Disclosed are devices, systems, and methods are disclosed that include: (a) a first material layer positioned on a first surface of a support structure and configured to generate secondary electrons in response to incident charged particles that strike the first layer, the first layer including an aperture configured to permit a portion of the incident charged particles to pass through the aperture; and (b) a second material layer positioned on a second surface of the support structure and separated from the first layer by a distance of 0.5 cm or more, the second layer being configured to generate secondary electrons in response to charged particles that pass through the aperture and strike the second layer, where the device is a charged particle detector.

Detectors such as Everhart-Thornley detectors can be used to measure charged particles such as secondary electrons and scattered ions that leave a surface of a sample that is exposed to a charged particle beam. When a thin sample is exposed to a charged particle beam, at least some of the incident charged particles can be transmitted through the sample.


Apparatus for transporting a file of successive filter rod sections lengthwise from a sender (such as a filter rod making machine) to a remote receiver (such as the magazine of a filter tipping machine) has an elongated pneumatic conduit with a section-receiving end at the sender and a section-discharging end at the receiver. The speed of lengthwise movement of sections in the conduit is monitored by a sensor which generates signals serving to control the operation of a valve which can influence the speed of the articles by varying the effective size of an outlet for the escape of air from the conduit, and/or to control the operation of a valve serving to admit into the conduit air counter to the direction of advancement of the sections. The purpose of evacuation of appropriate quantities of air from, or of admission of selected quantities of air into, the conduit is to maintain the speed of the sections in the conduit within a desired range regardless of the number of sections in the conduit.

The invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for pneumatically transporting a file or row of successive rod-shaped articles lengthwise between a sender and a receiver. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in an apparatus which can be utilized with advantage for pneumatic transport of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry, especially for pneumatic transport of filter rod sections of unit length or multiple unit length. For example, the pneumatic transport according to the invention can move filter rod sections from a filter rod making machine to the magazine of a so-called tipping machine wherein the filter rod sections are united with rod-shaped tobacco-containing articles to form filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or the like. As a rule, the filter rod sections or articles which reach the receiver are caused to move sideways, e.g., into the aforementioned magazine of the tipping machine.
As a rule, a pneumatic conveyor for a file of successive rod-shaped articles (hereinafter mainly referred to as sections or filter rod sections) comprises an elongated pneumatic conduit defining an elongated path (such path can include straight as well as arcuate portions) for successive sections of the file. The conduit has a receiving end which accepts successive sections from the sender, and a discharge end which delivers successive sections to the receiver. As a rule, the conduit receives and advances a file of successive sections which may but need not be of identical length, and the number of conveyed sections per unit of time may but need not be constant, depending on variations of output of the maker of filter rod sections and/or upon fluctuations of the requirements of the consumer of filter rod sections. It is desirable to ensure that the distance or spacing between successive sections in the pneumatic conduit remain at least substantially constant, i.e., within a certain acceptable range of distances. Actual conveying takes place by means of a pressurized fluid, normally compressed air, and the pressure of the fluid influences the achievement of or the failure to achieve the aforementioned desired parameters including the establishment of and adherence to an optimum distance between successive sections of the file of such sections in the conduit.
In the event of a malfunction, e.g., a malfunction involving fluctuations in the rate of transport which are attributable to the sender and normally involve a reduction of the rate of transport of sections per unit of time, a conventional apparatus is likely to develop undesirable changes in the rate and manner of receiving successive sections at the discharge end of the conduit; this can result in an undesirable interruption of the delivery of sections or in an equally undesirable pile-up of sections at the discharge end of the conduit.

Pneumatic transport and control device for transporting filter rod sections


A vehicle diagnosis system which makes a diagnosis of a vehicle upon a fault or the like in accordance with various diagnosis data in the vehicle. In one embodiment, a diagnosis data collector is disposed in the vehicle for collecting data on various items of vehicle equipment. A radio communication device is also disposed in the vehicle. At the time of diagnosis, the radio device transmits diagnosis equipment to an external diagnosis device. Diagnosis data may be transmitted by radio, telephone, over the Internet or otherwise.

This invention relates to a vehicle diagnosis system, which makes a diagnosis of a vehicle upon a fault or the like in accordance with various diagnosis data in the vehicle.
For convenience of explanation, a typical example of conventional diagnostic systems will be described below by referring to the drawings. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a first prior art vehicle diagnosis system. FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a second prior art vehicle diagnosis system.
In a typical example of the conventional vehicle diagnostic systems, as shown in FIG. 8, given vehicle 1 information is stored in a memory unit 2 in a vehicle 1, a connector in a single external unit 4 is connected to a connector 3 disposed on a given position in the vehicle 1, and the external unit 4 makes a diagnosis of a fault in the vehicle (for first prior art example, see Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure No. HEI 2-8448 (1990)).
In the other typical example of the conventional vehicle diagnosis systems, as shown in FIG. 9, a connector 7 in a given wire communication device 6 instead of the single external unit 4 is connected to the connector 3 in 2 the vehicle 1 and the wire communication device 6 sends the data in the vehicle 1 to a given network 8 to make a diagnosis of a fault in the vehicle 1 (for second prior art example, see Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. HEI 3-283842 (1991)).
In the above prior art, the external unit 4 or the wire communication device 6 is connected to the connector 3 in the vehicle 1. However, since there are in the vehicle 1 many dangerous devices for general users, it is very dangerous for the general user having no expert knowledge e to bring the connector 3 for diagnosis into connection with the external unit 4 or the wire communication device 6. Accordingly, the diagnosis connector 3 is usually disposed in an inner part of the vehicle 1. Consequently, it is not easy to connect the external unit 4 or the wire communication device 6 to the connector 3 in the vehicle 1. Although a user normally asks a skilled auto mechanic or other technical expert to make a diagnosis of a user""s 1 vehicle, it is dangerous and troublesome for the technical expert. This requires considerable time in working, increases a user""s waiting time for fault diagnosis and repairing, and incurs steep rises in the wages of the technical expert.
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle diagnosis system which can shorten the working time of a vehicle repair expert and ensure a user against risks.
In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle diagnosis system of the present invention comprises: a diagnosis data collector disposed in a vehicle for collecting given data on the vehicle equipment as data to be diagnosed through the vehicle network; a radio communication device disposed in the vehicle for at least transmitting the diagnosis data collected by the diagnosis data collector by means of a wireless manner; a controller for controlling the diagnosis data collector and the radio communication device; and an external diagnosis device disposed apart from the vehicle for receiving the diagnosis data transmitted in wireless mode from the radio communication device and diagnosing the vehicle in accordance with the diagnosis data.
The vehicle diagnosis system further comprises a time-clocking device. The controller may include a function of sending a command to the radio communication device to commence a radio transmission in accordance with clocking in the time-clocking device.
In the vehicle diagnosis system, the controller may include a function of sending a command to the radio communication device to commence a radio transmission in response to a signal from a given signaling device.
In the vehicle diagnosis system, the external diagnosis device may include a function of sending the result of the vehicle diagnosis to the radio communication device in the wireless. The radio communication device may include a function of receiving the result of the vehicle diagnosis sent in wireless mode from the external diagnosis device. The vehicle diagnosis system may be provided with a display for displaying the result information of the vehicle diagnosis received in wireless mode in the radio communication device.
The vehicle diagnosis system may further comprise an information concealable device for converting original signals corresponding to said diagnosis data collected in said diagnosis data collector into a given form of signals which any person except the person normally receiving it cannot understand. The external diagnosis device may include an information decoder for decoding the given form of signals converted from the diagnosis data sent from said radio communication device by the information concealable device into the original signals or given readable signals.
The information concealable device may utilize any one of passwords, fingerprint collating, voiceprint collating, eyeball blood vessel pattern collating, encipherment by means of a special operation, random numbers, coding decided beforehand between persons transmitting and receiving it, and passwords, operation and random numbers which change as time passes, or a combination of two or more of them.
Radio communication between the radio communication device disposed in the vehicle and the external diagnosis device may be carried out through a given large-scale network.


A surface plasmon display device includes metal particles having a constant size within all of the pixel regions between a first electrode and a second electrode and a dielectric layer corresponding to each of the pixel regions formed on an inner surface of a first substrate, wherein the dielectric layer in each of the pixel regions has physical properties for causing the surface plasmon resonance corresponding to a wavelength designated to the corresponding pixel region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface plasmon display device and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a surface plasmon display device having a simple structure and capable of representing colors, and a method of representing colors in the display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reflective displays can realize flexible displays with low costs, and have low power consumption. Therefore, a reflective display is used as a display device in low power mobile displays. The reflective displays can be electrophoretic displays ("EPDs"), liquid crystal displays ("LCDs"), electrowetting displays ("EWDs"), and electrochromic displays ("ECDs"). Among the above, the most developed reflective display is the EPD, which uses the movements of particles. However, the most important technical issue of the reflective display is to represent colors.
In order to realize the representation of colors, micro capsules including R (red), G (green), and B (blue) particles are prepared, and then, the micro-capsules respectively including the R, G, and B particles are arranged on a substrate, such as by a method suggested by E-Ink Corp.
Alternatively, a method of coating a color filter on a surface of the microcapsule has been suggested, however, since the color filter absorbs about ⅔ of incident light, the brightness of the reflective display quality is degraded. Otherwise, in order to present the colors, the R, G, and B particles are selectively input into micro-cups or cells that are designated as R, G, and B colors, such as by a method suggested by Sipix Corp. or Bridgestone Corp.

