A transmission arrangement comprises a first planetary gear set, a second planetary gear set, a third planetary gear set, an input shaft connectable to a prime mover, the input shaft being operatively connected to a sun gear of the second planetary gear set and to a sun gear of the third planetary gear set, an output shaft operatively connected to a ring gear of the first planetary gear set and to a planet carrier of the second planetary gear set. The transmission arrangement further includes a gear selection arrangement including a first locking mechanism connected to a planet carrier of the first planetary gear set, a second locking mechanism connected to a sun gear of the first planetary gear set, a ring gear of the second planetary gear set and to a planet carrier of the third planetary gear set, and a third locking mechanism.

In connection with transportation of heavy loads at construction sites or the like, a working machine is often used. The working machines may be utilized for transportations in connection with road or tunnel building, sand pits, mines, forestry and similar environments, and are often provided in the form of an articulated hauler or a rigid hauler.
Recently, not only cars are using electric machines as prime mover(s) for propulsion, also working machines are striving to use such more environmentally friendly prime mover. However, within the rough terrain at which the working machine is frequently operated, it is required that the vehicle is able to operate in a desired manner, and high quality of the vehicle gearbox is necessary.
Conventionally, the gearbox is arranged for adjusting the speed and strength of the vehicle in dependency of the specific driving scenario. The gearbox comprises a transmission arrangement and depending on the specific type of gearbox, the transmission arrangement may comprise e.g. gear wheels in meshed connection with each other or planetary gear sets comprising a respective sun gear, ring gear and a planet carrier, or a transmission arrangement having a combination of gear wheels in meshed connection and one or more planetary gear sets.
Due to the difference in speed range of an electric machine compared to a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE), the operational demands for a gearbox of an electrically propelled vehicle differs from an ICE propelled vehicle. There is thus a desire to further improve the gearbox for a working machine.


A cycloidal rotor air vehicle includes an airframe, a first cycloidal rotor assembly supported by the airframe and configured to rotate about a first axis of rotation relative to the airframe, the first cycloidal rotor assembly including a blade having a longitudinal axis oriented parallel to the first axis of rotation, a first motor configured to rotate the first cycloidal rotor assembly about the first axis of rotation, a first servo coupled to the blade of the first cycloidal rotor assembly and configured to adjust the pitch of the blade, and a control system supported on the airframe and configured to control the operation of the first motor and the first servo.

Over the past decade there has been increased interest in developing different types of micro-air vehicles (MAVs), largely because of the potential mission capabilities associated with small-scale flying devices. In some applications, such miniature, lightweight vehicles may offer superior portability, rapid deployment capability, and a low radar cross section. MAVs may further support tactical military operations or explore environments that would otherwise be too dangerous for a human, such as surveillance and reconnaissance in the battlefield, biochemical sensing, fire and rescue operations, border surveillance, and traffic monitoring. With the possibility of reduced noise signatures and lower production costs, MAVs may accomplish at least some of these types of tasks. However, these missions often require flying conditions outside of the flight capabilities of current systems and factors such as gusts, confined spaces, and increased flight times are prohibitive barriers to most MAVs in use today. To overcome these difficulties, flying platforms could be developed capable of navigating through these scenarios and designed to exhibit high gust tolerance and the ability to operate in confined spaces. To date, many small, fixed-wing MAVs have been developed, however these types of flying devices are generally unsuitable for missions which require hovering/low-speed flight or tight turns and other demanding maneuvers.
Rotorcraft, on the other hand, may be more suited for these flight regimes, with most vehicles employing single, coaxial, or multi-rotor configurations. Generally, a primary aerodynamic limitation of conventional rotor blade designs for use in MAVs is the reduced efficiencies at low Reynold's numbers (10,000-50,000), in particular, low values of maximum figure of merit of around 0.65. In some instances, the reduced aerodynamic performance is caused by the large values of profile drag associated with thick boundary layer formations on the blades, large induced losses, and higher rotational and turbulent losses in the downstream wake of the rotating blades.


A nano-electromechanical system comprises piezoelectric vertically aligned BaTiO3 nanowire arrays for energy-harvesting applications, sensors, and other applications. The aligned piezoelectric nanowire arrays provide highly accurate nano-electromechanical system-based dynamic sensor with a wide operating bandwidth and unity coherence and energy harvesters at low frequencies. The growth of vertically aligned (B45-mm long) barium titanate nanowire arrays is realized through a hydrothermal synthesis.

Piezoelectric materials offer coupling between mechanical and electrical energy, allowing them to be effectively fabricated as transducers that can be configured as either sensors or actuators. Many sensing applications incorporate piezoelectric materials, because they require minimal signal conditioning and have wide bandwidth well into the MHz range. Furthermore, piezoelectric materials have been found particularly well suited for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), as the energy density does not decrease with the dimensions, as is the case in electromechanical or magneto-mechanical systems. When applied in MEMS applications, piezoceramics are typically constrained to a thin film, which places certain limits on the design of the device and typically requires the use of the lower k31 piezoelectric coefficient (1). An alternative configuration for sensors is vertically aligned piezoelectric nanowire (NW) arrays that allow for facile interfacing with electrical interconnects. Piezoelectric nanowires have evoked tremendous curiosity in the field of nanotechnology for energy applications primarily due to their excellent electro-mechanical energy conversion capabilities which are unchanged as the scale is reduced and, in addition to their ability to be utilized in advanced sensors, they can function as sufficient power sources for certain low power wireless electronic devices and miniature autonomous systems [1,2]. Power generating nano-electro-mechanical system (NEMs) fabricated using piezoelectric nanowires have become renowned in the research community, as they are able to convert several different sources of mechanical energy into electric power, such as: sound waves [3]; ultrasonic waves [4-6]; vibrational energy [7,8]; atomic force microscope tip induced stimuli [9,10]; and biomechanical energy [11,12].
The power generating capacity of devices based on aligned piezoelectric ZnO nanowire (NWs) arrays has been studied rigorously and it has been reported that the energy conversion efficiency of such a device is sufficiently high for production of electricity that can potentially power nanosystems [9]. The direct piezoelectric effect responsible for the energy-harvesting behavior is identical to the response required for sensing. However, energy harvesting represents a more simplistic operation, as the voltage output can contain significant noise, requires little to no correlation to the input energy and places no limits on the bandwidth or stability of the response. On the contrary, a functional sensor must produce an output that can be very accurately correlated to the force (mechanical measurands) acting on it and without noise that would limit the sensitivity and measurement floor. Among the piezoelectric NEMs, those made of ferroelectric perovskite nanostructures and thin films such as PZT (PbZrxTi1-xO3) [8, 13-15], and Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) [16-18] can produce greater energy due to their higher electro-mechanical coupling coefficients and thereby, provide an efficient means to harvest mechanical energy. The NW form of these materials offers considerable advantages due to the high aspect ratio, which leads to highly deformable structures [19, 20] and size effects [21] that act to enhance the piezoelectricity of the ceramic. Consequently, piezoelectric NWs have tremendous potential to be applied in the emerging field of nano-electromechanical systems (NEMS).
However, environmental concerns over the use of lead based piezoelectric materials have enhanced the need to develop and utilize lead-free BaTiO3 nanostructures. Moreover, prior to this study the synthesis of vertically aligned arrays of BaTiO3 nanowires (NWs) had not been developed and thus this high performance lead free composition has received little attention. Previously, Wang et al. [19] performed a numerical analysis to show that the BaTiO3 NWs have higher power generating capability as compared to ZnO NWs for the same size. Recently, Wang et al. [20] applied ZnO NWs as vibration sensors to detect the resonance characteristics of a cantilever beam and evaluated the voltage generating performance. Although ZnO NWs have garnered significant interest for sensing and energy harvesting, a low piezoelectric coupling coefficient and semiconductor behavior are unlike many ferroelectric ceramics and, therefore, sensors therefrom show low sensitivity and a high noise floor [22]. Although ZnO NWs have a low dielectric constant, which increases its voltage output, the performance has been very limited and no sensor has been demonstrated to produce a high coherence between the input and output across the sensor's bandwidth [3, 23-25]. Ferroelectric perovskite nanostructures such as PZT (PbZrxTi1-xO3) [13, 26, 27] NWs improve the electromechanical coupling performance of NW-based devices; however, they have only been applied for energy harvesting applications as the environmental concerns with lead-based piezoelectric materials encourages the use of lead-free piezoelectric nanostructures for sensors [28]. Among lead-free ceramics, barium titanate (BaTiO3) possesses one of the highest coupling values. However, no synthesis method for the growth of vertically aligned BaTiO3 NW arrays has been demonstrated prior to the inventors' efforts, and thus this high-performance lead-free material has received little attention in the NW form. Herein the preparation of ultra-long and short BaTiO3 nanowires by two methods and their use for the preparation of sensors and energy harvesting devices

Barium titanate nanowire their arrays and array based devices

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.


