A microwave oven incorporating a toaster (400) includes a toaster door (440) provided on a toaster panel (430) for opening and closing at least one toaster entrance (421) and a tray assembly (460). The tray assembly (460) includes a tray support (462) provided inside the toaster (400) and at least one tray securely provided on top of the tray support (462) for holding a food item. The tray (461) is declined toward a front end of the tray (461) so as to enable the food item to slide down toward the front end of the tray (461), and it includes at least one elevating bracket (465) for maintaining a predetermined angle and a predetermined distance between the tray (461) and the tray support (462). The microwave oven incorporating a toaster (400) further includes a support wall provided at the front end of the tray (461) for supporting the food item so as to prevent from falling off from the tray (461). Due to the declined orientation of the tray (461) the food item can be positioned toward the end of the tray (461) and a user may easily remove the food item from the toaster (400).

Generally, microwave ovens such as those illustrated in FIG. 1, heat objects (e.g., food) by applying microwaves to them. Referring to FIG. 1, the microwave oven includes a main body 10 including a front case 11, an outer case 12, and an outer frame 13, a cavity 20 in which an object may be heated by microwaves, and an electrical device chamber 30. The front case 11 forming the front side of the main body 10 includes a cavity door, which opens or closes the cavity 20. The outer frame 13 forms the lower and rear sides of the main body 10, and it protects the cavity 20 and the electrical device chamber 30 together with the outer case 12 and the front case 11. Microwaves may be generated by various electrical devices accommodated with the electrical device chamber 30 provided near the cavity 20. The various electrical devices may include, for example, a magnetron 31 for generating microwaves, a high-voltage transformer 32 for supplying high voltage to the magnetron 31, and a fan 33 generating an air flow inside the electrical device chamber 30 thereby cooling the various electrical devices as they may become heated.
While conventional microwave ovens heat objects using microwaves, microwaves cannot be used to toast food (e.g., bread products such as a slice of bread or bagel). Therefore, microwave ovens capable of toasting food as well as heating an object using microwaves have become desirable. In addition, the existing toasters often have problems when removing a food item. Therefore, microwave ovens incorporating a toaster that has a tray assembly which enables a user to easily insert and remove a food object into or from the toaster is highly desirable.

Tray assembly for microwave oven incorporating toaster


A pressurizer vessel of a nuclear power plant contains a liquid and steam both of which function to maintain pressure in a reactor coolant system. A heater support assembly is disposed in an interior portion of the pressurizer vessel and receive a plurality of heaters which are matingly fitted with the heater support assembly for heating the liquid. A temperature detector is operatively connected to the heater support assembly in a structural arrangement which allows for measuring the temperature of the liquid at a plurality of preselected elevations. The temperature detector further includes temperature measuring means for measuring a plurality of temperature readings of the liquid at preselected elevations of the liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device and method for temperature measurement of a liquid contained in a pressurizer vessel of a nuclear power plant and, more particularly, to such a device and method which measure the temperature of the liquid at preselected elevations for detecting temperature gradients in the liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical nuclear power facility includes a nuclear reactor wherein a controlled nuclear reaction, which generates heat, is occurring. Typically, borated water is contained in the reactor for controlling the nuclear reaction process and for passing the heat away from the reactor. A primary loop communicating with the reactor functions to pass the borated water (i.e., the heat) away from the reactor and to transfer the heat to a secondary loop. The secondary loop is isolated from the primary loop and generates steam from the heat passed from the primary loop. The steam of the secondary loop is used to produce electricity as is well known in the art. The primary loop then returns the borated water back into the reactor where the above described process is repeated.
A pressurizer vessel is connected to the primary loop for maintaining a constant pressure in the primary loop. The pressurizer vessel includes a protective shell forming an interior portion for containing any water and steam therein. The protective shell includes a cylindrical shaped side terminating at a hemispherical shaped head at both its top and bottom end, with the bottom end attached to a cylindrical support skirt. An outwardly extending flange extends radially outwardly from the skirt bottom for attaching it to its support structure, typically a floor. A nozzle at the bottom of the lower hemisphere connects to piping which attaches to the primary loop for allowing the primary loop and the pressurizer vessel to pass the borated therebetween which, in turn, functions to maintain proper pressurization of the primary loop. A heater support plate is located in a lower portion of the shell interior for receiving a plurality of electrical heaters which, during plant operation, are turned on to further heat the water or to maintain the temperature of the water at a constant temperature. A spray valve is positioned at an upper portion of the shell interior for spraying water in the shell interior which condenses the steam back to water. A liquid space temperature detector is attached to the shell side and projects radially into the interior of the shell for measuring the water temperature.
During operation of the power plant, a transient event that could decrease system pressure, for example, is counteracted by increasing the water temperature via the electrical heaters which, in turn, causes a portion of the water to flash to steam. An increasing pressure transient is limited by spraying cooler water from the primary loop via the spray valve into the shell interior which, in turn, causes a portion of the steam to condense to water.
The detector is positioned below and generally parallel to the water surface so that the temperature of the water is detected at a constant elevation. However, the water level varies up and down in the vessel interior during operation due to the electrical power demand of the power plant; thus, the temperature detector monitors different portions of the water as it varies up and down in the vessel interior. If a vertically oriented, temperature gradient exists, as is usually the case, it will only be detected when it passes upwardly or downwardly past the temperature detector.
Although the present device for monitoring the water temperature is satisfactory, it is not without drawbacks. The water temperature is presently measured at only one elevation so that temperature gradients are only detected when the water level rises or falls enough to cause the temperature gradient to pass by the temperature detector. Therefore, temperature gradients are not detected on a real time basis.
Consequently, a need exists for an improved device and method for monitoring the water temperature in a pressurizer vessel which overcomes the deficiencies of the presently known and utilized method and device.

Device and method for measuring temperature of a liquid contained in a pressurizer vessel


An automatic bowling pin setting apparatus and method for setting pins in a given pattern on a pin deck comprises detecting standing pins after a first ball has been rolled, clearing the pin deck of all pins, both standing and deadwood, and replacing the standing pins with replacement pins which have been stored in spotting cups above each of the pin setting locations of the pattern. The standing pin detection, pin deck clearing, and replacement of standing pins is made in a single cycle, thus eliminating the traditional standing pin lifting cycle. Spotting deck and rake movement are coordinated using shafts having continuous grooves of varying pitch with sliding members attached to the spotting deck and rake for controlling their coordinated movement with variable speed in a synchronized manner, thus permitting the single cycle for detecting standing pins, clearing the pin deck of all pins, and replacing those pins which were standing. A pin distributor delivers pins to a storage cradle above each spotting cup for storing in the vacant spotting cups. Typically thirty pins are used such that ten are on the pin deck, ten are stored in the spotting cups ready to replace detected standing pins, and ten are waiting in the cradles ready to be stored in the spotting cups. Such an arrangement reduces wear on the pins with the further efficiency of the pin setting equipment because of the single cycle pin setting process.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to automatic pinsetters for bowling games, and more particularly to the detection of standing pins, sweeping of all pins on the pin deck, and respotting standing pins in a single cycle including the synchronous movement of the sweep rake and pin setting deck.
2. Background Art
Well known and generally accepted as a standard for operation of bowling alley pin setting equipment is the detecting of standing pins after a ball has been rolled, the lifting of such standing pins, sweeping of fallen pins or deadwood lying on the pin deck or lane into the pit area, and subsequent replacement or respotting of the lifted standing pins to their earlier positions. Automatic bowling pin setting of ten pins in a triangular pattern is typical. When the pins remain upright after a first ball has been rolled, as described, they are picked up vertically to a position above the pin deck area of the lane. The pins that have been knocked down are removed through a sweeping action of a rake which is moved horizontally along the lane surface toward the pit area where they are routed for delivery to a pin elevator assembly. Once the pin deck area is cleared of the deadwood, the earlier standing pins that have been lifted are repositioned at their original standing locations so that a second ball can be rolled in an attempt to knock down the standing pins.
In order to place ten pins onto the pin deck prior to the rolling of the first ball in a bowling frame, the pin setting deck, also referred to as a setup frame or setup deck, comprising ten pin bins or baskets each holding a pin, moves down from an elevated position above the pin deck, the pin baskets tilting from a horizontal to a vertical position where each pin is held by a bucket or spotting cell. Once the pins are positioned on the pin deck, the grippers open or the setup frame moves away from the pin deck leaving the standing pins in the preset ten pin triangular pattern. After the first ball is rolled, the first shot at knocking down the standing pins, the setup deck is lowered onto any remaining standing pins. Sensors detect which pins are standing and thus which have been knocked down and disclose such in a display visible to the bowler. With the setup deck lowered onto the standing pins, the grippers typically grab each standing pin by the neck and lift the pins sufficiently above the pin deck to enable a sweep rake to sweep the fallen pins to the end of the pin deck and into a pit area typically having a wide transport carpet or rolling conveyor belt which feed the pins to the pin elevator assembly. When the rake returns to its position in front of the pin deck, the setup deck moves downward toward the pin deck to reposition the pins which were temporarily lifted. The setup deck then moves to its elevated position to be filled again by pins which were delivered by the elevator assembly to a pin distributor assembly.
Such a pin setting apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,804 to Smit wherein an automatic bowling pin setting apparatus for setting pins in a given pattern upon a pin deck comprising a setup frame is adapted to move up and down above the pin deck by means of rack and pinion assemblies. Pin bins are mounted in the typical ten pin bowling pattern for tilting movement between a horizontal pin pick-up position and a vertical pin put-down position. The Smit '804 apparatus further comprises a horizontal conveying assembly for distributing the pins to the pin bins and an elevator assembly for supply distribution conveyors with pins knocked down and removed from the pin deck by a sweep barrier or rake. A pin setup frame motor drives the setup frame movement and a separate sweep barrier motor drives the rake assembly. As is typical in the art, yet another motor drives the pit carpet conveyor assembly.
Once the cleared pins have been delivered to the pit area and ultimately elevated, they are delivered, usually through a chute or other conveying means, to the pin distributor for delivery to the individual pin bins or baskets. Various methods and assemblies have been used for pin distribution to the pin bins within the pin setup deck. One such distributor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,551 to McCarthy et al. for distributing pins to a plurality of pin positions while reducing pin overflow to those positions. The McCarthy '551 patent discloses a pin setter that is adaptable to a variety of bowling styled games and provides for a variety of pin setting combinations. As discussed in McCarthy '551, a number of commercially available distributors and pin setters are available and have been described in various U.S. Pat. Nos. including 3,809,398 to Schmid et al., 4,813,673 to Schmid, and 5,152,525 to Brim et al. All seek to improve the flexibility and dependability, in one way or another, of pin setters that employ the multiple cycles for pin detecting, lifting, sweeping and respotting well known in the art. Further, as described, automatic pin setting equipment typically employed in the art comprises three motors, one for the operation of the setup deck or frame, a second for the rake or sweep barrier, and yet a third for the pit transport carpet. More motors mean more maintenance, more repair, more down time, more energy expended in both electric power and man power, and as a result added costs for the bowing alley owner. The present invention seeks to improve on this costly situation while providing a novel apparatus and method for setting bowling pins.

