Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing an enriched messaging service in a communications system is described. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a signaling message associated with a call at one of a plurality of service dispatch and control (SDC) functions, wherein the call signaling message includes a subscriber identifier. A plurality of call services associated with the subscriber identifier that is to be applied to the call is determined. The method also includes communicating the signaling message from the SDC function to a service platform and receiving back at the SDC function for each of the plurality of call services and thereby sequentially applying the call services to the call.

Presently, telecommunications service providers utilize different service application platforms in their networks in order to provide various services to a given call. For example, upon receiving a call signaling message, a servicing creation system (SCS) server node in a provider's network may send a message or forward a call signaling message (or an encapsulated version) to a plurality of service application platforms. More specifically, the message is sent to the service applications in a predefined order. After one service application platform has processed the message (e.g., invoked the service), the message is forwarded to the next service application platform according to the predefined order. Unfortunately, this configuration for distributing the call signaling message to each service application requires that each service platform is equipped with some form of intelligence so that the services applied to the call may be kept track of. In addition, because each service application platform may be required to provision the service platform subsequently accessed with failure scenarios, additional resources may be needed to provide the service platforms with the requisite processing power. Moreover, communications conducted among the service platforms typically require the involvement of non-standard signaling, which can give rise to communications and compatibility problems that may otherwise be avoided.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved methods, systems, and computer program products for applying multiple communications services to a call.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for applying multiple communications services to a call


A process for trapping and confining microorganisms in air using water-soluble polymers is disclosed. The water-soluble polymers are readily soluble in water or a physiological diluent, have reasonable mechanical strength so that they can be transported without rupture, retain water and adhere to microorganisms. A process for the rapid and sensitive detection of microorganisms in air under aseptic conditions is also disclosed.

