses a moving average method to reduce the effect of changes in ambient lighting occurring while the vehicle is moving, the effect of noise caused by the installation angle of a vehicle-mounted camera to compute a polarized light intensity ratio can be computed by reducing noise.
Similar to JP-2004-299443-A, JP-2009-25198-A discloses a road condition detector to detect whether a road surface is wet or dry, in which a noise removing device removes noise caused by incident light intermittently emitted by streetlamps/streetlights. The road condition detector can obtain road surface images having less effect of the streetlamps/streetlights. Based on a ratio of vertical polarized components and horizontal polarized components of the obtained images and a difference between vertical polarized components and horizontal polarized components of the obtained images, the road condition detector can detect whether the road surface is wet or dry.
Conventional object identification devices identify identification target objects, such as obstacles on road surfaces, in a captured image area using a difference in light intensity observed in the captured image area. Specifically, the object identification device extracts boundaries or edges of an identification target object and then identifies the identification target object, defined by the edges, in the captured image area. The identification target objects may be road side-end obstacles such as side walls, guardrails/crash barriers, telegraph poles/utility poles, streetlamps/streetlights, stepped portions such as pedestrian crossings at the road side-end, in-front vehicles, lane markings, or the like.
However, the above-described method may have a problem if the captured image includes a noise component, which degrades the precision of light intensity data used for identifying objects. For example, if no objects such as lane markings exist on a road surface but a high light intensity portion of road surface having a light intensity too great compared to other portions of the road surface exists on the road surface, the object identification device may extract boundaries of such portions as edges of an object, and then misidentify such portion of the road surface as an object existing on the road surface such as lane markings. When such misidentification occurs, the adaptive cruise control (ACC) misidentifies a shaded portion at a road side-end as an obstacle such as a side wall and initiates erroneous control or erroneous processing in the form of an evasive maneuver or the like.
JP-2011-150688-A discloses a method of identifying three-dimensional objects on a road surface. Each of two polarized images captured by an image capturing device is divided into a plurality of processing areas. For each processing area, a total light intensity of the two polarized images and a difference in light intensity between the two polarized images are computed, and then a polarization intensity difference, which is a ratio of the difference of light intensity with respect to the total light intensity, is computed to identify three-dimensional objects on the road surface. Specifically, based on the computed polarization intensity difference, the processing areas corresponding to the identification target object are determined, and a plurality of processing areas, which are close to each other and determined as the processing areas corresponding to the identification target object, are identified as an image area of identification target object.
In the conventional method, when a difference of light intensity in a captured image is not so great, the identification precision may deteriorate. The method in described in JP-2011-150688-A can identify three-dimensional objects in a captured image with a high precision even if the difference of light intensity in the captured image is not so great.
An object identification method using a difference in light intensity in the captured image and the three-dimensional object identification method using the polarization intensity difference may not identify an image area of identification target object in a captured image with high precision if some light intensity information such as noise component exists in the captured image, because such noise component degrades the precision of identification of the target object. Such noise component can be removed from captured images using conventional noise removing methods using noise removing parameters, and the object identification processing is conducted using captured images after conducting the noise removing processing on the captured images.
However, conventional noise removing methods cannot remove noise components from captured images effectively when environmental conditions of objects in image capturing areas differs such as fine weather vs. rainy weather, sunny place vs. shade place, difference of light angle irradiated on an object, or the like. Such problem occurs not only for the object identification devices for the driver support system, but also for the object identification devices used for other fields such as robot control.
Further, spectroscopes are widely used to obtain an optical spectrum. Typical, spectroscopes use a prism or a diffraction grating to decompose the incident light into a plurality of wavelength components, and the light intensity of wavelength components is detected by a light receiving element. However, the typical spectroscope cannot correlate positional information of incident light with the optical spectrum of incident light.
Recently, spectroscopic image capturing apparatuses that can capture a two-dimensional spectroscopic image have been developed, in which each point in an image capturing area can be correlated with the wavelength of the light measured at each point. Such spectroscopic image expresses the two-dimensional distribution of wavelengths at each point in the image capturing area, and the wavelength components at each point can be expressed, for example, as a difference in gradation in the image capturing area. The optical spectrum can be obtained with a wavelength selection filter such as a band pass filter and a low pass/high pass filter, by a dispersive element such as a prism and diffraction grating, and by the Fourier-transform spectroscopy. Spectroscopic image capturing apparatuses using such methods to obtain the optical spectrum have been developed.
Spectroscopic image capturing apparatuses using such methods to obtain the optical spectrum have been developed. For example, JP-2005-57541-A discloses a spectroscopy camera head unit using a wavelength selection filter to capture a spectroscopic image. In the spectroscopy camera head unit, a two-dimensional image capturing element receives incident light from a photographic subject via the wavelength selection filter, and a spectroscopic image of wavelength components matched to the wavelength selection filter is obtained. The spectroscopy camera head unit uses a liquid crystal wavelength tunable filter (LCTF) as the wavelength selection filter to dynamically switch wavelength that can pass the filter. Therefore, by capturing images while switching passable wavelength of the wavelength selection filter, a plurality of images captured using different wavelength components can be obtained. By synthesizing such images, a two-dimensional spectroscopic image that correlates each point in an image capturing area with wavelength components of light measured at each point can be obtained.
A non-patent reference (pages 4-9, November 1999, "Optical Alliance", JAPAN INDUSTRIAL PUBLISHING CO., LTD) discloses a planar spectrometric system using a dispersive element that can capture a spectroscopic image. The planar spectrometric system employs imaging spectroscopy that simultaneously measures positional information and spectrum information at multiple points arranged in a straight line to obtain a spectroscopic image. The imaging spectroscopy captures images by scanning in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the multiple points, by which a two-dimensional spectroscopic image, which correlates each point in an image capturing area with wavelength of light measured at each point can be obtained.
JP-2005-31007-A discloses a spectral instrument using Fourier-transform spectroscopy. In this spectral instrument, the incident light is split into two light paths or two polarized components and one of the light paths or polarized components is given a certain phase difference that causes the two light paths or two polarized components to interfere with each other to generate detection signals. The detection signals are Fourier-transformed by a computer to obtain an optical spectrum. The spectral instrument can obtain a spectroscopic image by conducting detection while changing the phase difference set for the two light paths or two polarized components, perpendicular to each other, by which a two-dimensionally distributed optical spectrum for a given wavelength range can be obtained.
However, the above methods need a long processing time to obtain the spectroscopic image, and therefore such methods may not be suitable to capturing the spectroscopic image in real time at high speed. Specifically, when the wavelength selection filter is used, one image-capturing action can obtain a two-dimensional spectroscopic profile only for one wavelength component. Therefore, to obtain a two-dimensional spectroscopic image for a plurality of wavelengths, a plurality of images for different wavelength components needs to be captured and then synthesized. These operations take time, thereby lengthening the processing time required for obtaining the spectroscopic image. Such lengthening of the processing time may occur similarly when the dispersive element and Fourier-transform spectroscopy are used.
In general, spectroscopic images generated by using the image difference captured by a spectroscopic image capturing apparatus include a noise component. The difference between any two adjacent areas in the spectroscopic image can be expressed as a difference in gradient. The received light intensity of the two adjacent areas is measured and compared. If the received light intensity in one of the adjacent areas becomes too great compared to the received light intensity in the other one of the adjacent areas, such difference can be identified as noise because such a great difference does not usually occur in adjacent areas, which receive light at adjacent points in an image capturing area. If such noise information is included in a spectroscopic image, the spectroscopic image may not be processed correctly subsequently. For example, when the object identification process to recognize edge portions in the spectroscopic image as a contour of object is conducted, the noise in the spectroscopic image may be extracted as an edge portion of object, thereby degrading object identification precision.