Single cycle pin setting apparatus and method


A roving frame apparatus and method for winding roving upon bobbins (A) and doffing full packages directly upon a conveyor (F) wherein a spindle rail (C) is moved laterally beneath an overhead conveyor removing full packages therefrom and supplying empty bobbins thereto.

The manual doffing of a textile machine such as a roving frame producing a large number of spaced strand packages requires repetitive motions in removing one package after another with placement of each package in a cart. This task of mill personnel known as doffers is so onerous that many attempts have been made to automate the doffing phase of producing roving packages from sliver strands.
Because of the stationary positioning of the flyers above the traversing spindle rail it is difficult to doff a roving frame from the front. An attempt to automate roving frame operation is exemplified by the roving frame illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,679 wherein full bobbins are doffed from a forwardly tilted position all at one time on a conveyor which thereafter manipulates them onto a doffing carriage. In a reverse operation empty bobbins are then placed on the spindles.
Another attempt to automate roving frame operation is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,132 wherein a conveyor is positioned in front of a roving frame to receive full bobbins and replace with empty bobbins upon a support which is moved forwardly into vertical alignment with the vertically movable conveyor.
Heretofore, it is necessary to stop the roving frame upon the occurrence of ends down or a faulty roving. This is because such roving machines have a common drive for all spindles and flyers. This practice results in excessive bobbin down time.
Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to facilitate automatic doffing by utilizing the spindle rail to doff directly upon a transport conveyor which can also supply empty bobbins automatically to the spindles.
Another important object of the invention is the provision of independent motor drives to each spindle or as a group carried on the rail independently of any other mechanical connection.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a method of doffing and replacement of roving bobbins utilizing indexing of a transport conveyor and raising and lowering of the rail.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a conveyor utilizing an endless belt with longitudinally spaced transverse doffing brackets with apparatus for automatically loading and unloading bobbins.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a control for individual spindles to avoid down time which occurs when every delivery is deactivated as a result of a faulty roving strand.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a novel roving bobbin which may be suspended from a tip.
Still another object of the invention is the provision of a novel spindle upon which the bobbins are self seating.


Methods and apparatuses for deriving an approximate Doppler for a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver from an approximate location which is obtained from a cellular communication system information source. In one embodiment, an approximate location of the SPS receiver is derived from the information source and this approximation location is used to determine approximate Dopplers to a plurality of SPS satellites at a given time. The approximate Dopplers are then used to reduce processing time in either determining pseudoranges to the SPS satellites or acquiring signals from the SPS satellites. In another aspect of the invention, a reference signal is used to provide a local oscillator signal which is used to acquire SPS signals in an SPS receiver. This reference signal is extracted from a data signal modulated on a carrier frequency. The data signal on the carrier frequency is transmitted from, in one example, a wireless cell site which is communicating with the SPS receiver which has a cellular based communication receiver.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to receivers capable of determining position information of satellites and, in particular, relates to such receivers which find application in satellite positioning systems (SPS) such as the U.S. global positioning satellite (GPS) systems.
2. Background Art
GPS receivers normally determine their position by computing relative times of arrival of signals transmitted simultaneously from a multiplicity of GPS (or NAVSTAR) satellites. These satellites transmit, as part of their message, both satellite positioning data as well as data on clock timing, so-called "ephemeris" data. The process of searching for and acquiring GPS signals, reading the ephemeris data for a multiplicity of satellites and computing the location of the receiver from this data is time consuming, often requiring several minutes. In many cases, this lengthy processing time is unacceptable and, furthermore, greatly limits battery life in micro-miniaturized portable applications.
Another limitation of current GPS receivers is that their operation is limited to situations in which multiple satellites are clearly in view, without obstructions, and where a good quality antenna is properly positioned to receive such signals. As such, they normally are unusable in portable, body mounted applications; in areas where there is significant foliage or building blockage; and in in-building applications.
There are two principal functions of GPS receiving systems: (1) computation of the pseudoranges to the various GPS satellites, and (2) computation of the position of the receiving platform using these pseudoranges and satellite timing and ephemeris data. The pseudoranges are simply the time delays measured between the received signal from each satellite and a local clock. The satellite ephemeris and timing data is extracted from the GPS signal once it is acquired and tracked. As stated above, collecting this information normally takes a relatively long time (30 seconds to several minutes) and must be accomplished with a good received signal level in order to achieve low error rates.
Virtually all known GPS receivers utilize correlation methods to compute pseudoranges. These correlation methods are performed in real time, often with hardware correlators. GPS signals contain high rate repetitive signals called pseudorandom (PN) sequences. The codes available for civilian applications are called C/A codes, and have a binary phase-reversal rate, or "chipping" rate, of 1.023 MHz and a repetition period of 1023 chips for a code period of 1 msec. The code sequences belong to a family known as Gold codes. Each GPS satellite broadcasts a signal with a unique Gold code.
For a signal received from a given GPS satellite, following a downconversion process to baseband, a correlation receiver multiplies the received signal by a stored replica of the appropriate Gold code contained within its local memory, and then integrates, or lowpass filters, the product in order to obtain an indication of the presence of the signal. This process is termed a "correlation" operation. By sequentially adjusting the relative timing of this stored replica relative to the received signal, and observing the correlation output, the receiver can determine the time delay between the received signal and a local clock. The initial determination of the presence of such an output is termed "acquisition." Once acquisition occurs, the process enters the "tracking" phase in which the timing of the local reference is adjusted in small amounts in order to maintain a high correlation output. The correlation output during the tracking phase may be viewed as the GPS signal with the pseudorandom code removed, or, in common terminology, "despread." This signal is narrow band, with bandwidth commensurate with a 50 bit per second binary phase shift keyed data signal which is superimposed on the GPS waveform.
The correlation acquisition process is very time consuming, especially if received signals are weak. To improve acquisition time, many GPS receivers utilize a multiplicity of correlators (up to 12 typically) which allows a parallel search for correlation peaks.
Another approach to improve acquisition time is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,118, referred to as the "Taylor patent." This approach uses the transmission of Doppler information from a control basestation to a remote GPS receiver unit in order to aid in GPS signal acquisition. While this approach does improve acquisition time, the Doppler information is transmitted from a basestation to a mobile GPS receiver by a point to point transmission system, and there is no indication of how this Doppler information is obtained.
An approach for improving the accuracy of the position determination by a remote GPS receiver unit is also described in the Taylor patent. In the Taylor patent, a stable frequency reference is transmitted to a remote GPS receiver unit from a basestation in order to eliminate a source of error due to a poor quality local oscillator at the remote GPS receiver unit. This method uses a special frequency shift keyed (FSK) signal that must be situated in frequency very close to the GPS signal frequency. As shown in FIG. 4 of the Taylor patent, the special FSK signal is about 20 MHz below the 1575 MHz GPS signal which is also received by the receiver in order to demodulate the GPS satellite signals from the GPS satellites so as to extract satellite position data. Moreover, the approach described in the Taylor patent uses a common mode rejection mechanism in which any error in the local oscillator (shown as L.O. 52) of the receiver will appear in both the GPS channel and the reference channel and hence be canceled out. There is no attempt to detect or measure this error. This approach is sometimes referred to as a homodyne operation. While this approach provides some advantages, it requires that the two channels be closely matched, including closely matched in frequency. Moreover, this approach requires that both frequencies remain fixed, so frequency hopping or frequency tuning (channelization) techniques are not compatible with this approach.