Management and application methods and systems for an electronic apparatus having touch-sensitive devices are provided. First, at least one sensing electrode of a touch-sensitive device is scanned. It is determined whether a sensed value corresponding to the sensing electrode is greater than a first threshold value and whether the sensed value corresponding to the sensing electrode is greater than a second threshold value, wherein the second threshold value is greater than the first threshold value. When the sensed value is greater than the first threshold value, and is not greater than the second threshold value, it is determined that a first event is detected by the touch-sensitive device, for example, an object is close to the touch-sensitive device. When the sensed value is greater than the second threshold value, it is determined that a second event is detected by the touch-sensitive device, for example, the touch-sensitive device is touched by the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to management and application methods and systems for an electronic apparatus having a touch-sensitive device, and more particularly to a method and system for providing an adjacency approaching function in an electronic apparatus having a touch-sensitive device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, to provide convenient and friendly operations for users, an electronic apparatus is usually equipped with a touch-sensitive device. Through the touch-sensitive device, users can directly perform corresponding operations, such as application programs and inputting of data.
Currently, a capacitive touch-sensitive device is adopted by many electric apparatuses. In general, electrodes of a capacitive touch-sensitive panel are arranged in a crisscross pattern, and capacitance variations between the electrodes can be sensed. It is known that a human body is a conductor. Thus, when a human body is close to the electrodes, the capacitance between a finger of the human body and the electrodes is increased. Accordingly, the specific position touched on the capacitive touch-sensitive panel can be detected by determining capacitance of which sensor trace is increased.
In prior arts, an electronic apparatus having a touch-sensitive device provides only one touch function. In other words, the electronic apparatus only determines whether one object touches the touch-sensitive device for applications. However, in some events, in addition to the touch function of determining whether one object touches the touch-sensitive device, the electrode apparatus may have some applications/and requirements for detecting objects which approach the touch-sensitive device. When required of the electronic apparatus, the electronic apparatus must be equipped with an approaching detector to detect whether an object is close to the electronic apparatus. The disposition of the related elements causes an increase of the cost of the electronic apparatus. Meanwhile, the resources of the electronic apparatus, such as its power source, are limited. Additional power is required to perform operations of the related elements.

Management and application methods and systems for touch-sensitive devices, and computer program products thereof


A spool adapted for holding and dispensing yarn for crocheting and knitting. The spool is substantially cylindrical, with a gradual slope toward the two ends. The slightly bulging middle portion is circumferentially lined with closely spaced ridges adapted for preventing slippage of the yarn wrapped thereon. Each of the two ends of the spool has four integrally formed peripheral feet which enable the holder to be oriented in a vertically stable position using either end as the base. A support stand is optionally provided which is adapted for holding the spool in a vertical position, has a base which includes four vertical handles establish a perimeter around the four feet disposed at the end of the spool. A fifth, longer vertical handle, centrally disposed on the base, is sized in length to permit single handed carrying of the stand with a plurality of spools placed thereon. The spool is allowed to spin freely on the post of the stand in a stable manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to thread and yarn bobbins. More specifically, the invention is a manually operated spool provided with a plurality of ridges adapted for holding and dispensing yarn for crocheting and knitting.
2. Description of the Related Art
When one is crocheting or knitting, the yarn often becomes tangled. To prevent this from happening, one typically wraps the yarn around some sort of spooling device or has an assistant that is willing to sit with the yarn wrapped around his hands, which acts as a spool. The major drawback of the typical spools is that the yarn is not held securely on the spool and more yarn generally feeds out than necessary, causing the yarn to become quickly tangled. What is needed is a spool that holds the yarn securely in place, but allows the yarn to feed out easily when needed.
Several patents have addressed the general field of spools for yarn and thread. U.S. Pat. No. Des. 235,282 issued on Jun. 3, 1975 to Langston, Jr. depicts a conical yarn spool with a flat base. Langston, Jr. fails to depict an externally wound spool with rounded ends which facilitates the use of the spool without concern for stability of the spool when resting.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 281,831 issued on Dec. 24, 1985 to White depicts a yarn holder which is rounded in shape. The yarn holder appears to be internally wound such that the yarn feeds out from the inside of the holder. White does not depict an externally wound yarn holder with a ridged surface as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 292,643 issued on Nov. 10, 1987 to Dick et al. depicts a yarn bobbin with an externally threaded shaft and a flat base. Dick et al. does not depict an externally wound spool with rounded ends which facilitates the use of the spool without concern for stability of the spool while at rest.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 334,835 issued on Apr. 20, 1993 to Randolph depicts a core holder for yarn which is essentially a conical spool having at most four ribs on its outer surface. The spool is not able to stand in a stable fashion on either end or on its side as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,168,940 issued on Jan. 18, 1916 to Fisher discloses a spool with projections extending outwardly from the heads of the spool to prevent it from rolling. Fisher teaches away from the present invention wherein the spool is intended to roll easily along a single axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,469,266 issued on Oct. 2, 1923 to Needham discloses a spool holder which has a hooked end which can be used as a handle and draped over the arm of the person who is crocheting or knitting. Needham does not teach or describe a spool as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,511,005 issued on Oct. 7, 1924 to Powers discloses a holder for thread spools or balls of yarn. The object of the invention in Powers is to prevent the spool or ball of yarn from rolling around which is contrary to the object of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,154 issued on Mar. 28, 1978 to Miszkwitz, Jr. discloses a yarn dispenser having a housing in which a supply of yarn is wound onto a bobbin-like pin and confined by the housing to preclude entanglement. The yarn is withdrawn axially through a hole in the housing. The drawback to the Miszkwitz invention is that it is not easily transportable as is the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,185 issued on May 1, 1990 to Baker discloses an assembly for holding and dispensing yarn from a skein of yarn. There is a flexible bin which can be used to store yarn and assorted working implements. Disposed above the bin is a spindle on which yarn can be wound for easy removal. The drawback to the Baker invention is that it is not easily transportable as is the present invention.
French Patent No. 621,253 published on May 9, 1927 discloses a narrow cylindrical spool around which a ball of yarn can be placed. The French Patent does not disclose a spool with ridges along its outer edge for holding the yarn securely in place.
French Patent No. 1,151,846 published on Feb. 6, 1958 discloses a yarn holder that has a swivel ring that can be used as a handle which can be placed over the user's wrist for support. The French Patent does not disclose a spool as in the present invention.
Other patents have issued which are only generally related to the present invention include U.S. Pat. No. 843,190 (Thread Guard) issued on Feb. 5, 1907 to Wilson; U.S. Pat. No. 1,214,172 (Device for Use in Crocheting and Other Work) issued on Jan. 30, 1917 to Kinney; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,677 (Apparatus and Method for the Drawing off of Threads, Ribbons, and the Like) issued on Jun. 29, 1993 to Sarfati.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a device to store and feed yarn solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


An assembly and method for making a card intermediate in which a series of spaced apart two layer laminates are arranged with the layers in face-to-face relation with a rupturable adhesive therebetween and a first of the layers being a transparent film, advancing the laminates toward a uniting station, providing a length of imprintable material having first and second surfaces with spaced areas of release material on the first surface and advancing the length toward the uniting station, adhesively uniting in the station the first layer of the series of laminates to the length in said spaced areas with each laminate extending beyond its united areas, and diecutting the length and the first layer to provide a generally rectangular closed perimeter diecut, the diecut also having a segment terminating short of the first layer and dividing the perimeter into two equal portions with one of the portions being within the area.

This invention relates to a protected card intermediate and method and, more particularly, to a product and process which results in an encased card--as for an I D card or the like.
Protected cards have been known for a considerable time. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,069,793, a protected card was disclosed 35 years ago that made use of a card adapted to receive inscriptions on the exposed top surface thereof, a thin flexible film of a translucent material underlying the card and dimensioned to correspond to the width of the card and about twice the length thereof with the card positioned to one side of the center line of the film, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer covering the entire surface of the film to adhere to back side of the card to the film on one side, and a removable protective backing covering the exposed portion of the pressure-sensitive adhesive coated film and releasably bonded thereto by the pressure-sensitive adhesive. Thus, the exposed film could be folded over to cover the top surface of the card.
More recently, this concept was carried forward in co-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,894 and 4,986,868. In the '894 patent, the protected card is provided as part of a mailer, i.e., a stuffed, sealed envelope assembly. In the '868 patent, the method includes removing one half of a release liner web covering an adhesive-equipped film.
According to the instant invention, a protected card is provided in the form of an intermediate which includes a length of imprintable material having top and bottom surfaces and a generally rectangular diecut extending therethrough to define a card, a laminate adhesively secured to the bottom surface and extending beyond the diecut on all sides thereof. The laminate includes first and second layers adhesively united in superposed relation with the first layer being a transparent film positioned in contact with the bottom surface and the second layer being positioned remote from the bottom surface. The diecut extends through the first layer but not through the second layer. The diecut further includes a segment dividing the material into two equal portions with the segment terminating short of the first layer. A release material is interposed between the intermediate material and laminate on one of the two equal portions. The inventive method includes providing a series of the aforementioned laminates and a web or length of the imprintable material equipped with spaced areas of release material. The series of laminates and web are united with a laminate extending over and beyond a confronting release material area. Thereafter the diecutting is performed to give the generally rectangular card bisected as above.
Other objects and advantages of the invention can be seen in the ensuing specification.