Object identification device, moving object controlling apparatus having object identification device, information presenting apparatus having object identification device, and spectroscopic image capturing apparatus


A device for restoring DC and non-zero average components of a serially transmitted binary signal which has been AC coupled. The device comprises an input port for the binary signal, a clamping circuit, a feedback network, a summing node, and an output port. The input port includes a capacitor for coupling the binary signal to the summing node and the clamping circuit. The feedback network includes an input and an output which are also connected to the summing node. The clamping circuit clamps the positive and negative peaks of the AC coupled binary signal which exceed a predetermined range. The feedback network latches the AC coupled binary signal and produces a current signal. For a binary signal which is within the predetermined range, the clamping circuit exhibits a very high input impedance, thereby causing the current signal to charge the coupling capacitor and produce a voltage which is added to the AC coupled binary signal at the summing node. The output port includes a comparator which converts the restored AC coupled binary signal to digital logic levels. In another embodiment, the clamping circuit includes a current sensor for producing an amplitude signal which is indicative of the amplitude of the AC coupled binary signal. The amplitude signal is fed to an automatic gain controller which produces a gain control voltage for controlling the operation of a high frequency equalizer.

In signal transmission applications where the average or DC component of a serially transmitted binary signal is non-zero, the DC component of the signal must be restored at the receiver in order to achieve accurate data reproduction. Where the transmission medium is a coaxial cable which includes AC coupling methods for signal transmission, there are two steps required to recover the transmitted data. The first step involves high frequency equalization to compensate for losses during transmission in the cable. The second step involves DC restoration of the equalized signal to recover the low frequency and DC components which are lost through the coupling circuits.
Quantized Feedback (QFB) is the standard technique for DC restoration of an AC coupled binary signal. The Quantized Feedback method has been utilized in practical implementations for cable equalizers for serial digital transmission applications. However, the Quantized Feedback method is sensitive to variations in the amplitude and rise time of the input waveform. As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, this sensitivity places considerable emphasis on the performance of the high frequency equalizer because as the length of the transmission cable increases, the signal losses become more severe and precise equalization will eventually be impossible. As a result of this sensitivity, the Quantized Feedback method can introduce jitter into the restored waveform.

System for DC restoration of serially transmitted binary signals


A Keplerian zoom finder optical system has an objective lens comprising, in succession from the object side, a first lens unit of negative refractive power, a second lens unit of positive refractive power, and a third lens unit of positive refractive power and having positive refractive power as a whole, and an eyepiece of positive refractive power for enlarging and observing the focused image of the objective lens therethrough. The air gap between the first lens unit and the second lens unit is varied to thereby vary finder magnification.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compact Keplerian finder optical system of variable magnification.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, in the field of lens shutter cameras for example, cameras containing photo-taking lenses of variable focal length therein have become the mainstream. Along therewith, finders of continuously variable magnification have been required. Particularly Keplerian finders have been enjoying increasing demand as finders for high-class cameras because the finder field is divided clearly by a field frame and ghost and flare are insignificant. Therefore, in recent years, various Keplerian finder optical systems of variable magnification have been proposed, as for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,395 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1-116616.
However, the Keplerian finder optical system adopts a system in which a real image formed by an objective lens is enlarged and observed through an eyepiece, and this has led to the disadvantage that dust adhering to a field frame or a lens disposed near it, and bubbles or other defects in the lens, are also enlarged and seen at the same time. To overcome this disadvantage, it will suffice if nothing is disposed near the focal plane of the objective lens, but if this is done, the feature of the Keplerian finder that the field of view is divided clearly will be eliminated. When conventional real image type finders of simple construction are viewed from such a point of view, any one of them has required a so-called field lens near the focal plane of the objective lens and no consideration for coping with the above-noted disadvantage has been given.
Further, in recent years, the plastic molding technique has made rapid progress and now almost all of the optical parts of finders from aspherical lenses to prisms of complicated shapes can be provided by molded plastic articles. However, it is difficult to avoid minute dust or bubbles mixing with molded plastic articles during the molding thereof, and where a field lens or the like disposed near the focal plane is provided by a molded plastic article, dust in the field lens is conspicuously observed and this has remarkably reduced the rate of non-defectiveness of finders.
Also, mentioning a problem in aberration correction, particularly the finder proposed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,395, which comprises a few constituents, has a difficulty in the correction of the fluctuation of distortion, and among finders having a field of view of 50.degree. or more at the wide angle end, there has been none in which distortion is corrected well.


In a rotary wing aircraft tail rotor head assembly having a ball bearing on a spindle at the head of a rotor wing, the ball bearing contains slug ball separators between the balls in the bearing. The separator may be made from PEEK, PTFE, or polyimide. The ball-to-ball separation between two balls of like diameter provided by the separator may about 3.2 to about 64% of the diameter of one of the balls. A separator may have an annular configuration that defines a passage therethrough, the passage having two ends and the interior of the separator being tapered to define a maximum diameter at each end and a minimum diameter therebetween. The taper of the chamfered surface of the slug ball separator may define a conical angle of about 75° to about 120°. A ball bearing as described herein may also be used in a rotary wing aircraft swashplate having a stationary plate, a rotating plate; and a thrust bearing between the stationary plate and the rotating plate.

Rotary wing aircraft, such as helicopters, provide unique environments for the use of ball bearings, particularly in their rotor systems. For example, the bearings in helicopter swashplates and in rotor blade mounts must be specially designed to provide reliable ongoing use under the type of load and speed conditions that are unique to helicopters. The use of bearings in other types of machines is nonanalogous to rotary wing aircraft bearings in general and to helicopter bearings in particular. For this reason, bearing designs that are useful in other kinds of machines are not assumed by those of ordinary skill in the art to be suitable for helicopter swashplates, rotor blade mounts, etc.
One example of a conventional rotary wing aircraft bearing is in the tail rotor blade mount of a Sikorsky CH53A/D helicopter. The blade mount includes a 5-bearing stack of ball bearings in which the balls are held in place by a nylon cage. To accommodate the cage, the outer rings of the bearings must be chamfered, which weakens the bearings.


A related art imaging device is accompanied by the problem that it must perform read processing on pixel data generated within pixel units for every row, and an SN ratio of the pixel data is not capable of being enhanced sufficiently. According to one embodiment, an imaging device has common floating diffusion wirings and floating diffusion switches which switch whether or not to couple floating diffusions of a plurality of pixel units arranged in a column direction, and combines pixel data generated by the pixel units in the floating diffusions coupled within the pixel units.

The present invention relates to an imaging device, and, for example, to an imaging device having pixel units arranged in a lattice form.
In an imaging apparatus such as a camera or the like, a CCD or a CMOS sensor is used as an imaging device, and an image acquired by the imaging device is outputted as imaged data. This imaging apparatus is often equipped with an autofocus function of automatically enhancing the sharpness of an image to be photographed. There is known a phase difference system as a system for realizing the autofocus function.
In the phase difference system, a pair or two pairs of light receiving units are provided for each microlens arranged two-dimensionally, and the light receiving units are projected onto the pupil of an imaging optical system by the microlenses to thereby split the pupil. Then, in the phase difference system, object images are respectively formed using two luminous fluxes passed through portions different in terms of the pupil of the imaging optical system. A positional phase difference between the two object images is detected based on the output of the imaging device and converted into a defocus amount of the imaging optical system. An example of such an imaging apparatus having the autofocus function of the phase difference system has been disclosed in Patent Document 1.


The present invention provides an apparatus and method for subjecting a body part to a vacuum, engorging blood veins and reducing neurophatic pain. The body part is inserted through a donut like inflatable seal which is attached to an opening in the cylindrical rigid hypobaric chamber. The seal is inflated and the chamber evacuated utilizing a single air pump. The seal pressure and chamber vacuum are controlled and adjusted using preset or adjustable pressure release valves.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for increasing blood flow in, reducing pressure around and decreasing pain in a body part by surrounding the body part with a hollow hypobaric chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many patients, particularly diabetic patients, tend to suffer from poor blood flow and neuropathic pain. An insufficient amount of insulin in the body and an excessive amount of sugar in the blood leads to neuropathic pain in body parts of diabetic patients. In order to reduce pain in body parts, diabetics and other groups of patients who suffer from pain due to poor blood flow need increased blood flow in their body parts.
Prior art methods of alleviating pain associated with diabetes comprise medication, exercise and dieting. However, these methods may show limited results and value in reducing neuropathic pain.
In addition, there are a wide variety of prior art devices designed to assist blood circulation. Examples of such prior art devices include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,164 issued to Cooper on Mar. 19, 1991, which discloses a circulation enhancing apparatus comprising an airtight boot contoured to fit the injured human foot along with a modulator for providing cyclic over-pressure and vacuum pulses to the boot in synchronism with the heart's systolic and diastolic pressure pulsations; U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,047 issued to Tripp on Sep. 25, 1990, which discloses a flexible lower body negative pressure anti-G suit for protecting against the adverse effects of +G(z-axis) acceleration.
While the devices of the prior art are designed to provide for negative pressure chambers, the prior art devices do not reduce neuropathic pains associated with diabetes.