GPS receiver utilizing a communication link


A method of treating stored coal to prevent dusting and reduce moisture penetration of the coal, comprising forming a hardened crust of a hydrated calcium sulfate containing composition over the exposed surface of the coal pile. The calcium sulfate product produced from the fluid bed combustion of coal in the presence of limestone is particularly useful.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of treating stored coal to allay dusting during storage or handling and reducing moisture penetration of coal stored in the open atmosphere.
2. Prior Art
The exposed surface of stored coal, especially coal stored in the open atmosphere is subject to oxidation and weathering which can cause the physical disintegration and dusting especially during subsequent handling and transportation. This is particularly harmful to metallurgical coal which rapidly loses its swelling and other specific characteristics after a relatively brief open air storage period. Such coal will then have to be used as steam coal at a much lower value. The use of water on stockpiled coal to prevent dusting is objectionable in that weathering is accelerated, coal pile effluent increased, and the coal freezes in cold weather to such an extent as to render it difficult to handle.
Methods disclosed in the prior art for allaying the dusting of coal have generally involved the use of oils or aqueous mixtures of deliquescent chemicals such as calcium chloride, magnesium chloride and potassium carbonate. The low freezing point and hygroscopic action of the chemicals is said to keep the coal moist and thereby prevent dusting or freezing in the coldest weather. The use of chlorides can present corrosion problems to equipment with which the coal is contacted.


Sensing apparatus for monitoring fluid intake and discharge pressure in an oil well comprises an intake pressure transducer mounted at the bottom of an ESP pump string and arranged to sense intake pressure directly and a similarly mounted discharge pressure transducer. A capillary tube is connected at its lower end to the transducer and indirectly at its upper end to a fluid reservoir located in the area of discharge pressure. Valves in the form of alternative nipples are arranged to apply intake or discharge pressure to the fluid reservoir through a port in the wall of the by-pass string. While discharge pressure is normally monitored via the capillary tube, the intake pressure can be monitored in the event of breakdown of the discharge pressure transducer, thus providing redundancy to the system; also the ability to sense intake pressure at two different points enables the system to be calibrated.

This invention relates to the sensing of fluid parameters in wells, for example oil wells.
Oil wells usually have an outer casing down which is lowered a production string for the passage to the surface of the oil produced by the well. In certain wells it is necessary to have an artifical lift system to bring oil to the surface usually up the production tubing, either because of the lack of sufficient natural reservoir pressure to produce the well or to enhance production from a well that produces under natural pressure. A common system of artificial lift is to place an electrical submersible, or submergible, pump (ESP) down the well casing on the end of the production tubing to pump fluid from the casing up the production tubing. The installation of an ESP on the end of the production tubing eliminates the possibility of carrying out logging or other operations in the well below the production tubing with tools, unless a by-pass system is used to enable tools to be passed through the production tubing and into pump by-pass tubing by means of a Y-crossover sub, known as a Y-tool. Below the Y-tool there thus are two strings:
1) A pump string which produces the well, discharging fluid through the Y-tool into the production tubing to surface.
2) A by-pass tubing string which enables tools from the production tubing to go down past the pump and enter the well below the pump for logging or other operations.
When operating the well it is useful to know a parameter of fluid at the intake to the pump, pressure being the most common as it gives an idea of the fluid level in the well; and it is common practice to determine the value of the intake pressure by a sensor located at the bottom of the pump/motor assembly, power to the sensor and the signal from the sensor being carried by an electrical cable running to the surface, which may be the power cable. Other parameters such as temperature, flow or density may be similarly sensed.
It would also be useful to know a corresponding parameter on the discharge side of the pump, for example the pressure in order to give an indication of the efficiency of the pump.

Method and apparatus for monitoring well fluid parameters


An ink jet printing nozzle arrangement is disclosed including an ink chamber having an ink ejection nozzle in one wall thereof for the ejection of ink from the ink chamber; a moveable paddle vane located within the ink chamber; an actuator means adapted to move the paddle vane so as to cause ink within the ink chamber to be ejected from the ink ejection nozzle; wherein the paddle vane includes a concave surface in the area adjacent the ink ejection nozzle. Preferably, the paddle vane includes a cup shaped surface in the area adjacent the ink ejection nozzle. The nozzle arrangement can be formed utilizing normal micro-electro mechanical construction techniques and the concave surface can be formed as the result of the deposition of a film over a pit. The actuator means can include an actuating portion located externally to the nozzle chamber and operational in an external ambient atmosphere of the arrangement. The ink chamber can further include a slot defined in a wall thereof such that the actuator means communicates with the moveable paddle vane through the slot. The actuator means can comprise a thermal actuator which includes a conductive heater element having a high bend efficiency such that when an electric current is passed through the conductive heater element, the heater element undergoes thermal expansion causing the actuator means to move the paddle towards the ink ejection nozzle. Preferably, the external surfaces of the slot are profiled so as to minimize any wicking of the ink out of the slot. The profile can include a surface having a protruding rim around the slot and the actuator means can be shaped so as to minimize wicking of ink along the actuator means.

Many different types of printing have been invented, a large number of which are presently in use. The known forms of printing have a variety of methods for marking the print media with a relevant marking media. Commonly used forms of printing include offset printing, laser printing and copying devices, dot matrix type impact printers, thermal paper printers, film recorders, thermal wax printers, dye sublimation printers and ink jet printers both of the drop on demand and continuous flow type. Each type of printer has its own advantages and problems when considering cost, speed, quality, reliability, simplicity of construction and operation etc.
In recent years, the field of ink jet printing, wherein each individual pixel of ink is derived from one or more ink nozzles has become increasingly popular primarily due to its inexpensive and versatile nature.
Many different techniques on ink jet printing have been invented. For a survey of the field, reference is made to an article by J Moore, "Non-Impact Printing: Introduction and Historical Perspective", Output Hard Copy Devices, Editors R Dubeck and S Sherr, pages 207-220 (1988).
Ink Jet printers themselves come in many different types. The utilisation of a continuous stream ink in ink jet printing appears to date back to at least 1929 wherein U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,001 by Hansell discloses a simple form of continuous stream electro-static ink jet printing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,275 by Sweet also discloses a process of a continuous ink jet printing including the step wherein the ink jet stream is modulated by a high frequency electro-static field so as to cause drop separation. This technique is still utilized by several manufacturers including Elmjet and Scitex (see also U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,437 by Sweet et al)
Piezoelectric ink jet printers are also one form of commonly utilized ink jet printing device. Piezoelectric systems are disclosed by Kyser et. al. in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,398 (1970) which utilizes a diaphragm mode of operation, by Zolten in U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,212 (1970) which discloses a squeeze mode of operation of a piezoelectric crystal, Stemme in U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,120 (1972) discloses a bend mode of piezoelectric operation, Howkins in U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,601 discloses a piezoelectric push mode actuation of the ink jet stream and Fischbeck in U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,590 which discloses a shear mode type of piezoelectric transducer element.
Recently, thermal ink jet printing has become an extremely popular form of ink jet printing. The ink jet printing techniques include those disclosed by Endo et al in GB 2007162 (1979) and Vaught et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,490,728. Both the aforementioned references disclose ink jet printing techniques rely upon the activation of an electrothermal actuator which results in the creation of a bubble in a constricted space, such as a nozzle, which thereby causes the ejection of ink from an aperture connected to the confined space onto a relevant print media. Printing devices utilizing the electro-thermal actuator are manufactured by manufacturers such as Canon and Hewlett Packard.
As can be seen from the foregoing, many different types of printing technologies are available. Ideally, a printing technology should have a number of desirable attributes. These include inexpensive construction and operation, high speed operation, safe and continuous long term operation etc. Each technology may have its own advantages and disadvantages in the areas of cost, speed, quality, reliability, power usage, simplicity of construction operation, durability and consumables.
When creating a large number of inkjet nozzles which together form a printhead, it is necessary or desirable to ensure that the printhead is of a compact form so as to ensure that the printhead takes up as small a space as possible. Further, it is desirable that any construction of a printhead is as simple as possible and preferably, the number of steps in construction are extremely low, therefore ensuring simplicity of manufacture. Further, preferably each ink ejection nozzle is of a standard size and the ink forces associates with the ejection are regular across the nozzle.
Further, where the ink ejection mechanism is of a mechanical type attached to an actuator device, it is important to ensure that a substantial clearance is provided between an ink ejection nozzle and the surface of the paddle. Unless a large clearance is provided (of the order of 10.quadrature.m in the case of a 40.quadrature.m nozzle) a number of consequential problems may arise. For example, if a mechanical paddle ejection surface and nozzle chamber walls are too close, insufficient ink will be acted on by the paddle actuator so as to form a drop to be ejected. Further, high pressures and drag is likely to occur where movement of a paddle occurs close to nozzle chamber walls. Further, if the paddle is too close to the nozzle, there is a danger that an unwanted meniscus shape may occur after ejection of an ink drop with the ink meniscus surface attaching to the surface of the paddle.
Further, should the ink ejection mechanism be formed on a silicon wafer type device utilizing standard wafer processing techniques, it is desirable to minimize the thickness of any layer of material when forming the system. Due to differential thermal expansions, it is desirable to ensure each layer is of minimal thickness so as to reduce the likelihood of faults occurring during the fabrication of a printhead system due to thermal stress. Hence, it is desirable to construct a printhead system utilizing thin layers in the construction process.