Surface plasmon display device and method thereof


Contact and intra-ocular lenses are manufactured by forming reference surfaces in a lens blank along with the inner base surface for the lens. The partially formed lens blank is then mounted to a blocking member which has complementary surfaces that mate with the reference surface and automatically align the lens blank. The blocking member has a flange that abuts against a spindle in which the member is held during formation of the outer lens surface. The known distance between the abutting surface of this flange and the reference surface on the lens blank allows the outer lens surface to be formed without having to separately measure the thickness of the lens blank, or enter dimensional information into the computer which controls the operation. A recessed collet within the spindle enables the blocking member flange to directly abut the end of the spindle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the formation of contact and intra-ocular lenses, and more particularly to lens manufacture with computer controlled machine tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The manufacture of contact and intra-ocular lenses by standard turning processes is accomplished by first creating a posterior surface in a solid lens blank, and then forming a convex surface in the blank that corresponds to the outer lens surface when the finished lens is worn. The posterior surface for a contact lens is concave, while for an intra-ocular lens it may be concave, flat or convex. The process is computer controlled using current lathe equipment. The first step of this process is illustrated in FIG. 1 for a contact lens; a similar process is employed for intra-ocular lenses. A contact lens blank 2, which initially has a "hockey puck" flat cylindrical shape, is held at the end of a hollow rotatable spindle 4. A collet 6 is carried at the front end of the spindle, and has a forward facing recess 8 into which the lens blank 2 fits. The collet 8 can be contracted about its axis in a conventional manner by withdrawing it into the interior of the spindle 4, so that only the front end of the collet protrudes out from the spindle. The spindle's forward interior surface 10 is sloped and mates with a correspondingly sloped outer surface of the collet, so that withdrawing the collet in towards the spindle causes it to clamp the lens blank 2.
A concave base curve 12 is formed in the outward facing surface of the lens blank by rotating the spindle 4 about its axis and moving it horizontally (in the X direction) against an appropriate cutting tool. The cutting tool is typically diamond-tipped, and can be mounted for translation in the vertical (Y) direction in FIG. 1 as the spindle translates in the X direction. The base curve 12 is formed by varying the protrusion of the cutting tool into the lens blank such that a maximum cutting depth is reached at the center of the base curve, and the cutting depth is gradually reduced along the desired curve as the cutting tool translates in the Y direction away from the center. Alternately, the cutting tool could be mounted upon a slide on the surface of a rotatable table with the rotation of the table, movement of the slide and translation of the spindle coordinated to produce the desired curve. The collet is loosened so that the lens blank can be removed for polishing.
Next, the lens blank's center thickness T is measured and recorded, typically by writing it in ink along its edge. This is necessary to properly align the outer lens surface, formed in the succeeding step, with the inner base curve. The partially finished lens is then mounted ("blocked") with the base curve surface carried by the head of a metal or plastic mandrel or block 14. A hot wax adhesive 16 is placed over the head of the block to receive the lens blank, and fixes the parts in relation to each other as it cools. The block 14 is held by a collet 18, a set of mechanical fingers or some other suitable mechanical device that in turn is captured at the front end of the spindle 4 and protrudes outward from the spindle.
A probe 20 is brought into contact with the outward facing surface of the lens blank 2 to determine the location of this surface relative to the spindle. The computer control then coordinates a cutting tool with the spindle movement to cut the outer lens surface. Since the center thickness of the lens blank was measured after the base curve surface was cut, the lathe equipment may be programmed to remove the proper amount of material from the lens blank to form the final lens.
The lens blank 2 must be carefully centered on the block 14 so that its optical centerline coincides with that the block. Any misalignments can seriously effect the quality of the finished lens. In general, misalignments will fall into two categories. When the centerline 22 of the lens blank 2 is offset from, but parallel to, the block's centerline 24, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a "run-out" situation exits that induces "prism" in the finished lens. It is desirable that run-out be restricted to less than 20 microns. When the lens blank 2 is shifted along the front surface of the block 14 so that its axis 22 is offset from the block axis 24 along the head surface of the block, and is also at a non-zero angle to the block axis, the situation is referred to as "wobble"; it is illustrated in FIG. 4. Like prism, it is desirable that wobble be restricted to less than 20 microns. Sometimes a prescription calls for building in a certain amount of prism and/or wobble, but the same accuracy standards also apply to this case.
The lens must be carefully centered on the block so that its optical centerline coincides as closely as possible with that of the block. As mentioned above, mechanical fingers, collets or other mechanical devices are used to attain this alignment and to hold the lens relative to the block as the blocking wax cools and solidifies. Another system that has been used to properly align the lens to the block involves holding the block in the headstock of a lathe, applying the hot wax, and then sticking the lens into position. The blocking lens assembly is then rotated, and a mechanical probe is brought up to the edge of the lens to force it into alignment with the centerline of the block while the wax is still warm and pliable.
Whichever blocking technique is used, the center thickness of the lens blank must be measured prior to blocking, and entered into the computer. Since every computer entry involves the possibility of an error, this requirement tends to result in a greater number of defective lenses. The degree of run-out and wobble are also measured and entered into the computer so that corrections can be made automatically as the outer lens surface is cut; this additional data entry requirement introduces the possibility of further errors.
Drawback collets are typically used to hold the block which carries the partially formed lens blank. However, the shaft diameter of the block is subject to manufacturing tolerances. Since the closed axial position of a drawback collet is related to the diameter of the block's shank, with the collet being drawn back further as the block's shank diameter decreases, this manufacturing variation from block to block introduces an additional possibility for error, even if batches of lenses can be formed with known and consistent center thicknesses.
The entire procedure described above is slow, cumbersome and subject to error. Variations in blocking can result from mechanical tolerances, wax thickness and errors in the blocking system, and yield unusable or poor quality lenses. Furthermore, the center thickness measurement is subject to operator error, and this data may be incorrectly recorded or assigned to the wrong lens in a production run. A separate and sometimes different center thickness must be used and entered into the computer when the front surface for each successive lens is generated; this procedure is also subject to error.

Self-aligned lens manufacturing system and method


A method for fabricating a variable resistance device includes: providing a first insulating layer having a first electrode; forming a first oxide layer including a variable resistance material over the first electrode and the first insulating layer; forming a sacrifice pattern over the first oxide layer; forming a second oxide layer by reacting the first oxide layer exposed by the sacrifice pattern with oxygen; removing the sacrifice pattern; and forming a second electrode over the second oxide layer and the first oxide layer so as to be coupled to the first oxide layer.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a semiconductor technology, and more particularly, to a variable resistance memory device and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variable resistance memory device stores data using a variable resistance material which switches between different resistance states depending on an applied voltage or current. Currently, various variable resistance memory devices such as ReRAM (Resistive Random Access Memory), PCRAM (Phase-change Random Access Memory), FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory), and MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) have been developed.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional variable resistance memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the variable resistance memory device includes a bottom electrode 100, a top electrode 120, and a variable resistance layer 110 interposed therebetween.
The variable resistance memory device may be fabricated by a series of processes of forming a bottom electrode 100 over a substrate (not shown) having a predetermined lower structure formed therein, depositing a variable resistance material on the resultant structure having the bottom electrode 100, forming a variable resistance layer 110 by selectively etching the variable resistance material, and forming a top electrode 120 over the variable resistance layer 110.
When the above-described fabrication method is used, sidewalls of the variable resistance layer 110 are damaged in the course of being etched. The damaged sidewalls may cause various problems. For example, sidewall characteristics of the variable resistance layer 110 may be changed, and a leakage current may occur through the sidewalls (denoted with a symbol 'L' in FIG. 1). Such problems may gradually increase as the device is scaled down.

Variable resistance memory device and method for fabricating the same


A disposable diaper includes: a first inflected unit formed in an absorber and extending along a product widthwise direction; a second inflected unit formed in the absorber, extending along the product widthwise direction, and positioned towards a rear waistline unit from the first inflected unit; and a crotch unit formed between the first inflected unit and the second inflected unit. The size of the crotch unit along the product longitudinal direction is 30 mm or more and 150 mm or less in the natural state of the disposable diaper.

