Blended composition of cellulose ester and a copolyacrylate having improved notched Izod impact strength and excellent visual clarity; the cellulose ester being selected from cellulose acetate butyrate and cellulose acetate propionate; and the copolyacrylate including about 5 to about 20 parts per hundred parts resin of a copolymer containing about 45 to about 55% by weight butyl acrylate and about 55 to about 45% by weight methyl acrylate.

The present invention is directed to a cellulose ester/copolyacrylate blended composition having improved notched Izod impact strength and excellent clarity as compared to the cellulose ester composition by itself when formed into recreational vehicle windows, skylights, automotive taillights, camera and flashlight lenses, and when applied in other areas where the combination of clarity and toughness is needed.
Monomeric plasticized cellulose ester compositions such as cellulose acetate butyrate having a butyryl content of about 38%, about one free hyroxyl group for each four anhydroglucose units and a falling ball viscosity of 20 seconds (in accordance with the procedure described in ASTM D-817-65 Formula A- and D-1343-56), for example, have been shown to become brittle after a period of time of being exposed to fluctuations of temperature and environment such as that experienced in many applications (automotive parts, for example).
The above-mentioned embrittlement has been attributed to the exudation and loss of the plasticizer from the plastic over a period of time. One method for eliminating the problem of exudation is the use of a polymeric plasticizer which will not exude from the cellulose ester plastic under these conditions. Although polymeric plasticized cellulose acetate butyrate plastics having excellent clarity and very low exudation are known, such compositions do not possess the required toughness.
It was therefore totally unexpected to discover that the addition of a copolyacrylate such as poly[(50) butyl-co-(50) methyl acrylate] to a cellulose ester such as cellulose acetate butyrate would result in the combination of excellent clarity and improved notched Izod impact strength. It was also unexpected in view of the fact that other butyl acrylate/methyl acrylate copolymers with a methyl acrylate content less than 45% or greater than 55% by weight were not found to possess this combination of properties.
An object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a cellulose ester composition, which when formed into recreational vehicle windows, skylights, automotive taillights, camera and flashlight lenses and the like, will have excellent clarity and improved toughness without deleteriously affecting other mechanical properties.
From the disclosure to follow other objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains.


Hanging shelf system comprising one or more vertical posts and one or more shelves fastened to said vertical posts, characterized in that said vertical posts are supporting cables which suspend from at least one support.

Limited space in buildings such apartments, offices, labs, etc., complicate storage of items that need to be accessible and preferably not piled up. For example, fruit baskets and refrigerator drawers are commonly used to store fruit in modern homes. These systems have the disadvantage that fruits are piled on top of each other, which results in the bottom fruits being crushed and/or not visible and going bad before being used. There is a need for versatile shelves that are easily installed, shipped, and capable of storing items for quick access.
An example of a versatile shelf can be found in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,419. It discloses a modular shelf system which is robust and allows to make a shelf of virtually any height or length. Shelves, or beams, are supported by vertical posts that are composed of several interconnected pieces.


A card-edge connector for connecting wiring to electronic circuit cards comprises a generally rectangular housing, one or more removable wire termination blocks, and a cover for retaining the wire termination blocks and for protecting the interior of the connector. A slit-like aperture for receiving a peripheral edge of one or more electronic circuit cards to which wire connections are desired is provided in a first external surface of the housing. The circuit card receptacle has a plurality of contact members for mechanically and electrically engaging contact pads located on the exterior surface of the circuit cards. The inventive connector also has one or more receptacles for receiving the removable wire termination blocks. These receptacles are preferably provided on a different side of the connector housing. Each of the removable wire termination blocks has a plurality of wire retaining terminals to which the external wiring is attached. These terminals are connected to contacts on the termination block which, in turn, mate with contacts in the connector's termination block receptacles. In use, wiring is installed on the termination blocks while the blocks are separated from the connector. The termination blocks are subsequently installed on the connector. The cover is then installed over the termination blocks to retain them in position, and to hold attached wiring in a desired configuration.

This invention relates to electrical connector apparatus and methods, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for removably connecting electrical wiring to an electronic circuit card or other substrate having a plurality of connection pads located adjacent a peripheral edge thereof.
A common problem in the telecommunications, computer, and electrical control environments, and in many other environments in which electronic technology is applied, is providing suitable electrical and mechanical interconnections between electronic circuit boards, cards or other substrates, and off-card electrical wiring. Printed circuit cards of various types have become the preferred substrate for mounting and interconnecting electronic components, in order to form electronic circuits, subsystems, or complete systems.
Such printed circuit boards are commonly constructed having one or more substantially planer, laminated layers of dielectric material, such as a glass-fiber filled epoxy resin, upon which is applied one or more layers of a conductive material such as copper. The conductive material is typically photographically etched to produce a pattern of individual conductors suitable for interconnecting electronic components which are mounted upon or through the dielectric layers.
While this circuit card construction is predominant in the present-day electronics industry, a variety of other circuit wiring substrates have been developed, and others are expected to be produced in the future. Accordingly, although we typically refer to "printed" circuit cards or boards, it will be understood that the invention disclosed herein will be equally applicable to any relatively thin, substantially planar substrate for supporting and interconnecting electronic components.
In most cases, it is necessary to connect each printed circuit card to other circuit cards, to power supplies, and to a variety of external devices. For example, in telephone switching systems, circuit cards in the switching equipment must be connected to subscriber telephone instruments, batteries, and transmission facilities. In industrial control systems, circuit cards must be connected to measurement and sensing devices, contactors, motors, operator controls and indicators and the like. In virtually every electronic system, some type of electrical wiring is used to connect the circuit card to the external device, and a mechanical and electrical interface between the wiring and the circuit card is required. In modern systems, a standard logic controller is used with many interchangeable external components, and it is highly desireable that all of these components and their associated wiring be quickly changeable.
In the past, it was common to solder wiring directly to circuit boards. However, this practice made it inconvenient to disconnect the circuit board for testing, maintenance, or repair. In addition, the repeated application of heat and stress involved in desoldering and resoldering wires to the circuit board promotes delamination and other damage to the board card. As an alternative, wiring terminal blocks have been developed for permanent installation on circuit cards. The terminal blocks include screw terminals or other means to which external wiring may be removably connected. However, these terminal blocks typically require each wire to be separately connected and disconnected, increasing the cost and time involved in testing or replacing a defective card. In addition, the mechanical process of securing wiring to the terminal blocks can subject the circuit card to stresses that cause damage.
Accordingly, there have been developed a variety of connector structures to provide mechanical and electrical interfaces by which circuit cards may be removably interconnected with external wiring. In one configuration which has achieved high commercial acceptance, a special "card-edge" connector is provided which has a slit-like aperture for receiving a peripheral edge of the circuit card. A plurality of contact pads, typically constructed of the same conductive material as that used for internal interconnections on the circuit card, are provided in a predefined pattern on the exterior surface of the card adjacent the peripheral edge. A plurality of resilient contacts are provided in a corresponding pattern in the connector for electrically mating with the pads on the circuit card.
For each signal lead on the circuit card to which an external connection is desired, a connection is made to one or more of the edge contact pads. When the circuit card is installed in the connector, each of the signals brought to the edge of the card become available at the corresponding contact of the connector. Circuit cards may be easily removed and replaced, severing or making a large plurality of external connections essentially en masse.
Although the prior-art circuit card edge connectors avoid some of the previously mentioned problems associated with the direct attachment of wiring to a circuit card, they create new problems because means must be provided to attach such wiring to the connector. In one prior art approach, the edge connector is itself soldered to an auxiliary circuit card, and wiring may be directly attached to the auxiliary card. The wiring may be soldered to the auxiliary circuit card, or terminal blocks or other connection means may be provided. This is an inadequate solution, because the direct attachment of wiring to the auxiliary card presents at least the same problems as have been discussed heretofore with respect to the primary circuit card.
In addition, a large number of connections to a circuit card is typically required, and in many applications, these connections must carry significant amounts of current. As a result, it may be required to connect a substantial bundle of heavy-guage wires to the auxiliary card. These wires can apply significant force to the the circuit cards and to the connector. Since the connections between the wires and the auxiliary circuit card are relatively fragile, these stresses make the connections unreliable, and can easily cause permanent damage the auxiliary circuit card and the connector.
In another prior art approach wire connection terminals are provided on the edge connector itself, eliminating the need for an auxiliary circuit card. This arrangement is also unacceptable in many applications. The need to minimize the cost of packaging and housing modern electronic equipment often requires that the equipment be constructed with very little separation between adjacent circuit cards. Accordingly, the density of connectors and wiring required may be very high. In such high-density applications, it becomes progressively more difficult to install wiring on the prior art card edge connectors having terminal blocks because space, and the direction from which the terminals may be accessed, is limited. As each increment of wiring is installed, it tends to block access to the adjacent positions at which the craftsperson is about to install another wire. In addition, as previously noted, the high density of heavy-guage wiring can apply significant stresses to the terminals, the connector, and the circuit card. Prior-art card-edge connectors have failed to properly manage the positions of the wires or the stress they apply to the the terminals and other connector components.
Another problem with prior-art card-edge connectors which are equipped with terminal blocks is that each wire to be attached to the connector must be individually installed and secured by the craftsperson. Because each wire is individually serviced, it is not possible to rapidly connect and disconnect all wiring from the connector for testing or maintenance purposes. Often, the external component to which the wiring may be permanently attached requires maintenance, repair, or replacement. In such instances, it is essential that the component and its wiring be quickly disconnected, and another component immediately connected in its place. The need to install and secure each wire individually makes it impossible to rapidly disconnect one set of wires from the connector and immediately reconnect another set, such as may be desired when retrofitting or changing equipment in applications where only an extremely short period of equipment or circuit unavailability is permissible.
A further disadvantage of these prior-art card-edge connectors is that they generally require a substantial amount of time consuming manual wire preparation after the equipment containing the connectors has been installed. When the equipment is to be connected to external circuits, the external wiring cannot be installed onto the connectors until the equipment itself has been delivered and installed. Thus, once the equipment is delivered, the step of installing the wiring onto the connectors becomes one of the critical paths required to make the equipment operational. When a large number of circuits are involved, the wire installation step requires a substantial amount of time. Due to physical constraints, such as limited space in and near the equipment, it is difficult to shorten this time by applying more craftspersons to the task. Thus, the use of these conventional card-edge connectors lengthens the minimum time required to make equipment operational once it has been installed. Not only is this economically undesirable, it also reduces the ability of manufacturers and equipment operators to respond to emergency or disaster situations by pressing inventoried equipment into service rapidly.