The specification discloses a vehicle twist beam axle subassembly incorporating a twist beam axle of generally V-shaped cross section formed of two legs which diverge away from the integral bight thereof, the ends of the legs being curled back into elongated generally circular loops weldably bonded to the legs, and the loops having flattened portions to be tuned to a predetermined torsional resistance.

This invention relates to vehicle axles and axle subassemblies, and particularly to trail arm twist beam axles and axle subassemblies.
A trail arm twist beam axle is intended to semi-isolate one wheel of a vehicle such as an automobile from the opposite wheel. Connection points are made to the body mounts, wheel spindles, shocks and springs, as well as to track bars for lateral stability. Individual component pieces typically making up an axle assembly include the twist beam, trail arms, flanges, spring supports, jounce bumpers, shock mounts, bushing mounts and torsion bar.
Various cross sectional configurations have been suggested for twist beam and torsion bar elements heretofore, although typically a twist beam comprises an inverted, U-shaped beam for bending loads, coupled with a separate solid torsion rod of different material and characteristics from those of the beam, and extending through the open central portion of the beam, for accommodating torsional loads. The U-shaped beam is normally a drawn or stamped member which is not strong in torsion. Both ends are attached to stubs extending in from the spring seats. The separate rod to control torsional loads is specially fabricated of a high strength steel. Its ends are attached separately from, and in a special relationship relative to, the ends of the beam. The material costs, manufacturing costs and assembly costs of the two-piece twist beam and torsion bar arrangement are significant.


A compact and lightweight zoom lens includes a first lens unit having a positive refractive power and a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, and performs zooming by changing the distance between the first and second lens units. The zoom lens satisfies required conditions related to the glass material, lens shape and optical power of the first and second lens units, and achieves a high zooming ratio ranging from 2.6 to 3 and high optical performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens consisting of two lens units which is best suited for a lens-shutter camera, a video camera and the like, and more particularly, to a zoom lens with a wide angle of view of about 74.degree. at the wide-angle end and a zooming ratio of about 2.7, which excellently corrects the aberrations and shortens the total lens length (the distance between a first lens plane and an image plane) by appropriately setting the configuration of lenses in the lens units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the need for a compact zoom lens, whose total lens length is short, has increased with downsizing of a lens-shutter camera, a video camera and the like. In particular, it is requested that a zoom lens be attached to a compact camera such as a lens-shutter camera in which no lenses are interchanged, and there are strong demands for a compact zoom lens having almost the same length as a conventional fixed-focus camera.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 57-201213, 60-170816, 60-191216, 62-56917 and the like, the present applicant proposed a compact and so-called two-unit zoom lens which consists of a first lens unit having a positive refractive power and a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, positioned in the given order from the object side, and which performs zooming by changing the distance between the lens units.
The two-unit zoom lens having high optical performance disclosed in these patent applications arranges a positive refractive power and a negative refractive power in the given order from the object side, achieves a relatively short back focus, and shortens the total lens length.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-284319, 63-256915, 64-52111, 1-193807 and the like disclose a two-unit zoom lens which consists of a first lens unit having a positive refractive power and a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, and performs zooming by moving both of the lens units forward while changing the distance between the lens units.
Still furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-50118, 2-71220, 2-190812, 4-145408 and the like disclose a two-unit zoom lens having a relatively high zooming ratio, which consists of a first lens unit having a positive refractive power and a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, and performs zooming by changing the distance between the lens units.
In the above-mentioned two-unit zoom lenses consisting of a first unit having a positive refractive power and a second lens unit having a negative refractive power, it is necessary to appropriately set the layouts of lenses in the lens units in order to achieve good correction of distortion on the wide-angle side, to downsize the total lens system while ensuring a predetermined amount of light on the periphery of the image plane, to obtain a wide field angle of about 74.degree. at the wide-angle end and a zooming ratio of about 2.7, and to maintain high optical performance over the entire zoom range.
Generally, the zooming ratio of such a two-unit zoom lens can be easily increased by increasing the refractive powers of the first and second lens units, which decreases the moving amount of the lens units in zooming, and shortens the total lens length. However, if the refractive powers of the lens units are simply increased, the changes in aberration resulting from zooming are increased, and made difficult to correct.


A float collar 10 includes a housing 12 and a generally sleeve-shaped elastomer 20. The lower plate 30 and an upper plate 32 are each supported on an elongate rod 22, and at least one of the plates is axially fixed relative to the tubular housing. The plate intended for exposure to fluid pressure includes a plurality of arcuate flow ports 34 for communication with the annulus between the tubular housing and the elastomer prior to swelling of the elastomer.

Numerous types of float shoes and float collars have been devised. A float shoe is a type of downhole valve that is used at the lower end of a tubular string and is conventionally adapted to be a float collar and to support another tool or a length of tubular below the collar. The float shoe is functionally similar to a float collar, but conventionally has a rounded lower end with no equipment beneath the shoe. Many float shoes include one or more poppet valves that are controlled by fluid pressure to open and close off a flow of fluid through the tool.
The following U.S. patents relate generally to float shoes and collars: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,173,457, 6,199,221, 6,311,775, 6,334,487, 6,390,200, 6,401,824, 6,467,546, 6,491,103, 6,497,291, 6,513,598, 6,679,336, 6,684,957, 6,712,145, 6,772,841, 6,802,374, 6,962,163, 7,029,274, 7,101,176, 7,234,522. Swellable packers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,814,947, 2,945,541, 4,137,970, 4,520,227 and 4,633,950, and Publications 2005/0199401 and WO 02/20941.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention and an improved float shoe and float collar are hereinafter disclosed which use a swellable elastomer to reliably close off the flow port through the tool.


A holster 101 for a portable electronic device 116 having a user interface 108 disposed upon said holster. The user interface is electrically coupled, through an electrical connector 202 to the portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inserted into a cavity 102 of the holster. The user interface rotates or unfolds from the holster so that the user can interact with the user interface.

The present invention relates generally to user interfaces. More particularly the present invention is directed to incorporating a user interface into a holster.
Handheld electronic devices, such as cellular radiotelephones are generally small and lightweight, making them portable and easy to carry. As a result, they are highly function specific and they only require limited user interface capability. However, the current trend is to combine cellular radiotelephones with other electronic device. As a result of this trend, device operation has become more complex, adding features such as internet browsing, text messaging, video streaming and personal information management (PIM) in to typical voice communication operation. As a consequence these devices either increase in complexity of operation or must increased in device size to accommodate the needed user interface capability, both of which are contrary to the desire to reduce device size, weight and ease of use.
One solution currently being adapted is to add multiple functions to a single button say on the keypad of a cellular radiotelephone. Each device mode type however requires a unique user interface that compliments the functionality of the different mode types and therefore requires that many functions be added to a limited number of buttons. This often leads to operator confusion and increased complexity of device operation, inhibiting use.
Another solution adapted to increase the user interface capability is the addition of external devices for data entry such as portable keyboards. Some of the keyboards are folding but nevertheless must be carried in addition to the electronic device making them awkward and cumbersome to the user. In addition these types of devices substantially increase the weight of the overall portable device making them less attractive to the user and again inhibiting use. These device must also be carried separately in a bag making them even more cumbersome and more easily lost.
Accordingly, a system is needed to allow easy data entry yet maintain portability and wearability of wireless communication devices.

Method and apparatus for a holster having a user interface


A driving method of a display panel and a display apparatus are provided. The method includes: dividing pixels into multiple pixel groups; displaying each picture by sequential multiple frames of images and dividing the frames of images into two groups respectively as first and second frame units with equal numbers of frames; obtaining first and second voltage signals of each pixel group in each frame of image; and adjusting the first and second voltage signals to make average signals of all first voltage signals of respective frames of images be the same, average signals of all second voltage signals of respective frames of images be the same, average signals of first voltage signals in the frames of images of different pixel groups respectively be the same, and average signals of second voltage signals in the frames of images of different pixel groups respectively be the same.

An exemplary liquid crystal display technology uses a 6-bit driver IC to realize an 8-bit picture quality resolution rendering, and further uses a FRC (Frame Rate Control) technology to divide two adjacent grayscales into more than two grayscales and display a target display grayscale by multiple frames distributed in quantity, so as to achieve the showing of equivalent brightness perceived by human eyes based on persistence of vision.
However, when displaying a 125th-level luminance signal and a 57th-level luminance signal, because the 6-bit driver IC only can realize 8-bit resolution displays of the 124th-level luminance signal as well as the 128th-level luminance signal and 8-bit resolution displays of the 56th-level luminance signal as well as the 60th-level luminance signal, and therefore it needs multiple frames to distribute for display. If average brightnesses based on the distribution are different, equivalent brightnesses perceived by human eyes would have bright and dark changes, the naked eyes will feel the noticeable flicker phenomenon of unequal brightness, and it will result in poor display quality for display panels.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Driving method of display panel and display apparatus for controlling image frames and sub-pixels


A power tool that can switch from a hammer drill to a set tool for placing anchors in a surface such as concrete. Changing from a rotating drill to set tool bits is done by a two finger snap lock handle on the top of the drill. A magazine attachable to the power tool contains a plurality of anchors allowing the user of the power tool to set more than one anchor without having to manually place each anchor in the power tool.