Conventionally, in order to achieve a wearing comfort while preventing the leakage of bodily waste, various efforts have been made for a disposable diaper. For example, a disposable diaper is known in which by arranging elastic members along the leg hole opening units, the pressure marks due to the elastic members do not occur easily on the body of the wearer (for example, Patent Literature 1).
Furthermore, generally, such a disposable diaper often employs a structure in which another elastic member is arranged along the waistline opening unit, and the periphery of the leg hole opening units and periphery of the waistline opening unit are tightened. As a result of such a structure, the sagging of the disposable diaper can be prevented even when the disposable diaper absorbs the bodily waste, or the wearer moves actively.


An otherwise conventional paperboard french fry scoop and container is provided with a game or quiz accessory construction to improve its utility. The rear (higher) wall (16) of the scoop is provided with a pair of parallel slits (24, 26) which slidably receive a tear off strip (62), the latter carried by a glue panel (50) glued to the rear wall of the scoop. The tear strip carries indicia (66, 68) in the form of two rows of respective questions and answers, the indicia being viewed through openings (28, 30) between the two slits. The user tears off the tear strip, inserts it through the slits, and proceeds to read the questions and answers. All components of the scoop are readily formed from the blank, the mode of assembling the device, as well as the basic form of the unitary paperboard blank from which it is formed, being essentially the same as that of known paperboard french fry scoops. In a second embodiment, the parallel slits and openings are located in the front wall (32), and the tear strip (620) is integral with and detachable from the rear or higher wall (16).

This invention relates to a french fry scoop of the type fashioned from a unitary blank of paperboard or other stiff, resilient, and foldable sheet material.
The container art is aware of a number of french fry scoop and container constructions, typically fashioned from paperboard, and including a front wall, a rear or scoop wall, and a bottom wall. The scoop wall usually rises higher than the front wall, while the front wall is typically provided with a part circular recess at its central portion. The front and rear walls are curved to yield a container generally convex in transverse cross section, as a convex--convex optical lens. Such scoops are shipped to a fast food outlet in flattened or collapsed condition, and the scoop is opened or erected by manually pressing its opposite edges together, with the bottom wall construction being such that a toggle action is effected to thereby lock the container in an open position due to the inherent resiliency of paperboard. While in this open position, a server will typically hold the container by its side edges and use the protruding rear wall portion as a scoop to fill the container with french fries. Then, the filled scoop is served to the consumer. The french fry container/scoop construction described above is known.


A convertible and folding cooking pan includes a base plate and a plurality of pivotable and adjustable flanges removably coupled thereto. The flanges are moveable from a first substantially flat position to a second substantially upright position. When in the substantially upright position, the flanges are securely connected to define a baking zone with base plate and the flanges. In one embodiment, a plurality of sets of flanges are configured on the base plate to enable the selectable configuration of a first baking zone using the first set of flanges or a second, differently-sized baking zone using the second set of flanges.

Baking equipment and cookware items are available in a variety of different sizes and dimensions based upon the food being baked. A bread loaf pan is narrower with higher walls to allow proper rising of the baking bread. For example, a typical size of such a bread pan measures 9 inches long by 5 inches wide by 3 inches high. Unlike a bread loaf pan, a cake pan tends to be wider and shorter, due primarily to ensure the ingredients included bake thoroughly and correctly. For example, a typical size of such a cake pan measures 8 inches square by 1.5 inches high. Because of the different sizes and specifications of each cookware item corresponding to the particular food product, a baker who wishes to bake a variety of foods requires several baking pans and tools varying in size.

Baking apparatus with multiple functions and sizes


Optical signal devices, wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer optical devices, and methods of employing the same in which the core layer includes a grating and is comprised of a material whose refractive index is tuned so that the grating reflects a preselected wavelength of light. A single optical signal device can therefore be used to select a variety of wavelengths for segregation.

The present invention is generally directed to improved integrated wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer optical devices in which light of a specific wavelength (or specific wavelengths) can be added or dropped in an efficient manner. The device can be fabricated from optical polymers having a large index of refraction variation with temperature. A single filter element may be used over a wide wavelength range thereby providing for dynamic selection of wavelengths.
Devices for adding/dropping wavelength coded signals (light of a specific wavelength or wavelengths) are known in the art as disclosed in D. C. Johnson, K. O. Hill, F. Bilodeau, and S. Faucher, xe2x80x9cNew Design Concept For A Narrowband Wavelength-Selective Optical Tap And Combiner,xe2x80x9d Electron Lett., Vol. 23, pp. 668-669 (1987) and C. R. Giles and V. Mizrahi, xe2x80x9cLow-Loss Add/Drop Multiplexers For WDM Lightwave Networks,xe2x80x9d Proc. 100C, pp. 66-67 (1995), incorporated herein by reference. Such devices employ optical fibers which are utilized predominantly in telecommunication systems in addition to local area networks, computer networks and the like. The optical fibers are capable of carrying large amounts of information and it is the purpose of devices of the present invention to extract/inject a selected amount of information from/onto the fiber by segregating the information carried on different wavelength channels.
Devices of this type are comprised of a variety of components which together provide the desired segregation of wavelength coded signals. Integrated optical couplers and especially directional couplers have been developed to accomplish evanescent directional coupling as disclosed in E. A. J. Marcatili, xe2x80x9cDielectric Rectangular Waveguide And Directional Couplers For Integrated Optics,xe2x80x9d Bell Syst. Tech. J., p. 2071 (1969), incorporated herein by reference. Optical signals are coupled from one planar waveguide to another. The signals in the second planar waveguide propagate in the same direction in which the signals travel in the first planar waveguide.
MMI (multimode interference) couplers have been developed to accomplish coupling as disclosed in L. B. Soldano and E. C. M. Pennings, xe2x80x9cOptical Multi-Mode Interference Devices Based On Self-Imaging: Principles And Applications,xe2x80x9d J. Lightwave Technol., Vol.13, pp. 615-627 (1995), incorporated herein by reference. MMI couplers achieve self-imaging whereby a field profile input into a multimode waveguide is reproduced in single or multiple images at periodic intervals along the propagation direction of the guide.
Optical circulators are optical coupling devices that have at least three ports. Three-port circulators couple light entering port 1 to port 2, light entering port 2 to port 3, and light entering port 3 to port 1.
Diffraction gratings (e.g. Bragg gratings) are used to isolate a narrow band of wavelengths as disclosed in K. O. Hill and G. Meltz, xe2x80x9cFiber Bragg Grating Technology Fundamentals And Overview,xe2x80x9d J. Lightwave Technol. Vol. 15, pp.1263-1276 (1997) and T. Erdogan, xe2x80x9cFiber Granting Spectra,xe2x80x9d J. Lightwave Technol., Vol. 15, pp. 1277-1294 (1997), incorporated herein by reference. Such grating reflectors have made it possible to construct a device for use in adding or dropping a light signal at a predetermined center wavelength to or from a fiber optic transmission system without disturbing other signals at other wavelengths as disclosed in L. Eldada, S. Yin, C. Poga, C. Glass, R. Blomquist, and R. A. Norwood, xe2x80x9cIntegrated Multi-Channel OADM""s Using Polymer Bragg Grating MZI""s,xe2x80x9d Photonics Technol. Lett., Vol. 10, pp. 1416-1418 (1998), incorporated herein by reference.
It would be desirable to be able to drop a wavelength with more precision than current devices within a dynamic range of wavelengths for a single optical signal device rather than employing multiple optical signal devices for the same purpose.
The present invention is generally to optical signal devices having fine tuning means which provide for the more efficient control of the wavelength of light which is to be segregated from a multiple wavelength light signal.
The optical signal device of the present invention has a unique array of materials and also includes altering the temperature of the optical signal device which provides for the precise selection of a targeted wavelength for dropping or adding an optical signal and which provides for the rapid change of wavelengths from one targeted wavelength to another.
In particular the optical signal device of the present invention comprises:
a) a substrate;
b) a pair of spaced apart cladding layers comprised of materials having at least similar refractive index values;
c) a core layer including a waveguide or a pair of opposed waveguides positioned between the pair of cladding layers having a refractive index value greater than the refractive index value of the cladding layers such that the difference between refractive index values of the core layer and cladding layers enables a multiple wavelength light signal to pass through the device in a single mode;
d) a grating forming a filter means for causing a single wavelength of light of said multiple wavelength light signal to be segregated therefrom; and
e) means for varying the refractive index of at least the core layer to control the wavelength of the light which is to be segregated from the multiple wavelength light signal.
In a preferred construction of the optical signal device at least the core layer is made of a thermosensitive material and the means for varying the refractive index is by heating the thermosensitive material. The thermo-optic effect, being the preferred refractive index tuning effect, is used as the illustrative effect throughout most of this disclosure. But generally, any refractive index tuning effect (e.g., electro-optic effect, stress-optic effect) and any combination thereof can be used in the present invention to vary the refractive index.
In a preferred construction of the optical signal device there are two cladding layers positioned between the refractive index varying means and the core with each of the two cladding layers having a different refractive index. Methods of fabricating the optical signal devices of the present invention are also disclosed.