Polymers consist of chains of repeat chemical units that occur naturally or by the virtue of their chemistry, they can be adapted to form synthetic polymers by control of the chemical structure and weight.
Synthetic polymers are made by the chemical reaction of monomers to form long polymer chains. The two primary variables that affect the physical properties of synthetic polymers are the chemical nature of the monomer repeat units and the molecular weight of the polymer, which can be precisely controlled. Thus, it is known that polymers with higher molecular weights possess greater mechanical strength, but are much more viscous in solution.
By varying the ratio of chemical groups within the polymer, one can adjust the physical properties of the polymer for particular applications. For instance, the mechanical strength and solubility of the polymers can be adjusted in this manner.
By blending different types of polymers, characteristics of the finished copolymer can exhibit optimized characteristics. By design and synthesis of specific polymers, materials can be generated with the exact properties required for a specific function. For example, by specific treatment, the surface area of a polymer plate (90 mm) can be increased from 1 meter squared to 1,500 meter squared. This single process will increase the physical and biological characteristics of the polymer into a more efficient mechanism for recovery of environmental organisms.
Water-soluble polymers are known in the art and are described by Prokop et al in "Water Soluble Polymers for Immunoisolation I: Complex Coacervation and Cytotoxicity" in Advances in Polymer Science, 136: pgs. 53 to 73 (1998). These polymers have a multitude of uses such as artificial hearts, as immunoisolation barriers, for pain control for terminal cancer patients and in the encapsulation of pancreatic islets.
Besides their medical uses, polymeric material is also used in laboratories in many of the supplies such as tests tubes, sample wells, pipette tips, disposable pipettes and the like.
For instance, as a solid support, various polymers were used in a method for detecting DNA in a cell, while preserving the morphology of the nucleus as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,954. In this method the DNA was deposited onto a polymeric membrane filter, incubated with a fluorescently labeled sample and detected using a labeled probe. The polymeric membranes utilized were made of polycarbonate, polyvinylidene fluoride, polysulfone, nylon, cellulosic esters, nitrocellulose and Teflon® (PTFE). The polymeric membranes described in this patent are water-insoluble polymers, since one of the requirements for this method is that the polymeric membranes must retain the cellular material through a series of treatments and washings and still remain intact.
EP 546 032 describes a method for immobilizing molecules, polymers or microorganisms by mixing with an aqueous solution dispersion of a polymer and applying the mixture to a coherent film. The membranes formed are water insoluble and can be stored dry.
The analysis of microorganisms is important in many different areas, for instance, in food preparation, drinking water, for pharmaceutical applications in drug production, for cosmetic analysis, in electronic industries and in the analysis of medical applications.
Samples for the testing of various microorganisms are generally collected using cotton swabs, for example, and sent to a laboratory for analysis. The analysis process requires that the samples first are cultured.
Alternatively rapid methods for analysis of microorganisms are also known in the art using biosensors. For example, WO 9931486 discloses biosensors having a polymer film coated with a metal and a patterned receptor layer printed onto the coated metal on which there is a receptive material that specifically binds analyte. The amount of microorganism that was attached to the biosensor was measured via a diffraction image upon irradiation with a laser.
Another type of biosensor is disclosed in WO 982747 which comprises a polymer film coated with a metal and a self-assembling monolayer having a receptive material on it specific for an analyte, printed onto the film. The self-assembling monolayer is printed in a pattern, so that, when the biosensor binds the analyte and the biosensor diffracts transmitted light to form a pattern.
It should be appreciated that although biosensors can detect various microorganisms in the environment measuring a diffraction pattern is often inaccurate, imprecise and lacks sensitivity.
Moreover, determination of the number of active microorganisms rather than total counts is of great importance in many areas of microbiology. Unfortunately, it is widely recognized that conventional culture techniques underestimate the fraction of, true viable microorganisms and that total counts, showing all microorganism particles, overestimate this fraction.
Besides the problems associated with obtaining an accurate number of microorganisms present in a sample, it is also known that culturing techniques on a growth medium are time-consuming and generally require between about eighteen hours and twenty days to obtain a result. The use of traditional growth medium is non-specific and natural, therefore variable and non-controlled.
One method that overcomes the requirement for the culturing of microorganisms after they are sampled is described in EP 0 816 513A1. This reference discloses the use of a pressure sensitive adhesive sheet for collecting microorganisms on surfaces that may contain the microorganism. The adhesive sheet is composed of a laminate of an adhesive layer mainly composed of a water soluble polymer and a water permeable membrane which does not permit the passage of microorganisms. Hence, EP 0 816 513A1 requires that at least two layers of the adhesive sheet be bonded together, one layer of which acts to capture the microorganisms in a process after sampling.
Moreover, the sampling of the microorganism with the pressure sensitive adhesive sheet requires that the adhesive layer be brought in contact with the surface of a test object such that accumulation of microorganisms is accomplished on the sheet Hence, even visual observation of microorganisms is accomplished using a chromagenic agent which is present in the adhesive layer or in water, which method cannot be very sensitive.