Concrete fasteners, such as lead anchors and drop-ins, are typically set in concrete using three separate types of tools. Those tools include a hammer drill, a setting tool and a hammer. First, a person must drill a hole to a predetermined depth using the hammer drill. Second, the person must then put down the hammer drill and pick up the setting tool. The concrete fastener is then placed on the setting tool. Lastly, the person must then grab the hammer to set the anchor in the hole drilled by the hammer drill. At times, additional tools are required such as channel locks to remove the set tool. The invention described herein allows a person to accomplish the three steps in one tool allowing installations to go faster. In addition to saving time, the invention allows costs related to capital and labor to decrease.


The present disclosure provides an organic transistor and a manufacturing method thereof, an array substrate, and a display device. The method for manufacturing the organic transistor includes: applying a photoresist on a side of an organic insulating layer; patterning the photoresist to form a confinement well; adding a solution of an organic semiconductor material and an orthogonal solvent to the confinement well; volatilizing the orthogonal solvent by an annealing process to induce directional growth of single crystal of the organic semiconductor material in the confinement well, thereby obtaining an organic single crystal layer; and removing remaining photoresist and using the organic single crystal layer as an active layer. The embodiment of the present disclosure produces an organic single crystal in a flexible display device at a low temperature, and the organic single crystal can be used as an active layer, resulting in an organic transistor having high mobility and stability.

In the field of conventional flat panel display, the glass substrate is a basic material. However, ultra-thin glass is fragile and costly, thus it is difficult to manufacture large-sized flexible displays with the ultra-thin glass. The use of organic flexible substrates is a good alternative solution.
However, organic substrates are typically unable to withstand high temperatures (>200° C.), which makes silicon-based plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD, with a temperature range close to 300° C.) cannot be carried out on organic substrates, so it is difficult to obtain a high quality film of a-Si, LTPS or SiNx on an organic substrate. In addition, for an oxide semiconductor material typified by an amorphous oxide semiconductor (e.g., IGZO: In—Ga—Zn—O), although a magnetron sputtering process does not require a high temperature, an indispensable annealing process with a high temperature of 300° C. or higher is still required to obtain a high quality film.
In order to achieve a fully flexible display, get functional devices such as e-paper, electronic skin and printable displays, the traditional silicon-based process should be abandoned, and devices may be built with flexible organic materials realized by low-temperature deposition. At present, it is not so difficult to use organic materials to make organic insulating layers and encapsulating layers. The core problem lies in the construction of semiconductor layers. Although traditional organic thin film transistors have been studied for more than 30 years (first reported in 1986), low mobility and unstable threshold voltages are still difficult to overcome. Organic single crystals have become an alternative. Although the preparation of single crystals is complicated, it is not impossible to obtain single crystals by controlling the process conditions. Moreover, the single crystal inherently has little carrier traps and lattice defects, so that the performance of the single crystal-constructed TFT device is much better.
Organic thin film transistors have been used to achieve high resolution electronic paper with good results. However, since the product is made of an organic polymer semiconductor, the semiconductor has a low mobility and the response time is too long, so it can only be used for electronic paper reading. Currently, there are no products related to organic single crystals. Although some proposals have been made for the preparation of single crystals, the actual production efficiency is still low, which cannot satisfy the mass production.

Organic transistor and manufacturing method thereof, array substrate, display device


A card connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulating housing defining a card receiving space, a plurality of contacts retained in the insulating housing and exposed into the card receiving space, an ejector disposed in the insulating housing and a locking member. The ejector comprises a movable slider, a spring and a holding equipment to securely hold the slider in a final position and to release the slider from the final position when ejecting the card. The locking member has a retaining portion immovably fixed relative to the insulating housing and a latching portion locking the card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a card connector, and especially to a card connector which is used for consuming products such as digital cameras or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, consuming conducts, such as digital cameras, PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) and the like, need electrical cards to enlarge and enhance functions thereof. Therefore, card connectors adapted for receiving the corresponding cards is designed to accomplish requirements between the consuming products and the electrical cards. Commonly, a card connector often has an ejector to eject the corresponding card out therefrom and a locking arm to hold the card on a normal working state.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,632 discloses a card connector comprising an insulating housing defining a card receiving space and an ejector for ejecting a card received therein. The ejector has a slider with an ejecting bar for ejecting the card, a coil spring and a locking member fixed to the slider. The locking member moves along with the slider in a card insertion/ejection direction and moveably protrudes into a notch formed on the card to hold the card in a final position where the card is electrically connected with the card connector. However, the locking member is formed by a metal haulm bent several times to get a certain shape, and each corner of the locking member must be accurate for being able to engage with the card and the slider, so the locking member increases the manufacturing and assembly cost. Otherwise, the slider need to provide a gap adjacent to the ejecting bar for retaining the locking member, the gap reduces the intensity of joint where the ejecting bar links with the slider and may cause the ejecting bar to break off after repetitious use.
Hence, an improved card connector is highly desired to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art.


A cooling assembly including a generally cylindrical body to be inserted inside the generally cylindrical internal stator of an electric machine is described herein. The body includes a cylindrical external contact surface configured and sized to contact the internal surface of the stator. The bottom surface of the body is machine with a channel that is partially closed by a cover to yield a peripheral fluid passage inside the body. An inlet and an outlet aperture are provided.

Electric machines are well known in the art. They usually have a fixed stator and a rotating rotor. Generally, the stator is external and the rotor is rotatably mounted inside the stator, coaxially therewith.
In some electric machines, the stator is internal and the cylindrical rotor is coaxially mounted outside the stator. These machines will be referred herein as internal stator electric machines.
Cooling internal stator machines is a challenge since one cannot rely on the air surrounding the stator as a cooling medium to cool the stator by convection. Indeed, it is well known that heat is mainly generated inside the stator of an electric machine. When the stator is external, fins may be added to the machine casing and the machine may be cooled by convection. However, when the stator is surrounded by the rotor, adequate convection cooling may not take place and other ways must be devised to extract heat from the internal stator.


Disclosed are real-time insect surveillance sensor devices and methods that use a colorimetric readout for detecting insect disease vectors (such as mosquitoes which can transmit pathogens such as DENV, CHIKV, and ZIKV). The method involves an attractive or feeding solution combined with detector conjugates. The conjugate can specifically detect proteins present in insect saliva and/or proteins specific to mosquito-borne pathogens.

Dengue virus (DENV) is a single-stranded mosquito-borne RNA virus that is a member of the Flaviviridae family, genus flavivirus, which has four distinct serotypes known as DENV 1-4. It is responsible for dengue fever, characterized by high fever, debilitating headache, malaise, nausea, vomiting, body aches, swollen glands and rash, all of which are temporary and resolve within a week or two. Though there is no cure for dengue fever, and a vaccine is still in clinical trials, the disease is rarely fatal if well-managed. In a small amount of cases (about 1% annually), the disease takes on a more sinister form as dengue shock syndrome (DSS)/dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and does result in an estimated 22,000 deaths, most of which are children.
The vast majority of the dengue fever cases documented in the continental United States are travel-associated or imported with travelers acquiring the disease while visiting foreign lands where dengue is endemic and then returning/immigrating to the US. However, locally-transmitted DENV has occurred in Texas, Hawaii and Florida. DENV is a global threat with over 2.5 billion people at risk for infection and an estimated 284-528 million cases annually.
Chikungunya (CHIKV) is a single-stranded mosquito-borne RNA virus that is a member of the Togaviridae family, genus alphavirus. The early clinical presentation of CHIKV infection is similar to DENV and it can be difficult to distinguish the two initially. However, extremely painful, debilitating polyarthralgias (pain in multiple joints) and higher fevers are much more typical in CHIKV infections. The joint pain and swelling can last for weeks to months, or even years, thereby negatively impacting the quality of life of people long after the acute disease phase has passed. Although there is no cure or clinically available vaccine for CHIKV, the disease is rarely fatal if well-managed.
Like dengue, chikungunya threatens populations mainly in Africa and Asia, but tends to occur in epidemic outbreaks infecting large populations over discrete spans of time opposed to being a long-standing threat consistently afflicting large numbers of people annually. Almost all documented cases in the US are imported, however in December of 2013, locally-acquired CHIKV infections were reported on the Caribbean island of St. Martin and then in Florida in 2014.
Both dengue (DENV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses are significant global health burdens and are emerging pathogens in the State of Florida and the southern United States. These arboviruses are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Aedes (Ae.) aegypti is the principal vector for DENV with Ae. albopictus documented as a secondary vector while Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus are the primary vectors for CHIKV. Both of these species of mosquitoes are resident populations in Florida. In 2010, the Florida Department of Health reported that 66 locally-acquired cases of DENV had occurred in Key West, and the first locally-acquired CHIKV cases were confirmed in Florida in July of 2014. Eleven cases of locally-transmitted CHIKV have since been confirmed in Florida counties.
Zika (ZIKV) virus is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen vectored by Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Ae. albopictus. Large numbers of travel-acquired cases of Zika fever have already been confirmed in the United States, and locally transmitted Zika virus has been confirmed in Florida. With the link strengthening between Zika infection during pregnancy and devastating birth defects, the capabilities of vector mosquito surveillance must be bolstered as it serves as one of the primary means to identify at-risk areas and enact timely preventative measures. Mosquito control districts are accordingly in need of robust surveillance tools capable of detecting targets like ZIKV in real time via simple readouts.
In summary, dengue fever (DENV), chikungunya (CHIKV), and Zika (ZIKV) viruses are emerging mosquito-borne pathogens in the state of Florida vectored by Aedes (Ae.) aegypti and Ae. Albopictus. Confirmed locally-acquired cases of dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus infection over the past five (5) years present a heightened risk for epidemics of these diseases in Florida, as well as in the traditional endemic areas in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a strategy to combat this problem.
The devices and methods disclosed herein address these and other needs.