Use of hollow hypobaric chambers on body parts for increasing blood flow, reducing pressure and decreasing pain


A laundry treatment apparatus includes a cabinet. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes an outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes a circulation duct that is configured to guide air circulating through the outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes an exhaust duct that is configured to guide air exhausted from the outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes an air suction duct that is configured to guide air from outside the laundry treatment apparatus into the outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes a fan that is configured to circulate air through the outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes a heater that is located in the circulation duct and that is configured to heat air entering the outer tub. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes a plurality of heat-exchanging tubes. The laundry treatment apparatus further includes a condensed water pipe.

Laundry treatment apparatuses, which can dry laundry using heated air (hot wind) supplied to the laundry, are classified into a laundry treatment apparatus equipped with an exhaust type drying system and a laundry treatment apparatus equipped with a circulation type drying system in accordance with how heated air supplied to laundry is treated after exchanging heat with the laundry.


A method for dynamically dividing or consolidating sub-bands in-between Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) status measurements upon detection of a CCA bandwidth adjustment condition is provided. The method includes determining at least a single CCA status for at least a single sub-band during a first period, and detecting a CCA bandwidth adjustment condition for dividing the single sub-band into two or more separate sub-bands, where a combination of the two or more separate sub-bands occupies the same frequency band as the single sub-band. The method also includes determining a separate CCA status for each of the two or more separate sub-bands during a second period. An apparatus for performing this method is also provided.

Unlicensed wireless protocols may attempt to access wireless channels without centralized coordination and planning, which may lead to collisions between different unlicensed transmissions. One technique for mitigating such collisions is referred to as Carrier-Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA). CSMA/CA includes a medium sensing stage, also called Clear Channel Assessment (CCA), during which a device senses a shared channel to determine a CCA status of a sub-band before performing a transmission.
Modern networks may use CCA on a wideband shared channel, which allows a wireless device to transmit or receive data over multiple sub-bands at the same time in order to increase the bandwidth available to the wireless device. Conventional schemes for wideband medium sensing divide the spectrum into a static number of sub-bands, and determine a CCA status on each sub-band individually. Techniques for improving the efficiency and collision avoidance of wideband medium sensing in unlicensed spectrum shared by coexisting wireless networks are desired.

Enhanced channel access mechanisms for wide band operation on unlicensed bands


A surface machining method for obtaining a planar material of a uniform thickness is provided. This method includes mounting a planar material on a surface plate, setting the coordinate axis in the plane direction of the planar material to X, Y, and setting the coordinate axis in the height direction to Z, virtualizing an XY plane including an origin of the Z direction measured as a distance Z(m,n) from the coordinates (Xm, Yn) of a virtual plane ABCD to the plate thickness center plane S composed of midpoints of segments connecting an upper surface and a lower surface of the planar material, measuring the distance in the Z direction of the plate thickness center plane from the origin in an arbitrary XY plane position, and tilting and cutting the planar material so that the difference between maximum and minimum value of the obtained height data will be minimum.

The present invention relates to a method for determining a work surface of a planar material in a surface treatment for obtaining a flat plate of a uniform thickness from a planar material, as well as to a machining method of such a work surface, a device for determining the foregoing work surface, and a flattening device.
A ceramic sintered plate such as a sputtering target or a metal plate prepared by metal rolling or forging, in most cases, is subject to be deformed by thermal stress or machining stress during the manufacturing process. Also the thickness is not uniform in some parts. In order to obtain a flat planar material of a uniform thickness from a planar material with such three-dimensional deformation, machining such as cutting, grinding, and electrical discharging is performed.
Conventionally, a material with this kind of deformation was subject to the foregoing processes by an operator setting such material directly on a processing machine, or the operator would roughly measure the deformation of the individual planar materials in advance with a straight end or the like, and insert a spacer during the stage of setting such materials in the processing machine in order to maintain flatness. Nevertheless, the current status is that the foregoing methods are conducted based on the operator's instincts.
For instance, when grinding a material based on the operator's instincts, even if the operator is an expert, he/she will need to perform such grinding more than necessary in order to obtain a plane. This is because it will not be possible to maintain the accuracy of flatness or uniform thickness without excessive grinding by the operator. Therefore, it was necessary to set the machining cost of the material itself higher, and this led to deterioration in the yield. In addition, this inevitably led to increased operation time of the processing machine.
As conventional technology, there are an apparatus to measure precisely the thickness of respective warped planar works (for instance, refer to Patent Document 1), a device to measure a warped planar works comprising a measurement reference unit, a measurement unit, a displacement measurement unit for converting into electrical signals, a warp measure display unit, and a control unit (for instance, refer to Patent Document 2), a manufacturing method of a ceramic product comprising the steps of pressurizing and molding ceramic material powder, irradiating a light beam on the surface thereof, and measuring the surface status upon receiving the reflected light (for instance, refer to Patent Document 3), a size measurement ceramic gauge provided with a stepwise portion (for instance, refer to Patent Document 4), a plate flatness measuring device comprising a downward measuring unit for measuring the flatness, a plate support pin, a vertical motion actuator, and a pressure regulation unit (for instance, refer to Patent Document 5), and a method for measuring the shape irregularity of a ceramic substrate using infrared thermography (for instance, refer to Patent Document 6).
Nevertheless, the foregoing conventional technologies are methods or devices for measuring flatness, measuring displacement or measuring shape irregularities, and do not provide the concept of improving the yield upon performing surface-machining such as cutting, grinding, and electrical discharging.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H6-66549    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Examined Patent Application Publication No. S59-36202    [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. S63-173607    [Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-128002    [Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent No. 3418819    [Patent Document 6] Japanese Patent No. 3183935

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for determining machining plane of planar material, machining method and device for determining machining plane and flat surface machining device


Systems and methods for authorizing drones with access to airborne fulfillment centers (AFCs) and other warehouse facilities are described. For example, the systems and methods perform multiple authentication processes, including a physical authentication process and a virtual or electronic authentication process, when determining whether a drone is authorized to access an AFC. Once authorized, the drone may access the AFC to pick up and/or deliver packages or other products, to recharge, to seek repairs, to be housed, and so on.

Airborne Fulfillment Centers (AFCs), and other floating or remote facilities, are automated warehouses designed to house products and other stock to be purchased by consumers. AFCs may interact with or be serviced by fleets of delivery drones (e.g., fleets of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles) capable of pick-up and delivery of the products stored by the AFCs. For example, an AFC may be a blimp-like vehicle that floats above a certain area or geographical location and stores items, products, and other stock to be delivered to various endpoints (e.g., purchasers houses or buildings) within the geographical location.
Given their position in the air and/or at remote locations, AFCs and other remotely-located fulfillment centers may be vulnerable to attacks by malicious actors, such as attacks from drones attempting to infiltrate the AFCs to steal products or otherwise disrupt the operations or functionality of the AFCs and/or their systems.
These and other problems exist with respect to deploying AFCs as central hubs of products to be delivered to customers.
The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Similarly, some components and/or operations may be separated into different blocks or combined into a single block for the purposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the present technology. Moreover, while the technology is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detail below. The intention, however, is not to limit the technology to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the technology is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the technology as defined by the appended claims.

Authorizing drone access to fulfillment centers


This invention concerns an improved multiple biopsy gun to collect tissue samples having a housing and an axially elongated cutting needle and stylet extending from the housing, wherein the housing contains a driving mechanism which propels the stylet and the cutting needle forward in sequential fashion to capture two or more tissue samples, without the necessity to reload the biopsy gun or to remove the biopsy gun from the target site between biopsies.