Single bend actuator cupped paddle ink jet printing mechanism


A method for doping a poly depleted semiconductor transistor, the semiconductor transistor including a gate region, a source region adjacent the gate region and a drain region adjacent the gate region and opposite the source region, the method comprising steps of exposing the gate region to a first ion implantation and shielding the gate region from a second ion implantation step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to processes for fabricating metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) structures and more particularly to MOSFET structures which include lightly doped polysilicon gates, operating at high operating voltages, and MOSFET structures which include more heavily doped polysilicon gate structures which operate at low operating voltages.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the gate oxide thickness decreases in today's advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies, the maximum voltage (Vmax) allowed across the gate oxide also decreases. The decrease in Vmax makes interfacing with previous technologies which have higher supply voltages more difficult.
A conventional solution to interface previous technologies which have higher supply voltages involves using circuit techniques to step down the voltage which is seen across the oxide or creating a dual oxide process which supports a higher Vmax. Using circuit techniques to step down the voltage increases circuit complexity and decreases overall chip speed. Using a dual oxide process increases the processing cost and complexity.
Conventional methods form CMOS devices on a single wafer. Each of the CMOS devices includes a polysilicon gate and a thin gate oxide between the polysilicon gate and the substrate. Ions are implanted to dope the polysilicon gate and the adjacent source and drain structures.
Conventionally, selected polysilicon gates are protected with a sacrificial layer and the remaining polysilicon gates are subjected to a first ion implantation of the extension or lightly doped drain, such that only the polysilicon gates which are exposed receive the lightly doped drain implant.
Conventional processes then dope other polysilicon gates using the source-drain implant. In such a second ion implantation step, selected polysilicon gates are protected with another sacrificial layer and the exposed polysilicon gates are subject to the second ion implantation. This repetitive masking-implantation process produces some polysilicon gates with lighter doping and other polysilicon gates with heaver doping. The blocking of the second ion implantation produces lightly doped gates in the blocked devices, which are sometimes referred to as poly depleted gates. The lightly doped or undoped polysilicon gates accommodate higher voltages due to the added poly depletion which occurs.
While such conventional methods simultaneously produce CMOS chips which can handle high voltages and CMOS chips which can handle low voltages, the conventional methods require additional processing steps to deposit and remove additional sacrificial layers and require additional implantation steps.

Depleted poly mosfet structure and method

International Business Machines Corporation


Apparatus having corresponding computer-readable media and methods comprise a steerable loudspeaker system configured to produce sound based on audio delivered to the steerable loudspeaker system; a masking audio source configured to generate individualized masking audio based on preferences of a listener, and to deliver the individualized masking audio to the steerable loudspeaker system; and a controller configured to steer the steerable loudspeaker system based on a position of a listener.

This background section is provided for the purpose of generally describing the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
As real estate utilization increases and offices become more densely packed, speech noise is becoming an increasingly challenging problem. Overheard intelligible speech decreases productivity, speech privacy, and comfort.
Sound masking—the introduction of constant background noise in order to reduce speech intelligibility, increase speech privacy, and increase acoustical comfort—is increasingly being incorporated into offices as a solution. Sound masking generally relies on broadband sound such as filtered pink noise played by loudspeakers that may be located for example in the ceiling plenum.
Individuals have varying preferences with respect to masking sound level, type, and frequency, but existing sound masking systems cannot be personalized, and there are many cases in which users wish to be able to work productively without "walling themselves off" using a headset or headphones. And conventional loudspeaker sound masking systems cannot be adjusted based on a given individual's preferences without offending the preferences of others.

Steerable loudspeaker system for individualized sound masking


A method of controlling detonation in an internal combustion engine is provided with the steps of: combusting a fuel and air mixture within a combustion cylinder; sensing a plurality of pressures at discrete points in time within the combustion cylinder; determining a pressure profile of the plurality of pressures; detecting detonation within the combustion cylinder; and acting upon the detonation, dependent upon where said detonation occurs on the pressure profile.

The present invention relates to internal combustion engines, and, more particularly, to a method of controlling detonation in internal combustion engines.
An internal combustion engine generally is of two basic types, i.e., a spark ignition engine and a compression combustion engine. A spark ignition engine uses a spark plug to ignite the fuel and air mixture which is injected into the combustion chamber. A compression combustion engine utilizes the energy resulting from compression of the fuel and air mixture as the piston travels towards a top dead center position within the combustion cylinder to ignite the fuel and air mixture. Regardless of whether the internal combustion engine is a spark ignition engine or a compression combustion engine, it is desirable to control the point in time at which combustion occurs relative to the position of the piston within the combustion cylinder.
It is known to provide a plurality of pressure sensors which sense pressures within respective combustion cylinders at discrete points in time. Signals from the pressure sensors may be transmitted to an Electronic Control Module (ECM) for the purpose of controlling the timing of the combustion event within the combustion cylinder as the piston reciprocates between a bottom dead center position and a top dead center position. Sensing pressures within combustion cylinders for the purpose of controlling the timing of the engine is disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,538 (Powell et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,724 (Hamburg et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,625 (Nakaniwa); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,833 (Baldwin et al.). Examples of pressure sensors which withstand the harsh operating environment in a combustion cylinder are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,680 (Taylor et al.); U.S Pat. No. 5,452,087 (Taylor et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,854 (Hashimoto et al.).
It is also known to utilize a pressure sensor within a combustion cylinder for the purpose of reducing engine detonation or knocking. Detonation occurs when an exothermic chemical reaction propagates with such a high speed that the rate of advance of the reaction zone into the unreacted fuel and air mixture exceeds the velocity of sound in the fuel and air mixture; that is, the advancing reaction zone is preceded by a shock wave. Pressure sensor signals are analyzed to determine whether high frequency variations in the cylinder pressure due to engine detonation are occurring. If detonation is occurring, the spark advance in the spark ignition engine is adjusted to assure that peak cylinder pressure occurs at the optimum crank angle consistent with desired reduction in engine detonation. An example of utilizing pressure sensor signals in a combustion cylinder for the purpose of reducing engine knock is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,438 (Howng).
A problem with a method as described in the Howng ""438 patent as described above is that only the occurrence of detonation is detected using the pressure sensors. If any detonation is detected, the spark advance of the engine is adjusted. However, not all detonation is deleterious to efficient operation of the internal combustion engine. Thus, by adjusting operation of the internal combustion engine upon occurrence of any detonation, unnecessary and therefore inefficient adjustments of the internal combustion engine are effected.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.
In one aspect of the invention, a method of controlling detonation in an internal combustion engine is provided with the steps of: combusting a fuel and air mixture within a combustion cylinder; sensing a plurality of pressures at discrete points in time within the combustion cylinder; determining a pressure profile of the plurality of pressures; detecting detonation within the combustion cylinder; and acting upon the detonation, dependent upon where the detonation occurs on the pressure profile.

Method of controlling detonation in an internal combustion engine


A fully implantable nerve stimulation system includes an event-triggered, closed-loop control unit that detects physiological events from nerve signals and delivers stimulation pulses to a nerve to produce a desired physiological response. The stimulation system includes a low-noise, low-power nerve signal amplifier, accelerometers that detect position and a battery powered processor that selectively powers components in the system to detect physiological events and deliver stimulation pulses with a minimum of battery power.