Passive insect surveillance sensor device

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A local coil system for a magnetic resonance imaging system and a magnetic resonance imaging system include a local coil. The local coil includes a pressure element that may be filled with a fluid, and a controllable fluid supply device that at least at the imposition of the local coil to the object under examination and/or during the operation of the local coil, is coupled to the pressure element. The controllable fluid supply device is embodied such that the pressure of the pressure elements attained with the aid of the fluid, imposed on the object under examination may be changed, at least area by area.

The present embodiments relate to a local coil.
Imaging systems that are based on a method of magnetic resonance measurement (e.g., of nuclear spin; magnetic resonance tomography) may be used for a wide range of applications. With this type of image acquisition, a powerful static basic magnetic field B0 is used for the initial alignment and homogenization of magnetic dipoles that are to be examined. For the determination of material properties of an object of examination that is to be imaged, the dephasing or relaxation time is determined after a deflection of the magnetization out of the initial alignment, such that various different material-typical relaxation mechanisms or relaxation times may be identified. The deflection may be attained via a number of HF pulses using an HF transmitter device of the magnetic resonance imaging system. A suitable measurement of the magnetization at the particular moment of the object under examination for the determination of the material-typical relaxation times and material-typical properties is effected with the aid of receiver coils that are matched to the material-typical properties. In order to improve the quality of the magnetic resonance recording, it is advantageous for these receiver coils to be arranged in the immediate vicinity of the object under examination or of a patient or test subject. Such receiver coils or transmitter coils, which are arranged in the immediate vicinity of the object under examination, are known by the term "local coils".
In order to obtain the advantages of being located close to the object such as, for example, a favorable signal-to-noise ratio, the relative position of the local coil in relation to the object under examination during a recording sequence is to be determined in a defined manner.
By way of example, various fixing mechanisms are known, such as tension bands and the like, which make possible the fixation of the local coils in relation to the patient (e.g., the test subject). For example, a local coil may be fixed on or around a wrist, a knee, or the like. Because the local coil may only be adapted to a certain degree to the object under examination, additional wedge elements or foam inlays may be used in order to retain the local coil in a specifically determined position in relation to the object under examination. This vastly delays the sequence of operational steps for the acquisition of magnetic resonance images, as well as being unpleasant for the test subject.

Control of a pressure of a local coil in relation to an object under examination


A safe, efficient, human powered vehicle for on and off road use. The preferred embodiment has four wheels and seats two operators side by side. The vehicle incorporates several features which drastically reduce the energy required to propel such a vehicle and optimizes the energy produced from the operators. Each operator is provided with an independent foot pedal and drive mechanism. Each independent drive mechanism has multiple speeds which are independently controlled by each operator. The invention allows each operator to provide power to both rear wheels simultaneously. The drive train includes a simple, lightweight, energy efficient freewheel mechanism which acts as a differential and allows each rear wheel to rotate at different speeds when turning corners. This differential mechanism saves energy by eliminating tire skid which occurs when both rear wheels rotate at the same speed during a turn. The suspension system is energy efficient. Both the front and rear suspension systems keep each wheel parallel to the other wheels throughout the suspension travel. The suspension design reduces energy loss due to toe change, bump steer, and the like. The vehicle incorporates a unique braking control mechanism which increases maneuverability and control of the vehicle. The vehicle's four wheel design provides increased stability and safety over conventional two and three wheeled human powered vehicles.

This invention relates generally to human powered vehicles and more specifically to four wheel, two person, human powered vehicles.
The history of land based human powered vehicles is relatively short. The first pedal driven bicycles were invented in the mid 1800's. Since that time, land based human powered vehicles have been continually improved, redesigned, modified, and adapted to many uses.
Efficiency has been an important consideration in the design of human powered vehicles. The human body is capable of producing only a fraction of one horse power for any sustained length of time and thus any waste of this energy greatly affects the performance and usefulness of a human powered vehicle.
To improve efficiency, human powered vehicles have become lighter and multi-speed gearing has been added. The frames, wheels, bearings, and tires have all been improved to increase efficiency. Even the position of the operator has been changed to reduce wind resistance and improve human body efficiency.
The most popular of human powered vehicles are bicycles. Bicycles, however, are very unstable by design. At low speeds they tend to fall over. At higher speeds, an unexpected bump, turn, or obstacle can cause the bicycle to crash. If more than one person is to ride on a bicycle they must ride in tandem. The tandem configuration is even more unstable and requires much skill and practice to ride safely.
For these reasons, and others, three and four wheeled human powered vehicles have been developed.
Three and four wheeled human powered vehicles are well known in the art. However, prior designs are all deficient in one or more respects. Examples of patented three and four wheeled vehicles are:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,190, entitled "Dual Wheel Driven Tricycle With A Fully Enclosed Multiple Speed Drive" issued to Hartmann on May 2, 1989 shows a single seat tricycle with a multi-speed transmission. This vehicle does not have four wheels, carries only a single operator, does not have any suspension, uses a complex transmission mechanism and does not have a single control for independently controlling the braking applied to each rear wheel. This vehicle's freewheels for dual wheel drive are mounted on heavier load bearing axles at each rear wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,032, entitled "Four Wheel Pedal Driven Vehicle" issued to Cunningham on Jan. 24, 1978 shows a four wheel tandem vehicle. This vehicle does not have an independent drive train for each operator nor does it allow each operator to use a different gear ratio. It drives only one rear wheel in the forward speed and has no substantial suspension system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,9663,381 entitled "Adult Tricycle" issued to Feikema on Oct. 30, 1990 shows a one person tricycle. This vehicle does not have four wheels, only drives a single rear wheel, has room for only one operator, and has no suspension system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,762 entitled "Four-Wheel, Reclining Position Cycle" issued to Nelson et al. on Jun. 23, 1987 shows a one person four wheel human powered vehicle This vehicle only seats one operator, drives only one rear wheel, has no suspension, and does not provide for controlling the rear brakes independently.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,149 entitled "Pedal-Powered Golf Cart" issued to Harmon on Dec. 20, 1988 shows a three wheel two person human powered vehicle. This vehicle uses a transmission box, a drive shaft, and differential joint. The drawbacks of this vehicle are that it is specifically adapted for use on a golf course or the like. It is not designed for high speeds, does not provide independent gearing for each operator, and has very limited suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,258 entitled "Multipassenger Pedal vehicle" issued to Ansel on Jun. 6, 1978 shows a multi-passenger vehicle with three, four or more wheels. This vehicle only allows an operator to drive a single rear wheel. It is a tricycle like configuration which is inherently unstable, and does not have any suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,200 entitled "Tricycle Drive Mechanism" issued to Jones on May 15, 1990 shows a single passenger tricycle. This vehicle uses a push-pull type drive mechanism instead of a cranking foot pedal. The operator uses both his arms and his legs to propel the vehicle. This vehicle only allows one operator, does not have multiple gearing and has no suspension.
Clearly, there exists a need for an improved four wheel human powered vehicle which is stable, efficient, seats multiple operators and is usable both on and off road.