A system facilitates co-use of an interface by multiple client computer, such as co-browsing of a webpage. A first user computer using an interface transfers a state of the interface to a server, which uses the state to recreate the interface in a virtual client executed by the server. The interface is rendered on a virtual screen and images of the screen are transmitted to the first user computer and one or more second user computers performing co-use with the first user computer. For example, a browser rendering a webpage on a first computer transmits session data and cookies associated with the webpage to a virtual browser executing on a server system. The virtual browser retrieves the webpage and uses the session data and cookies to render the webpage on the virtual screen.

The Internet has become an essential medium for business and media. Although use of the Internet in modern society is essentially ubiquitous, one potential area of future expansion in the Internet is the ability for users to share online experiences. Sharing online experiences, such as visiting websites, is one way for users to have a social experience on the Internet. These shared online experiences often take the form of co-browsing. In general, co-browsing is joint navigation of websites by multiple people that access web pages at the same time. Some current techniques for co-browsing require special software at the client and/or co-browsing enabled websites. Since users may only co-browse on web sites that are co-browsing enabled, this technology limits the users to only a small subset of Internet sites. As a consequence, it is desirable to create a co-browsing system that does not require special plug-ins or co-browsing enabled websites so as to permit users to co-browse at any website.

Computer-implemented methods, computer readable media, and systems for initiating co-use of applications


An alkenyl ether derivative having a low viscosity, a good compatibility with other liquid crystalline compounds and being capable of use in preparing a liquid crystal display element having a high response rate are provided, which derivative is expressed by the formula EQU R.sub.1 --CH.sub.2 --O--(CH.sub.2)n--A.sub.1 --A.sub.2 A.sub.3 --R.sub.2[1]. wherein R.sub.1 is a 2-7C alkenyl group having a double bond at its terminal or a double bond of a trans configuration at a position other than its terminal, R.sub.2 is 1-10C alkyl group or alkoxy group, A.sub.1 and A.sub.2 each independently are a 1,4-phenylene or a trans-1,4-cyclohexylene, A.sub.3 represents a 1,4-phenylene, a trans-1,4-cyclohexylene or a single bond and n is 1 or 2.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an alkenyl ether derivative and liquid crystal composition containing the same. More particularly it relates to an alkenyl ether derivative capable of use in preparing a liquid crystal display element having a high response rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, liquid crystals have been growing in importance from the aspect of dielectrics of display elements due to their electrooptical effect based upon the dielectric anisotropy and the optical anisotropy thereof. Display modes based upon liquid crystals include for example, dynamic scattering mode, phase transition mode, DAP mode, guest-host mode, TN mode using a 90.degree. twist cell, STN or SBE mode using a 180.degree. to 270.degree. twist cell, etc. Liquid crystal materials used for these display modes are required to exhibit various characteristics such as broad mesomorphic range, stability to environmental factors, e.g. moisture, heat, air, light, electricity, etc., colorlessness, rapid response time, etc.
Since the response time has a relation proportional to the viscosity of the liquid crystal materials, use of a liquid crystal material having a low viscosity makes it possible to raise the response rate.
At present, however, there is no single compound capable of sufficiently driving display elements; hence, practically, liquid crystal mixtures obtained by blending several kinds of liquid crystalline compounds, that is, liquid crystal compounds or compounds potentially having liquid crystallinity, have been used. Thus, the liquid crystalline compounds are also required to have a good compatibiltiy with other liquid crystal compounds.

Alkenyl ether derivative and liquid crystal composition containing the same


A current feedback type discharge lamp lighting device including a switching circuit which switches an impedance of an impedance device in accordance with the number of connected discharge tubes. In the discharge lamp lighting device, a tube current for each of the connected discharge tubes is maintained constant, and the discharge lamp lighting device tends to not be effected by stray capacitance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a discharge lamp lighting device which lights discharge tubes while maintaining constant the respective tube currents of an arbitrary number of discharge tubes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional discharge lamp lighting device which maintains tube current constant is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-80191. In the discharge lamp lighting device disclosed in this publication, a tube current detected at a tube current detecting circuit is fed-back to a voltage control means provided so as to precede to a lighting circuit. The voltage control means is operated so that the tube current flowing through the discharge tube is constant, and lighting voltage is supplied to the lighting circuit. In the tube current detecting circuit, usually, the tube current flows through a resistor, and the circuit outputs the voltage generated across both ends of the resistor. Such a discharge lamp lighting device is generally called a current feedback type lighting device. In a liquid crystal backlight which uses a cold cathode discharge tube having an extremely small diameter and relatively high impedance as a light source, drawbacks arise in that the startability deteriorates and characteristics tend to fluctuate due to the effect of stray which occurs because a metal reflecting film is near a periphery of the discharge tube. These drawbacks tend not to arise in a current feedback type lighting device which provides a lit state in which the startability and characteristics are stable.
However, in the above-described conventional art, in a case in which the number of discharge tubes is varied arbitrarily, a current of a value which is the sum total of the currents flowing through the plurality of discharge tubes flows to the resistor of the tube current detecting circuit. Therefore, when an attempt is made to keep the voltage across both ends of the resistor constant, a drawback arises in that the current flowing per discharge tube varies. Further, if a source of current, a lighting circuit, a tube current detecting circuit or the like are provided respectively for each of the discharge tubes, the respective tube currents are held constant even if the number of discharge tubes is varied arbitrarily, but the lighting device becomes large, complex, and more expensive.

International Business Machines Corporation


Call handling options are selected for calls using social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of a caller to a call recipient in a social networking platform. An identifier for a calling device is used to access social network data that is descriptive of a relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform. A call handling option for a call is selected, from among multiple, different call handling options, based on the social network data that is descriptive of the relationship of the caller to the call recipient in the social networking platform.

Phones typically alert the user of the phone when an incoming call is received. Ringtones, vibrations, or other alerts can be produced to inform the user that an incoming call has been received. However, when calls are received at inconvenient times, these alerts can be a nuisance. Unsolicited calls from marketers and others can be distracting and annoying. Typically, a user may turn off a phone or silence the phone's alerts. But after doing so, the user may miss important calls received while the phone is silenced or turned off.


An electrical junction box comprising a case having a rib; a wiring board assembly provided in the case and comprised of an insulating board and a plurality of bus bars mounted on the insulating board, the bus bars being sandwiched between the insulating board and the rib of the case; and a drainage channel provided near the bus bars. The drainage channel comprises a cutout of the rib formed at a portion bridging the adjacent bus bars. With this structure, the water having entered the case is prevented from staying in this portion, so that it may smoothly flow through the cutout of the rib to the outside of the case. Accordingly, the generation of short circuits between the adjacent bus bars may be prevented. At least a through-hole may be formed through the insulating board at a position near the bus bars, and a gap may be defined between the bus bars and the insulating board by providing a plurality of projections on the insulating board.