Foot drop is a severely disabling condition that commonly occurs as a consequence of a cerebral vascular accident or central neurological lesion in the cortex, brain stem and/or spinal cord, such as can occur with stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain cancer, traumatic brain injury, incomplete spinal cord injury, or cerebral palsy. The resulting paralysis or paresis in the ankle dorsiflexor muscles prevents a person from lifting the affected foot such that the foot is dragged and the toes stumble during walking. When the cause of the foot drop is a central neurological lesion, the ankle dorsiflexor musculature and the peripheral innervation via the common peroneal nerve are physiologically intact. However, as a consequence of the paralysis or paresis, a complex pathological sequelae develops that includes ankle extensor muscle spasticity, clonus and hyperextension, weakness in hip and knee flexor muscles, marked atrophy in the ankle dorsiflexor muscles due to disuse, compensatory gait and posture abnormalities that include hip circumduction and knee hyperextension, and pain and chronic joint problems frequently result from gait and posture abnormalities.
The foot drop disability commonly results in several impairments in gait, such as asymmetries, poor weight support in the affected leg, slow and laborious walking, impairments in posture and balance, as well as reduced endurance, rapid fatigue and high metabolic cost of walking. The foot drop condition interferes with activities of daily living such as mobility and independence and increase morbidity through increased risk of falls and hip fracture.
Until now, people suffering from foot drop have been treated primarily with ankle-foot orthoses, which are braces that clamp the ankle joint at a set angle, allowing limited or no mobility. This helps the foot drop patient when walking, since the toes no longer stumble. However, the treatment has numerous problems. The sustained pressure applied to the leg and the skin below the knee can cause pain, skin breakdown, and even peroneal nerve palsy. Use of a brace also reinforces the process of progressive atrophy of the disused dorsiflexor muscles and the onset of osteoporosis. The brace must be donned and doffed and may not be cosmetically acceptable, especially by children.
A more advanced approach for treating foot drop involves the application of electrical stimulation (ES), also known as functional electrical stimulation (FES) or functional neuromuscular stimulation (FNS) to the peroneal nerve in order to electrically activate the paralyzed or paretic muscles at appropriate times to lift the foot during walking.
Currently available, the FES systems for treating foot drop have been either totally external to the body or partially implanted with certain components implanted and other components external to the body. The totally external stimulation systems typically consist of stimulation electrodes that are placed on the skin over the area below the knee where the common peroneal nerve courses quite superficially, as well as a battery power source, a sensor (typically either a foot contact electromechanical switch worn in or under the shoe, or an accelerometer-based movement sensor) and the stimulation control circuitry. Problems with totally external stimulation systems have included excessive foot eversion produced with a single channel of stimulation, difficulties with electrode placement, variable results because of electrode movement or changes to skin conductance, pain or discomfort caused by the skin stimulation as well as the requirement for daily donning and doffing. Frequent malfunctions and breakdowns of mechanical switches and external cables are also common. Furthermore, such systems are cosmetically poor.
Historically, the Neuromuscular Assist (NMA) developed in 1968-1977 by McNeal, Perry and Waters at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, CA was the first partially implanted peroneal nerve stimulation system. It consisted of three parts: an external power source and RF transmitter, an implanted receiver connected to a bipolar electrode wrapped around the peroneal nerve, and a heel switch worn inside the shoe that initiated stimulation during the swing phase. This team implanted 16 patients between November 1971 and January 1974 and did a two-year follow-up study. Correction of foot drop was obtained in 13 of 16 subjects. Failures were due to infection, peroneal palsy, or discontinued use. Stimulation voltages were stable after six weeks and the conduction velocity of the peroneal nerve was normal throughout the duration of the study. Dorsiflexion torque (supramaximal stimulation) remained above immediate postoperative values. However, the NMA device proved not to be practical. One of the original developers of the NMA reported the following limitations with that device:                Intact cognition and considerable patient motivation were required to wear and operate the equipment on a daily basis; and        It was difficult to obtain balanced dorsiflexion with a single channel of stimulation.
Dr. Waters concluded in 1977 that broad acceptance of a foot drop correction system will require a totally implanted system and he also anticipated then that multi-channel peroneal stimulation will be necessary in order to obtain more balanced dorsiflexion. In the intervening time, numerous other FES-based foot drop systems have been developed but, prior to the present invention, no totally implanted foot drop correction device has been developed.
In partially implanted systems used to date, the implanted components typically include one or more stimulation electrodes, an implanted receiving antenna, and sometimes some stimulation circuitry. The external components generally include the power source, sensors, and circuitry or a computer to detect the occurrence of gait-related events in the sensed signal, as well as external antenna for communication and power transmission. Some partially implanted FES systems for treating foot drop use radio frequency telemetry communication for on-line control of the stimulation circuits by the external closed-loop control unit and sometimes also for communication between the external sensors and the external control circuitry. Problems with partially implanted FES systems for treating foot drop include: the need to don/doff the external components, crude on-off control, and the requirement that users must wear a shoe when the foot switches are used. Finally, currently available systems have been known to exhibit frequent breakdown of mechanical sensors or external connecting wires and problems with aligning the internal and external antenna for safe communication and operation.
More advanced, partially implanted systems under development are designed to detect a physiological signal that is gait-related and can be sensed by implanted nerve sensing electrodes, such as a nerve cuff electrode placed on a peripheral nerve supplying the foot sole, and such sensed nerve signal may be used as feedback signal to control a stimulation device, as was originally taught by Hoffer (1988). Strange and Hoffer (1999a, 1999b) implemented in the cat forelimb a real time FES state controller that was designed to sense natural sensory nerve signals using nerve cuff electrodes and use the sensed signals as feedback to control the timing of activation with FES of the Palmaris Longus muscle during walking on a treadmill. Thus, the principle of using sensory nerve signals as feedback to control FES of paralyzed or paretic muscles is well understood. However, until now it has been impossible to implement feedback from nerve signals in fully implanted, clinically applicable FES systems, because of the unavailability of suitable implantable circuitry to amplify and process the signals sensed from nerves and to reliably detect the needed gait-related event information from the sensed nerve signals.
However, a limitation in the ability to implement this approach until now has been the unavailability of suitable implantable circuitry to amplify and process the signals sensed from nerves and to reliably detect the gait-related events from the sensed nerve signals.
Given these problems and limitations of existing foot drop systems, there is a need for a low power, totally implantable, event-triggered, closed-loop electrical stimulation system for controlling foot drop or other disorders to restore appropriate movement to an impaired foot, leg or other body part as needed for walking, postural adjustments, or other normal activities for daily living.

Fully implantable nerve signal sensing and stimulation device and method for treating foot drop and other neurological disorders

Neurostream Technologies General Partnership


An antenna is comprised of a core portion laminated by a magnetic ribbon through a deformable member and a coil portion wound around the core portion.

In recent years, there has been a development of an electric key system which does not have a key cylinder at an opening and closing portion of a vehicle or a house. The electric key system functions that when a person with an electric key approaches to the opening and closing portion, the system becomes a reception standby mode, and when it receives an ID code from the electric key, the system unlocks as soon as the person touches a door handle etc.
In this type of the electric key system, it is desired to install an antenna within the opening and closing portion or control portion for opening and closing (inside of a door or a door handle If the opening and closing portion corresponds to the door). Generally, since there Is not much space to install in such places, a bar antenna whose core is made of a material with high permeability is applied.
A known device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 5-267922. In the known device, an antenna for a vehicle whose core is made of a laminate of amorphous magnetic alloy ribbons is applied to improve high frequency characteristic and to achieve downsizing.
Another known device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 7-221533. In this known device, an antenna applying a laminate of nanocrystalline magnetic alloy ribbons for a material of the core is disclosed, and the antenna is achieved in obtaining a sufficient level of signals, feasibility to downsize, and a stability against a temperature characteristic or time deterioration.
However, in the opening and closing portion, a bending load is applied to the antenna upon opening and closing the door due to vibration. In addition, Impact upon opening and closing the door is large. Therefore, the known devices could be damaged due to these loads. Particularly, in a case of a vehicle door (an opening and closing portion), it receives Impact from both front and back directions of the vehicle upon acceleration and deceleration. Moreover, larger impact (approximately 100 G: G corresponds to a gravitational acceleration) is applied upon closing the door. Thus, an improvement of impact resistance has been a key issue for the antenna for the vehicle door.