A counterweighted weedless fishing float suitable for suspending at least part of an attractant, such as live bait or an insect replica, above the surface of water in which the float is borne, and kits for assembling a variety of attractants, are provided. The float is counterweighted, and may comprise a plurality of air-trapping channels arranged within it to trap an amount of air sufficient to support the float and a connected attractant. In other embodiments, the float may comprise one or more sealed chambers to provide buoyancy. The float may be disguised as a water plant, fallen tree leaf, twig or other floating detritus or water creature. The attractant may replicate an insect such as a dragonfly, an insect larva such as a hellgrammite, or any other natural or artificial fish bait or prey. The float includes an adjustable stem so that the relative position of the attractant or bait with respect to the float and the water surface may be changed depending on the particular fish sought or the conditions present. In one form, the specific gravity of the invention may be adjusted by adding weights to vary its floating characteristics.

The present invention relates to fishing floats that can be used as platforms for attaching one or more different kinds of attractants, to float-lure combinations, and to kits for assembling the lures, floats, and float-lure combinations. The present invention relates also to a series of fishing floats that include a clip, one or more spiral attachment devices, or a clip combined with a spiral attachment device for attaching or demountably attaching one or more fishing lures or attractants, including natural baits. Such attractants include, for example, natural baits such as grasshoppers, flies, dragonflies, grubs, larvae, worms or other echinoderms, leeches, and replicas thereof.
Fishing lures have various features directed toward minimizing or eliminating snags in water-borne weeds or debris. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,615 to Shaffer discloses a lure having a hook disposed to lie within a shield so that the point of the hook protrudes through an aperture in the shield to assume a fish catching position only when pressure is applied by the mouth of a fish.
Another common problem relating to water-borne lures is that of presenting an attractant which is borne realistically enough to lure fish efficiently. Numerous approaches have been employed in the art in order to provide a realistic attractant. For instance, some lures are configured to replicate small injured fish, swimming frogs, floating flies, spiders, insect larvae, and numerous other fish prey. An additional problem in the field of fishing lures relates to the efficient use of materials in fabricating and assembling the lures. Thus, it is desirable to have the various elements of the lure, such as the float, and parts that make up the attractant portion of the lure, such as the body and wing parts of the attractant, amenable to manufacturing and assembly processes that use a minimal amount of key materials while enabling an acceptable level of performance of the float, the lure, and their various combinations. However, until the present invention, no lure has provided the advantages of a weedless water-borne lure with those of an attractant which replicates realistically the behavior of fish prey while affording efficiencies of assembly and manufacture, and providing the user with multiple adaptations. Thus, there is a need for floats and lures which provide a realistic attractant combined with a weedless configuration which is still capable of easy manufacture at relatively low material costs.

Scrobiculate and other fishing floats, demountably attachable fishing lures and kits for assembling them


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer program products, in which an input method editor receives a mode control input and determines a language mode based on the mode control input. Upon receiving composition inputs, the input method editor interprets the composition input based on the determined language mode.

This disclosure relates to input methods.
Languages that use a logographic script in which one or two characters correspond roughly to one word or meaning have more characters than keys on a standard input device, such as a computer keyboard or a mobile device keypad. For example, the Chinese language contains tens of thousands of characters having pronunciations defined by base Pinyin elements and five tones. The mapping of these potentially many to one associations can be implemented by input methods that facilitate entry of characters and symbols not found on input devices. Accordingly, a Western style keyboard can be used to input Chinese characters. Likewise, input methods can be used for using a Western style keyboard or some other input device to input many other languages that include ideograms, such as the Japanese language, the Korean language, and other languages.
An input method editor can be used to realize an input method. For example, an input method editor may have two language mode modes, e.g., an English mode and a Chinese mode. Often a user of a device implementing an input method editor may desire to switch between the language mode modes, e.g., from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Input method editor having a secondary language mode


An ECU executes (300) a program including a step (S202) of opening an electromagnetic ASV (232) while a vacuum pressure ASV (1) and a vacuum pressure ASV (2) are controlled so as to be closed, and an air pump (200) is controlled so as to be stopped in a case where an air amount GA that is an amount of air introduced into an engine (100) is equal to or larger than a predetermined air amount GA (0), and a coolant temperature TW at the starting time of the engine is equal to or higher than a predetermined coolant temperature TW (0) (“YES” in step S200); a step (S204) of detecting a pressure; a step (S206) of closing the electromagnetic ASV; and a step (S402) of determining that failure has occurred in at least one of the vacuum pressure ASV (1) and the vacuum pressure ASV (2), that is, one of the vacuum pressure ASV (1) and the vacuum pressure ASV (2) remains in an opened state and cannot be closed when there is a pulsation of the pressure that is detected while the electromagnetic ASV is opened (“YES” in step S400).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a secondary air supply apparatus and a control method for the same. More specifically, the invention relates to a secondary air supply apparatus or a method for the same, which can detect failure in the secondary air supply apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A secondary air supply apparatus is known, which supplies an exhaust manifold of an engine with secondary air delivered under pressure from an air pump so that CO and HC in exhaust gas are burned and changed to CO2 and H2O due to chemical reaction.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2003-83048 discloses a secondary air supply apparatus in which it can be determined whether an abnormality has occurred in a component of the secondary air supply apparatus. The secondary air supply apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2003-83048 includes a secondary air supply passage for supplying secondary air to a portion upstream of an exhaust gas control device in an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine; an opening/closing portion which opens/closes the secondary air supply passage; a check valve which is provided downstream of the opening/closing portion; a pressure sensor which is provided in the secondary air supply passage; and an abnormality detecting portion which detects an abnormality in the component based on a pressure value detected by the pressure sensor and a pressure change value. When the opening/closing portion is controlled so as to open and close the secondary air supply passage, the abnormality detecting portion drives an air pump, and detects a discharge pressure of the air pump, thereby detecting clogging of the secondary air supply passage.
In the secondary air supply apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2003-83048, since the pressure value and the pressure change value are obtained using the pressure sensor, a failure mode of each component can be determined in detail based on combination of the pressure value and the pressure change value. Also, since the air pump is driven and it is determined whether the discharge pressure of the air pump decreases when the opening/closing portion is controlled to close the secondary air supply passage, it is possible to determine whether an abnormality has occurred in the air pump, and to determine whether the secondary air supply passage has been clogged, at the same time.
However, in the secondary air supply apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2003-83048, it may not be possible to accurately determine whether an abnormality has occurred. The secondary air supply apparatus is made on the precondition that the opening/closing portion which opens/closes the secondary air supply passage; and the check valve which is provided downstream of the opening/closing portion are provided. However, no consideration is given to a secondary air supply apparatus having a configuration other than this configuration. Accordingly, in a secondary air supply apparatus having a configuration other than this configuration, it may not be possible to accurately determine whether an abnormality has occurred. Also, in the secondary air supply apparatus disclosed in the aforementioned publication, the air pump is driven and the discharge pressure of the air pump is detected, whereby it is determined whether the secondary air supply passage has been clogged, at the same time. However, it may be inappropriate to drive the air pump in some cases.

Secondary air supply apparatus and control method for the same


An Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display apparatus and a brightness compensation method thereof are provided. At an initial compensation stage, a display screen can be subjected to brightness calibration by an image sensor so as to acquire a data voltage compensation value of each sub-pixel when a brightness value of a display panel equals a preset value, a first data voltage is output to a corresponding pixel circuit according to the data voltage compensation value of each sub-pixel, a sensed voltage of each sub-pixel at this stage is used as an initial reference voltage of each sub-pixel when the brightness value of the display panel equals the preset value; and at a subsequent compensation stage, by regulating a data voltage of each sub-pixel, the sensed voltage of each sub-pixel is made to be equal to the corresponding initial reference voltage when the brightness value of the display panel equals the preset value, so as to achieve uniform compensation on brightness of each sub-pixel at the subsequent compensation stage. Thus, not only are uniformity and accuracy of initial brightness compensation improved, but also pixel aging is accurately compensated and uniformity and accuracy of subsequent compensation are improved.

An Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display apparatus is a self-luminous element based on Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs). The light emitting principle of each OLED is that an organic semiconductor material and a light emitting material are subjected to carrier injection and compounding under the drive of an electric field so as to emit light. Due to various advantages of high brightness, high image quality, ultra small thickness, good display efficiency and the like, the AMOLED display apparatus is hopeful to be more widely applied.
The AMOLED display apparatus consists of thousands of pixels, and each pixel includes an OLED and a pixel circuit for driving the OLED. Each pixel circuit consists of a switching Thin-Film Transistor (TFT), a capacitor and a drive TFT. Each switching TFT charges a voltage corresponding to a data signal to the corresponding capacitor, the corresponding drive TFT regulates a current supplied to the corresponding OLED according to the voltage of the capacitor, and a luminous quantity of the OLED is in direct proportion to the current, so that brightness of the OLED is regulated.
However, due to imperfect process and the like, the drive TFTs of all the pixels have specific differences in threshold voltage Vth, and migration rate so as to cause different currents of all the pixels, which are used for driving the OLEDs, and brightness distortions among all the pixels. A visual result is that the original specific differences of the drive TFTs cause spots or patterns on a screen, and in the subsequent driving process, the drive TFTs can reduce the service life of an AMOLED display panel or generate image retention due to the specific differences generated by degradation.
In order to solve this problem, the Chinese Patent CN102968954A discloses an AMOLED display apparatus capable of rapidly sensing a current of each pixel so as to compensate the brightness distortions among the pixels, and a method for sensing the current of each pixel of the AMOLED display apparatus. According to this patent, parasitic capacitors (i.e., line capacitors) on column-oriented lines (e.g., datum lines, data lines or first power lines and the like) on a display screen are utilized, the parasitic capacitors are charged by currents of the drive TFTs, voltages obtained after charging are input into an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) module, and then the currents of the pixels are calculated by utilizing a formula I=Cx(V2−V1)/(t2−t1).
However, due to limitations of process, e.g., an uneven film-forming thickness and the like, the capacitors of all the column-oriented lines on the display screen may be different, and moreover, the ADC module in an integrated circuit has an error for conversion of each channel, both of which can influence sensing of the currents so as to cause inaccurate compensation on the brightness distortions of the pixels.

Active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display apparatus and brightness compensation method thereof


A circular vibratory conveying apparatus for conveying material. The apparatus includes a bed on which material is conveyed, a counterbalance supported on a plurality of isolation springs, a plurality of inclined drive springs extending between the bed and the counterbalance, and a plurality of stabilizers for controlling movement of the drive springs along their central axes. Three or more vibratory motors, each having rotatable eccentric weights, are attached to the counterbalance. The eccentric weights rotate in phase with one another to rotationally vibrate the bed at a vibration frequency.

The present invention is directed to a linear vibratory conveying apparatus that is adapted to be driven by a plurality of pairs of rotatable eccentric weights, and a circular vibratory conveying apparatus that is adapted to be driven by three or more rotatable eccentric weights, wherein the vibratory conveying apparatus includes sub-resonant tuned drive springs and the rotatable weights are accumulatively phased during rotation.
In the vibratory industry, vibratory conveying apparatus such as vibrating feeders, vibrating conveyors, vibrating screens, vibrating heat transferring fluidized beds, attrition mills, and the like, were all powered by a well-known and popular driving method called the "Single Input" or "Brute Force" type of drive. A single pair of rotating eccentric weights is the sole source of the input power in this kind of drive. Being installed directly across from one another, a single pair of eccentric weights rotating in opposite directions, as shown in FIG. 1, would vibrate the vibratory conveying apparatus with a linear or "back and forth", straight line motion. As the load carrying capability of the conveying apparatus increased over the years, the weight of the rotating eccentric weights also necessarily increased in size. So did the horsepower demand of the electric motor utilized to rotate the eccentric weights. Examples of this practical situation are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,458 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,017. In both of those patents, only one pair of rotating eccentric weights is utilized. U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,458 utilizes a "vee-belt" type of connection between the jack shaft which is rotating the eccentric weights and the driving motor. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,017, vibratory motors could be utilized, or eccentric weights mounted on a jack shaft that are rotated by a vee-belt or chain type of motor drive could be utilized.
To achieve a circular conveying motion, a pair of rotating eccentric weights are mounted diametrically opposite to one another. Then, by rotating the eccentric weights in the same direction, a "twist" type of vibratory action or circular conveying could be achieved. An example is U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,879. As shown therein two electric motors are directly coupled to eccentric weights mounted on a jack shaft. The result is a helical stroke that conveys the contained material in a circular direction. Another example of this situation is illustrated in Dumbaugh U.S. Pat. No. 3,178,068 and in FIGS. 5A and 5B.
For many years, it has been well known that a single pair of rotating eccentric weights can be combined for use with a vibratory conveying apparatus to produce either a "linear" or "twist" kind of stroke action. By mentally "stopping" and picturing the position of the eccentric weights 20 in four 90° increments of one 360° rotation, one complete revolution is diagramed in each of FIGS. 2A and 2B. When both of the eccentric weights 20 rotate in opposite directions relative to one another as diagramed in FIG. 2A, a "linear" type of stroke output is achieved. By making the pair of rotating eccentric weights 20 rotate in the same direction relative to one another, as depicted in FIG. 2B, the stroke output develops a "twist" from the resulting force-couple.
A pair of rotating eccentric weights will properly "phase" to produce either a "linear" or "twist" kind of vibratory force and resulting stroke output because they inherently seek their lowest level of energy output. Said differently, the vibratory motors which rotate the eccentric weights try to do as little work as possible. Consequently, the eccentric weights "balance" or cancel the force output for two-quarter portions of the rotational cycle at 0° and 180°. In so doing, the two eccentric weights are necessarily prompted to combine their force outputs for the remaining two-quarter portions, or the other half, of their rotational cycle at 90° and 270°. When that happens, the two motors involved accumulatively add their power capability. For example, if two 1.5 horsepower (HP) motors are used, the total power capability of the pair of motors would be 3 HP.
The pair of rotatable eccentric weights can be mounted on a jackshaft with two bearings and driven by a motor through an appropriate "vee" belt combination. Two jackshafts, one for each eccentric weight, would be required. Any other type of suitable transmission such as a chain, gears, or the like could also be used. Another alternative is to utilize a vibratory motor 11 as provided by Kinergy Corporation, as shown in FIG. 3. Such a vibratory motor has a double extended shaft. Eccentric weights 20 can be installed on both ends of the shaft, but are cumulatively considered as a single rotatable eccentric weight. Vibratory motors equipped with shaft mounted eccentric weights will be emphasized herein, but other jackshaft driven combinations can also be used such as vee-belts and the like. In either instance, the pair of rotatable eccentric weights are installed on and become an integral part of the conveying trough assembly.
When more input power is needed to move heavier loads along the length of the conveying trough, more rotating eccentric weight force and horsepower are needed. Consequently, the rotatable eccentric weights become larger and heavier and have a greater force output. Likewise, the electrical windings in the vibratory motor increase in size to produce more horsepower. This increase in eccentric weight force output and the respective vibratory motor horsepower has approached the point that the vibratory motors are presently as large as practical to manufacture or to utilize on a vibratory conveying type of apparatus. Therefore, if some method of combining a plurality of pairs of vibratory motors and rotatable eccentric weights could be found, it would enable two or more pairs of vibratory motors and eccentric weights to be used in combination instead of only one pair of motors that are essentially two times as large or more.
Over the years, many attempts have been made to combine more than one pair of vibratory motors and eccentric weights to increase the total force output and the horsepower capability. Unfortunately, when more than one pair of rotating eccentric weights were utilized, they would always tend to "cancel" their respective force outputs. The resulting stroke action on the vibratory machine would actually become less or might even be reduced to virtually no displacement or zero stroke. An example of this unwanted situation is illustrated in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, a second pair of rotating eccentric weights is being utilized. After the rotating eccentric weights are started up and are turning at their appropriate speed, each of the four eccentric weights will move to a place in its rotation so that all the output forces cancel one another. Consequently, the net force output is essentially zero and the motors involved are developing virtually no horsepower. This also happens when the motors are changed to rotate in opposite directions. Instead of adding their respective force outputs from each pair of eccentric weights, they cancel one another. This is the reason any combination of free-wheeling eccentric weights utilized on a vibratory conveying apparatus has always previously been limited to one pair.
The desired accumulative phasing of a plurality of pairs of rotating eccentric weights has never been successfully achieved with free-wheeling rotating eccentric weights that are not physically or mechanically rotationally linked or coupled to one another. Therefore, for many years, there has been an unanswered need for the ability to use more than one pair of rotating eccentric weights to enable the total vibratory force output capability to be increased and the related total amount of horsepower increased.