EP 0 816 513 A1 does not disclose or suggest that either their device to sample, requiring at least two laminated layers, and/or their method to detect microorganisms can be used for sterility testing of air samples in which very high sensitivity of detection is required.
Indeed, it is well known in the art that specific monitoring and control of aseptic environments is required for the processing of drugs, dosage forms and in certain cases medical devices. A large portion of sterile products are manufactured by aseptic processing since this process relies on the exclusion of microorganisms from the process stream and the prevention of microorganisms from entering containers during filling. Aseptic processing is generally performed in clean rooms and the environment is always carefully monitored.
Besides the use of aseptic conditions in the pharmaceutical industry, the electronic industry also uses and monitors clean rooms for the manufacture of electronic components, computer chips, computer components and the like.
The difference between these two industries in environmental monitoring is that in the electronic industry nonviable microorganisms or particulates are generally measured and there is less emphasis on the number of viable particulates or microorganisms. In contrast, in the pharmaceutical industry there is a much greater concern with respect to the point of viable microorganisms.
One method of monitoring in aseptic conditions is to ascertain the total particulate count. This method does not provide information concerning the microbiological content of the environment. The basic limitation of particulate counters is that they only measure particles of 0.5 μm or larger. While airborne particles are not free-floating or single cells, they frequently associate with particles of 10 μm to 20 μm and hence solely testing for particulate counts without microbial counts is discouraged.
It is known in the art that clean rooms must meet particular standards. In fact specifications for air changes per hour and velocities, although not included in federal standards, are customary. Thus, for example class 100,000 rooms in aseptic processing environments are designed to provide a minimum of 20 air changes per hour, while class 100 clean rooms provide more than 100 air changes per hour. By diluting and removing contaminants, large volumes of air are likely to reduce airborne contamination in aseptic production.
There are certain air cleanliness guidelines that must be met for the different grades of a clean room. Thus, for example, for class 100, the running mean of all data points must be <1 colony-forming unit (cfu) per cubic meter of air and at least 85% of all samples taken must be zero. For class 10,000 clean rooms, at least 65% of all the samples taken must be zero and for class 100,000 at least 50% of samples must be zero. Thus, these values are very critical in order to provide safe environmental monitoring.
There are many methods known in the art to sample viable airborne microorganisms such as the slit-to-agar sampler, the sieve impactor, the centrifugal sampler the surface air system sampler and the gelatin filter sampler. All of these samplers require a pump, motor or vacuum that either pulls or pushes air through the sampling unit The use of these "active" sampling devices can be inconvenient where there is space limitation in the clean room since they may occupy needed space. Moreover, these devices may also be a hazard to safe aseptic conditions, since they can disrupt directional air flow as a result of the size and location of the instrument or of the manner in which the equipment forces air into the sampling media or filter.
Another type of "non-active" sampling devices is settling plates. Setting plates are an easy and inexpensive way to qualitatively assess the air environment over long periods of time. Settling plates consist of agar which are placed in Petri dishes and are useful in critical areas where the use of an active sampling device is obstructive. In fact settling plates, when exposed for four to five hour periods, may provide a limit of detection similar to those observed with active sampling devices.
However, in many of these methods, agar is used as the medium to capture the microorganisms and it is known that agar shortages, as well as product variability have led to a search for suitable substitutes for agar.
Furthermore, it is well known in the art that the monitoring of microorganisms under aseptic conditions is not as yet perfected. Variations in sampling sensitivity and limits of detection can be attributed not only to the inherent characteristics of the sampling method itself, but also to media variability, incubation temperatures, sample handling and accidental contamination of the samples.
Moreover, microbial assessment of dean rooms is performed using methods that do not result in a quantitative assessment Rather, the methods used can be at best defined as semiquantitative. In fact many methods are only suitable to measure the presence of a typically high levels of microbial contamination and their accuracy and precision is very poor.
Therefore, there is a need in the art of environmental analysis of microorganisms to provide not only a rapid method of analysis for air samples, but also a means to accomplish this analysis with greater accuracy, especially in the sterility testing area.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems associated with the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to use water-soluble polymers to trap and confine microorganisms in air.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sensitive means for sterility analysis of air samples.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a polymer that has sufficient mechanical strength so that it can be transported, is soluble in water or other physiological diluents, retains water to a certain degree while maintaining live microorganisms in a viable status and can capture microorganisms from the air.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a process for rapidly detecting microorganisms in an unknown air sample.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process to detect microorganisms in an unknown air sample which does not require that the microorganism be subjected to further growth.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a process in which the variable and uncontrolled system of using growth medium is avoided.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention as evidenced by the summary of the invention, description of the preferred embodiments and the claims.