Needle biopsy procedure, used to obtain tissue specimens for microscopic examination, is well known in most fields of medicine. Non-automatic, two hands-operated biopsy needle devices include a cutting needle in which a stylet slides in and out to save the tissue cut by the biopsy needle inside the stylet notch and the cutting needle lumen. The disadvantage of this biopsy procedure is the necessity to use two hands for handling the device, making this procedure more complicated and more prone to physicians' mistakes, such as needle movement and/or incorrect biopsy.
These disadvantages promoted the development of an automatic biopsy gun in which the movements of the cutting needle and the stylet are done by pressing buttons which actuate loaded springs. The springs drive the stylet and cutting needle forward sequentially, eliminating the need for two-handed operations. An example of an automatic biopsy gun is disclosed in Bates et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,625. Such an automatic biopsy gun device is now the treatment of choice for core biopsies, such as per rectum prostate biopsy to detect malignancy. However, such a biopsy gun is lacking in at least two respects:
1. There is no effective protection for doctors or patients against accidental needle puncture during a procedure (especially in prostate core biopsies without trans-rectal ultrasonic guidance). The doctor may be exposed to cross-contamination and infections, and the patient may be exposed to rectal wall puncture and cross-contamination. PA1 2. Most patients require more than one needle biopsy to detect their pathology. The known manual and automatic guns are only capable of performing one biopsy per each insertion inside the body. After the biopsy is performed the steps are as follows: (A) the device is taken out of the body, (B) the device is opened by retracting the cutting needle proximally, (C) the biopsy is taken out, and (D) the biopsy gun can be loaded for a second biopsy. The length of time required for the procedure reflects the number of times the gun is introduced into the target body organ. When 10 to 12 prostate core biopsies are performed, the time of procedure is a multiple of the biopsies taken. Also, each needle puncture for getting to the target organ and obtaining a specimen increases trauma to the patient and/or site of the attempted biopsy.
A multi-biopsy gun is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,533, in which multiple biopsies are obtained in one body entrance puncture. According to the invention capturing multiple specimens in sequence without the need to unload each specimen is achieved by a double (or more) length of side notch stylet length and multiple gun loading and shooting once inside the target organ. According to the invention of the '533 patent, removal of the specimen is achieved by completely removing the cutting needle from the stylet notch area. The disadvantage of this device is that the gun must be loaded before each shooting. This loading, which is done while the needle is still inside the body tissue, is potentially dangerous since it requires the physician to apply force to the loaded gun which could cause accidental movement of the needle while inside the body tissue. If the gun is taken out of the body for a second loading and then reinserted into the body for a second biopsy, the advantage of single puncture multiple biopsy is negated. Thus, there would be great advantage to a single-insertion, multiple biopsy procedure without repeated spring loading inside the body.
An additional disadvantage of the multiple insertion biopsy gun of the '533 patent is the manner in which specimens are removed from the stylet notch. The biopsy gun of the '533 patent has a shooting step length of only one specimen length, and the only way to take out the second or more specimens is by moving the cutting needle forward and revealing the first or more specimen. This procedure is time consuming as well as potentially causing more damage to the first delicate tissue specimen when the long needle tube is retracted forward and creates friction with the specimen tissue.


A method of installing an offshore wind turbine and a transport vessel for use therewith in which a part of a wind turbine is secured to the transport vessel by raising the part in a perpendicular direction relative to the transport vessel into a transport position using a lifting device arranged on the transport vessel at a loading site. The transport vessel is then moved from the loading site out to an installation site. The transport vessel is secured to an offshore foundation which is located at the installation site by a holding device. The wind turbine is then lowered onto an upper part of the offshore foundation using the lifting device. Finally, the transport vessel is released and moved away. The lifting device is at least one set of jack-up device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of installing an offshore wind turbine comprising the steps of
securing at least a part of a wind turbine to a transport vessel by bringing lifting means located on the transport vessel into contact with the part and raising the part in a parallel direction relative to the longitudinal direction of the wind turbine using the lifting means;
moving the transport vessel from a loading site out to an installation site;
securing the transport vessel to at least a part of an offshore foundation which is located at the installation site, wherein the offshore foundation is configured to receive and hold the wind turbine; and
lowering the wind turbine onto an upper part of the offshore foundation using the lifting means.
The present invention also relates to a vessel for transporting and installing an offshore wind turbine, where the vessel comprises
a hull having a deck and at least one side surface;
a slot arranged in one of the side surfaces wherein at least one wind turbine may be positioned;
one or more holding means for securing the vessel to an offshore foundation located at an installation site.
2. Description of Related Art
When installing offshore wind turbines, there exists a need for transporting the wind turbine out to the installation site as well as ways to assemble the wind turbine either at the site or before transportation. First, a foundation has to be secured to the seabed at the installation site, and then, a transition piece or intermediate piece of the wind turbine is mounted to the foundation, before the remaining parts of the wind turbine can be installed. Depending on the design of the foundation, the transition/intermediate piece may form the upper part of the foundation.
Today, the different pieces of the wind turbine or the partly preassembled wind turbine are loaded onto an installation vessel which is then moved to the installation site. The installation vessel is then jacked up, lowered onto the seabed or maintained in its position using a mooring system. The wind turbine is then assembled using a crane on the installation vessel. Another way of installing an offshore wind turbine is to preassemble the entire wind turbine onshore, and then load it onto a barge and move the barge out to the installation site. A ship having a crane is then used to install the wind turbine at the installation site. All these installation methods require the use of an offshore crane which in turns increases the installation costs and the total installation time, since it is expensive to use such a crane and it takes time to erect the crane if it is compacted during transport. The use of an offshore crane furthermore requires relative came wind condition so that the individual pieces can be lifted and installed safely, since the tall crane is sensitive to wind impacts.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0316450 A1 discloses an installing method where a number of wind turbines are preassembled at the harbour and then loaded onto a barge in a vertical position. The barge is then towed out to the installation site by a towing vessel. The barge is then positioned relative to the installation site using a fendering and mooring spread system. A wind turbine is then skidded to an installation position on the barge and optionally adjusted in the vertical position by means of a jacking system relative to the foundation extending above the water surface. The barge is then lowered so that the lower section of the wind turbine is positioned on the upper part of the foundation by using ballasting tanks or tensioning means connected to anchors located on the seabed after which the barge is towed away from the foundation and then re-raised using the ballasting tanks or tensioning means. This method requires the use of a mooring system comprising at least three mooring points to keep the barge in position during the installation process. The wind turbine is installed by lowering and re-raising the entire barge which in turns increases the total installation time, since this is a time consuming process. The geometric metacentric height of the barge is furthermore raised, since the wind turbines are positioned on the desk, thus making the barge more sensitive to waves and wind impacts. Furthermore, a mating system is needed between the foundation and the wind turbine to absorb the impact loads during the load transfer, since the barge can be moved relative to the foundation due to the waves and wind impacts.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2012/066789 A discloses a similar method where the wind turbines are loaded onto one end of the desk of an installation ship using an onshore crane. The wind turbine is then moved along the desk to other end using clamping means located at the top of two parallel support structures located on the desk. The ship is then jacking up on the seabed before the wind turbine is moved into position over the foundation. The ship is then lowered so that the wind turbine is positioned on the foundation. The loading of the wind turbines takes time, as well as the jacking up and down of the ship which all add to the total installation time. The transport requires low speeds since the wind turbines are positioned on the desk, thus making them more sensitive to the wind and waves.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2011/103988 A1 discloses an installing method where the entire structure, including the offshore wind turbine and the foundation, are preassembled at a small platform near the harbour. A transport vessel is then moved into position over the foundation and secured to the foundation by means of rollers and pulleys. The entire structure is then lifted and sailed out to the installation site. Support poles are then extended out of the hull of the vessel, and the foundation is then filled with ballast via a second ship. The transport vessel is then lowed via ballast tanks until the support poles contact the seabed. The foundation, including the wind turbine, is then lowed into position, and the rollers and pulleys are then disconnected and raised back up. The transport vessel is then re-raised using the ballast tanks, and then sailed away. This method requires the wind turbine and the foundation to be preassembled at the harbour. This method only works well if the foundation is a gravity foundation, since the foundation is used to provide stability using transport and installation. The transport vessel needs to be placed on the seabed before the wind turbine can be installed, which in turns adds to the total installation time. Furthermore, the foundation needs to be filled with ballast before being lowered into position, which requires the use of a second ship.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2011/108938 A2 discloses an installing method where the offshore wind turbine and the transition piece are preassembled at the harbour and then skidded onto a pivotal support structure on the barge in a horizontal position. The wind turbine is then secured to the support structure using an actuation device extending towards the slot. The barge is then towed out to the installation site. The support structure is then pivoted around a pivot point into a slot formed in the barge so that the wind turbine and the foundation are positioned in a substantially vertical position. The transition piece and the wind turbine are then positioned over the foundation using a dynamic positioning system, and then lowered onto the upper part of the foundation using the actuation device. The actuation device is then released and the barge is then towed away. This method requires the wind turbine to be rotated into the vertical position before installing the wind turbine, thus in turns adding to the total installation time. This support structure requires the use of winches located on the front of the barge to pull the wind turbine and the transition piece away from the support structure so that the transition piece does not comes into contact with the support structure while being lowered into position.
International Patent Application Publication WO 2010/059489 A1 discloses an installation method where the wind turbine is pre-assembled before being transported out to the installation site using a catamaran. The catamaran comprising an upwards extending support structure and a slot in which the wind turbine is positioned. The catamaran is lowered by filling the ballast tanks with water and moved into position relative to the wind turbine. The wind turbine is then secured to the support structure using clamps arranged on the support structure. The catamaran is then raised by emptying the ballast tanks and moved out to the installation site. The wind turbine is positioned on the foundation by lowering the catamaran again. The raising and lowering of the catamaran is a slow process which adds to the total installation time. The transport can only be done at low wind speed where the wind turbine can be held in a stable position, as the wind turbine is transported in an elevated position above the water surface.