Vibratory conveying apparatus adapted to be driven by accumulatively phased rotating eccentric weights


An electric resistance high temperature vacuum furnace having radiant heating units evenly spaced around the sides and ends of the furnace hot zone. Pairs of units are automatically regulated both radially and longitudinally according to the temperature required by the workload in the hot zone. The units each comprise parallel aligned elements electrically connected in series at their one ends. Each element has lengthwise surfaces angularly disposed from each other to form a beam structure of high section modulus for stiffness and resistance to sagging. Also, the angles of the element surfaces facing a heat-reflective assembly substantially enable all of the energy radiated toward the assembly to be reflected into the hot zone in addition to the direct radiation from the surfaces facing the hot zone. The furnace includes a re-circulating cooling system for rapid cooling of the furnace and workload. An inert cooling fluid bypasses the hot zone, passing instead around the outside of the heat assembly and through a heat exchanger until the circulated fluid temperature drops below the maximum tolerated by all component parts in the cooling system, after which the fluid passes directly through the hot zone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electric resistance vacuum heat treating furnaces; and more particularly to improvements in a high temperature electric resistance vacuum furnace suitable for heat treating processes, such as brazing, tempering, degassing, sintering, and hardening, in which the hot zone is heated by radiant energy and cooled by recirculated fluid.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electric vacuum heat treating furnaces typically consist of a cylindrical water-cooled vessel containing heating elements forming a hot zone for receiving, a workload to be heat treated. An example of such a furnace is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,618 to Seelandt in which a cylindrical vessel contains a retort of separate upper and lower water-cooled, U-shaped shells with end walls movable into side-by-side relationship to form a box-like chamber. Radiant heating elements line each shell in transverse planes axially spaced along the length of the chamber. Additional elements in flat grids line both end walls. Multiple nested layers of radiant heat-reflecting shields reflect some of the radiation from the elements back into a hot zone work space. The furnace is evacuated by an oil diffusion pump to provide a non-oxidizing atmosphere during the heat treating process. A quenching fluid of inert gas may be injected into the chamber after the heating phase of the process is completed and recirculated through a heat exchanger for rapid cooling. U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,631 to Moller teaches annular banks of heating elements in planes axially spaced in the furnace. The banks of elements may be differentially located and/or energized to establish front-to-rear temperature trim zones. U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,460 to Mescher et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 3,257,492 to Westeren disclose elongate heating elements coaxially mounted in the furnace and mutually spaced from each other.
The heating elements are usually fabricated in flat bars of graphite or refractory metals such as commercially pure molybdenum in rectangular cross section as shown in Moller, supra. Seelandt, supra, proposed another element design which is elliptical in cross-section and of substantial thickness. The convex surfaces of the element face inwardly toward the middle of the chamber and outwardly toward the heat shields.
While prior art electric vacuum furnaces as above-described are satisfactory for many heat treating processes, they are lacking in certain design features which significantly improve efficiency in the process. Heating elements of thin rectangular or elliptical cross sections are prone to sag under high temperatures between spaced apart supports because of low section modulus. The rectangular and elliptical elements also inherently lack even distribution of emitted radiant energy from all surfaces for achieving the precision demanded. The radiant energy is emitted in opposite directions substantially perpendicular to the flat sides, consequently, energy directed toward a heat shield is merely reflected back to the element instead of onto the workload. Elements with elliptical or similarly curved surfaces direct only a portion of the radiant energy emitted toward the heat shield for reflection onto the workload. The above-described heating element designs choke a significant percentage of the emitted radiant energy which reduces the effective surface area and results in higher element temperatures causing creep, sagging, and non-uniform heating. Hence, the temperature of the workload will not be of optimal uniformity and a relatively long heat treating cycle time is required. When quenching fluid is recirculated in the furnace through a heat exchanger at completion of the heat treating phase, the extremely hot fluid returning to the heat exchanger may heat seals and other components therein beyond their design limits causing permanent damage and leakage.

Cooling system for heat treating furnace


The present invention relates to an optical multiplexer/demultiplexer comprising a structure for effectively lowering the crosstalk between adjacent signal channels, thereby realizing excellent wavelength multi/demultiplexing characteristics. The optical multiplexer/demultiplexer is designed such that, while adjacent channel waveguides are allowed to have optical path length differences different from each other, effective optical path length differences become constant between optical paths traveling by way of the channel waveguides adjacent each other in optical paths including slab waveguides as a whole, whereby the structure for connecting channel waveguides to flat connecting end faces of slab waveguides can be changed arbitrarily without being restricted by multi/demultiplexing conditions. As a result, it becomes easier to design the arrangement of channel waveguides, and their layout attains a higher degree of freedom, which makes it possible to design a structure for effectively lowering the crosstalk between adjacent signal channels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) type optical multiplexer/demultiplexer which is employable as a wavelength-selecting device in a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission system.
2. Related Background Art
AWG type optical multiplexer/demultiplexers (hereinafter referred to as AWG circuits) are widely in use as a wavelength filter, which can take out or insert a specific wavelength upon interference, for a wavelength-selecting device in WDM transmission systems. Also, since the AWG circuits can be realized by general fine processing procedures such as lithography or etching without necessitating the machining as precise as that of diffraction gratings or the forming of multilayer films as precise as that of interference films, they are expected to develop as a main optical device in future WDM transmission systems together with their capability of assembling with other optical waveguide devices.
Such an AWG circuit has a structure in which an input waveguide, an input slab waveguide, a plurality of channel waveguides having respective lengths different from each other (phased array), an output slab waveguide, and a plurality of output waveguides are integrally formed on a single substrate and are covered with cladding glass.
In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,350 discloses an optical multiplexer/demultiplexer in which, among a plurality of channel waveguides, those adjacent each other have a constant optical path length difference therebetween. At respective portions where the channel waveguides connect with the input and output slab waveguides, in order to improve the wavelength multi/demultiplexing performances, the end parts of channel waveguides are arranged at equally spaced intervals along an arc having a predetermined radius or each of the end faces of input and output slab waveguides to which the end parts of channel waveguides are connected at equally spaced intervals is processed so as to match an arc having the predetermined radius.
The inventors have studied the conventional optical multiplexer/demultiplexers and, as a result, have found problems as follows. Namely, if the end parts of channel waveguides are arranged like an arc, then the convergence of light outputted from those located in peripheral portions to the slab waveguides may deteriorate under the influence of aberration and the like, while the convergence of light outputted from those located near the center thereof is fully maintained. In addition, if the end parts of channel waveguides are arranged at equally spaced intervals along an arc, then the convergence of light outputted from the channel waveguides located in peripheral portions in particular to the slab waveguides will further deteriorate due to interactions between adjacent channel waveguide. As a result, among the output waveguides provided so as to correspond to respective signal channels in the conventional optical multiplexer/demultiplexers, crosstalk between adjacent signal channels may be remarkable in the output waveguides located in the periphery in particular, whereas there has been a technical limit to lowering the crosstalk.
In order to overcome problems such as those mentioned above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical multiplexer/demultiplexer comprising a structure which can effectively lower the crosstalk between adjacent signal channels among output waveguides provided so as to correspond to respective signal channels, in the output waveguides located in the periphery in particular, thereby realizing excellent wavelength multi/demultiplexing characteristics.
The optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention is an AWG type optical multiplexer/demultiplexer, employable as a wavelength-selecting device in a WDM transmission system, comprising a substrate, and at least one input waveguide, a first slab waveguide, n (xe2x89xa73) channel waveguides, a second slab waveguide, and a plurality of output waveguides provided for respective signal channels, which are disposed on the substrate.
In the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention, the first and second slab waveguides have respective predetermined slab lengths. In general, a slab length corresponds to the focal length of the optical input end functioning as the lens surface of the respective slab waveguide. The input waveguide is a waveguide for guiding to the first slab waveguide individual signals having respective channel wavelengths set at predetermined wavelength intervals as signal channels, and has an output end optically connected to an optical input end face of the first slab waveguide. The n channel waveguides are waveguides having lengths different from each other, and are two-dimensionally arranged on the substrate while in a state where an optical input end of each channel waveguide is optically connected to an optical output end face of the first slab waveguide so as to sandwich the first slab waveguide together with the input waveguide whereas an optical output end of each channel waveguide is optically connected to an optical input end face of the second slab waveguide so as to sandwich the second slab waveguide together with the output waveguides. The output waveguides are waveguides two-dimensionally arranged on the substrate while in a state where respective optical input ends thereof are optically connected to an optical output end face of the second slab waveguide, and are used for separately taking out signals having respective channel wavelengths set at predetermined wavelength intervals.
In particular, in the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention, at least one of the optical output end face of the first slab waveguide and the optical input end face of the second slab waveguide each connected to the n channel waveguides is processed flat so as to extend along a line intersecting the n channel waveguides. As a consequence, among the n channel waveguides, those adjacent each other have optical path length differences different from each other.
Specifically, with respect to the average value obtained from respective optical path length differences between all adjacent channel waveguides in the n channel waveguides, it is preferred that the maximum deviation of optical path length difference between adjacent channel waveguides in the n channel waveguides be set to 3% or more. It means that, letting xcex94Lk (k=1 to (nxe2x88x921)) be each optical path length difference between adjacent channel waveguides, xcex94LMAX be the maximum optical path length difference (or minimum optical path length difference) between adjacent channel waveguides, and xcex94LAVE be the average value of optical path length difference, at least the deviation xcex7 (maximum deviation) of maximum optical path length difference xcex94LMAX with respect to the average value xcex94LAVE satisfies the following condition:   η  =                    |                              Δ                                      xe2x80x83                                                  L                              A                                                  xe2x80x83                                                V                                                  xe2x80x83                                                E                                              -                      Δ                                      xe2x80x83                                                  L              MAX                                      |                    Δ                          xe2x80x83                                  L                      A                                      xe2x80x83                                    V                                      xe2x80x83                                    E                                ≥    0.03
where       Δ              xe2x80x83                  L              A                          xe2x80x83                        V                          xe2x80x83                        E              =                              ∑                      k            =            1                                n            -            1                                            Δ                                xe2x80x83                                          L            k                                      n        -        1              .
Here, the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention is designed such that, though adjacent channel waveguides have optical path length differences different from each other, effective optical path length differences become constant between optical paths extending from the center of optical input end face of the first slab waveguide to the center of optical output end face of the second slab waveguide by way of the channel waveguides adjacent each other in order to realize wavelength multi/demultiplexing functions as a whole. Namely, as shown in FIG. 4, letting L(m) be the physical optical path length from the center P1 of optical input end face of the first slab waveguide to the center P2 of optical output end face of the second slab waveguide by way of the m-th (2xe2x89xa6mxe2x89xa6n) channel waveguide, neff(m) be the effective refractive index of the m-th channel waveguide, L(mxe2x88x921) be the physical optical path length from the center P1 of optical input end face of the first slab waveguide to the center P2 of optical output end face of the second slab waveguide by way of the (mxe2x88x921)-th channel waveguide, and neff(mxe2x88x921) be the effective refractive index of the (mxe2x88x921)-th channel waveguide, the integrated value of product of physical optical path length and effective refractive index along optical paths from P1 to P2 satisfies the following condition:                     ∫        P1        P2                                                L                                      (              m              )                                ·                                    n                              e                                                  xe2x80x83                                                ff                                                                (              m              )                                                        ⅆ          x                      -                  ∫        P1        P2                                                L                                      (                              m                -                1                            )                                ·                                    n                              e                                                  xe2x80x83                                                ff                                                                (                              m                -                1                            )                                                        ⅆ          x                      =  constant
between the m-th and (mxe2x88x921)-th channel waveguides adjacent each other as a wavelength multi/demultiplexing condition in the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer. Here, among the n channel waveguides, the optical path length difference xcex94Ln between those adjacent each other is given by the following expression:       Δ              xe2x80x83                  L      0        -            f      0        ·          (              1        -                  1                      cos                                      xe2x80x83                                                  θ              P                                          )
where
xcex94L0 is the theoretical value of the maximum optical path length difference for enabling the channel waveguides to function as a diffraction grating;
f0 is the maximum distance between the center of optical input end face of first slab waveguide to the optical input ends of channel waveguides or the maximum distance between the optical output ends of channel waveguides to the center of optical output end face of second slab waveguide; and
xcex8P is the angle formed between the P-th (Pxe2x88x921, 2, . . . , n) channel waveguide and a normal of the optical output end face of first slab waveguide or optical input end face of second slab waveguide.
As mentioned above, the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention is designed such that, while channel waveguides adjacent each other are allowed to have optical path length differences different from each other, optical paths traveling by way of respective channel waveguides adjacent each other have a constant effective optical path length difference as the optical paths including the slab waveguides in total. It means that the structure for connecting channel waveguides to the flat connecting end face (at least one of the optical output end face of first slab waveguide and the optical input end face of second slab waveguide) can be changed arbitrarily without being restricted by multi/demultiplexing conditions. As a result, it becomes easier to design the arrangement of channel waveguides, and their layout attains a higher degree of freedom, which makes it possible to design a structure for effectively lowering the crosstalk between adjacent signal channels in output waveguides located in the periphery in particular among the output waveguides provided so as to correspond to respective signal channels.
In order to adjust the focal position in the first slab waveguide in the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention, it is preferred that the channel waveguides connected to the optical output end face of the first slab waveguide be arranged such that the optical input ends thereof are directed to the center of optical input end face of the first slab waveguide. Also, in order to adjust the focal position in the second slab waveguide, it is preferred that the channel waveguides connected to the optical input end face of the second slab waveguide be arranged such that the optical output ends thereof are directed to the center of optical output end face of the second slab waveguide. Namely, with respect to at least one flat end face of the optical output end face of first slab waveguide and the optical input end face of second slab waveguide, the channel waveguides connected to this flat end face form respective angles different from each other in the optical multiplexer/demultiplexer according to the present invention. In other words, the channel waveguides are arranged on the substrate such that, among tip portions thereof including the optical input ends, those adjacent each other have intervals different from each other. Also, the channel waveguides are arranged on the substrate such that, among tip portions thereof including the optical output ends, those adjacent each other have intervals different from each other.