Process for trapping and confining microorganisms in air using water-soluble polymers


A plasma process apparatus for performing a plasma process on a target substrate 4 includes a process chamber 5 in which the target substrate 4 is installed, a gas inlet 6 for introducing a gas into the process chamber 5, and a plasma discharge production section 15 provided in the process chamber 5. The plasma discharge production section 15 includes a first electrode 2a and a second electrode 2b that is closer to the target substrate 4 than the first electrode 2a is. Only surfaces of the first electrode 2a and the second electrode 2b which can be seen in the normal line direction of the target substrate 4 function as plasma discharge surfaces. Thus, a high quality film is realized even at a low target substrate temperature, and the film formation is performed with high gas dissociation efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device having functionality and to a production method of the electronic device. Specifically, the present invention relates to an electronic device including a semiconductor film, an organic film, an insulating film, etc., and to a production method of the electronic device. Further, the present invention relates to a plasma process apparatus for forming a thin film of semiconductor, conductor, or the like. Specifically, the present invention relates to plasma process apparatuses, such as a plasma chemical vapor deposition apparatus using a plasma-activated chemical vapor deposition method, which is used for forming a thin film of semiconductor, conductor, or the like, a dry etching apparatus used for forming a thin film pattern of a semiconductor film or conductor film, and an asher apparatus for removing a resist used in the formation of a thin film pattern.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A method for forming a semiconductor film, or the like, using plasma in the production of an electronic device, such as an integrated circuit, a liquid crystal display, an organic electroluminescence device, solar cell device, or the like, i.e., a so-called plasma-activated chemical vapor deposition (plasma-activated CVD) method, is advantageous because of its convenience and usability and therefore has been employed in the production of various electronic devices.
An embodiment of an apparatus using a plasma CVD method (a plasma chemical vapor deposition apparatus; hereinafter, referred to as "plasma CVD apparatus") illustrated in FIGS. 33 and 34 has been commonly employed in the art. The plasma CVD apparatus is now described with reference to FIGS. 33 and 34. FIG. 33 is a general view of a conventional plasma CVD apparatus. FIG. 34 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the conventional plasma CVD apparatus. The plasma CVD apparatus includes a closed space realized in the form of a process chamber (vacuum container) 5 and two conductive plates 2a and 2b contained in the process chamber 5 which are electrically insulated from each other and positioned in parallel so as to face each other. Plasma 11 is produced in an area between the conductive plates 2a and 2b, and a source gas is then introduced into the area so that the gas is decomposed or dissociated. As a result, a semiconductor film, or the like, is formed on a substrate 4 to be processed (target substrate 4) which is made of silicon, glass, or the like, and provided on the electrode 2b.
Commonly employed means for producing the plasma 11 that decomposes the source gas for forming a film is electric energy such as a radio frequency wave of 13.56 MHz, for example. The conductor electrode 2b has a ground potential, and the voltage is applied to the opposite electrode 2a, whereby an electric field is produced therebetween. A glow discharge phenomenon caused by a dielectric breakdown phenomenon of the electric field produces the plasma 11. The electrode 2a to which the voltage, i.e., electric energy, is applied is referred to as a cathode electrode or discharge electrode. Since a large electric field is produced in the vicinity of the cathode electrode 2a, electrons in the plasma 11 are enhanced by the electric field, and the enhanced electrons accelerate dissociation of the source gas, whereby radicals are generated. In FIG. 34, arrows 12 represent flows of radicals.
A part of discharging area (plasma) 11 in the vicinity of the cathode electrode 2a, in which a large electric field is produced, is referred to as a cathode sheath portion. The radicals generated in the cathode sheath portion or in the vicinity thereof are diffused up to the target substrate 4 provided on the ground potential electrode 2b and deposited over the surface of the substrate 4 so as to grow a film. The electrode 2b having the ground potential is referred to as an anode electrode 2b. Another electric field having a certain size is produced in the vicinity of the anode electrode 2b and is referred to as an anode sheath portion. Hereinafter, an apparatus for forming a film on the target substrate 4 placed on the anode electrode 2b by producing plasma between the two electrodes 2a and 2b that are positioned in parallel to each other is referred to as "parallel plate type apparatus".
Such a plasma CVD method has been widely employed in the production of electronic devices in various industries. For example, in a production process of an active liquid crystal display, a switching element called a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) is fabricated. In the TFT, a gate oxide film, such as an amorphous silicon film, a silicon nitride film, or the like, is an important constituent. In order to achieve desired effects of the respective films of the TFT, a technique for efficiently forming a transparent high quality insulating film is indispensable. Further, an indispensable technique for the fabrication of an organic electroluminescence device is, for example, a technique for efficiently forming, on an organic thin film, a high quality transparent insulating film as a protection film for protecting the surface of the organic thin film so as not to be exposed to the atmosphere. Further still, an indispensable technique for the fabrication of a solar cell device is, for example, a technique for efficiently forming, on a solar cell layer, a high quality film as a protection film for protecting the surface of the solar cell layer so as not to be exposed to the atmosphere. The thus-fabricated electronic devices have been widely used in various applications.