The present invention relates to an electrical junction box for use with electrical wiring for an automobile or the like, and more particularly to a structure of the electrical junction box which may prevent short circuits of bus bars located in the electrical junction box due to water entering the electrical junction box.
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional electrical junction box constructed of an upper cases 4, a lower case 5 and a wiring board assembly 3 to be received in the upper case 4 and the lower case 5. The wiring board assembly 3 is constructed of a first bus bar set 10 including a plurality of bus bars 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D, a second bus bar set 1 including a plurality of bus bars 1A, 1B and 1C, and an insulating board 2 to be interposed between the first bus bar set 10 and the second bus bar set 1. The upper case 4 and the lower case 5 are formed with a plurality of connector housings 6 and 6' for connecting a fuse, relay, wire harness or the like (not shown) to the bus bar sets 10 and 1, respectively. The connector housing 6 and 6' are formed with a plurality of connection holes 6a and 6'a for receiving tab terminals 10a and 1a of the bus bar sets 10 and 1, respectively. Further, the upper case 4 and the lower case 5 are formed with a plurality of crossing ribs 7 and 7', respectively.
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a part of the electrical junction box under the assembled condition, and FIG. 6 is a cross section taken along the line VI--VI in FIG. 5. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the wiring board assembly 3 comprised of the first and second bus bar sets 10 and 1 and the insulating board 2 is sandwiched between the upper and lower ribs 7 and 7' of the upper and lower cases 4 and 5. The ribs 7 and 7' serve to increase a mechanical strength of the upper and lower cases 4 and 5, and also serve to reliably fix the first and second bus bar sets 10 and 1 in a predetermined position. The insulating board 2 is formed on its opposite surfaces with pattern projections 2a corresponding to patterns of the bus bar sets 10 and 1, so that a plurality of grooves 2b are formed to receive the bus bars 10A to 10D of the bus bar set 10 and the bus bars 1A to 1C of the bus bar set 1.
A waterproof cover (not shown) is usually mounted on the upper case 4 by a locking means, so as to prevent entry of water into the electrical junction box. However, when a vehicle is washed with water under a high pressure, for example, the water tends to enter the electrical junction box through the locking means of the waterproof cover. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the water having entered the electrical junction box tends to stay at a contact portion between the first bus bar set 10 and the rib 7 and a contact portion between the second bus bar set 1 and the rib 7' as depicted by W. Such stay of the water W causes the generation of leak current between the adjacent bus bars 10A and 10B, for example, or between the opposite bus bars 10A and 1A, for example. As a result, the electrical parts such as a relay connected to the bus bars will malfunction. Further, as the wiring board assembly 3 is enclosed by the ribs 7 and 7', the water W cannot flow out of the spaces between the wiring board assembly 3 and the ribs 7 and 7', causing the generating of corrosion of the bus bars. Further, the staying water W will be moved or scattered in the spaces due to vibration of the automobile to cause the generation of leak current between the other bus bars.


The present invention relates to a light ray shift element which provides controlled refraction of the incident ray and an optical axis displacement device using the above light ray shift element. An application of these optical devices to an interleave projection display system is demonstrated. The optical element is constructed from transparent flat plate materials containing a first optical medium and are disposed at a predetermined spacing along the optical axis. The orientation angle of the transparent flat plates with respect to the optical axis can be varied independently. A bulkhead consisting of the transparent flat plates and a second optical medium having an index of refraction different from the first optical medium, which is enclosed in a hermetic extendable seal, is utilized to provide light ray shift and optical axis displacement. By selecting the first and second optical media suitably, the angle of refraction of the incident ray can be controlled to optimize the quality of the image generated by the interleave projection system.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a light ray refraction element and an optical axis displacement device, and a projection display apparatus based on the light ray refraction element.
2. Technological Background
In recent years, there have been active developments of projection display devices which enlarge and display images on a light valve by means of an optical projection system. Especially, the use of transparent, active matrix liquid crystal display panels (referred to as TFT.multidot.LCD hereinbelow) as the light valve component in projection display devices (shortened to projectors hereinbelow) is gaining attention. This is because such panels provide excellent color reproduction and contrast, and provide simple apparatus for creating large screen images of impressive scale. The development of liquid crystal projector for high definition television (HDTV) applications has already been realized.
A conventional type of projector is schematically illustrated in FIG. 48. In this figure, the reference numeral 1 refers to a light source, 2 is a filter for filtering the infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) components for the light Generated from the light source 1, 3 is an optical filter, 4 is a condensor lens to condense the ray from the light source 1, 5 is a light valve, 6 is a projection lens and 7 is a screen.
Such a projector displays images, produced in the light valve 5 using the regular LCTV technique, on the screen 7 through the projection lens 6. In this system, the light valve 5 itself is not luminescent, and the image on the light valve 5 is illuminated from the back with the light source 1 and is enlarge by the projection lens 6.
To achieve higher image resolution with the above optical configuration, it is necessary to have a quantum increase in the density of pixels on the TFT.multidot.LCD so as to accommodate the huge increase in the screen display area. This approach requires that the bus line resistance in the LCD circuit be lowered, the density of pixels be increased and the TFT driving capability be improved; however, these requirements are difficult to be met in production, and the manufacturing yield suffers as a result. Further, LCD circuits of such a complexity demand higher circuit performance, such as faster driving LSI and other components. For this reason, the conventional approach to improving the image resolution has been to utilize a number of projectors to project several images of one image from different projectors so as to compensate for the vacant spaces between the pixels from different projectors. Examples are disclosed in a Japanese Patent Application, First Publication, S64-35479 and a Japanese Patent Application, First Publication, H2-281287.
An example of such a multi-projector system is shown in FIG. 49. In this figure, the reference numerals 11, 12 refer to light sources, 21, 22 are IR and UV filters respectively, 31, 32 are optical filters, 41, 42 are condensor lens, 51, 52 are light valves, 61, 62 are projection lens, 7 is a screen, m1, m2 are optical axes of the projection lenses (i.e., projectors).
As illustrated in FIG. 49, the images on the light valve 51, 52 are interleaved on the screen 7 to form a composite image. The mechanism of such an interleaving projection system will be explained with reference to FIG. 50.
FIG. 50 illustrates a case of interleaving four component images (A, B, C and D) to produce a composite image E. The images A, B, C and D are formed on TFT.multidot.LCDs which constitute four individual light valves. A component image is formed by numerous pixels such as those shown by the four shapes in this figure, and a pixel consists of a light aperture portion for transmission of light and a light shield portion. It follows that by projecting a composite image by shifting a half pixel for each interleaved image such that each light aperture portion of one image overlaps with the light shield portion of the other images, it becomes possible to achieve a precision projection display which is twice the size of the original image.
To successfully-project a high-resolution composite image by such a interleaving technique, it is necessary that every opening section of every pixel in the entire image align precisely with every light shield portion of all other pixels of the other images. This means that not only condensing of the images but other optical factors of the pixels such as the size, distortion and the rotational direction on the screen, should be identical for all the pixels. This means that the system requires adjustments in the direction of six axes, x, y z, .theta.x, .theta.y, and .theta.z, for each optical axis of a projector, as illustrated in FIG. 51.
In the conventional system, such adjustments are made with a precision optical stage for R & D, and such a stage had to be large and sturdy so as to accommodate a projector weighing several tens of kilograms, thus resulting in an extremely heavy stage.
Furthermore, since the stage is heavy, adjusting mechanisms such as stepping motors for driving the stage had to be correspondingly powerful, thus resulting in a giant overall projection system.

Light ray shift devices and projection display apparatus using the same

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corportion


The bone anchor implantation device of the present invention comprises a shaft or body having a grip at a first end of the shaft, an anchor mount at a distal end of the shaft, and a bone anchor removably mounted in the anchor mount. The shaft is preferably bent so that the anchor mount generally faces the grip such that the bone anchor can be implanted at an anchoring site in a bone by pulling rearwardly on the device. The body is adapted to be separable from the anchor after the anchor has been implanted in bone. A suture thread is attached to the bone anchor such that the suture thread is accessible to a surgeon using the device after the bone anchor has been implanted in bone and after the body has been separated from the bone anchor. The shaft is at least partially hollow, and the suture thread is housed in the shaft. The anchor mount comprises a cannula at the distal end of the shaft. The cannula is sized to removably receive an end of the anchor.