Method of installing an offshore wind turbine and a transport vessel thereof


A telepresence system includes a man-machine interface and a teleoperator configured to communicate bidirectionally with the man-machine interface via a communications channel. The teleoperator performs actions based on first signals generated due to a manual operation of the man-machine interface and transmitted over the communication channel, and sends second signals to the man-machine interface over a second communication channel. At least one buffer device buffers signals transferred through the communication channel and releases the signals delayed so that the signals coming from the man-machine interface and the signals coming from the teleoperator each are transmitted through the communication channel with an effective constant time delay.

In the telepresence or tele-operation system, robots are remotely controlled over relatively great distances. In this system, commands entered by an operator at an operator console or input device are sensorially detected, processed, and transmitted to a remotely located teleoperator. An application of such systems is the tele-manipulated surgery, in which for example a doctor manually moves several robotic arms through his input console, which move for example a medical instrument in order to treat a patient, in particular to operate on it. WO 2010/025 943 A1 discloses an example of such medical workplace.


A transducer includes a first and second spaced apart member, each member having a radiating surface for producing a wave of energy in a transmitting medium in response to a driving force, a plurality of containment devices coupled to each member and extending outwardly beyond at least one radiating surface for communicating the driving force to each member, and a corresponding plurality of driving devices respectively disposed within the containment devices for generating the driving force in response to a change in a predetermined dimension of the driving device. The distance between the members and corresponding distance between the radiating surfaces may be reduced for increasing the bandwidth of the transducer, while the length of the containment device may be increased for accommodating the driving devices in order to maintain a constant driving force. A method for selecting the bandwidth of operation of a transducer is also described.

The present invention relates to a moment bender transducer, and, more particularly, to an improved moment bender transducer.
The aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/633,142 describes and claims a moment bender transducer which may be of particular benefit for generating low frequency (i.e., less than about 1,000 Hz) acoustic signals. Although the transducer of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/633,142 is cost effective, especially with respect to being able to use flat radiating members, there are certain situations for which it is desirable to increase the bandwidth of operation of the transducer, while maintaining the output or source power, if desired, so that the amount of acoustic energy that is able to be coupled from the transducer to the conducting or transmitting medium for a predetermined drive power level over that attainable using the transducer of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/633,142 may be increased.


A fixing temperature control device according to the present invention is applied to a copying machine. A control section has a warm-up control mode and a normal control mode. In the warm-up control mode, energization to a heater is started in response to the start of copying, while being stopped at the time point where a temperature detected by a heat roller temperature detecting sensor reaches a first off temperature. In the normal control mode, on-off control of the energization to the heater is carried out utilizing a predetermined control temperature as a target subsequently to the termination of the warm-up control mode. The predetermined control temperature is corrected by adding a prescribed correction amount to a reference control temperature. It is preferable that the required correction amount includes i) an initial correction amount added in the early stages of processing in the normal control mode, ii) a correction amount at the time of passing paper sheets added when paper sheets pass between a heat roller and a pressure roller in a fixing device, and iii) an environmental correction amount added depending on an environmental temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing temperature control device which is applied to a fixing device in an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copying machine or a facsimile for carrying out on-off control of a heater for heating a fixing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally in an image forming apparatus, for example, a copying machine, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive drum is developed into a toner image and the toner image is transferred onto paper sheets, after which the transferred toner image is heated and fixed by a fixing device. The fixing device comprises a pressure roller and a heat roller heated by a heater for heating and fixing toner particles to the paper sheets passing between both the rollers.
In order to heat and fix toner particles, the temperature of the fixing device must reach a predetermined temperature. If the temperature of the fixing device is lower than the predetermined temperature, toner particles are insufficiently fixed. If the temperature of the fixing device is higher than the predetermined temperature, so-called high-temperature offset occurs. The high-temperature offset is when that toner particles which enter a molten state due to high temperatures remain on the pressure roller or the like and are transferred onto unnecessary portions of the paper sheets. Specific examples include duplicating.
Conventionally in the copying machine or the like, energization control (on-off control) is continuously carried out with respect to a heater for heating a heat roller from the time when a power supply switch is turned on to the time when it is turned off, to warm the fixing device to a predetermined temperature.
However, it is not preferable in terms of energy saving to warm the fixing device when copies are not made.


An improved heat exchange tubing and blade assembly is described. The heat exchange assembly comprises an elongated tube and an elongated heat exchange blade strip positioned thereon. The heat exchange strip includes an array of integrally formed blade segments which extend from a U-shaped support segment of the strip. Surfaces of the blades extend at a favorable angle of attack to the incident fluid flow stream, and in a preferred embodiment the chords of the blades extend in a direction substantially normal to a longitudinal axis of the tube. The strip is supported on an outer surface of the tube, and a means integrally formed with the tube maintain the support segment in thermal contact with the tube. In a presently preferred embodiment, the tube has a generally streamlined oval cross section for utilization in heat exchanger apparatus such as in an air conditioner, refrigerator or heat pump, with the tubing arranged such that the minor axis of the oval extends perpendicular to the external fluid flow and its major axis extends parallel therewith for reducing the frictional drag and reducing stagnant regions of the external fluid flow. The multiple blades fan out from opposite sides of the oval tubing along its two gently curving arcuate faces where the fluid flow is relatively unimpeded. Moreover, the individual blades in a preferred embodiment are tapered so as to decrease in thickness from root to tip, thereby reducing the mass and weight of thermally conductive material in the blade strips while providing suitable thermal conduction and mechanical strength in the individual blades.