The apparatuses generically known as plasma process apparatuses includes a dry etching apparatus for etching a thin film and an asher apparatus for removing a resist, wherein an etching gas is used in place of a source gas and plasma is produced in the same way as in the plasma CVD apparatus. Production of the plasma 11 and generation of radicals are achieved by the same mechanisms as those employed in the plasma CVD apparatus. Radicals that reach the target substrate 4 remove a thin film, or the like. The dry etching apparatus and the asher apparatus are different from the plasma CVD apparatus only in that not only the radicals but also physical sputtering by ion impact from plasma and energy applied to the target substrate 4 are utilized in the etching process.
Conventionally established plasma CVD apparatuses possess various limitations. When the conventional CVD apparatus is used in the production of a large surface electronic device, such as a liquid crystal display, an amorphous solar cell device, or the like, it is sometimes difficult to achieve sufficient dissociation of the source gas and form a high quality thin film on the target substrate 4. For example, in a conventionally known parallel plate type apparatus, dissociation of the source gas is sometimes insufficient. In the case where a silicon nitride film is formed, silane (SiH4), ammonium (NH3), nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2), etc., are used as the source gas, and nitrogen which constitutes the film is obtained by decomposing ammonium. However, for example, in the case where the silicon nitride film is formed on a copper wiring, there is a possibility that ammonium gas corrodes the copper.
Ammonium gas has a strong chemical activity, and therefore, in some cases, a silicon nitride film should be formed using only nitrogen gas without using ammonium gas. In such a case, the parallel plate type apparatus cannot sufficiently decompose hydrogen gas and nitrogen gas, which are unlikely to be dissociated, and therefore, it is difficult to obtain a silicon nitride film having desirable insulating film characteristics and protection film characteristics. In the case where an amorphous silicon film is formed, silane, hydrogen, etc., are used as the source gas, but conventionally, the gas use efficiency is only about 10%. That is, it is understood that, also in this case, the parallel plate type apparatus cannot sufficiently accelerate dissociation of the source gas.
Conventional techniques for forming a high quality film on the target substrate 4 are disclosed in the documents described below.
For example, in a plasma apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-144892, a discharge electrode, which faces a glass plate, is formed by a plurality of electrodes. The electrodes are positioned such that radio frequency voltages having different polarities are applied to the electrodes so as to produce an electric discharge in a lateral direction. A reaction gas is supplied though an area between the electrodes. The gas supplied into the discharge plasma of lateral electric field undergoes a plasma reaction and then is diffused toward and deposited on the glass substrate. In this way, a high quality film is formed without causing discharge damage on the glass substrate. However, this plasma apparatus also cannot accelerate dissociation of the source gas.
A technique for accelerating dissociation of the source gas is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-279761. In a plasma apparatus disclosed in this publication, a concave space is provided in a cathode electrode, and this concave space causes the hollow cathode effect so that the plasma density is increased. As a result, dissociation of the source gas is accelerated, and a faster film formation rate is achieved as compared with general parallel plate type apparatuses. However, in this apparatus, the surface of the target substrate is exposed to the plasma so that a surface of the substrate on which a film is formed is subjected to plasma damage.
Such a plasma damage can be repaired with heat energy by setting the temperature of the target substrate 4 to 300° C. or higher. However, when the temperature of the target substrate 4 is set to 200° C. or lower, a desirable film quality cannot be maintained. That is, a method for forming a high quality film by a plasma CVD apparatus with high gas dissociation efficiency especially at a low target substrate temperature has not yet been established.
Now, consider a case where the structure of the plasma apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-144892 is applied to a dry etching apparatus or an asher apparatus. Also in this case, a plasma production section and an ion impact control section are separately controlled. Specifically, a third electrode is attached to the back surface of the substrate 4 so as to control ion impact independently of plasma generation. Therefore, the controllability of parameters is increased.
However, also in this case, dissociation of a process gas is not accelerated, and accordingly, the process speed does not exceed a certain level. That is, a high performance plasma process apparatus which operates with high gas dissociation efficiency has not yet been established.
The thin films formed using the above techniques do not have sufficient protection film characteristics for use as devices. For example, in an organic electroluminescence device, it is necessary to provide a transparent, insulating protection film as an outermost layer of the electroluminescence device in order to prevent introduction of water vapor and oxygen from the atmosphere. Since the characteristics of an organic film in the device significantly deteriorate at the process temperature of 100° C. or higher, it is necessary to set the process temperature to a temperature lower than 100° C. during the formation of the protection film.
However, in the conventional plasma CVD apparatuses, a protection film having a desirable quality is not formed with such a temperature condition. For example, Applied Physics Letters, volume 65, pages 2229–2231 reports that, in the case where a silicon nitride film is formed as a protection film at 100° C., the quality of the silicon nitride film is poor so that water vapor contained in the atmosphere penetrates into the film, and silicon and oxygen are bonded. It is estimated from this report that water vapor and oxygen finally penetrate through the film. In a currently employed production method, another glass substrate is sealingly attached as a cap over the device in a nitrogen atmosphere for separation from the atmosphere because the quality of the protection film is poor. Devices which use a silicon nitride film as a protection film include a polysilicon solar cell device and a gallium/arsenic electronic device. These devices also suffer from the above described quality problems.
The present invention was conceived in view of the above problems. An objective of the present invention is to improve the quality of an electronic device by accelerating decomposition and dissociation of a gas with plasma such that the efficacy of the plasma process is increased.