Human powered four wheel on/off road vehicle


A film is delivered from a delivery roller and another film is delivered from another delivery roller. The two films are introduced between a heater and a receiver. The heater presses the two films against the receiver to bond the films. Then, the rear end of the film is cut off with fusing and the front end of another film is cut off with fusing by wire heaters. The bonded film is transferred through drive and pinch rolls to an accumulator for storing the film and is spread to open slits by holding rolls to form a longitudinal web, which is laminated on a lateral web manufactured in another process to form a reticulate non-woven fabric.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a web and an apparatus for manufacturing laminated material based on the web.
There is a known reticulate non-woven fabric in which a longitudinal web which has a number of slits along the length is laminated on a reticulate lateral web which has a number of slits along the width.
In the non-woven fabric, a long sheet-like member or a film(raw fabric) which has a number of slits along the length is delivered and is spread to open the slits and to form a longitudinal web. The longitudinal web is laminated on a lateral web manufactured in another process, so that a reticulate non-woven fabric is manufactured.
The length of film delivered is limited. Therefore, the rear portion of a first film is bonded with the front end of a second film to form a longitudinal web continuously.
There are known bonding methods as follows:
a) Films are bound to each other at several points. That is to say, fibers which are formed between slits in a film are bound to each other, so that they are bonded. PA0 b) Films are bonded with sheet-like bonding material such as an adhesive tape. PA0 c) Films are bonded with sheet-like bonding material such as an adhesive tape, and are further bonded by forming slits having a certain width in the bonded portion. (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Pub. No. 56-53259) PA0 d) Films are bonded by applying or spraying adhesives, or hot-melt.
However, the method "a" requires binding fibers at several points, which is troublesome and has low efficiency. The portions at which fibers are bound generate large cracks which have poor appearance and low strength when a reticulate non-woven fabric is formed by spreading and laminating the films, so that it could not be used as a final product. Thus, in order to exclude the poor portions at further process, it is necessary to rewind it, which is troublesome.
In the method "b", it is necessary to bond a film with another film by sheet-like bonding material, thereby making spreading impossible in spreading process. If it is forcibly spread, a large crack occurs similar to the method "a" and a poor product is manufactured, which needs troublesome rewinding similar to the method "a".
In the method "c", slits which have a predetermined width are formed in the bonded portion with sheet-like bonding material; so spreading would be possible in spreading process. But, when the film is spread, if slits are not minutely formed in the sheet-like bonding material, cracks are formed, thereby not only damaging bonded fibers but also sticking foreign matter thereto. The bonded portion is defective to involve disadvantage similar to the above "a". To form the slits in the bonded portion is not only troublesome, but also necessary to provide a cutter and drive means therefor.
In the method "d", there are disadvantages that adhesive are sticked to films to bond adjacent fibers to each other and to close slits, adhesives are sticked to spreading and transfer apparatus to become dirty, and the bonded portion may peel off owing to heating at thermal compression bonding in further laminating process.

Apparatus for manufacturing a web and method

Polymer Processing Research Institute, Ltd.


A method of producing a porous thin-film-deposition substrate, which has the steps of: placing onto a substrate that has an electrostatic charge on its surface, fine particles with a surface electrostatic charge opposite to the electrostatic charge of the substrate surface, depositing a thin film on the fine-particle-placed substrate, and then removing the fine particles to form fine pores in the thin film; further, a method of producing an electron emitting element, which has the steps of: adding a catalyst metal on a substrate, placing fine particles onto the catalyst-added substrate, depositing a thin film on the fine-particle-placed substrate, then removing the fine particles to form fine pores in the film, and growing needle-shaped conductors on the catalyst metal that is exposed on a bottom face of the fine pore.

Display devices such as liquid crystal displays and electroluminescence (EL) displays are provided with switching elements arranged matrix-wise on a substrate such as a glass substrate. The displays form a display pattern on an image plane by selectively driving thin film transistors (TFT) and pixel electrodes with switching elements. For example, in active matrix-type liquid crystal display devices, an array substrate is formed with TFTs, pixel electrodes and wiring which supplies signals to these parts, the substrate is disposed opposite to a counter substrate having counter electrodes, and a liquid crystal is sealed between such substrates.
As such a switching element for display devices, TFTs using silicon as the active layer have been used so far. However, a chemical vapor deposition growth (CVD) step is necessary to form the silicon thin film, which is a significant cause inhibiting reduction in production costs. Also, as the substrate, a glass substrate is usually used. However, a glass substrate is less resistant to impact and tends to break. It is proposed to use a polymer film as a substrate to cope with problems concerning the breakdown of a substrate and with the development of light-weight and flexible display devices. However, the polymer film is considerably inferior to a glass substrate in heat resistance and is unsuitable to a process of producing a silicon TFT. In light of this, studies are being made as to switching devices using, as the active layer, an organic semiconductor that can be formed at low temperatures in an inexpensive process.
Also, the mobility of carriers in an organic semiconductor is the same as or lower than that in amorphous silicon, and therefore only insufficient ON-current value is obtained. The mobility of carriers in an organic semiconductor is not sufficient to drive, particularly, a current drive-type display device such as EL displays.
There is a static induction transistor (SIT) as a switching element by which a relatively preferable ON current value is obtained even if the mobility is low. SITs are vertical transistors in which current flows in the direction of the thickness of the film and are different from usual TFTs which are horizontal types in which current flows in the direction of the sheet of the active layer. FIG. 29 is a schematic sectional view showing the general structure of a SIT. SITs generally have structures similar to those of tripods, provided on a substrate 101, in which a sheet-like gate electrode 104 formed with a large number of through-holes 108 (hereinafter called "slit" or "gate hole") are interposed between a pair of parallel plate type electrodes each constituted of a source electrode 103 and a drain electrode 102. Semiconductor layers 105a and 105b are filled between these parallel plate electrodes and the gate hole. When voltage is applied across the gate electrode 104, a depletion layer is formed in the semiconductor layers 105a and 105b penetrating the gate hole, whereby current can be controlled.
In order to sufficiently reduce the low driving voltage and the OFF-current value in SITs using an organic semiconductor as the active layer, it is necessary to control current also in a thin depletion layer. It is therefore necessary to make the gate hole small-sized. Specifically, because organic semiconductors generally have more insufficient carrier mobility than inorganic semiconductors, the density of a dopant must be higher in order to obtain a sufficient ON-current value. When the density of a dopant is high, the depletion length of a depletion layer is shorter even under the same voltage. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the hole diameter of the gate hole to 10 μm or less, though it depends on the concentration of a dopant in the case of SITs using an organic semiconductor as the active layer.
However, the diameter of the gate hole which can be manufactured by a lithographic process which is usually used in the production of a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display and is carried out at relatively low costs and a low resolution is about several μms. Therefore, if it is intended to form a gate hole having a diameter of 10 μm or less precisely, high costs are necessitated. Also, there is the problem that the organic semiconductor layer is deteriorated in the step of peeling resists and metal films in the case of using a lithographic process using a current resist polymer on the organic semiconductor layer which has been already formed.
An attempt is made to use a discontinuous film that is thinly vapor-deposited as the gate electrode in SITs using an organic semiconductor as the active layer (see Kudo et al., "Synthetic Metals," 1999, vol. 102, pp 900-903). However, the sizes of pores in the formed porous structure are not uniform and it is therefore difficult to obtain good switching characteristics. Moreover, the porous structure of the gate electrode is greatly changed according to the vapor deposition condition. It is therefore difficult to keep the characteristics of each element at a fixed level in the case of a switching element array for a display which array must be formed collectively on a substrate having a large area.
To solve this problem, a method is proposed in which a polymer film having a micro-phase isolated structure is used as an etching mask used to produce a gate electrode (see the publication of JP-A-2001-189466, JP-A means unexamined published Japanese patent application). However, it is difficult to prepare the polymer film having the micro-phase isolated structure suitable to the process. This method has also many steps and it is difficult to say that this process is an inexpensive one.
Moreover, an attempt is made to stick microparticles to a substrate. However, because this method is unsatisfactory in the stability of the stuck microparticles, and is therefore assumed to be unsuitable to utilization as alternate technologies for semiconductor lithography, it has yet to be applied to semiconductor manufacturing (see P. Hanarp et al., Colloid and Surfaces, Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 214 (2003) 23-26). There is an example in which microparticles are used as a shadow mask in a vapor deposition process to carry out film formation or etching (see C. Wedinius et al., Langmuir, 2003, 19. pp. 458-468) and another example in which a device having pores is formed (see Muraishi et al., "Shingaku Giho," 2002, Vol. 15, pp. 13-17). It is however difficult to obtain a sufficient ON-current value by the element structure disclosed here.
On the other hand, along with the development of nanotechnologies, a method of producing fine structures having nano-size by using super-fine processing technologies has been developed. Methods of producing a resist pattern (so-called photolithography) by using electron rays or exposure to light are known as typical methods of producing dot patterns or line patterns to arrange nano-size fine structures regularly on a substrate.
FIG. 30 is a diagram showing a conventional method thereof. This method includes the following process: A resist layer 902 is applied to the surface of a substrate 901 (step I), an exposure resist layer 902a part of the resist layer 902 is exposed to a transmission light 906 through a photomask 903 (step II), then, a resist layer 902b patterned by developing is formed (step III), a catalyst metal 904 such as gold and platinum is vapor-deposited on the resist layer 902b (step IV), and then, the patterned resist layer 902b is lifted off. By this process, a patterned catalyst metal 904a is stuck to and remains on the surface of the substrate 1 (step V). After that, a fine structure 905a is formed on the substrate 901 and is made to grow into a structure like a fine structure 905b (step VI) by using a whisker crystal growth method, such as a chemical vapor phase growth (CVD) method or a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) method, using a catalyst metal.
Whisker crystals have, for example, a diameter of about 1.0 to 100 nm and a length of about 0.5 to 100 μm, and they are also called nanoscale conductor or nanowire. One known method of growing whiskers, for example, is a VLS method utilizing a VLS (Vapor-Liquid-Solid) mechanism by using metal microparticles as a catalyst, which is a phenomenon that occurs at a vapor-phase-vapor phase or liquid phase-solid phase boundary.
A method of growing whisker crystals under control and an example in which this method is applied to the production of a sharp point small cathode are disclosed in each publication of JP-A-5-97598, JP-A-7-221344 and JP-A-2002-220300 is disclosed. In this method, an opening is formed by etching in a silicon oxide (SiO2) film formed on a substrate made of silicon and, for example, gold or gallium microparticles are stuck as a catalyst metal to the opening and then heated to grow silicon oxide (SiO2) or silicon (Si) whisker crystals. For industrial utilization of these whiskers, studies are being made concerning field emission devices, ultrasonic wave vacuum-tube amplifiers, display devices (see, for example, each publication of JP-A-2001-57146 and JP-A-2001-96499), nanoscale conductive connectors (see, for example, the publication of JP-A-2001-102381), touch sensors (see, for example, the publication of JP-A-2001-153738), micro-interconnecting circuit devices (see, for example, each publication of JP-A-2001-141633 and JP-A-2001-177052) and emitter structures (see, for example, the publication of JP-A-2001-167692).
Moreover, an example in which a metal film of about micron size on a sapphire substrate by a resist pattern and an aggregate of zinc oxide (ZnO) whisker microcrystals is grown in a direction perpendicular to the substrate (see M. H. Huang et al., "Science," Vol. 292, 1897, 2001); an example in which a titanium oxide whisker is grown by heat treatment (see the publication of JP-A-2000-203998), and a method in which a nano-indenter that is a supermicrohardness meter is used to form a dot pattern to grow crystals from these dot patterns (the publication of JP-A-2004-12283), are known.
However, in these methods, it is difficult to arrange individual whisker crystals regularly on the substrate with maintaining each have a fine shape. These methods therefore can not be applied to electronic devices including electron emitting element.
Besides these methods in which microcrystals are grown on the substrate, other known methods of producing photonic crystals are a method in which holes formed by fine processing are used as dies to insert a thin film into these holes (see the publication of JP-A-2000-284136), a method in which a liquid polymer is cast (see the publication of JP-A-2001-91777), and a method in which a liquid polymer is filled (see the publication of JP-A-2002-277659). In recent years, a fine processing method has come to be known in which a resist is patterned using a scanning probe microscope as fine processing methods used in place of an electron ray or light exposure method (see the publication of JP-A-2000-340485).
However, these methods are unsatisfactory in the points of micronization and control of a device structure. Although an attempt is made to control a growth point, at least, devices having significantly high accuracy are required. Therefore, these methods unsuitable to industrial production, cannot be adopted.
Needle-like conductors such as whisker microcrystals are expected to be applied, particularly, to field emitters (also referred to simply as "emitter"). This is because the sharp end forms of these needle-like conductors are considered to be suitable to an emitter that emits electrons by applying a strong field to silicon or a metal tip. In addition, a fluorescent screen can be made to shine by making these emitted electrons run against the screen and therefore, these needle microcrystals are expected to be applied and developed widely in the fields of flat panel displays.
In this regard, the currently used field emitters are produced by making silicon or a metal have a sharp edge by processing it and the diameter of the end point is therefore as large as 20 to 30 nm. Electrons can only be emitted if a voltage close to or more than 100 V is applied. Also, the end points of sharp silicon and a metal are produced at a low yield, posing a large problem.
As materials used to solve this problem, studies are being made concerning the use of a carbon nanotube having a fine structure with a diameter as small as 1 to 10 nm. This reason is that the carbon nanotube is suitable for applications to field emitters. However, it is very difficult to handle this carbon nanotube and it is also difficult to selectively dispose it at necessary positions because of its too fine structure. After all, a method as primitive as mixing many nanotubes in glue, and applying the mixed glue to a substrate, is presently used. In this method, it is difficult to control the device structure exactly, and it is necessary to apply a voltage of 100 V or more to emit electrons.