Antenna and manufacturing method for the same


In a refrigerator capable of suppressing dew condensation in hinged double doors without increasing a caloric value of a heater, a clearance between rotary partition body 109 and a front opening of a refrigerating compartment is thermally insulated by first fin members 206 that are disposed in door gaskets 110, that come into contact with a front surface part of a thermal-insulated box body, or a front surface of division board 303, and rotary partition body, and that includes heat insulating sheets 601 disposed in an inner part for closing a clearance, second fin members 207 that do not come into contact with rotary partition body on a front surface separated from rotary partition body between right and left hinged double doors 102, 103, and heat insulating sheets 601 disposed in first fin members 206, and a high temperature atmosphere is surrounded by second fin members 207.

As home large capacity refrigerators, in order to deal with a variety of user needs, refrigerators that are provided with a large number of doors for respective storage compartments with diversification of cooling and storage temperatures are commercialized. Heretofore, a various forms of refrigerators such as a top freezer type refrigerator having a freezing compartment disposed in an upper part, a middle freezer type refrigerator having a freezing compartment disposed between a refrigerating compartment (refrigerating storage compartment) located at an upper part and a vegetable compartment located at a lower part, a bottom freezer type refrigerator having a freezing compartment disposed in an lowermost part, a refrigerator having a longitudinal freezing compartment and a longitudinal vegetable compartment that are placed side by side below a refrigerating compartment located at an upper part, and a side-by-side type refrigerator having a freezing compartment and a refrigerating compartment that are placed side by side on the right and the left have been commercialized.
In such a goods environment, recently, in consideration of usability, as illustrated in FIG. 16, the type of refrigerator 1401, in which refrigerating compartment 1402 having high use frequency and having the largest storage capacity is disposed as hinged double doors at a top stage, ice-making compartment 1403 and temperature switching compartment 1404 are disposed below the refrigerating compartment, and a vegetable compartment (not illustrated) is disposed below the ice-making compartment and the temperature switching compartment, and a freezing compartment (not illustrated) is installed in a lowermost part, is mainstream. On an inner surface on an open end side of one of hinged double doors 1405 of refrigerating compartment 1402, partition body 1406 that turns to the other door when the door is closed is mounted to provide an attraction surface with gaskets 1407. In addition, a heater (not illustrated) is provided inside rotary partition body 1406, so that dew condensation is prevented from occurring on a rotary partition body surface (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-249491, for example).
Herein, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-134377 discloses a configuration, in which transfer of heat of a heater disposed in a partition body to the inside of a refrigerator is suppressed, so that heat load to the inside of the refrigerator is reduced, decrease in the temperature of a front surface part of the partition body is suppressed, and input to the heater is reduced while dew condensation is prevented. Specifications of the conventional refrigerator disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-134377 will be described with reference to FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is a horizontal sectional view of the vicinity of a rotary partition body part of hinged double doors. Partition body 1501 includes partition plate 1503 that forms a front surface part, and serves as a contact part of gaskets 1502 installed on doors, partition casing 1504 that forms right and left side surface parts and a back surface part, and configures a rectangular parallelepiped outer shell of the partition body 1501 together with partition plate 1503, heater 1505 that serves as a heating section provided behind partition plate 1503, and heat insulating material 1506 that is provided inside partition casing 1504.
Partition casing 1504 is a member that opens forward, and has a U-shaped cross-section, and is formed of a resin material. Partition plate 1503 is formed from an iron plate so as to be magnetized by magnets of gaskets 1502, and the iron plate has excellent thermal conductivity, and therefore dew condensation is prevented by heating of heater 1505. Heater 1505 is formed of heating wires vertically extending at a predetermined interval in the width direction of the partition body 1501, and is adhered to a back surface of partition plate 1503 in a contact state. Heat insulating material 1506 is filled so as to fill up an internal space of the partition body 1501, so that heat by heater 1505 does not pass through the inside of the partition body 1501 and does not transfer to the inside of the refrigerator.
In the above configuration, in both right and left side surface parts 1504A of partition casing 1504, vertically extending slit-like cutouts 1507 are provided. The cutout 1507 is provided at a center in the front-back direction of each of side surface parts 1504A, and divides (isolates) into side surface part front portion 1504A1 on the front side and side surface part back portion 1504A2 on the back side. Consequently, heat of the heater 1505 is suppressed from entering from partition plate 1503 into the refrigerator compartment through partition casing 1504 by heat conduction.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-114087 discloses a configuration, in which as a configuration of a partition body, partition bodies are disposed in right and left doors, and the right and left partition bodies are in contact with each other through a gasket, and clearances generated between upper and lower ends of the partition bodies and a refrigerating compartment opening are closed with fin members of gaskets. Specifications of a conventional refrigerator disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-114087 will be described with reference to FIG. 18. FIG. 18 is a horizontal sectional view of the vicinity of a rotary partition body part of hinged double doors. As illustrated in FIG. 18, partition bodies 1602a, 1602b are mounted on side parts of protrusions of door inner plates on the non-pivot sides of left door 1601a and right door 1601b so as to turnably face by pins 1603a, 1603b, respectively. Gaskets 1604 are mounted on door back sides, and a space in the refrigerator is closed by bringing left door 1601a and right door 1601b into contact with respective gaskets 1604 when the doors are closed.
Partition gasket 1605 is mounted on side surface facing left door 1601a of partition body 1602b so as to vertically extend. Partition gasket 1605 includes a magnet therein, and a side surface, facing the right door 1601b, of partition body 1602a is provided with an iron plate so as to attract the magnet included in partition gasket 1605.
Flexible fin members 1606a, 1606b that extend so as to be superposed on each other are provided in the upper and lower ends on the non-pivot sides of respective gaskets 1604 of the right and left hinged double doors so as to face each other. Fin members 1606a, 1606b suppress entering of heat into the refrigerator.


A new and distinct Chrysanthemum plant cultivar characterized by large decorative type inflorescences, consistent flowering response to short days, blooming consistently after 49 days of short day length, free branching habit, and a consistent natural season flowering habit during the first two weeks of September.

Dendranthema morifolium.
xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRIxe2x80x99.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Dendranthema morifolium and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRI.xe2x80x99
The new cultivar is a product of hybridization of the female parent xe2x80x98GEDI WOxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,259) and the male parent xe2x80x98Speedoxe2x80x99 (unpatented). The new cultivar was discovered and selected by the inventor in October 1997.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by apical tip cutting and meristem tissue culture was performed in Oxnard, Calif. and has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.
The cultivar xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRIxe2x80x99 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRI.xe2x80x99 These observations were made on plants approximately 130 days old from rooted cuttings. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRIxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct Chrysanthemum cultivar:
1. Large decorative type inflorescence;
2. Consistent flowering response to short days, blooming consistently after 49 days of short day length;
3. Free branching habit; and
4. Consistent natural season flowering habit during the first two weeks of September.
Plants of the new cultivar are similar to plants of the parent cultivars, xe2x80x98Gedi WOxe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98Speedoxe2x80x99 in most horticultural characteristics, however plants of the new cultivar differed from plants of the parent cultivars primarily in bloom characteristics. In comparisons of plants of the new cultivar with the parent cultivars the following characteristics differed:
1. The new cultivar has a wider diameter flower than cultivar xe2x80x98Gedi WO;xe2x80x99
2. The new cultivar has many more ray florets than cultivar xe2x80x98Gedi WO;xe2x80x99
3. The new cultivar naturally blooms three weeks earlier than the cultivar xe2x80x98Gedi WO;xe2x80x99
4.The new cultivar has fully decorative flowers, while the cultivar xe2x80x98Gedi WOxe2x80x99 has daisy type flowers;
5. The new cultivar has a wider diameter flower than the cultivar xe2x80x98Speedo;xe2x80x99
6. The new cultivar has many more ray florets than the cultivar xe2x80x98Speedo;xe2x80x99 and
7. The new cultivar naturally blooms three weeks earlier than the cultivar xe2x80x98Speedoxe2x80x99.

Chrysanthemum plant named xe2x80x98GEDI ONE FRIxe2x80x99


Disclosed are methods and apparatuses for indicating a lane, the method including detecting a lane marking from an input image, acquiring a bird's eye view image by applying an inverse perspective mapping to the detected lane marking, extracting control points corresponding to the lane marking from the bird's eye view image, and indicating a lane by re-projecting the control points to a space of the input image through an inverse transformation.

1. Field
The following description relates to method and apparatus for indicating a lane.
2. Description of Related Art
Visual information augmentation realities may be provided to assist steering of vehicles and other transportations. Lane markings or road information may be extracted from a predetermined input image, and used to provide such augmentation realities.
In certain circumstances it may be difficult to accurately detect the lane due to an ambiguity of image information, such as when a lane is covered by a shade, when the lane is obscured by another vehicle, when a change in brightness or contrast of an image occurs due to a change in time such as day and night or a change in weather such as rain or snow, or when a change in lane shape such as a dashed line, a superimposed line, and a curve occurs.