Electronic device, production method thereof, and plasma process apparatus


A braze-free connector suitable for use in a refrigeration system that includes a connector body having a circular opening passing therethrough. The opening has a converging section that tapers downwardly from the entrance to the opening toward the back of the opening. A ferrule is slidably mounted upon a refrigerant tube which is inserted into the opening to place a tapered collapsible section of the ferrule in contact with the tapered section of the opening. The non-collapsible section of the ferrule is keyed to a nut which in turn is mated with a male thread formed on the connector body whereby the collapsible section of the ferrule is forced into engagement with the refrigerant tube. A pressure sensitive sealant is pre-coated upon at least the collapsible section of the ferrule which is activated as the ferrule is forced into engagement with the refrigerant tube.

The reliability of a refrigerant system is related to the skill of the installer or the technician that services the unit. The industry, however, is faced with a decline in the number of skilled people who can effectively work on these machines. Among the tasks requiring the most skill to complete is the brazing of the many refrigerant line connections and, in particular, the task of brazing a line to a system component. Any leaks that might develop in these types of connections will result in leakage of refrigerant and reduce the amount of refrigerant charge resulting in a loss of system efficiency. The loss of charge, if not corrected, can also eventually lead to system failure.
A number of braze-free connectors have been developed for use with refrigerants. These devices were generally referenced as quick-connectors because of the limited amount of time needed to complete a connection. These devices are generally designed to be assembled and disassembled and are commonly used in several applications including in refrigeration systems. However, they are generally disfavored due to their tendency to leak and related reliability problems.

Braze-free connector utilizing a sealant coated ferrule


Method and system for continuously producing pieces of liquid-filled gum material. An extruded rope of liquid-filed gum is sized and separated into individual pieces of gum. A rotating drum mechanism having a die ring and cutter ring with mating die members separate the rope of gum material into individual pieces. Pairs of cam-operated plunger members compress and form the pieces of gum material in the die cavities. Angled grooves in the die members prevent portions of the gum pieces from being chipped-off during formation. Guide pin members are positioned between rider members on the plunger members. A feed chute with air assist transfers the gum rope from a sizing table to the rotating drum mechanism. A stripper member insures that the formed pieces of gum material are removed from the drum mechanism. Portions of the drum mechanism can be selective heated and cooled, or not cooled at all. The invention provides a more efficient system for continuous, high production operation.

Liquid or center filled gum and other confectionery products are in popular demand today. These products have a hard or solid exterior portion or shell and a soft or liquid center. The outer portion can be chewing gum or bubble gum of some type, while the liquid center portion can be a flavored material typically having a syrup-like consistency.
There are numerous mechanisms and systems known today for forming liquid-filled gum and other confectionery products. One of these systems is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,963 to Graff et al. Although many of these known mechanisms and processes operate satisfactorily and produce acceptable results, there are a number of mechanical and processing concerns which need improvement. In particular, there is a need for faster, high volume systems as well as systems which are more efficient, easier to operate, and have fewer mechanical breakdowns.
One of the difficulties in the art of gum manufacturing is the fact that the gum products are tacky and have a tendency to stick or adhere to molds and operating machinery. Thus, it is recognized that gum producing mechanisms need to be operated at low temperatures, such as minus one hundred degrees Fahrenheit (−100° F.). At these low temperatures, however, the costs of operation increase and the operation of machinery become more difficult. For example, oils and greases can congeal into non-fluid masses, thereby reducing the lubricating ability of the materials and causing increased friction of moving parts. This also causes additional heat load on the moving parts resulting in less efficient high-speed operation.
It is also necessary with some known low-temperature gum forming operations to cool virtually the entire machinery, including all of the rotating parts. This is particularly true with systems which utilize rotating piece-producing drum members wherein the products are in contact with the drum members virtually the entire circumference of the drum. Cooling in these systems is typically done with super cooled air or gas to provide the necessary low temperatures. Cooling all parts of the apparatus, however, creates significant additional expense, as well as further mechanical and friction difficulties in the operation of the machinery.
It has also been known to be problems with rotating gum forming equipment to effectively feed a rope or strand of gum material into the rotating machinery and to insure that all of the formed pieces of gum material are removed or stripped from the rotating machinery. It is also known that rotating gum forming machinery often "chips" or clips off pieces of the individual gum pieces as they are formed. This creates unnecessary waste of material and, if the material has a liquid portion, can result in "leakers" which can cause stoppage and/or breakdowns of the machinery, as well as undesirable final products.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Continuous formation of center filled gum


A resin composition suitable for forming a film excellent in transparency, weatherability, hardness, shock resistance, bending-fracturing resistance, and moldability; and a film excellent in weatherability even when laminated on a molded body comprising a PVC resin composition containing a plasticizer is provided. The film having the above characteristics can be obtained by making a methacrylic resin composition into a film, the methacrylic resin composition comprising a methacrylic resin composition (C) obtained by polymerizing a methacrylate polymer (A) obtained by polymerizing a monomer mixture mainly composed of alkyl methacrylate in the presence of acrylic crosslinked elastic particles (B) obtained by copolymerizing a monomer mixture mainly composed of alkyl acrylate and a polyfunctional monomer with two or more non-conjugated double bonds per a molecule; and being copolymerized with 0.01 to 50 parts by weight of an ultraviolet absorber represented by the general formula (1).