This invention relates to an improved heat exchange tubing and blade assembly.
Various forms of heat exchange apparatus such as heating and air conditioning apparatus, include a heat exchange tube assembly through which is conveyed a heating or cooling medium. An exchange of thermal energy occurs between this medium and a second medium flowing over the tubing. Heat exchange with the second medium is enhanced by providing a plurality of heat exchange blades which are maintained in thermal contact with the tubing. The blades have a surface area substantially greater than their thickness and increase the effective heat transfer surface which is exposed to the surrounding atmosphere. One such arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,756, wherein the tube includes integral flat flange segments and the blades are integrally formed with the tube from the flange segments. In another arrangement, the blades are integrally formed in a strip of material which is then continuously helically wound on the tube and secured thereto by an adhesive which is positioned between the strip and the tube.
These prior techniques for increasing the effective heat transfer surface exhibit several disadvantages. When the blades are integrally formed with the tubulation, the number of blades which can be provided to increase the heat transfer surface is substantially limited since a tubulation can provide only a limited number of flat flanges before the cost and assembly procedures become uneconomical and cumbersome. When the blades are formed in a strip which is wound about the tubulation, it has been found that the adhesive used for bonding limits the thermal-conductivity between the blades and the tubulation. In some cases, additional metal, with concomitant additional weight and cost, may be used in the tubing or in the bladed strip or in both to compensate for the thermal insulation effect of the non-metallic bonding layer between the tubing and bladed strip. In addition, fabrication of the heat exchange assembly by helically winding the strip on the tubing is relatively slow and reduces the production capability while increasing the overall cost of the heat exchange tubing assembly.
Furthermore, with the helically wound bladed strip the individual blades become generally uniformly distributed around the full periphery of the circular tubing. When the external fluid medium flows past this bladed tubing in a direction generally perpendicular to the tubing axis, there are fluid flow "dead spaces" which occur immediately ahead of and immediately behind the tubing. The particular blades which happen to project forward ahead of the tubing or backward behind the tubing are resident in these dead space regions where the fluid flow is slow or stagnant. Accordingly, such blades are not very effective in contributing to the overall heat exchange capacity of any apparatus in which such prior art tubing is utilized.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved heat exchange tube assembly.
Another object of the invention is to provide a heat exchange tube assembly having improved means of mounting a blade strip to the tubulation.
It is a further object of the present invention in accordance with a presently preferred embodiment thereof to provide a streamlined tube assembly which reduces the dead spaces ahead of and behind the tubing and wherein the blades fan out into regions on opposite sides of the tubing where the external fluid flow is relatively unimpeded by the streamlined tubing itself.


A suspender arm for suspending machinery such as welding equipment, for example, has a swing beam supported rotatably in a horizontal plane at its base end by a base member actuated vertically and/or horizontally by electric motors according to demand, a slide beam disposed to the swing beam slidably in the longitudinal direction of the swing beam, a hanger disposed to the slide beam movable along the slide beam for suspending a wire feeder of the welding equipment and some rings attached slidably to respective wires stretched between both ends of the swing beam and the slide beam for suspending cables of the welding equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a suspender arm for suspending machinery and tools, and more particularly to a suspender arm which is expansible and rotatable swingingly, and used for suspending, for example, a wire feeder of welding equipment or an intake nozzle of dust-collecting equipment in various factories such as a machine shop, a shipyard and so on.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a case of welding work in various factories or plants such as a machine shop, an engineering work, a shipyard and so on, a wire feeder of a semi-automatic arc welding machine is often placed on a floor or works in a workshop, for example. Therefore, there is a problem in that a welding cable, a control cable and a gas hose (in a case of gas shielded arc welding) of the welding equipment may be damaged by catching angular parts of the works and machine tools disposed in the workshop, and may coil round the feet of workers happened to be by because the cables and the hose creep on the floor and the works in company with movement of the welder according to the progress of the welding work.
Additionally, in the case of such the welding work, it is necessary to ventilate the room very powerfully for protecting the welder and the worker so as not to inhale welding fume and dust generated by, for example, grinding the works after the welding work. Therefore, dust-collecting equipment is furnished in the workshop so as to suck the welding fume and the dust, and collect them into a dust extractor of the dust-collecting equipment through an intake nozzle disposed nearby the works and a flexible duct connecting between the intake nozzle and the dust extractor since a ventilator such that provided on the roof or the wall of the workshop is not so powerfull to collect the welding fume and the dust generated by the grinding work.
However, also in this case, there is the possibility that the flexible duct connecting between the intake nozzle and the dust extractor may be damaged and coil round the feet of the workers similarly to the case of the cables and the gas hose of the welding equipment when the intake nozzle is moved according to the progress of the welding work.


A timer to provide pulses at a comparator output wherein a frequency of the pulses is dependent on temperature, wherein providing each pulse includes biasing a first input of the comparator at a voltage and operating a transistor in a subthreshold region of operation to change the voltage of the first input of a comparator at a rate dependent upon temperature. The output of the comparator changes state when the voltage of the first input crosses a voltage of a second input of the comparator.

1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to a temperature dependent timer circuit.
2. Related Art
Semiconductor chip level power management systems are increasingly more complex and can require a host of voltage and current references for low power regulation modes. Examples include, voltage and current references for clocks, voltage and current references for accurate regulation control (includes well bias, source bias and core regulation levels), and current and voltage references for other analog blocks such as comparators and band gap circuits that need to run in low power modes.
Some solutions have proposed special very low power dc references but these solutions can be slow starting, less accurate over temperature and are usually just one fixed value. In newer systems a more accurate refreshed sample and hold reference is being used. One advantage to these systems is more flexibility using an add-on digital-to-analog converter (DAC) or resistor ladder and multipliers that are simultaneously refreshed so that multiple references can be generated. Another advantage to this system is any number of voltages can be generated in a refresh period, but power is conserved with everything off in the hold phase which is significantly longer than the sample phase.
One of the constraints to this system is that the refresh rate is done for worst case conditions, for example, high temperatures of 125 degrees C. A low power clock can run constantly to set the refresh rate, but requires power at nominal temperature and involves switching currents and area on the substrate. It is desirable to reduce space and power overhead for lower power sleep modes.


Disclosed herein is a method of making a 2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)phenol by reacting a 2-allylphenol with an oxidant in the presence of a catalyst. A 3-chromanol can be formed as a by-product. The method can be used to make 2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)-6-methylphenol. Transition metal catalysts and peroxide oxidants can be used. Also disclosed is a composition comprising 1 to 90 weight percent of a 2-(2,3-epoxypropylphenol, 5 to 90 weight percent of a 2-allylphenol, and 0 to 40 weight percent of a 3-chromanol, and in particular, a composition comprising 1 to 90 weight percent 2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)-6-methylphenol, 5 to 90 weight percent 2-allyl-6-methylphenol, and 0 to 40 weight percent 8-methyl-3-chromanol.

2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)phenols are C-glycidylphenols in which the 2,3-epoxypropyl or glycidyl group is directly bonded to a phenyl ring carbon atom, and are differentiated from O-glycidylphenols, or glycidyl phenyl ethers, in which the glycidyl group is bonded to the phenol oxygen atom. 2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)phenols are potentially useful reactants in thermoset resins, and in particular, in epoxy resins, by virtue of their epoxy functionality. In order to become a material of commerce, an efficient, low cost method of manufacturing 2-(2,3-epoxypropyl)phenols is desirable. In order to be low cost, the method should have the following characteristics. It should be based on low-cost materials that are available in bulk quantities, it should be a one-step reaction, and it should have a commercially acceptable cycle time (time between batches in batch manufacturing).