Not Applicable.
The invention relates to a system and method for the effective long-term cure of recurrent female urinary incontinence, and more particularly to a urethra stabilization and support system attached to the posterior/inferior pubic bone and a method for accomplishing this in which a hypermobile urethra is repositioned in the anatomically proper position.
The problem of recurrent female urinary incontinence, or the inability to control urination, is a major and debilitating one affecting millions of women in the United States alone. One particular type that frequently occurs in women is stress urinary incontinence, which is precipitated by coughing, straining, or heavy lifting. Mild cases may be treated by exercises involving tightening and relaxing of the perineal and gluteal muscles or by sympathomimetic drug therapy. Severe cases, however, may require surgery to correct the underlying anatomic defect. It is this surgical correction which is the subject of the present invention.
In general, continence is considered to be a function of urethral support and coaptation. For coaptation to successfully prevent or cure incontinence, the urethra must be supported and stabilized in its normal anatomic position. The female""s natural support system for the urethra is a hammock-like supportive layer composed of endopelvic fascia, the anterior vaginal wall, and the arcus tendineus (a distal attachment to the pubic bone). Weakening and elongation of the pubourethral ligaments and the arcus tendineus fascia pelvis, weakening of the endopelvic fascia and pubourethral prolapse of the anterior vaginal wall, and their complex interaction with intraabdomninal forces are all suspected to play a role in the loss of pelvic support for the urethra and subsequent hypermobility to an unnaturally low non-anatomic position, leading to urinary incontinence.
Many procedures have been devised to treat urinary incontinence with the goal of elevating the neck of the bladder to return it to a higher retropubic position. Some involve the creation of a compensatory pubovaginal sling through a variety of needle suspension procedures; others employ a suburethral mesh to act as a compensatory suburethral sling to avoid the possibility that the sutures used in the needles suspension procedures will easily tear.
Many of the needle suspension procedures involve placing sutures in the endopelvic fascia or the anterior vaginal wall on either side of the urethra and attaching them to fixation sites such as bone and soft tissue. Alternatively, the sutures are attached to artificial anchors placed within the pelvis, at the superior border of the pubis, or rectus abdominus fascia. A major problem with this type of procedure is that the very fascial and muscular support structures that are sutured for support are often stretched, damaged, or otherwise deficient to begin with, and remain so after the procedure. It is therefore difficult to employ them successfully as reinforcements for surgical repair.
The pubovaginal sling procedure, in which a mesh is placed under the urethra to provide elevation and support of the urethra and bladder neck, is performed through an abdominal incision, and has enjoyed an excellent surgical success rate. It is generally preferable for more complicated cases of recurrent genuine stress urinary incontinence, particularly in patients who have failed prior surgery, who are obese, or whose lifestyles involve heavy lifting and accompanying increased intraabdominal pressure. However, problems with voiding disjunction and urinar retention, detrusor instability, and infection and erosion of sling materials that can lead to urethrovesical and vesicovaginal fistulas are cause for concern. Additionally, because of the abdominal incision, this procedure is more technically challenging, presents greater blood loss, longer operative time, and a prolonged postoperative recovery.
These techniques use a variety of attachment sites for bladder neck and urethral support, such as the superior portion of the pubis, Cooper""s ligament, or rectus abdominus fascia. This results in placement of the urethra in an unnaturally high position with respect to its normal anatomical retropubic position so that problems with voiding and retention frequently arise after the procedure. Further, this abnormal positioning of the urethra in conjunction with failure of the supporting tissues and poor surgical technique have often led to a recurrence of incontinence since all of these operations create a compensatory abnormality rather than restoring the normal anatomy.
A related difficulty that contributes to the unnatural positioning of the urethra is that some attachment sites, such as the rectus abdomninus fascia, require very long sutures and accompanying difficulty in achieving the proper tension in the sutures. This can result in increased lateral movement and momentum of the support structures or mesh sling when they are moved due to intraabdominal pressures.
The present invention addresses and corrects these and other difficulties by affecting the continence mechanism directly and providing a predictable and lasting permanent cure for the problem of recurrent female urinary incontinence.
It has been found that the key site for control of continence has not been heretofore addressed. It has further been found that the urethral hypermobility observed in most incontinent patients is caused by a lax or torn arcus tendineus facie pelvis attachment at its origin near the anterior levator arch in the immediate retropubic position at the site of the pubourethral ligaments. Repair and reinforcement of this area to stabilize the urethra in its normal position may be equally important as repair of the endopelvic facie. Therefore, the key site for control of continence is the paraurethral attachments of the pubourethral ligaments to the sides of the urethra at the intermediate 60% of the urethral length. This is simulated through the employment of a mesh sling system which supports this site and restores the bladder neck and urethra to their normal anatomic retropubic position. Additionally, when placed in this position, the lateral sides of the mesh serve to act as pubourethral ligaments which help to prevent undue descent of the urethra.
It has also been found that although the superior portion of the pubic bone is a functional and secure fixation site for incontinence repair, a key to restoring the urethra to its normal anatomical position is using the posterior/inferior border of the pubic bone, not the superior portion, as the attachment sites for the mesh sling system. In particular, the sling system is anchored to the pubic bone near the point of attachment of the arcus tendineus to the pubic bone. Proper tensioning of the mesh sling system is made easier by using this portion of the pubic bone as the attachment site, due in part to the fact that shorter sutures and an innovative mesh suturing pattern is used. This serves to avoid the problems heretofore discussed associated with an improperly high retropubic positioning of the urethra.
According to the invention there is provided a pubic bone-mounted urethra stabilization and support system and a method for the long term cure of recurrent female urinary incontinence.
The system comprises a pair of anchors which are affixed to the posterior/inferior pubic bone near the point of attachment of the arcus tendineus to the pubic bone, sutures attached to the anchors, and a sling which is passed behind and about the urethra and the adjacent endopelvic fascia Ends of the sling are attached to the anchors by the anchor-mounted sutures. In particular, a pair of anchor screws are located on either side of the symphysis pubis in the retropubic area posteriorly and at about 0.5 cm superiorly of the inferior edge of the ischial ramus. Sutures connect the anchor screws to the mesh sling. The mesh sling directly supports the urethra by its placement on the endopelvic fascia in the area of the intermediate 60 percent portion of the urethra as will be later described in greater detail.
The method includes the steps of accessing said urethra and pubic bone, properly locating and attaching the anchors to the pubic bone, properly locating the sling about the urethra and suturing and tensioning the ends of the sling to the anchors, causing said sling to restore, support and stabilize functional urethral continence anatomy and prevent urethral descent under intraabdominal pressure.
To access the urethra and pubic bone, a pair of divergent incisions are made, beginning at the posterior urethral fold, in the anterior vaginal wall. This creates a triangular flap to expose the operative field. Care must be taken to separate the anterior vaginal wall from the adjoining endopelvic fascia to leave the endopelvic fascia intact. Direct visualization and palpation is next employed to evaluate the integrity of the lateral attachment of the endopelvic fascia to each arcus tendineus fascia pelvis, repairing any damage by suturing if necessary.
The pubic bone is next located by palpation. The course of the arcus from the ischial spine to the arcus insertion into the posterior/inferior aspect of the pubic bone is palpated to locate the proper site for the anchor screws, which is at either side of the symphysis pubis in the retropubic area posteriorly and at about 0.5 cm superiorly of the inferior edge of the ischial ramus. An anchor screw, which is provided with a pair of permanent sutures, is driven into the pubic bone at this location and set. An identical anchor screw is then driven into a symmetrically located position on the other side of the symnphysis pubis.
A sling, which can be made of a substantially rectangular patch of surgical mesh, is next laid upon the endopelvic fascia such that its longitudinal edges extend transversely of the urethra which is below the endopelvic fascia. Four permanent sutures are used to transfix the mesh along the lateral borders of the urethra at the edges of the mesh. These sutures are so positioned as to create a slight trough-like space between the mesh and the endopelvic fascia and urethra. This space prevents undue tension on the urethra by the mesh when the mesh is formed into a sling. The permanent sutures of the anchor screws are then woven transversely of the mesh in opposite directions between the longitudinal edges of the mesh and inset from the transverse mesh edges. These sutures are then bilaterally tied with appropriate tensioning to transform the mesh into a sling.
Finally, any additional necessary repairs, including the sequential tying of the repair sutures for attaching the endopelvic fascia to the arcus tendineus fascia pelvis, are made. The cut edges of the anterior vaginal wall are approximated with sutures, and the cul-de-sac and posterior vaginal segment defects are repaired.
The bone anchor can either be a bone screw or a harpoon-type anchor. If the bone anchor is a screw, it is preferably implanted using a bone drill, such as disclosed in WO 97/30638. If a harpoon-type bone anchor is used, a transvaginal bone anchor implantation device of the present invention is preferably used. The bone anchor implantation device of the present invention comprises a shaft or body having a grip at a first end of the shaft, an anchor mount at a distal end of the shaft, and a bone anchor removably mounted in the anchor mount. The shaft is preferably bent so that the anchor mount generally faces the grip such that the bone anchor can be implanted at an anchoring site in a bone by pulling rearwardly on the device. The body is adapted to be separable from the anchor after the anchor has been implanted in bone.
A suture thread is attached to the bone anchor such that the suture thread is accessible to a surgeon using the device after the bone anchor has been implanted in bone and after the body has been separated from the bone anchor. The shaft is at least partially hollow, and the suture thread is housed in the shaft. The anchor mount comprises a cannula at the distal end of the shaft. The cannula being sized to removably receive an end of the anchor.
In use, the procedure is substantially the same as described above. The only difference lies in the method in which the bone anchor is inserted into the bone. Once the anchor site is located, the device is introduced into the patient transvaginally through the vaginal wall incision. The anchor is placed at the anchor site on the pubic bone, and the device is pulled to drive the anchor into the pubic bone. Once the anchor has been implanted, the shaft is separated from the anchor and removed from the patient.
is hook shaped.