Methacrylic resins including a crosslinked elastic body and having excellent transparency, weatherability, hardness, and shock resistance are generally used with an ultraviolet absorber mixed therein. Especially, when it is used as a film, a large amount of an ultraviolet absorber has to be added as the thickness of the film becomes thinner.
Thus, when the film is formed by a method such as extrusion, there have been problems such as extruder's vent clogging, T-die's gum sticking, and chill roll's whitening, and when a further amount has to be added, there have been problems such as a rough film surface and elution (bleed out) to the film surface.
Even though a large amount of an ultraviolet absorber could be added to methacrylic resin compositions, since a general ultraviolet absorber has a poor compatibility with methacrylic resins and a low molecular weight, there is a problem in that the absorber is partially volatilized at the time of the extrusion, failing to bring out the ultraviolet-shielding characteristics. Also, since the ultraviolet absorber is released from methacrylic resin composition under a long-term usage, there is a problem in that the ultraviolet-shielding characteristics decrease over time. Further, when the methacrylic resin film is layered on a molded article comprising a PVC resin composition containing a plasticizer, since the plasticizer in the PVC resin permeates the methacrylic resin film and passes through to elute (bleed out), the elution (bleed out) of the ultraviolet absorber in the methacrylic resin film has been accelerated.
A generally known method for solving these problems is to select and add a particular ultraviolet absorber. However, in the method of simply adding a particular ultraviolet absorber, the added ultraviolet absorber in the obtained film is eluted (bleed out) when soaked with warm water and exposed to outdoors, and the problems such as a decline in ultraviolet-shielding characteristics and whitening are yet to be solved.
For such problems, there has been proposed a method in which a particular monomer showing ultraviolet absorbency is copolymerized with methacrylic resin (Patent Publication Documents 1 to 4). Although Patent Publication Documents 1 and 2 note copolymerizing an ultraviolet absorber represented by the general formula (1), it was not a polymer including a crosslinked elastic particle, and there still were problems of bending-fracturing resistance in its usage as a film. On the other hand, although Patent Publication Documents 3 and 4 disclose a film comprising a polymer including a crosslinked elastic particle, bending-fracturing resistance, and moldability (thinning of film) were unsatisfactory.
[Patent Publication Document 1] JP 60-38411 A
[Patent Publication Document 2] JP 05-255447 A
[Patent Publication Document 3] JP 09-194542 A
[Patent Publication Document 4] JP 08-319326 A

Methacrylic resin composition, methacrylic resin film, and vinyl chloride molded article with the film layered


An image recording apparatus, such as a copier or a printer which is capable of connecting with another recording apparatus, includes: a memory for storing image data corresponding to plural document pages; a mode selector for selecting one of a master mode in which the image data, stored in the memory, are transferred to the other image recording apparatus, and a slave mode in which the image recording apparatus receives image data transmitted from the other image recording apparatus; and a transmission/receiving controller for controlling transmitting and receiving of the image data according to the selection of one of the master and the slave modes. In the apparatus, the image data transmitted from the other image recording apparatus are stored in the memory and the image corresponding to the image data stored in memory is recorded on a recording paper. The recording operation is independent from an operation of the other image recording apparatus when the slave mode is selected.

The present invention relates to an image-recording apparatus, which is able to connect to another recording apparatus, particularly the present invention relates to an image-recording apparatus according to which productivity of image-formation in image-recording system and operation performance thereof can be enhanced.
Heretofore, a recording apparatus has been known to record identical image data by combining a plurality of recording apparatuses and simultaneously sending an image formation order to those apparatuses. Since the recording apparatus usually conducts an initial setting operation preparing for image-forming operation such as pre-functional rotation, after receipt of a print order and because timing for generating entry signal to start writing differs depending on respective apparatuses, it has been necessary to level out variations among the apparatuses.
In order to comply with this demand, a recording apparatus has been proposed in which the order of image writing-in permission signals are judged, a reading operation is initiated in the image-reading section in synchronization with the preceding image writing-in signal and the image signals are transferred to the preceding recording apparatus. On the other hand, in synchronization with the preceding image writing-in permission signal, the image reading section simultaneously transfers the image signals to the plurality of recording apparatuses, with different writing-out timings so as to compensate the transfer timing to the recording apparatuses and, thus to form plurality of images. This been proposed in Japanese Patent O.P.I., Publication No. 62-263771(1987).
Further, in order to even out irregularities among the apparatuses, it has been considered to provide a large scale memory for common use to the plurality of recording apparatuses, by which the irregularities are managed by a single controlling section and operating section.
However, the above-mentioned latter apparatus stores the image data to an exclusive memory which is commonly used by plural recording apparatuses and controls the image data by a single control section and an operating section. Therefore, when the printing speeds of the plural recording apparatuses vary, it becomes unrealistic to synchronize the operation among the plural recording apparatuses in reading out the image data to be recorded from the memory.
Further, in the above-mentioned apparatus of the prior art, in order to synchronize timings of the connected recording apparatuses, output has been started after completion of reading and memorizing all the information of an original, so that output of a first copy is remarkably delayed.
In the prior art technology, a processing number has not been allocated in the light of the printing speeds of the respective recording apparatuses; therefore, productivity of image-formation of the total recording apparatus which constitutes an image recording system has tended to be lowered.
Further in accordance with the prior art technology, in the case while outputting an image by connecting a plurality of image recording apparatuses to each other, an input signal is not processed for masking since the apparatuses are operated by an image signal from outside (i.e., they are slave image recording apparatuses), so that mis-operations have been caused by human carelessness.