2-(2,3-epdxypropyl)phenol composition and method of making


This invention discloses a heterojunction type field effect transistor such as 2DEG-FET and a heterojunction type bipolar transistor such as 2DEG-HBT. The former is fabricated by applying to the formation of its source and drain regions a technique which causes the disorder of the heterojunction by intoduction of an impurity such as by ion implantation or a technique which causes the disorder of the heterojunction by forming a film made of at least one kind of material selected from insulators, metals and semiconductors which have a different linear coefficient of thermal expansion from that of the material of a semiconductor substrate on the heterojunction semiconductor region which is to be disordered. The latter is fabricated by applying either of the techniques described above to a base ohmic contact region. These semiconductor devices can reduce the source-gate resistance and the parasitic base resistance. The invention discloses also the structure of the ohmic contact layer which has a trench on the surface thereof and is particularly effective for reducing the source-gate parasitic resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique of forming an ohmic contact to a two-dimensional carrier which is formed on a heterojunction interface, and more particularly to a semiconductor device which can reduce a source-gate resistance or a parasitic base resistance and can operate at a high operation speed, and fabrication method of such a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The technical concept of using two-dimensional electron gas (hereinafter called "2DEG") formed on a heterojunction interface between n-type AlGaAs (aluminum gallium arsenide) and undoped GaAs (gallium arsenide) for the active layer of a field effect transistor (FET) is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 160473/1980. Such an FET is generally called "two-dimensional electron gas field effect transistor (2DEG-FET)". The greatest problem for accomplishing high performance of 2DEG-FET is the reduction of a source-gate resistance (R.sub.sg). FIG. 2(a) of the accompanying drawings is a sectional view of 2DEG-FET having a conventional structure and FIG. 2(b) is a band diagram of a conduction band energy in the proximity of a source electrode.
Namely, 1 .mu.m-thick undoped GaAs 11, about 50 nm-thick n-type Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As(x.about.0.3) 12 and 50 nm-thick n.sup.+ GaAs 13 are formed on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate 10. A gate electrode 22 forms a Schottky junction with n-type AlGaAs 12 while source-drain electrodes 20, 21 form an alloy junction with n.sup.+ GaAs 13. Here symbol .phi..sub.Bn represents the Schottky barrier height between the source electrode 20 and n.sup.+ GaAs 13.
FIG. 2(b) shows the conduction energy band diagram in the proximity of the source electrode 20 (A-A'). Unlike the ohmic contact of ordinary GaAs MESFET (Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor), the heterojunction is formed between n.sup.+ GaAs 13 and n-type AlGaAs 12 in the case of 2DEG-FET and the heterojunction is formed also between n-type AlGaAs 12 and undoped GaAs 11. Therefore, a potential barrier .DELTA.E.sub.c is formed between 2DEG 14 and the ohmic metal 20 and specific contact resistance R.sub.c occurs between n.sup.+ GaAs 13 and 2DEG, thereby causing a critical problem for reducing R.sub.sg. The specific contact resistance R.sub.c.sup.TLM between the source electrode 20 and n.sup.+ GaAs 13 alone is the problem in the case of ordinary GaAs MESFETs, but the reduction of the specific contact resistance R.sub.c between the heterojunctions becomes the problem in the case of 2DEG-FET.
It is known of late that if heat-treatment is made by injecting Si ions, the heterojunction interface becomes broken down and AlGaAs/GaAs system superlattice becomes disordered, as discussed in the papers of "Opto-Electronics Joint Research Laboratory, 13th Conference" (1986), pp. 25-33. This disorder is believed to result from mutual diffusion of Ga and Al due to diffusion of Si.
As one of the methods of reducing R.sub.sg, a method which injects Si ions exhibiting the n type into the source-drain region and activates it has been employed. However, this method involves the problem that a high temperature process around 800.degree. C. is necessary as the activation temperature and a layer below the gate electrode becomes disordered, also. If a refractory gate metal is used as a masking material for the ion injection, the Si ions are diffused below the two-dimensional electron gas so that the shift of the threshold voltage (V.sub.th) of the transistor to the negative side, or so-called "short channel effect", becomes the problem.
In addition, the impurity distribution in AlGaAs 12 changes through the high temperature heating process so that V.sub.th shifts, as well.
On the other hand, heterojunction bipolar transistors (hereinafter called "HBTs") of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) have been fabricated conventionally in accordance with crystal growth methods such as MBE (Molecular Beam Epitaxy) or MODVD (Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy) comprising the steps of sequentially growing crystallographically n-type GaAs (collector), p.sup.+ GaAs (base), n-type AlGaAs (emitter) and n.sup.+ GaAs (cap layer) and then forming the emitter region, the base region, the base electrode, the collector electrode, the collector region, and so forth. (Refer, for example, to "IEDM Technical Digest 1985", pp. 328-331.) As is well known in the art, however, the emitter concentration, i.e. 10.sup.20 cm.sup.-3, is by far higher than the base concentration, i.e. 10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3, in the case of Si bipolar transistors . Accordingly, the emitter region can be formed by ion implantation after the formation of the base region and extremely fine n-p junction region can be realized. As a result, an extremely fine emitter can be formed. (Refer, for example, to "Electronics Lett.", Vol. 19 , No. 8, April, 1983, p. 283.)
In contrast, in the case of HBT, the impurity concentration of the base region is ordinarily from 10.sup.18 to 10.sup.19 cm.sup.-3 while the AlGaAs impurity concentration of the emitter region is ordinarily from 10.sup.17 to 10.sup.18 cm.sup.-3 in order to reduce the base resistance and because the upper limit exists to the emitter concentration. In other words, the impurity concentration of the emitter region is ordinarily lower than that of the base region.
Therefore, unlike the Si bipolar transistors, HBT involves the problem that the emitter region cannot be formed by ion implantation after the base region is formed.
Since the emitter region is formed by epitaxial growth process such as MBE/MOCVD or the like, it has been extremely difficult to etch finely (.about.0.5 .mu.m level) the emitter region unlike ion implantation.

Semiconductor device having a heterojunction and a two dimensional gas as an active layer


An apparatus for generating narrow-band single and multi-photon state with long coherence length is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a laser pump (20) producing laser light, a non-linear optical crystal (30) within an optical cavity (40), wherein the optical cavity (40) comprises at least two mirrors (42, 44); and a tuning crystal (50) situated between the non-linear optical crystal (30) and a first one (42) of the at least two mirrors.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for the generation of single-photon and multi-photon states using cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down conversion.
Brief Description of the Related Art
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (also known as SPDC, parametric fluorescence, or parametric scattering) is a process known in quantum optics, which is used as a source of entangled photon pairs and of single photons.
The basic process involves a nonlinear crystal, that is used to split an incoming photon beam, termed a "pump beam", into pairs of photons, called "signal" and "idler" photons. In uniform non-linear crystals, the process can happen with non-negligible efficiency only if the amplitudes of the photons in the pump beam as well as the amplitudes of the signal photons and the idler photons are in phase with each other, while the signal photons and the idler photons travel through the non-linear crystal. This condition is called "phase-matching" and corresponds to the conservation of the momentum between the pump beam, as well as the signal photons and the idler photons. According to the law of conservation of energy, the combined energies of the signal photons and the idler photons are equal to the energy of the original incoming photon in the pump beam. Therefore, the emitted photons (signal and idler photons) are correlated in frequency. The state of the non-linear crystal remains unchanged by the process of splitting the incoming photon beam.
The pairs of the signal and idler photons have correlated polarizations: if the two polarizations are identical (but orthogonal to the polarization of the pump beam) then the process is called type I. If the two polarizations are orthogonal (termed H and V for horizontal and vertical polarizations), then the process is termed type II.
Spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) is used as a source of photon pairs and is triggered by random vacuum fluctuations. The photon pairs are created at random times. The conversion efficiency of SPDC is very low, on the order of 1 pair per every 1012 incoming photons. However, if one of the pair of photons (i.e. the "signal photon") is detected at any time then its partner (the "idler photon") is known to be present.
Efficient SPDC at the desired wavelengths can be obtained by quasi-phase-matching. The quasi phase matching technique is one that enables SPDC emission in a broad range of wavelengths. This technique comprises allowing a phase mismatch between the pump, signal and idler photons over a certain propagation distance but periodically reversing the non-linear interaction at the points where the phase mismatch would start creating destructive effects. The conservation of momentum is ensured by an additional momentum contribution corresponding to the wave vector of the periodic poling structure. This leads to a phase-matching condition which takes into account also the period of the quasi-phase-matching structure. The most used method for quasi-phase-matching is periodic poling, that is the periodic inversion of the domain orientation in a non-linear crystal, so that the sign of the non-linear coefficient also changes.
The typical frequency bandwidth of the signal photons and the idler photons emitted via SPDC is of the order of 100 GHz-1 THz. Reducing the bandwidth to MHz-level by optical filtering implies a reduction of the photon signal of 5-6 orders of magnitude.
Cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down conversion (CESPDC) is a more efficient method of creating narrow-bandwidth photon pairs in which the nonlinear crystal is placed within an optical resonant cavity [see Ou, Lu-PRL83, 2556-1999].
One example of the generation of a pair of entangled photons using parametric processes in a cavity is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,822 (Teich et al). A BBO (barium borate) crystal used the non-linear crystal in a non-linear configuration.
One of the main challenges in designing an apparatus for CESPDC is single-mode operation. The SPDC bandwidth is usually far larger than the free spectral range (FSR) of the cavity used. There may therefore be many resonant modes in the cavity present at the same time. One way of solving this issue is to use additional external etalons or atomic line filters to filter out the redundant resonant modes. This solution reduces the brightness, adds to bulkiness and complicates the operation of the apparatus.