Porous thin-film-deposition substrate, electron emitting element, methods of producing them, and switching element and display element


A process for producing an alkenyl alcohol from a diol is disclosed. The process comprises dehydrating a diol in the presence of a catalyst comprising cerium oxide supported on a carrier. The carrier has a surface area in the range of 0.1 to 50 m2/g. The catalyst is more active than unsupported cerium oxide.

Alkenyl alcohols are useful chemical intermediates due to their dual functionalities (a carbon-carbon double bond and a hydroxy group). Allyl alcohol (AA), the simplest alkenyl alcohol, is used in synthesizing epichlorohydrin, 1,4-butanediol, styrene-allyl alcohol copolymers, and diethylene glycol bis(allyl carbonate), a monomer for plastic optical lens (N. Nagato, "Allyl Alcohol and Monoallyl Derivatives," in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (2005) John Wiley & Sons, Inc., On-line Edition, posted on Feb. 13, 2004).
Allyl alcohol is commercially produced by two processes: isomerization of propylene oxide, and acetoxylation of propylene followed by hydrolysis of allyl acetate. Other methods investigated for allyl alcohol production include allyl chloride hydrolysis and propylene oxidation to acrolein followed by the reduction of acrolein (N. Nagato, supra). Recently, R. Sato et al. reported a process for making alkenyl alcohols by dehydrating diols in the presence of cerium oxide or a cerium-containing mixed oxide (Catal. Commun. 4(2) (2003) 77; J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem. 221(1-2) (2004) 177). Specifically, allyl alcohol is produced from 1,3-propanediol (PDO). However, improvement of the catalyst is needed to make the process commercially viable.


An exemplary audio signal transmission circuit includes a codec to provide analog and digital audio signals; an amplifier connected to the codec to receive the analog audio signals; a control circuit connected to the codec to receive the digital audio signals and connected to the amplifier to selectively turn off the amplifier; a front audio port connected to the amplifier to receive amplified analog audio signals generated by the amplifier; and a rear audio port connected to the amplifier and the control circuit to selectively receive the amplified analog audio signals or the digital audio signals. The control circuit and the front audio port are turned off when the rear audio port is connected to an analog system, and the amplifier and the front audio port are turned off when the rear audio port is connected to a digital system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to signal transmission circuits, and particularly to an audio signal transmission circuit.
2. Description of Related Art
Many conventional multimedia computers include a two-channel (stereo) multimedia computer audio system. Typically, a conventional two-channel multimedia computer audio system includes a rear audio interface typically used for headphones, lineout, or microphone, and two wide-band audio transducers or speakers as a front audio. Once a user plugs into the rear audio interface jack, the front audio (audio transducers or speakers) should be muted so that users do not hear anything from the front audio.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus is provided for managing chromatic dispersion in an NRZ-based WDM long-haul optical transmission system so that nonlinearities are reduced, especially those at the edge channels of the band. The method includes using between 500 ps/nm and 2000 ps/nm of residual dispersion and a 40%/60% pre/post DCU split ratio when the channel wavelengths are shorter than the zero dispersion wavelength. Using these dispersion compensation rules, the nonlinear propagation effects in NRZ-based WDM systems is reduced, thus allowing for higher optical power per channel and/or longer transmission distances.