Method and apparatus for indicating lane


A mobile station is capable of quickly returning to its home system when roaming. A detecting system detects, when the home system is not available, signal-level of the present control channel. A control system determines a change in the signal-level and controls scan time between scans of band of the home system in response to the change in signal-level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile stations capable of roaming. More particularly, the present invention relates to mobile stations with intelligent control of scan time between home band scans when roaming.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms that refer to, for example, various telecommunication services, components and techniques. For purposes of the written description, acronyms will be defined as follows:
Personal Communications Services (PCS)
Personal Communications Network (PCN)
Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO)
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
System Access List (SIL)
Control Channel (CCh)
System Identification Code (SID)
3. Background Information
The use of wireless or mobile communication devices has increased greatly in recent years. Mobile and cellular telephones have enabled mobile station users to roam over large geographic areas while maintaining immediate access to telephony services. Mobile stations include portable units, units installed in vehicles and fixed subscriber stations. Mobile stations comprising cellular telephones or wireless handsets are operable in cooperation with cellular or Personal Communications Services (PCS) communications systems. Cellular communication systems typically provide service to a geographic area by dividing the area into many smaller areas or cells. Each cell is serviced by a radio transceiver (i.e. a transmitter-receiver base station or cell site). The cell sites or base stations may be connected to Mobile Telephone Switching Offices (MTSOs) through landlines or other communication links, and the MTSOs may, in turn, be connected via landlines to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
FIG. 1 illustrates the basic components of a conventional cellular network. As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile station 10 may place or receive calls by communicating with a cell site 12 or a cell site 14, depending upon the geographic location of the mobile station and the cell coverage area that is provided by each cell site. That is, cell coverage area 16 of cell site 12 or cell coverage area 18 of cell site 14. For purposes of illustration, mobile station 10 is depicted in FIG. 1 as being able to communicate with either cell site 12 or cell site 14, even though the mobile station is not illustrated as being located within cell coverage area 16 or cell coverage area 18. Under normal operating conditions, the extent to which mobile station 10 will be able to communicate with cell site 12 or cell site 14 will depend on the geographic location of the mobile station and the size of the cell coverage area of each cell site. Further, although only two cell sites are depicted in FIG. 1, the entire cellular network may include, for example, more than two cell sites. In addition, more than one cell site may be connected to each MTSO.
Mobile station 10 may include a conventional cellular telephone unit with a transceiver and antenna (not shown) to communicate by, for example, radio waves with cell sites 12 and 14. Various air-interface technologies may be implemented to facilitate communication between the mobile station and the cell sites. Cell sites 12 and 14 may both include a radio transceiver (not shown) and be connected by landlines 20 or other communication links to MTSOs 22 and 24. The PSTN 26 is also connected to each MTSO 22 and 24 by landline 20 or other communication links.
The MTSOs 22 and 24 may be conventional digital telephone exchanges that control the switching between the PSTN 26 and the cell sites 12 and 14 to provide wireline-to-mobile, mobile-to-wireline and mobile-to-mobile call connectivity. The MTSOs 22 and 24 may also (i) process mobile station status data received from the cell site controllers; (ii) handle and switch calls between cells; (iii) process diagnostic information; and (iv) compile billing information. The transceiver (not shown) of each cell site 12 and 14 provides communications, such as voice and data, with mobile station 10 while it is present in its geographic domain. The MTSOs 22 and 24 may track and switch mobile station 10 from cell site to cell site, as the mobile station passes through various coverage areas. When mobile station 10 passes from one cell to another cell, the MTSO of the corresponding cell may perform a xe2x80x9chand-offxe2x80x9d that allows the mobile station to be continuously serviced.
In the current cellular system, any given area may be serviced by up to two competing service providers. The two competing service providers are assigned different groups of frequencies through which services are provided. A frequency set typically includes control channels and voice channels. The control channels are used for preliminary communications between a mobile station and a cell site for setting up a call after which a voice channel is assigned for the mobile station""s use on that call. While each frequency set for a given cellular service area is assigned to only one service provider, in different service areas the same frequency set may be assigned to different service providers or companies.
Whenever it places a call, the mobile station will ordinarily attempt to use the home frequency set to establish the call. If a call is handled outside of the user""s home network area, then the mobile station is said to be xe2x80x9croamingxe2x80x9d and service will be attempted through a frequency set of a non-home service provider. Typically, the user""s home service provider will have a roaming agreement or reciprocal billing arrangement with the non-home service provider to permit service to be extended to the user""s mobile station when it is roaming in the non-home service provider""s service area.
When it is roaming in the non-home service provider""s service area during its operation in an automatic mode, the mobile station scans for its home band (i.e., the set of frequencies corresponding to its home network system) to locate a control channel at regular intervals.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobile station capable of quickly returning to a home system of the mobile station from operation to roam within a communication network, the communication network comprising a plurality of cell sites, the mobile station comprising:
a detecting system for detecting, when the home system is not available, signal-level of an available control channel: and
a control system to determine a change in the signal-level,
said control system being operative to control scans of band of the home system in response to said determined change in the signal-level.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a roaming process for enabling a mobile station to quickly return to a home system of the mobile station from operation to roam within a communication network, the communication network comprising a plurality of cell sites, the mobile station comprising:
detecting, when the home system is not available, signal-level of an available control channel;
determining a change in the signal-level; and
controlling scans of band of the home system of the mobile station in response to said determined change in the signal-level.

Mobile station with intelligent control of scan time between home band scans when roaming


An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording medium which is unwound from a state of being wound in a roll shape; and a control unit configured to change an image forming condition of the image forming unit such that image quality becomes uniform before and after an unwinding start position of the recording medium at the time of start of an image forming operation.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and an image forming condition controlling method.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus (a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, etc.) using an electrophotographic process technique forms an electrostatic latent image, by irradiating (exposing) a charged photoreceptor drum (image carrier) with a laser beam based on image data. Further, a toner is supplied from a developing device to the photoreceptor drum on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed, thereby visualizing the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image. Further, after the toner image is directly or indirectly transferred onto the sheet, the toner image is formed on the sheet by fixing the toner image through heating and pressurizing using a fixing nip.
Further, an image forming system, in which a sheet feeder which feeds continuous sheet (hereinafter, referred to as "long sheet") such as continuous roll sheet or folding sheet, and a sheet discharge device which stores the long sheet with the toner image formed by the image forming apparatus are connected at a preceding stage and a succeeding stage of the image forming apparatus respectively, has been put into practical use.
When the sheet is conveyed from a sheet feeding unit or the like, if each sheet in such an image forming apparatus, for example, is charged by rubbing, the transfer efficiency fluctuates at a transfer nip serving as a portion in which the toner image is transferred onto the sheet.
In order to solve this problem, for example, JP 2004-69938 A discloses a configuration in which the transfer condition for each part of a sheet is changed based on the surface potential of the sheet before entering the transfer nip.
Further, JP 2005-274892 A discloses a configuration in which a predetermined bias is applied to a conveyance belt that conveys a sheet to adjust the potential of the conveyance belt, thereby adjusting the potential of the sheet conveyed on the conveyance belt.
Meanwhile, in the image forming apparatus compatible with the long sheet, the long sheet is set in the apparatus before the start of the image forming operation. When the image forming operation is started, the long sheet is printed sequentially from apart which is set in the apparatus. FIG. 1 is an enlarged diagram showing a portion wound in a roll shape in the long sheet.
As shown in FIG. 1, when the image forming operation is started, a long sheet P is peeled off from an unwinding position Z, located on the most upstream side in the rotary direction, of a surface of a roll portion PP, which is a portion wound in a roll shape. At this time, when the long sheet P is peeled off, the surface of the roll portion PP is charged due to, for example, influence of static electricity or the like. In particular, in a film type medium such as a film tack sheet on which different materials are laminated, the sheet is in close contact with the roll portion PP. Therefore, charging due to peeling occurs remarkably. Meanwhile, in the case of a sheet type medium such as a commonly used cut sheet, such charging does not occur because the medium is not peeled off.
At the time of start of the image forming operation, a portion set in the apparatus and a preceding stage portion which is a downstream portion of the unwinding position Z in a rotary direction of the roll portion PP are not charged. For this reason, when a succeeding stage portion, which is an upstream portion of the unwinding position Z, is peeled off from the roll portion PP and charged after the start of the image forming operation, the surface potential of the long sheet differs between the preceding stage portion and the succeeding stage portion. Accordingly, when printing is performed under the same image forming condition, there is a problem of changes in image quality between the preceding stage portion and the succeeding stage portion.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing changes in the surface potential of the long sheet with respect to the peeling rate at which the long sheet is peeled off from the roll portion. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, because it is empirically known that the intensity of charging generated by peeling of the long sheet and the roll portion, that is, the magnitude of the surface potential depends on the peeling rate, the surface potential of the long sheet increases as the peeling rate increases. In addition, when the long sheet is unwound from the roll portion, it always moves away from the roll portion at a tangent angle or more. Thus, as the long sheet is unwound, the roll portion becomes smaller in diameter, and the peeling rate increases.
For this reason, at the time of continuous image forming operation, when the transfer on the long sheet is hindered by an increase in the surface potential of the long sheet due to an increase in peeling rate, the transfer efficiency decreases, and therefore, the image density of the succeeding stage portion of the long sheet becomes lower than that of the preceding stage portion.
Furthermore, when the long sheet is charged, in the halftone image formed of dots, the dot portions are scattered around or attracted to each other. As a result, image failure due to collapse of the dot shape occurs. For this reason, the density of the image varies between the preceding stage portion and the succeeding stage portion of the roll portion, and furthermore, when continuous printing is performed, a large difference occurs in the density between the image of the preceding stage portion of the long sheet and the image of the succeeding stage portion of the long sheet.
Further, in the case of a film tack sheet, due to the charging caused by a combination of different materials as well as the sheets having a smooth surface coming into close contact with each other at the portion of the roll portion, the amount of charge due to peeling further increases. Further, when overprinting is performed, charging is performed by transfer in base printing. As a result, the amount of charge on the surface of the long sheet becomes larger than that of the long sheet which is not subjected to overprinting. Further, the charged state also varies depending on the density of the image subjected to the base printing. Even in such a case, due to the influence of charging caused by peeling of the long sheet, a difference in image quality occurs between the preceding stage portion and the succeeding stage portion of the long sheet.
Further, the configurations described in JP 2004-69938 A and JP 2005-274892 A are techniques for solving a problem caused by frictional charging on sheets such as a cut sheet. Therefore, such techniques are not sufficient as a countermeasure against charging caused by peeling of a long sheet wound in a roll shape, and cannot solve the problem of charging caused by peeling.