Transvaginal bone anchor implantation device


The present disclosure provides an OLED array substrate, a manufacturing method thereof, and an OLED display panel. The OLED array substrate comprises a first electrode layer, a pixel definition layer, an organic material functional layer, and a second electrode layer arranged successively in a light exit direction. The organic material functional layer comprises light-emitting regions that emit light of different colors. The pixel definition layer comprises pixel regions corresponding to the light-emitting regions, and spacing regions arranged between adjacent pixel regions. Each spacing region is configured to electrically isolate adjacent light-emitting regions.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology is a technology that realizes display using reversible color change generated by an organic semiconductor material under the driving of a current. An OLED display has advantages of being ultra-light and ultra-thin, having high brightness, large viewing angle, low voltage, low power consumption, fast response and high resolution, being anti-seismic and bendable, having low cost and simple process, using fewer raw materials, having high luminous efficiency and wide temperature range, and the like, and is hence considered to be the most promising new-generation display technology.

OLED array substrate, manufacturing method thereof, OLED display panel

HEFEI BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A light source apparatus includes a light guide plate, a number of optical fibers, at least two first light emitting diodes, and at least two second LEDs. Each fiber has a light exiting surface facing the light guide and at least two light entrances at both ends of the fiber. The second LEDs are located on both sides of the light guide plate. Light generated by the first LEDs has a wavelength longer than that generated by the second LEDs. The light generated from the first LEDs enters the light guide plate after travelling through the optical fiber to mix with the light generated from the second LEDs to provide a good color rendering property of the light generated by the light source.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure is related to a light source apparatus of a backlight module, and particularly to a light source apparatus having good chromatography and high color rendering property.
2. Description of Related Art
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are technologically and economically advantageous solid state light sources. LEDs are capable of reliably providing light with high brightness, hence in the past decades they have come to play a critical role in numerous applications, including flat-panel displays, traffic lights, and optical communications. Most of the LEDs used in current backlight modules are white light LEDs composed of blue light chips with yellow phosphor. However, the color rendering property of the white light LED may be degraded, and its color production property may be considerably degraded due to a low light intensity in a long wavelength. Further, there are conventional white light LEDs that emit white light using the combination of blue chips with red and green phosphors having different excitation wavelengths. Since the white light LEDs have red, green, and blue peak wavelengths, the white light LEDs have color rendering and color reproduction properties superior to the white light LEDs using a yellow phosphor. However, the light extraction efficiency of the white light LEDs having blue chips with red and green phosphors is degraded. There is an ongoing need for ways to construct backlight modules with greater energy efficiency, with improved color rendering property, with improved light extraction efficacy, and with longer duration of service.

Light source apparatus of backlight module

Zhongshan Innocloud Intellectual Property Services Co., Ltd.


A process for forming a thick-film resistor whose dimensions can be accurately obtained, thereby yielding a precise resistance value. The method includes providing on a substrate a photoimageable layer that preferably forms a permanent dielectric layer of a multilayer structure. An opening is photodefined in the surface of the photoimageable layer, and then overfilled with an electrically-resistive material to form a resistive mass having an excess portion that lies on the surface of the photoimageable layer surrounding the opening. Following curing which causes the surface of the resistive material to become recessed below the surface of the photoimageable layer, the excess portion of the resistive mass is removed, preferably by abrading or a similar operation, such that the lateral dimensions of the resistive mass are determined by the lateral dimensions of the opening in the photoimageable layer. Thereafter, subsequent processing is preformed to include the photoimageable layer as a permanent photoimageable layer of a circuit board, with the resistive mass and appropriate terminations forming a resistor in the permanent photoimageable layer.

The present invention generally relates to printed wire board circuits and their fabrication. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for forming a thick-film resistor to have precise dimensions determined by photolithography techniques, thereby avoiding the variability associated with conventional screen printed resistors.
Thick-film resistors are employed in hybrid electronic circuits to provide a wide range of resistor values. Such resistors are formed by printing, such as screen printing, a thick-film resistive paste or ink on a substrate, which may be a printed wiring board (PWB), flexible circuit, or a ceramic or silicon substrate. Thick-film inks used with ceramic printed wire boards are typically composed of a glass frit composition, an electrically-conductive material, various additives used to favorably affect the final electrical properties of the resistor, and an organic vehicle or polymer matrix material. Thick-film inks used in organic printed wire board construction are typically composed of an electrically-conductive material, various additives used to favorably affect the final electrical properties of the resistor, an organic binder and an organic vehicle. After printing, the thick-film ink is typically heated to dry the ink and convert it into a suitable film that adheres to the substrate. If a polymer thick-film ink is used, the heating step serves to remove the organic vehicle and to cure the polymer matrix material. Other thick-film inks must be sintered, or fired, during which the ink is heated to burn off the organic vehicle and fuse the remaining solid material.
The electrical resistance of a thick-film resistor is dependent on the precision with which the resistor is produced, the stability of the resistor material, and the stability of the resistor tenninations. Control of the x, y and z dimensions (the width, electrical length and thickness, respectively, of the resistor) is particularly challenging in view of the techniques employed to print thick-film inks and the dimensional instability that may occur during subsequent processing. For rectangular screen-printed resistors, the x and z dimensions are determined by the screening process, and the y dimension is determined by the termination pattern. Conventional screen printing techniques generally employ a template with apertures bearing the positive image of the resistor to be created. The template, referred to as a screening mask, is placed above and in close proximity to the surface of the substrate on which the resistor is to be formed. The mask is then loaded with the resistive ink, and a squeegee blade is drawn across the surface of the mask to press the ink through the apertures and onto the surface of the substrate.
Compared to many other deposition processes, screen printing is a relatively crude process. As a result, screen printed thick-film resistors are typically limited to dimensions of larger than about one millimeter, with dimensional tolerances generally being larger than about .+-.10% at this lower limit. Consequently, screen printed thick-film resistors having adequate tolerances in the x and y dimensions are often larger than chip resistors. The thickness of a thickfilm resistor can generally be controlled to tolerances of about 20% to 30% by screen printing, due in large part to variability in the x, y and z dimensions. While the z dimension (thickness) of a screen-printed thick-film resistor can be reasonably well controlled through precision in the screening operation, the control of x and y dimensions is fundamentally limited by the relatively coarse mesh of the screen and by ink flow after deposition. As a result, resistance tolerances of less than .+-.20% cannot be achieved with screen printed thick-film resistors without laser trimming, an operation that is usually cost prohibitive for complex circuits.
From the above, it can be seen that present practices involving the fabrication of thick-film resistors can necessitate a compromise between the precision of the resistance value and the size of the resistor. In other words, while smaller resistors are often preferred to yield a more compact circuit, an undesirable consequence is that resistance values are less predictable due to the dimensional variability of the resistors. Accordingly, a need exists for a method for producing a thick-film resistor in which resistance values and tolerances can be more accurately controlled than prior art screen printing techniques permit.