Chromatic dispersion, or group-velocity dispersion, in optical communication systems is caused by a variation in the group velocity in a fiber with changes in optical frequency. This dispersion can cause pulse spreading in a lightwave signal, resulting in impaired system performance. Pulse spreading is especially troublesome in WDM transmission systems where two or more optical data carrying channels are combined onto a common path for transmission to a remote receiver.
When such a pulse, which may contain a spectrum of wavelengths, traverses the fiber, different wavelength components travel at different velocities. Thus, the pulse broadens as it travels down the fiber and by the time it reaches the receiver, it may have spread over several bit periods. This spreading may cause transmission errors. Furthermore, the wavelength dependence of chromatic dispersion is significant in long WDM systems because different wavelengths may need different dispersion compensation.
An NRZ modulation format is used to send binary information characterized by a light pulse that is rectangular and occupies the entire bit period. In contrast, in a Return-to-Zero (RZ) format, the light pulse occupies about half the bit period. The term NRZ describes the waveform's constant value characteristic when consecutive binary "ones" are sent. For example, if three binary "ones" are transmitted in a row, then the resulting waveform is a rectangle extending three entire bit periods, without returning back to zero.
The choice of the modulation format in WDM systems is a compromise between spectral efficiency and resistance against nonlinear propagation effects. The NRZ transmission format is particularly useful for transmitting large amounts of data over optically amplified fiber paths. As compared to Chirped-Return-to Zero (CRZ) (chirped RZ) or RZ, the NRZ modulation format is spectrally more efficient but is less resistant to nonlinearities. Consequently, known NRZ-based high-capacity WDM systems commonly operate at a low power per channel and usually over shorter distances to avoid these severe nonlinearities.
As NRZ-based systems provide a high degree of spectral efficiency, it would be desirable to decrease the nonlinear transmission penalties associated with NRZ format in long-haul WDM systems. This would allow systems to run at an increased power per channel and/or at longer distances.
Several known methods address the need for an NRZ-based WDM system with reduced nonlinearities. One group is known as pre-compensation (pre-launch compensation). Another group is known as post-compensation (compensation at the receiver terminal). Another known method of dispersion compensation is performed along the transmission line and known as dispersion mapping.
Dispersion mapping uses dispersion-shifted optical fiber as the preferred transmission medium. Through this technique, the zero dispersion wavelengths of the transmission fiber are offset from the operating wavelengths of the transmitter. The technique employs a series of amplifier sections having dispersion shifted fiber spans with either positive or negative dispersion. The dispersion accumulates over multiple fiber spans of approximately 500 to 1000 km. The fiber spans of either a positive or negative sign are followed by a dispersion-compensating fiber having dispersion of the opposite sign. This subsequent section of fiber is sufficient to reduce the average dispersion over the total length of the transmission system substantially to a zero.
The dispersion mapping technique is limited because the amount of dispersion that occurs in a typical optical fiber depends on the operating wavelength that is employed. This shortcoming may be overcome to a limited degree by using individual channel dispersion compensation at the receiver (post-compensation). However, because these systems are subject to nonlinear penalties, the ability to correct the non-zero dispersion at the receiver terminal is also limited.
Another approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,604. In the '604 patent, a method and apparatus is provided wherein the usable optical bandwidth of the transmission system is divided into sub-bands that individually undergo dispersion compensation before being re-combined. In this way, more WDM data channels reside near a wavelength corresponding to the average zero dispersion wavelength. However, for NRZ-based WDM systems, nonlinearities are still somewhat troublesome and not completely reduced, especially near the edge channels of a given band.
A further approach compensates for the line dispersion in the terminal dispersion compensation units (DCUs). This results in a residual dispersion very close to zero. The residual dispersion is the sum of the total amount of dispersion compensation and the accumulated dispersion in the transmission line, including the dispersion sign. Again, nonlinearities still exist, which effect the amount of power per channel that can be used as well as the total length of the system.
The above methods have certain disadvantages. Although those techniques are sufficient in reducing nonlinearities, there is still a need for improvement, especially where a given NRZ-based WDM system has strong nonlinearities at edge channels of a given band. Here, the channels accumulate a large amount of dispersion along the transmission line. It would be desirable to reduce the amount of nonlinearities while having an increased optical power per channel and increased system distances.

Method and apparatus for chromatic dispersion compensation


Side edge position detection processing includes adjustment of the light amount of light-emitting devices, a process of determining a threshold value for detecting the side edge position, and a process of reading out the side edge position. If a sensor is provided between a transfer roller pair and a registration roller pair as in conventional devices, sufficient processing time cannot be ensured. Therefore, the sensor is provided between the conveyance roller pair and the registration roller pair, and the light amount adjustment is executed before the registration roller pair that is being stopped for skew correction is driven. Further, the processes of determining the threshold and reading out the side edge position are executed after driving of the registration roller pair is resumed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sheet conveyance devices for conveying sheets.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image forming apparatuses control conveyance of recording material and image formation processing so as to form an image at a predetermined position on the recording material. If the recording material is conveyed obliquely relative to a conveyance direction (skew) or conveyed in a state of being misaligned in a direction (lateral direction) perpendicular to the conveyance direction (lateral position error), the image is not formed at the predetermined position. U.S. Pat. No. 8,079,589 proposes a skew correction mechanism for correcting skew of recording material. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-124752 proposes a correction mechanism for correcting lateral position error (lateral registration correction mechanism). Particularly, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-124752 proposes an invention that detects the position of a side edge of recording material using a line sensor provided on a conveyance path and shifts rollers in the lateral direction so that the side edge position is aligned with a predetermined position. Here, the "side edge" means a side of the recording material that is parallel to the conveyance direction, among four sides thereof.
To accurately align the side edge position with the predetermined positions, it is important to accurately detect the side edge position. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-25579 describes an invention that detects the side edge position by detecting that the level of an output signal from a comparator changed from an output level of reflected light from the surface of recording material to an output level of reflected light from a black conveyance guide.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-25579, a position detection sensor is provided between a registration roller and a photosensitive drum on a conveyance path. An advantage of providing the position detection sensor at this position is that position detection can be executed for recording material after a flexure thereof formed due to skew correction is resolved and the recording material returns to being substantially flat. If the position detection is executed on recording material with a flexure, a detection error occurs because the distance from the position detection sensor to the surface of the recording material is not a same value.
Thus, the invention described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-25579 is advantageous regarding the accuracy of the side edge position detection, but the time taken from the detection to toner image transfer is significantly short because the side edge position is detected immediately before the photosensitive drum that transfers a toner image. Moreover, recording material is conveyed without stopping in a zone from the registration roller to the photosensitive drum, and therefore, this time needs to be set short still further. Meanwhile, side edge position detection processing includes adjustment of the light amount of a light source for irradiating recording material with light, determination of a threshold value for detecting the side edge position, detection of the side edge position, and determination of the shift amount of the registration roller for correcting the side edge position. Recording material conveyance speed is becoming higher in recent years, and it is therefore very difficult to execute the aforementioned processes in such a short time.
As a result, the inventor of the present application thought that a longer detection time can be ensured by arranging a sensor for detecting the side edge position between the registration roller and a conveyance roller that is located on the upstream side of the registration roller in the conveyance direction. In this case, the leading edge of the recording material abuts the registration roller and skew is corrected, and thereafter, the flexure is resolved by rotating the registration roller and returning the recording material to being flat, and the side edge position of the recording material that is being conveyed is detected. Here, if the length of the recording material in the conveyance direction is long, the time taken to pass through the detection position of the sensor becomes long, and the detection time can be thus ensured. However, in the case of recording material of the smallest conveyable size for the conveyance device, such as a postcard or a business card, the time taken to pass through the detection position of the sensor inevitably becomes short. Note that the smallest conveyable size depends on the distance between the registration roller and the conveyance roller that is located upstream of the registration roller. As mentioned above, in order to improve the accuracy of the side edge position detection, the detection can be executed after the flexure is resolved. However, in the case of recording material whose length in the conveyance direction is short, sufficient detection time cannot be ensured because the time taken to pass through the detection position after the flexure is resolved is too short.

Sheet conveyance device for conveying sheet


A lift mechanism for mounting on the back of a motor vehicle having a trailer hitch. It includes a rearwardly extending tube mounted on the trailer hitch. A main hoist column is upstanding on the rearwardly extending tube. The main hoist column has an upper end which is attached to the back of the motor by a connection which allows both pivotal and back and forth movement of the upper end. First and second platforms are mounted by sleeves to move up and down on the main hoist column with the sleeves guided by rollers. Each platform can be swung between a horizontal position and a vertical position. An electric motor driven drum is provided for each platform with a cable wound around each drum having an end connected to its respective platform. A removable extension attaches to the rearwardly extending tube to provide a lower extension for the main hoist column.

Operators of motor homes frequently carry motorcycles, motor scooters, bikes, wheel chairs, four wheel scooters and similar small vehicles for local transportation when the motor home is parked at a vacation facility and connected to power, water and sanitary services. Conventionally, these small vehicles, when feasible, were manually lifted onto carrier racks attached to the rear of a motor home. For all but the lightest vehicles, this lifting was a strenuous task.
This invention is directed to a motorized lift mechanism for storage platforms which can be mounted on the rear of a motor home.
More specifically, this invention is directed to a motorized lift mechanism which provides carrier platforms capable of lifting and storing small motor vehicles on a motor home.
Further, this invention is directed to a motorized lift mechanism which can be supported on a trailer hitch of the type conventionally found on motor homes.
Yet another aspect of this invention is a motorized lift mechanism for dual platforms which platforms can be lowered to the ground to facilitate loading of motor vehicles thereon and raised high off the ground during travel of the motor home.
Another feature of the invention is storage platforms which may be folded flat during non-use.
Still another aspect of the invention is to provide covers for the motor vehicles stored on the storage rack to prevent the accumulation of dirt and dust.
Finally, the motorized lift mechanism of this invention provides a pair of storage platforms each vertically movable independently of the other.
Other advantages of the invention will be found in the following specification and drawings of this application.

Liftable dual cargo platforms for a motor home