A battery maintenance system for charging, analyzing, discharging and conditioning of a NiCad battery. The system displays voltage and capacity to determine whether or not a NiCad battery has enough capacity to power equipment for an optimal time period. The system charges the battery using a negative delta voltage method of detecting full charge, while also displaying instantaneous battery voltage. The system also analyzes the battery in a charge, discharge and recharge mode of operation, and during the charge mode the instantaneous voltage is displayed. The discharge mode discharges the battery to one volt per cell while displaying voltage and accumulative capacity alternately. The system also conditions batteries by cycling a battery through three cycles of charging, discharging and a subsequent recharge cycle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a battery maintenance system, and more particularly, pertains to a battery maintenance system which charges, discharges and conditions a NiCad battery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, when NiCad batteries did not appear to be functioning, the user would throw the battery away and use a new battery. Because of the price of batteries and the economies involved, this is no longer a cost effective way of utilizing and replacing NiCad batteries.
Prior art conditioning of a NiCad battery usually occurred when the battery was fully discharged and then charged. This would usually occur by an individual placing a battery in a radio, such as a handitalkie, letting the battery become fully discharged, such as through leaving the radio on overnight, and then charging the battery to a full charge, such as over the next day. This procedure was rather crude and inefficient, and also was not always productive in reaching the optimal battery operating characteristics.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a battery maintenance system for charging, discharging and conditioning of NiCad batteries, especially NiCad batteries exhibiting a memory effect.


A process for purifying an aqueous solution of NaOH by removing suspended NaCl and Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 impurities therefrom comprising bubbling a gas into the impurity-containing NaOH solution at a first stage temperature above 16.degree. C. up to 31.degree. C. and at a second stage temperature above 31.degree. C. up to about 36.degree. C., separating a foam layer containing NaCl and Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 from NaOH at the first stage and a foam layer containing Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 from NaOH at the second stage.

This invention concerns a two-stage flotation purification system for removing suspended NaCl and Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 impurities from aqueous NaOH having a concentration of less than 52 percent by weight of NaOH. The process is well suited to purification of caustic soda manufactured by electrolysis of brine in cells utilizing diaphragm partitions.
It is known to remove suspended NaCl and Na.sub.2 SO.sub.4 impurities from aqueous sodium hydroxide by filtration and by centrifugation. Filtration purification is a costly, difficult to operate procedure. Centrifugation is difficult to control because it is so sensitive to crystal size.
Purification of aqueous sodium hydroxide by flotation of NaCl has been disclosed in Japanese patent application No. 52-69895. However, that purification relies on use of organic surface active agents and does not contemplate the two-stage, temperature-related separation described herein. Use of organic surface active agents is undesirable because of the difficulty of removing them from recycled NaCl and from NaOH product. The surface active agents are impurities in the NaOH product. Also, they may damage cell anodes when returned with recycled NaCl to the electrolysis cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,270 discloses the flotation separation of crystals of impurities from a slurry of sodium hydroxide hydrate crystals. The patent does not contemplate separation of impurity crystals from aqueous sodium hydroxide solution nor does it contemplate the two-stage, temperature-related separation described herein. Production of sodium hydroxide hydrate crystals as taught by the patent is avoided in the process of this invention wherein such crystals would become entrained with those of the very impurities from which NaOH is desired to be separated.