Method for forming a thick-film resistor and thick-film resistor formed thereby


An optical switch (10) includes a light input (12a), a plurality of light outputs (12b) and at least one light pathway movable from a first position where a light communication path is formed between a light input (14a) and a first light output (14b) and a second position where a light communication path is formed between the light input and a plurality of light outputs. Multiple light pathways are configured within the switch and selectable by rotation of a switch housing part enabling sequential selection of light communication paths. The switch can be used on a surgical device to control illumination of the surgical field during a procedure.

Fibre optics are used in a variety of industries including aerospace, telecommunications, lasers and medical devices. A common problem involves switching lights on or off and switching light between paths or combinations of paths. A variety of solutions have been developed to fulfill these requirements including (i) beam splitters, (ii) shuttles, (iii) optical shutters and (iv) variation of the shutter concept, the twisted-nematic liquid crystal shutter.
A beam splitter in its most common form is a cube made from two triangular glass prisms, which are glued together at their base using Canada balsam. The thickness of the resin layer is adjusted such that for a certain wavelength half of the light incident through one "port" i.e. face of the cube is reflected and the other half is transmitted due to frustrated total internal reflection.
A shuttle will usually include an input pipe which moves to align with one of the outputs. A key feature of this switch is that all outputs are exclusive, so it cannot select more than one at a time. Whilst it is possible to create an intermediate position for the shuttle such that it shines light into two outputs, considerable light will be lost at this junction owing to differences in the geometry of the input and outputs. As it stands, there is no "off" position. If one were needed separate from the light source itself, it would either have to separate, or include a dummy switch position.
Common shutter mechanisms include a blade, which may be introduced into a light path to block the transmission of light or rotated out of the light path to allow transmission. The shutter may be spring loaded and attached to a driver such as a rotary solenoid such that the blade moves to the energized position when it receives an operating voltage and returns to its resting position when the voltage is removed. Alternatively, manual operation of the shutter is possible.
The shutter mechanism relies entirely upon a simple mechanical beam blocking effect. It is inefficient as this light is "lost". Furthermore, the "lost" light may be converted to heat, which is undesirable in some applications. Excessive local accumulation of heat can lead to burns in medical device applications where the device is in contact with the patient or user.
Liquid crystal displays provide for another type of shutter: the Twisted-Nematic Liquid Crystal Shutter.
The twisted nematic effect (TN-effect) is the breakthrough that made liquid crystal displays practical in portable devices and allowed them to replace technologies such as light emitting diodes and electroluminescence from most electronics.
TN-cells do not require a current to flow for operation and use low operating voltages suitable for use with batteries. The twisted nematic effect is based on the precisely controlled realignment of liquid crystal molecules between different ordered molecular configurations under the action of an applied electric field. This is achieved with little power consumption and at low operating voltages.
In one example, a TN-cell in the OFF state, i.e., when no electrical field is applied, a twisted configuration of nematic liquid crystal molecules is formed between two glass plates, which are usually separated by several spacers and coated with transparent electrodes.
The electrodes themselves are coated with alignment layers that precisely twist the liquid crystal by 90° when no external field is present. When light shines on the front of the LCD, light with the proper polarization will pass through the first polarizer and into the liquid crystal, where it is rotated by a helical structure. The light is then properly polarized to pass through the second polarizer set at 90° to the first. The light then passes through the back of the cell and the image appears transparent.
In the ON state, i.e., when a field is applied between the two electrodes, the crystal realigns itself with the external field. This "breaks" the careful twist in the crystal and fails to re-orient the polarized light passing through the crystal. In this case the light is blocked by the rear polarizer and the image appears opaque.
The degree of opacity can be controlled by varying the voltage; at voltages near the threshold only some of the crystals will re-align, and the display will be partially transparent, but as the voltage is increased more of the crystals will re-align until it becomes completely "switched". A voltage of about 1 V is required to make the crystal align itself with the field, and no current passes through the crystal itself. Thus the electrical power required for that action is very low.
The obvious advantage such TN-cell shutters have is that they may be operated at very high switching speeds and with low operating voltage. For example switch speed of less than 0.3 milliseconds is typical at room temperature with an applied voltage of only 10V.
Furthermore, activation or switching speed can be enhanced via use of higher operating voltages.
However, the technology has several limitations. Notably, for unpolarised light with 500 nm wavelength (the approximate mid-point of the visible spectrum), transmission of light does not exceed 35% in the ON position, meaning that considerable light is lost. Furthermore, when the device is in the OFF position there is still some light transmitted. Even although the amount of light transmitted is typically less than 0.5% it is not completely blocked as with a purely mechanical shutter mechanism.
Moreover, a long term DC component in the voltage will stimulate impurity ion migration and eventual failure of the device. Therefore such devices have a finite useful lifetime.
Further, caution must be exercised in the handling and cleaning as it is easy to accidently damage the polariser surface or its components, by accidental scratching, use of inappropriate cleaning materials or even simple over-exposure to sunlight.


An archery bowstring release has a single jaw for retaining a bowstring within a bowstring hook, in contrast to dual-jaw pincer-type releases. The bowstring hook is situated on a release head which bears a trigger for actuating the jaw and releasing the bowstring, and a release body extends between the release head and a release mount (which can connect the bowstring release to a wrist strap, glove, or other anchor affixed to the user's body). The release head and body are pivotally joined, and when the release is ready to fire, the central axis of the release body, and at least the rear of the release head, have central longitudinal axes which are aligned with the notch in the bowstring hook, and are thus aligned with the bowstring, and are parallel to or in line with the arrow. The release therefore has a comfortable, natural, and intuitive feel during operation.

Archery bowstring releases are devices commonly used by archers to grasp a bowstring and then release it after the bowstring has been pulled. A bowstring release can help increase the accuracy of the archer's shot by providing more controlled and consistent release of a bowstring. Because the archer does not need to use his/her fingers to hold the bowstring, the release can enhance the archer's comfort. Releases are often provided in the form of handheld or hand-mounted jaws which grip the bowstring, and which can be actuated by the archer via a trigger. Examples of prior bowstring releases can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,564,407 and 5,582,158 to Linsmeyer, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,763,819 and 7,753,043 to Eckert, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,672 to Peck et al., the contents of which should be regarded as part of this document as if they were appended thereon.


An electronic latch for a motor vehicle closure system with an electronic control circuit including a handle switch reading circuit for a two-pin handle switch and a method of operating the handle switch reading circuit are disclosed. The electronic control circuit includes a control unit. The handle switch reading circuit is controlled by the control unit for coupling with a handle switch subassembly. The handle switch reading circuit is adapted to supply an AC voltage to the handle switch subassembly and produce an output voltage waveform corresponding to the charging and discharging of a handle capacitor of the handle switch subassembly and in response to a handle switch of the handle switch subassembly being operated. The handle switch reading circuit determines a position of the handle switch and presence of faults in the handle switch reading circuit and the handle switch subassembly based on the output voltage waveform.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In the following description and the accompanying claims, the expression "closure device" will be used to generally indicate any element movable between an open position and a shut position, respectively opening and closing an access to an inner compartment of a motor vehicle, therefore including, boot, rear hatches, bonnet lid or other closed compartments, window regulators, sunroofs, in addition to the side doors of a motor vehicle, to which the following description will make explicit reference, purely by way of example.
It is known that electrical latches are provided in motor vehicles, for example for controlling opening and closing of the side doors.
An electrical door latch generally includes a latch mechanism having a ratchet that is selectively rotatable with respect to a striker fixed to a door post in order to latch and unlatch the door. The latch mechanism also includes a pawl that selectively engages the ratchet to prevent the ratchet from rotating. The electrical door latch includes an electric motor, which is electrically connected to a main electric power supply of the vehicle (for example to the 12V battery of the same vehicle), in order to directly or indirectly drive the pawl, via an electrically-operated latch release actuator.
As it is known, a common problem related to electrical latches is that of controlling, as it is also required by security regulations, the opening and closing of the doors even in case of failure of the main power supply of the vehicle, or in case of interruptions or breaking of the electrical connection between the main power supply and the electric motor in the latch; this kind of situation may occur for example in case of an accident or crash involving the vehicle.
Additionally, the use of electrical door latches leads to the use of door handle switches or sensors to determine, for example, the position of the handle or handle activation (i.e., has the handle been pulled or not). These handle switches may connect to control circuitry or control units associated with the electronic latch via a wired connection. However, such door switches can experience failures and/or wiring connected to the switches may fail or become shorted to ground, or to other wires, such as wires carrying vehicle battery voltage. Failures associated with the handle switch and/or associated wiring can, for example, can trap occupants of the vehicle (e.g., door handle movement is not properly detected) and/or lead to spontaneous release of the electronic latch or door opening (e.g., the switch state is erroneously read due to an issue in the wiring to the door handle switch). Known solutions for diagnosing door switch issues are generally incapable of detecting all possible dangerous failure modes and/or utilize complicated detection schemes.
A need therefore exists in the field for an improved circuit for operating a handle switch and diagnostics of the handle switch and a method of operating the circuit.