Image forming apparatus, image forming system and image forming condition controlling method


A radio handset for browsing the Internet comprising a browser application, which allows a user of the handset to access the internet via a first transceiver means arranged to send radio packets to and receive radio packets from an Internet gateway. The radio handset comprising further routing means arranged to route content supplied by the internet gateway via the first transceiver means to a registered application, the content having an identifier for identifying the type of application suitable for receiving the content and arranged to register applications by associating an application on registration with at least one identifier. A user interface is connected to the browser means having a display for displaying content and user input means. Also, an interface having a radio transceiver for coupling with an interface of an accessory device comprising a remote application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio handset for browsing the Internet. It particularly relates to increasing the functionality of such a handset.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile phones are becoming widely used as they provide security, mobility and flexibility. Recently the popularity of the Internet has increased among the general population. The Internet can be browsed using a so-called browser application, which provides an easily usable visual interface. It would be particularly desirable to combine the hand held nature of a mobile phone and its associated portability with the ability to browse the Internet. The wireless application protocol (WAP) has been developed with this purpose in mind. It allows a radio handset to communicate with a transceiver at an internet gateway and accesses the internet through a radio link.
A desktop computer or the like, has until now been the standard device for accessing the World Wide Web. The computer generally has a display, a cursor control and selecting device such as a mouse and a keyboard. When using a device to browse the World Wide Web, the device exchanges information with the Internet gateway. The device acts as a client and the Internet as a server. Typically content is downloaded from the internet to the device to allow a browser application in the device to display one page having a number of items or icons which are 'active'. Choosing and selecting an item or icon using the cursor control and selection device creates a 'link' to another defined page. The browser application requests this page from the Internet acting as server. Information downloaded from the Internet to the device allows the browser application to display the page, which has been linked. The browser application mediates between the user and the Internet. It sends requests to the Internet and receives content therefrom.
The content received from the Internet may be instructions allowing the browser application to recreate a page with the correct links. It may, however, be content which cannot be processed by the browser application but which requires a separate different application such as a viewer, an audio application, etc. Typically these separate applications are not integrated with the browser but are separate. A small device such as a radio handset can only register a limited number of such applications at any one time. The browser application routes received instructions to the appropriate application if registered.


Gate oxide on a semiconductor wafer is effectively stressed on a per-wafer basis during fabrication. Because it was effectively stressed, gross testing the gate oxide after device fabrication provides a good indication whether a completed MOS device will be subject to infant mortality. After the gate oxide is formed, a source of overvoltage may be coupled between the raw oxide and the underside of the wafer, to accelerate stress due to defects in the oxide. Alternatively, the oxide may be stressed after deposition of the gate material by coupling a source of overvoltage directly to the gate material and to a probe on the underside of the wafer. The oxide may also be stressed after patterning and definition of the gate material by coupling a source of over-voltage to all of the gates simultaneously, preferably using a mercury probe, plasma or a conductive conforming membrane, and to a probe on the underside of the wafer. The overvoltage is sufficiently large to stress defect-containing oxide, but not to breakdown good oxide. After stress, prior art procedures to complete fabrication, post-fabrication burn-in and testing may be carried out. Because the present invention effectively stresses 100% of the gate oxide, fabricated ICs containing MOS devices whose oxide has defects will generally not pass GO/NO GO post-fabrication testing. In this manner, ICs likely to fail due to infant mortality are identified during post-fabrication testing and discarded.

Using well known techniques, integrated circuits ("ICs") are fabricated on a substrate by forming various depositions, layer by layer. For example, an IC containing metal-oxide-semiconductor ("MOS") devices has a thin layer of oxide over which a layer of gate material (e.g., polysilicon) is deposited and then defined. The MOS device source and drain regions are then formed, either by photolithography or by using the defined gates as a self-aligning mask.
Normal backend processing that forms electrical interconnects completes the fabrication of the IC. The IC is then functionally tested to detect and screen-out defective units, which should not be assembled and delivered to customers.
For a variety of reasons, defects can exist randomly anywhere within the IC structure being fabricated. In ICs containing MOS devices, the thin gate oxide is a substantial factor contributing to failures, among other causes, such as metal electron migration or particulates.
While some defects manifest failure during the functionality test, other defects survive the functionality test, but can cause the premature failure ("infant mortality") of the completed IC. Infant mortality refers to completed, apparently good, devices that fail within about 20% of the expected mean time between failures ("MTBF").
Initially, ICs containing weak oxide (e.g., gate oxide with defects) will function normally. However after the completed IC has been operated sufficiently long, stress sufficient to wear-out weak gate oxide accumulates, which causes the IC to fail. Statistically, IC failure typically has a bimodal distribution failure pattern: ICs either fail very soon after actual operation in the field (infant mortality), or survive essentially forever.
To promote good product quality, manufacturers wish to weed-out completed ICs that are destined to fail prematurely in the field. Thus, ICs are subjected to post-fabrication burn-in and stress procedures. Ideally such procedures will accelerate the effects of defects, forcing failures to appear so that ICs containing defects will fail during such procedures. Such devices are then screened-out, rather than delivered to customers, where-upon the devices will fail prematurely after operation in the field. Typical prior art screening procedures are described in the text "Integrated Circuit Engineering" by Glaser and Subak-Sharpe, published by Edison-Westley (May 1979) . In the prior art, burn-in typically involves subjecting the completed ICs to a temperature of about 100.degree. C. to 150.degree. C., for perhaps 24 to 96 hours, with power supply voltages being applied to the IC at about 160% nominal voltage. If desired, ambient pressure and humidity may also be varied.
The increased temperature and power supply levels should accelerate stress resulting from any defects, thereby causing ICs containing such defects to fail during burn-in. In practice, most of the integrated circuit input ports are maintained at a fixed (DC) voltage. Alternatively, other procedures present a simple vector (AC) voltage pattern to the integrated circuit input ports to change internal device node voltages, thereby increasing the number of transistors subjected to stress.
Unfortunately, because these prior art procedures subject ICs to stress after fabrication is complete, it is not always possible to effectively stress every single transistor in each integrated circuit. For example, physical inaccessible may prevent applying over-voltage directly to some transistors. Other transistors, while accessible, may require very complicated vector patterns involving longer burn-in time and expensive equipment.
Thus prior art post-fabrication stressing tends to be either simple but inadequate, or expensive and time consuming. In either event, prior art procedures fail to realistically stress all devices on a completed IC. The result is that many defect-containing ICs are inadequately stressed, and therefore survive burn-in and functionality testing, only to fail prematurely in the field due to infant mortality.
What is needed is an improved method to more effectively stress the gate oxide of every device on an IC wafer. Preferably such method should apply stress on a per-wafer basis to 100% of the gate oxide. Further, such method should be applicable before IC fabrication has been completed. The present invention discloses such method.

Per-wafer method for globally stressing gate oxide during device fabrication