Two-stage flotation purification of NaOH


In a bus driver for driving a bus having an input terminal for receiving an input signal and an output terminal connected to the bus, a switching element is provide between the output terminal and the second power supply terminal, and the switching element is controlled by a voltage at the input terminal. A diode and a resistor are connected in series between the first power supply terminal and the output terminal. The diode is arranged in a forward conduction direction with respect to the first and second power supply terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bus driver for a data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a data processing system, a plurality of packages each including a semiconductor integrated circuit are inserted into a back panel. The packages share buses formed on the back panel. In this case, each of the packages has a bus driver and a bus receiver.
A prior art bus driver includes an open drain type metal oxide semiconductor (MOS, or more broadly, metal insulating semiconductor (MIS)). This will be explained later in detail.
However, since the prior art bus driver per se does not include a noise removing circuit, a large ringing effect is generated in the bus. Therefore, it takes a long time to converge the ringing effect, which substantially increases the propagation delay time of signals from the bus driver to its respective bus receivers.

Bus driver having noise removing circuit


Systems and/or methods that facilitate controlling a rate of voltage change across an inductively loaded thyristor when switched are presented. Based on a received control signal indicating a thyristor is to be switched, a control component controls the rate of voltage change across a thyristor associated with an inductive load when the thyristor is switched from a first state to another state to facilitate controlling noise emissions during switching based in part on a predefined noise criteria, without using a filter. A capacitor component is connected to the inductive load and thyristor. The control component employs a voltage-controlled current sink comprising a transistor to facilitate discharging voltage from the capacitor component until the capacitor component is discharged to a predefined voltage level, where at or near such point a gate component can send a signal to the thyristor gate to switch the thyristor to the desired state.

The subject innovation relates generally to thyristors and in particular to controlling switching noise associated with an inductively loaded thyristor.
Conventionally, speed of transition from an off state to an on state of a thyristor is not controllable once the device is gated (e.g., switched). Voltage across the thyristor will rapidly change from an open circuit to a conducting voltage. If an inductive load connected to a power line is being switched, a high rate of voltage change (dv/dt) can occur, and can be coupled through the load to the power line, and such high rate of change can cause an undesirable level of noise emissions from the device to the power line. Many jurisdictions regulate and limit magnitude of noise allowed to be manifested by a device to power lines. When noise emissions generated by a device exceeds such limits, implementation of some form of noise mitigation is required.
Conventionally, to mitigate conducted noise associated with thyristors during change of state, a filter is employed between the noise source and the power line, or a filter is connected externally. For instance, a filter can be a choke placed between the load and the thyristor, and a capacitor connected to the load and a switching terminal of the thyristor. At high power levels, additional elements such as for example resistors, capacitors, special transformers (e.g., common mode chokes), may be necessary in order to mitigate noise—however, such filters can increase cost, size, weight, or heat loss of an associated product.
It is desirable to control rate of voltage change (dv/dt) across a thyristor during change of state (e.g., from off state to on state) such that filtering is not required to meet applicable noise emission standards. It is also desirable reduce cost, size, weight, and heat loss of a product employing thyristor(s).

Controlling switching noise of an inductively loaded thyristor


A power spring drive apparatus having a power spring on a power spring wind up shaft, an output shaft, and a gear train for winding the power spring and for transferring the rotational force of a wound power spring to the output shaft. The apparatus is in a housing case formed of first and second synthetic resin cases connected together by pins and receiving holes. The housing case has a power spring housing section with a window between the section and externally of the housing. One end of the power spring has a neck shape and extends through the window and is fastened to the housing.

The present invention relates to a power spring drive apparatus preferably used for a toy and the like.
In a power spring of a power spring drive apparatus of the type which uses the releasing force of the wound power spring, the inner end is fastened to a wind up shaft of the power spring, and the outer end is fastened to a fastening member. Power spring driving apparatus can be categorized according to the connecting method of the outer end to the fastening member, in the following categories:
Example 1--A small type power spring motor wherein the outer end is bent in a U shape and it is fastened to a fastening member such as a pin;
Example 2--A pull back motor wherein a concave section facing the peripheral wall of the power spring housing section and a protruded section disposed at the outer end of the power spring is fastened with the concave section; the second example is mounted in a toy known by the trade name "CHORO Q";
Example 3--A KAORI box which is known as a drive source for a music box, wherein a lug section formed at the outer end fastened with a metal frame.
Regardless of the fastening method is used, to effectively use the torque of the power spring which is wound up by turning the power spring wind up shaft, it is necessary to fasten the outer end of the power spring.
In each of the first and second examples described above, the outer end of the power spring is bent, thereby raising the production cost of the entire power spring. In the first example, when winding the power spring about the power spring wind up shaft so that it is housed in the power spring housing section, unless the outer end is properly fastened to the fastening pin, since the outer end is caught in the housing section, the outer end cannot be secured.
In the second example, since the fastening section at the outer end is formed on the periphery of the power spring housing section, the size of the power spring housing box becomes large. In the third example, since the frame is made of metal, it is impossible to accomplish an accurate casing structure. In this example, to support the gear train, complicated shaped parts should be used and thereby the production cost rises.
In addition, to reduce the weight and the number of parts of the apparatus and lower the production cost, a casing made of synthetic resin is advantageous. However, for the apparatus to obtain a large driving force from the power spring, the casing tends to get damaged and deformed.


In the disclosed hydraulic shock absorber, damping force characteristics are adjusted in accordance with the frequency of stroke, and the damping force is made small at the time when the directions of stroke are changed from one to the other. Cylinder upper and lower chambers are communicated with each other through main hydraulic fluid passage and first and second bypass passages. During the extension stroke, the second bypass passage is cut off by a check valve, and a shutter in the first bypass passage is slid in accordance with the frequency of stroke by the fluid flowing through an orifice passage to regulate the passage area of the first bypass passage. During the contraction stroke, the first bypass passage is cut off by a check valve, and a shutter in the second passage is slid in accordance with the frequency of stroke by the fluid flowing through an orifice passage to regulate the passage area of the second bypass passage. During either of the extension and contraction strokes, the shutter for the other stroke returns to the original position by the action of the hydraulic pressure in the cylinder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic shock absorber attached to a suspension system of a vehicle, for example, an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a hydraulic shock absorber attached to a suspension system of a vehicle includes a cylinder having a hydraulic fluid sealed therein, and a piston slidably fitted in the cylinder to define therein two chambers, which are communicated with each other through a communicating passage. The flow of hydraulic fluid in the communicating passage caused by sliding movement of the piston is controlled by an orifice passage and a disk valve mechanism, thereby generating damping force. When the piston speed is relatively low, the hydraulic shock absorber exhibits damping force characteristics (orifice characteristics) in which the damping force changes quadratically with the piston speed by the restrictor action of the orifice passage. When the piston speed exceeds a predetermined level, damping force characteristics (valve characteristics) in which the damping force changes linearly with the piston speed are provided by the action of the disk valve.
Incidentally, for improvement in the ride quality and steering stability of the vehicle, the hydraulic shock absorber is desired to exhibit damping force characteristics as follows: During normal running of the vehicle that is accompanied by fine vibration of the mass under the spring of the suspension system, orifice and valve characteristics which produce relatively small damping force are desired. During a turning or braking operation that is accompanied by relatively slow and large vibration of the mass under the spring of the suspension system, orifice and valve characteristics which produce relatively large damping force are desired.
Under these circumstances, a hydraulic shock absorber has been proposed in which the orifice characteristics on the extension side are changed with the frequency of vibration of the mass under the spring of the suspension system such that when the frequency of the vibration is relatively low, the orifice passage area is reduced to generate relatively large damping force, whereas, when the frequency of the vibration is relatively high, the orifice passage area is increased to reduce the damping force, thereby improving the ride quality and steering stability of the vehicle, as is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Public Disclosure (KOKAI) No. 62-25346.
The above-described conventional hydraulic shock absorber suffers, however, from the problem that since only the orifice characteristics on the extension side are changed, no satisfactory improvement can be obtained in the ride quality and steering stability for the contraction side.
In view of the above-described circumstances, the assignee of the present invention has proposed a frequency-sensitive hydraulic shock absorber in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-283852, in which orifice characteristics (alternatively, together with valve characteristics) on both the extension and contraction sides change with the frequency of vibration under the spring of the suspension system.
However, the proposed frequency-sensitive hydraulic shock absorber involves problems as stated below:
In the above-described hydraulic shock absorber, a shutter is displaced by the pressure of hydraulic fluid produced in accordance with the frequency of stroke of a piston rod so as to open and close a bypass passage, thereby controlling the damping force characteristics such that when the frequency is relatively high, relatively small damping force ("soft" characteristics) is generated, whereas, when the frequency is relatively low, relatively large damping force ("hard" characteristics) is generated.
In the above-described hydraulic shock absorber, if the direction of stroke of the piston rod changes when the frequency is relatively low and hence the damping force has become relatively large as a result of the displacement of the shutter, impact is generated because of the "hard" damping force characteristics. In addition, as the shutter moves, the damping force characteristics once change over from "hard" to "soft" and then return to "hard". Consequently, the damping force characteristics change over during the stroke of the piston rod on the extension or contraction side, causing impact to be generated. Thus, the ride quality of the vehicle is degraded.