Motor vehicle closure system with electronic latch and handle having two-pin handle switch


A user insertion system, that includes (a) a belay tether connectable to a support and configurable for descending a user; (b) an attachment device installable onto the support between the support and the belay tether; (c) a user braking device connectable between the belay tether and the user; and (d) a tip resistant system.

Improvement is desired in the construction of devices used for descending users from elevated locations or ascending users to elevated locations. Conventional devices have numerous shortcomings, and the improvement of such devices is desired for use in the sport of rock climbing, as well as for use in first responder and military environments.
For example, a belay tether may be connected in some form or fashion to an elevated support, such as a tower, a helicopter or other support. Often, two hands are required to make the necessary connection between the load and the structure associated with the support location. Additionally, users are often required to lift and hold all or a portion of the load, which may be quite heavy, while the connection is being made. This is often carried out in positions and locations that involve potential danger and that require significant effort and dexterity. This shortcoming represents one aspect in which improvement is desired.
The user also typically wears a body harness and a device is utilized to connect between the body harness and the belay tether. Conventionally, the user must grasp the belay tether with one or both hands to balance and resist tipping backwards to remain in a generally upright attitude during descent (or ascent) and upon landing. This can become difficult in certain environments, and especially when the user has a backpack or other equipment, such as body armor, tools, or like equipment carried by the user. This represents yet another aspect in which improvement is desired.
In addition, in many instances, the belay tether is associated with an automatic belaying device, which enables controlled descent. However, there is currently no way for the user to slow or halt the descent, as the belay device continues to feed out the belay tether. This represents a further aspect in which improvement is desired.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art system for tethered descent of a user U from a support S. A conventional automatic belay device BD is connected to the support S by a support tether ST connected by a pair of conventional snap rings SR. It is often difficult with such a configuration for the user U to quickly form a connection between the support S location and the belay device BD with limited engagement by the user U, such as through the use of one hand, as may be required in a variety of situations and conditions.
As also seen, a prior art harness connector HC connects between a belay tether BT of a belay device BD, and a body harness BH worn by the user. Conventionally, the user U grasps the belay tether BT with one or both hands to balance and resist tipping backwards to remain in a generally upright attitude during descent (or ascent) and upon landing. This can become difficult in certain environments, and especially when the user has a backpack BP or other equipment, such as body armor, tools, or like equipment carried by the user. FIG. 1 depicts one of the problems associated with conventional devices, characterized by the user U tipping backwards and being unable to maintain a desired upright attitude, especially when wearing the backpack BP or other equipment.
In addition, it can be difficult for the user to detach from the belay tether BT when landing. FIG. 1 also shows use of a conventional snap ring SR to connect between the harness connector HC and the belay tether BT. The snap ring SR and similarly configured fastener devices are difficult to operate, especially when the user has only one hand to operate the device, is attempting to operate the device in an urgent situation, or is operating in an environment characterized by a variety of difficult conditions.
Finally, it will be observed that while the belay device BD is an automatic belaying device, which enables controlled descent, the user U has no way to slow or halt the descent, as the belay device continues to feed out the belay tether.
To address the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art, one aspect of the present invention relates to an attachment device for quick engagement with a support that enables the user to quickly form a connection between a support location and the load with limited engagement by the user, such as through the use of one hand, as may be required in a variety of situations and conditions.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a tip resistant system that operates to maintain a user in a desired static attitude. The tip resistant system may also incorporate a quick disconnect feature that enables the user to quickly disconnect from the belay tether with limited engagement by the user, such as through the use of one hand, as may be required in a variety of situations and conditions.
Further, in accordance with another aspect, the invention relates to user-controllable belay and braking systems suitable for enabling a user to control and even halt descent from a support from which the user is descending.

United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A membrane filtration for removing floating substances and salts from a liquid, uses vertically positioned capillary or tube membranes which are suitable for performing nano or hyper-filtration. Repeatedly and consecutively the following steps are performed: a) a permeate is produced without discharge of concentrate for a predetermined period of time; b) then a gas, for example air, is guided along side the membrane, at least almost without discharge of permeate and without discharge of concentrate; c) and finally a concentrate is discharged without discharge of permeate. During step a) and step c) use can be made of a combined supply of liquid and gas. An apparatus for performing this method is described as well.

This application is a Section 371 of PCT/NL 99/00696 filed Nov. 12, 1999.
The invention relates in the first place to a method for removing floating substances and salts from a liquid by means of a membrane filtration.
It is known, for removing salts from a liquid by means of nano filtration and reverse osmosis or hyperfiltration, to use spiral wound and hollow-fiber modules. Since, when using such spiral wound and/or hollow-fiber modules, the liquid has to be free from floating substances (since these modules could become clogged) a drastic precleaning of the liquid is necessary, for example by means of a sand filtration and/or micro-filtration or ultra filtration, respectively. This means that a two step method would be necessary.
One of the problems which are encountered with membrane filtration is the so-called concentration polarization of the components present (like salts, floating substances and other substances). Because of the liquid flow through a membrane (permeate production) salts are transported in the direction of the membrane. This brings about a concentration which is near the membrane higher than the average concentration in the bulk. This occurrence is called concentration polarization. When the solubility, product of the respective salt is exceeded, this salt tray precipitate onto the membrane and have a negative influence on the functioning of the membrane. The precipitation of the salt, can be prevented by adding chemicals (which comprises a reduction of the supersaturation in the bulk by adding an acid and/or an anti-precipitant) or by means of a so-called cross-flow operation.
The known two step method has several disadvantages. Both during the first step (sand filtration and/or microfiltration or ultra filtration, resp.) as well as during the second step (nano-filtration or hyper-filtration, respectively) a production of concentrate takes place. The total concentrate production which is finally obtained is therefore high. Furthermore, production with spiral wound and hollow fiber modules always takes place under continuous conditions (i.e, a continuous production of permeate and a continuous removal of concentrate) so as to decrease the concentration polarization as mentioned herein before. Such continuous operation conditions lead to a high energy consumption and, because of the pressure decrease (comprising a concentrate control valve) at the concentrate removal side, a significant energy loss is obtained. Finally, it is shown in practice that the spiral wound and/or hollow fiber-modules must be exchanged quite often, which renders installations which comprise such modules rather expensive in use.
The invention aims to a method with which the disadvantages as mentioned herein above can be solved in a simple, but effective way.
To this end, the method according to the invention is characterized in that use is made only of vertically positioned, spiral wound and plate and frame type membranes which are suitable for nano- or hyper filtration, preferably capillary oz tube membranes, wherein repeatedly and consecutively the steps are performed which comprise:
a. producing a permeate without concentrate discharge during a predetermined period of time;
b. then guiding a gas, for example air, alongside the membrane, at least almost without permeate discharge and without concentrate discharge;
c. finally discharging concentrate without discharging permeate.

Method and apparatus for removing floating substances and salts from a liquid by means of a membrane filtration


A patterned transparent conductive film is disclosed in the present invention, which includes a substrate, a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, both the conductive layer includes a conductive area and an insulating area, the conductive area includes a metal mesh formed by a plurality of metal lines; the metal mesh is a buried metal mesh with random irregular grids, a probability density of the slope of the metal lines of the first conductive layer close to transverse direction is greater than that close to longitudinal direction, a probability density of the slope of the metal lines of the second conductive layer close to transverse direction is greater than that close to longitudinal direction, the two conductive layers are laminated and insulated in the thickness direction, the laminated metal meshes are evenly distributed, the light transmittance is increased and the conductivity is constant, the moire fringe is eliminated.

The transparent conductive film is a type of conductive film having good electrical conductivity and high light transmittance in the visible wavelengths. Currently, the transparent conductive film has been widely used in fields of flat panel displays, photovoltaic devices, touch panels and electromagnetic shielding and others, which has an extremely wide market space.
In the conventional mobile phone touch screen, in order to reduce the thickness and weight of the mobile phone, a flexible patterned transparent conductive film is mostly used; the top and bottom electrodes composed by two pieces of transparent conductive films are needed to perform the function of touch in general touch screen. However, when the two pieces of transparent conductive films are combined, the light transmittance can further decrease. The conductive area of the two pieces of conventional transparent conductive films is usually regular mesh, the cyclical distribution of regular black lines are deposited between the pixels due to the LCD pixel cell is regular rectangular cell, the cyclical opaque lines of the conductive film and the black lines of the LCD cooperatively form a cyclical shelter, such that a significant moire fringe appears when this kind of transparent conductive film is bonded to the surface of the LCD. Moreover, base on the same principle, the significant moire fringe appears when two regular meshed conductive films are bonded to each other. This phenomenon has a serious impact on the application of the patterned transparent conductive film with metal mesh.