Apparatus for generating narrow-band single-photon and multi-photon states with long coherence length


This invention discloses an expression system which is useful in industrial Bacilli to produce target proteins which include, but are not limited to, alkaline proteases, amylases, cellulases, lipases or other hydrolyases which are normally excreted outside of the host cell.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the development of an expression system which is useful in industrial Bacilli to produce target proteins which include, but are not limited to, alkaline proteases, amylases, cellulases, lipases or other hydrolyases which are normally excreted outside of the host cell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The DNA sequence of a Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 53926 gene encoding a subtilisin Carlsberg type protease has previously been disclosed in European Patent EP0348814 (Jan. 3, 1990) and Jacobs, M. et al. (1985) Nucleic Acids Research 13:8915-8926. This DNA sequence contains a putative stem-loop structure positioned just upstream from the ribosomal binding site (RBS) and the translational initiation codon (FIG. 1). The .DELTA.G of formation of this structure has been calculated to be -16.0 kcal/mole, using the method from Zuker and Stiegler. There was evidence that deletion of a StuI/DraI fragment from the B. licheniformis Carlsberg protease gene, which includes an upstream region and most of the stem-loop, affects protease production by altering, the efficiency of mRNA translation (Jacob, M.,(1987) Poster T-4, Fourth International Conference on Genetics and Biotechnology of Bacilli, San Diego, Calif.). When a premoter inducible by xylose(P.sub.xyl) was cloned into the StuI site in front of the stem-loop, protease mRNA synthesis was detected during exponential growth but protease activity was only detected in the stationary phase of growth (Jacob, M.,(1987). This is he same result as for the native Carlsberg promoter(P.sub.carl). When the StuI/DraI fragment was deleted and replaced by a fragment carrying P.sub.xyl, then Carlsberg protease activity was detected during exponential growth. Similar amounts of full length Carlberg mRNA were detected in the exponential stage of growth for constructs with and without the putative stem-loop structure (Jacob, 1987; data not shown) leading to the conclusion that the effect on protease yield was at the level of translation.

Expression systems for the production of target proteins in bacillus


An infant walker comprising an infant carriage unit, a central anchor member including a central pivoting member, and an attachment arm connected to the infant carriage unit and releasably attached to the central pivoting member is provided for allowing an infant to walk only in a circular path about the central anchor member.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an infant walker. More particularly, it is concerned with an infant walker attached to a central anchor member wherein an infant placed in the walker is restricted to walking in a circular path about the central anchor member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infant walkers are well known in the art and have been used for many years. They allow infants to begin learning how to walk with the aid of the walker. In addition, infants placed in a walker have much greater mobility than they would otherwise have.
Typically, infant walkers give infants virtually unrestricted mobility. This mobility allows infants to easily and quickly move across significant areas of a room or home. This increased mobility provides for a much increased chance of injury or accident involving the infant.
Accidents involving infants in walkers typically occur when the infant walks over the edge of and falls down a flight of stairs or off an elevated surface such as a deck or porch of a home. In addition, the walkers can topple over when the walker becomes caught on some low lying edge and the infant then can fall and be injured. The freedom of movement provided by the walker to the infant also allows the infant to quickly walk into dangerous situations such as into a hot oven or to an electrical outlet. When an infant is placed in a walker the chance that the child will become injured while using the walker is significant even if the infant is left unattended by a parent or guardian for only a few seconds.
In addition, a child using known walkers often becomes trapped or stuck against furniture, a wall, or other obstacle and quickly becomes frustrated because he cannot move about the room. Once a child becomes stuck, a parent or guardian must move the walker and point the infant in a direction in which the infant is able to freely walk.


A valve arrangement for a liquid flavoring additive under pressure, particularly a non-homogeneous liquid such as high pulp orange juice concentrate, utilizes a fluid pressure to assist in terminating discharge of the liquid flavoring. The fluid pressure may be achieved by utilizing the same compressed air utilized to force the liquid flavoring through the valve structure. Suitable controls, such as a three-way valve, may be utilized to apply the pressurized air to a diaphragm on which a valve member is carried when the valve is to be closed to preclude discharge of the liquid flavoring additive, and to remove the pressure on the diaphragm, such as by venting it to air, when it is desired to permit discharge of the liquid flavoring.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a liquid flavoring valve arrangement for beverage dispensers, and more specifically, this invention relates to a valve arrangement utilizing a pressurized fluid to assist in closing a valve controlling discharge of a non-homogeneous liquid flavoring additive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Beverage dispensers of the post-mix type utilize controlled discharges of a liquid flavoring or concentrate and a diluent, such as carbonated water, to form the drink to be dispensed. Solenoid valves are normally utilized to determine the amounts of concentrate and carbonated water that are introduced into a mixing chamber to produce the drink for dispensing. A conventional solenoid valve of this type utilizes a valve member biased toward engagement with a valve seat to close the valve. Actuation of the solenoid causes the valve member to move against the bias force to open the valve for a predetermined time.
The flavoring concentrate utilized is normally pressurized, such as by insertion of a pressurized gas or air at the top of a container in which it is stored, in order to force the concentrate through the valve at a known rate of flow. To assist in opening the valve when it is desired to discharge concentrate, it is possible to take advantage of the pressure on the concentrate. Thus, the valve member will frequently be located upon a larger plate or diaphragm upon which the pressurized concentrate will bear even when the valve is closed. When the solenoid valve is actuated to open the valve, the pressurized concentrate will assist the solenoid drive in producing immediate separation of the valve member from the valve seat. This immediate opening of the valve is important to proper operation, since the amount of concentrate discharged is a time function. Any tendency of the valve member to stick on the valve seat would result in a weak or watery drink. Therefore, the positive opening aspect of utilizing the pressurized concentrate to assist the solenoid actuator is of value.
While this system works quite adequately for a homogeneous concentrate (e.g., various soft drink concentrates added to carbonated water), systems utilizing non-homogeneous liquid concentrates, such as pulpy orange juice concentrate, present some difficulties. As a result of the tendency of such non-homogeneous liquids to block or clog a valve and its related conduits, the conduits and the related valve passages must have a greater cross sectional area. This means that the area of the diaphragm on which the valve member is located is also greater. This greater diaphragm area means that the biasing force has greater resistance to closing after de-energization of the solenoid, due to the concentrate pressure being applied to the greater surface area. This can result in a slow closure of the valve, with the subsequent dispensing of a drink that is too strong. Also, as a result of the larger opposing force during closing, the valve member may not be tightly engaged with the valve seat, so that concentrate may drip from the dispenser. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a valve arrangement that produces positive and accurate closing, as well as positive and accurate opening.


An apparatus and method for adjusting the air-fuel ratio of a burner in order to minimize the presence of undesirable emissions in exhaust gases of the burner combustion. A burner calibration is performed by selecting a number of calibration points corresponding to burner fuel positions. Air flow is varied for each calibration point as an exhaust gas analyzer determines the content of exhaust gases of the burner combustion. Air settings for optimal combustion are determined for each calibration point and are stored in a programmable logic controller and software. During plant operation, the programmable logic controller and software adjust the air supplied to the combustion of the burner according to the calibration data and the fuel position of the burner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for monitoring and controlling combustion in a burner, and, particularly, in a burner of an asphalt production plant.
2. Prior Art
The use of electronic hardware and software to control and monitor the the components of asphalt production plants is well-known in the industry. Various systems have been developed to provide information concerning production stack and mix designs, silo mix inventory, mix and material flow rates, mix and material totals, and system messages and real-time diagnostics.
One such system, the "Impulse Plant Management and Control System," is available from CMI Corporation in Oklahoma City, Okla. and is described in Publication ABX301, "CMI - IMPULSE Plant Management Control System Operation, Reference and Parts Manual." The present invention is an improvement in the "Impulse Plant Management and Control System," the improvement comprising the automatic control of the air to fuel ratios of burner combustion based on measurement of combustion exhaust emissions at different fuel settings.