A system and method are disclosed for providing in-situ monitoring of thin film thickness, such as by employing a non-destructive optical measurement technique. The monitored film thickness may be employed to help achieve a desired feature film thickness and uniformity across a surface of a substrate. By monitoring film thickness during semiconductor processing, for example, one or more process control parameters may be adjusted to help achieve a desired film thickness and/or uniformity thereof.

The present invention generally relates to semiconductor processing and, more particularly, to in-situ thickness measuring of thin films during semiconductor processing.
In the semiconductor industry, there is a continuing trend toward higher device densities. To achieve these high densities there has been and continues to be efforts toward scaling down device dimensions (e.g., at submicron levels) on semiconductor wafers. In order to accomplish such high device packing density, smaller and smaller feature sizes are required. This may include the width and spacing of interconnecting lines, spacing and diameter of contact holes, and the surface geometry such as corners and edges of various features.
The requirement of small features with close spacing between adjacent features requires high resolution photolithographic processes. In general, lithography refers to processes for pattern transfer between various media. It is a technique used for integrated circuit fabrication in which a silicon slice, the wafer, is coated uniformly with a radiation-sensitive film, the resist, and an exposing source (such as optical light, x-rays, or an electron beam) illuminates selected areas of the surface through an intervening master template, the mask, for a particular pattern. The lithographic coating is generally a radiation-sensitive coating suitable for receiving a projected image of the subject pattern. Once the image is projected, it is indelibly formed in the coating. The projected image may be either a negative or a positive image of the subject pattern. Exposure of the coating through a photomask causes the image area to become either more or less soluble (depending on the coating) in a particular solvent developer. The more soluble areas are removed in the developing process to leave the pattern image in the coating as less soluble polymer.
A large variety of xe2x80x9cthin filmsxe2x80x9d are used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. These films may be thermally grown or deposited from a vapor phase. The thin films may, for example, be metals, semiconductors (e.g., oxides, nitrides, and poly, oxynitrides), or insulators. Due to the extremely fine patterns and dimensions of features that are formed on a substrate, thickness of a deposited film is a significant factor in achieving desired critical dimensions. By way of example, very low densities of both particulate defects and film imperfections, such as pinholes, become critical for the small linewidths, high densities, and large areas necessary for VLSI. These small geometries also create highly rugged topography for overlying films to cover.
The formation of thin films is accomplished by a variety of techniques, which can conceptually be divided into two groups: 1) film growth by interaction of vapor-deposited species with the substrate; and 2) film formation by deposition without causing changes to the substrate material. The first category includes thermal oxidation and nitridation of single crystal silicon and polysilicon, and the formation of silicides by direct reaction of a deposited metal and the substrate.
The second group includes other subclasses of deposition: a) chemical vapor deposition, or CVD, in which solid films are formed on a substrate by the chemical reaction of vapor phase chemicals that contain the required constituents; b) physical vapor deposition, or PVD, in which the species of the thin film are physically dislodged from a source (to form a vapor). The species is transported across a reduced pressure region to the substrate to form the solid thin film.
Typically several process steps, which may include thin film growth and/or deposition, are required to form a desired feature. Typically, measurements concerning the thickness of films applied during such deposition processes are made after corresponding processing steps have been completed. Slight variations in the film thickness, however may greatly affect the operation of a resulting semiconductor device.
Consequently, if the thickness is not within an expected range, the process parameters may need to be modified and the process steps repeated to produce a thin film having the desired film thickness. In addition, because the thickness is measured after the process has been completed, it tends to be difficult to determine which parameters should be modified and the extent to which they should be modified to achieve a desired film thickness.
The present invention relates to a system and method for providing in-situ thickness and process monitoring to help achieve a desired feature thickness. By monitoring film thickness during semiconductor processing, one or more process control parameters may be adjusted to help achieve a desired film thickness. As a result, the number of process steps required to achieve the desired film thickness may be reduced, providing a more efficient and economical process.
One aspect of the present invention provides a semiconductor processing system. The system includes a processing chamber operable to form a thin film on a substrate located in the chamber. A measurement system performs in-situ thickness measurements of the thin film being formed and provides a measurement signal indicative of the measured thickness. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the measured thickness further may be employed for process control to help achieve a desired film thickness.
Yet another aspect of the present invention provides a method to facilitate formation of a thin film on a substrate. The method includes forming the thin film on the substrate and measuring film thickness of the thin film while being formed at the substrate.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, certain illustrative aspects of the invention are described herein in connection with the following description and the annexed drawings. These aspects are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed and the present invention is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the drawings.

In-situ thickness measurement for use in semiconductor processing


A solar lamp drive circuit is arranged to delay start-up while a current is supplied to the lamp filament to warm up the filament. During operation, the back e.m.f. induced in the lamp is sampled, and, if operating conditions deteriorate, the current to the filament is reapplied automatically and the power supply to the lamp increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to drive circuits.
2. Description of Prior Art
The invention relates more particularly to a drive circuit for use in controlling a lamp driven by solar cells. Such lamps are used for all forms of lighting applications, especially exterior light around dwelling places. The lamps are arranged to be driven by rechargeable batteries provided with solar panels so that they rely mainly or solely on receiving charging current generated by the solar cells during day light hours.
Commonly a fluorescent tube or lamp is used and driven via an electronic ballast. Battery energy is used to provide a high frequency high voltage power source which is applied between the terminals of the lamp. The ballast consists of a multi-phase transformer with a free-running oscillator.
At present the lamps that are known or that have been proposed are relatively inefficient in terms of power consumption, and the working life of the lamp tends to be limited due to poor control of the power supply to the lamp.

Drive circuit for a solar lamp with automatic electrical control of the lamp operating conditions


One embodiment is directed to a system or pop-up panel module for configuring a pop-up panel. The system or module include a controller and/or processor. The controller and/or processor may be configured to receive a plurality of actions requiring a validation, and invoke a call to a model layer to validate at least one of the plurality of actions. Based on a result of the validation, a message corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of actions is retrieved, and the retrieved message is stored in an object. The controller and/or processor may be further configured to provide a pop-up panel that references contents of the object and displays the message stored in the object, and to re-use the object to store a message for each of the plurality of actions requiring validation.

Computer applications and software products can provide feedback to a user based on the interaction between the user and the application. This feedback may take the form of a message provided to the user. The feedback message may, for example, be presented in a pop-up window. The feedback message may be a warning, error, notification, or any other message which may convey appropriate information to the user.
In order to provide users with a feedback message, computer application developers are typically required to create a specialized pop-up window for each of the various messages to be displayed. As a result, if a user interface or page within an application is associated with a large number of feedback messages, then a large number of pop-up windows must be developed and stored in memory. In many applications, each page or interface may require numerous pop-up window messages that will consume a significant amount of memory and processing time. In addition, the development of a large number of pop-up windows will require a significant amount of coding and testing by the developers and may also require increased software support and maintenance.


Methods and systems are provided for determining a leased time for an address leased for a first user device. The determined leased time and leased address may be stored in a first database. Upon receiving a renew/rebind request from the first user device, a request counter in the first database may be increased if the renew/rebind request occurs during the leased time. A MAC address and port number associated with the address may be identified as performing unwanted actions if the request counter crosses a first threshold. After the request counter crosses the threshold a first remedial action may be taken on the first user device associated with the MAC address and port number identified as performing unwanted actions.

In enterprise networks it may be determined whether users are directly connected to the switch via authentication mechanisms. Authentication mechanisms may include dot1× (such as IEEE 802.1X port-based authentication), MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB) protocol, or other web-based authentications on wired or wireless ports. DHCP servers may be provided to provide authenticated users with leased out IP addresses.
However, in such environments, a switch may only be acting as a DHCP server and/or relay. Accordingly the switch may not maintain any lease time related information. Such lease time related information may be needed for to detect threats to the network. This may become an issue when a number of network device start behaving wrongly. For example, a network device may start a renewing and rebinding IP addresses over and over again despite the existence of remaining DHCP lease time on an original IP address.

DHCP client lease time based threat detection for authorised users