Image forming apparatus having an interface to connect with other image forming apparatus


The invention relates to an industrial robot and a method for programming an industrial robot, for which the industrial robot is guided manually to a virtual surface (25) in the room, at which point the industrial robot is selected such that it cannot be guided any further manually. Next, that force (F) and/or torque acting on the industrial robot when an attempt is made to guide the industrial robot further manually is ascertained and stored, despite reaching the virtual surface (25).

Industrial robots are manipulating machines, which are equipped with useful tools for automatic handling of objects and are programmable in a plurality of motion axes, in particular with regard to orientation, position and process sequence. A method for programming the industrial robot (programming method) is understood as the systematic procedure for creating user programs.
One generally known programming method is the so-called playback method, in which the programming of an operation is accomplished by manually guiding the industrial robot along a desired curve in space. As this is done, the actual current position values, i.e., the axis position or the TCP position (tool center point position) of the industrial robot, is captured into the user program in a defined time or distance raster.
EP 1 508 396 Al discloses a method for controlling the pressing force of a welding tongs guided by means of an industrial robot. The force acting on the welding tongs is measured during the welding, and the robot is adjusted so that the force acting on the welding tongs is equal to a predefined target force.

Industrial robot and method for programming an industrial robot


A lacrosse stick for reducing the rebound of a ball caught therein. The head of the lacrosse stick has a socket for receiving the shaft, and incorporates one or a plurality of flexible elastomer pads within or as part of the handle or socket, where the head and handle meet, to damp impact and rebound. The flexibility of the damping pads produces a “give” that minimizes the rebound of a pocket after being impacted by a ball. This pocket dampening limits the movement of the ball and makes the ball easier to control and to retain in the pocket. The precise location of the dampening material on the lacrosse head may be varied to control the degree of pocket “give” in response to, for example, the force on the pocket created by a ball impacting the pocket during a catch or swinging in the pocket during cradling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to lacrosse sticks, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for dampening the rebound of a lacrosse stick head pocket after the pocket has had force applied to it by, for example, a caught lacrosse ball.
2. Description of the Background
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional molded-head lacrosse stick. As shown, a typical lacrosse stick includes a handle or shaft (dashed lines) and a double-wall synthetic head 10. Head 10 includes a generally V-shaped frame having two sidewalls 14A, 14B joined by a socket 11 at the narrow end of the "V" for receiving and seating the shaft. A transverse wall (or "scoop") 16 joins the sidewalls 14A, 14B at the open end of the "V." Webbing is woven between the sidewalls 14A, 14B, scoop 16 and stop member 18 to form a pocket. The "double-wall" descriptor applied to the head 10 refers to the fact that it has two sidewalls as opposed to the single sidewall found in traditional wooden lacrosse sticks in which the pocket is completed by a woven gut wall in place of a second, solid sidewall. The shaft joins the narrow end of the head 10 and is received in socket 11, which includes a stop member 18 defined by a closed-ended socket, and an outer throat 12 supported by extensions of the sidewalls. The throat 12 and stop member 18 are integrally joined to form one unitary socket 11. A screw or other fastener 22 placed through socket 11 secures the head 10 to the shaft. The modern double-wall head 10 is a monolithic structure that is injection-molded from synthetic materials such as nylon, urethane and polycarbonate as known in the art.
The head 10 of the lacrosse stick may be strung in one of several ways with a series of strings and/or mesh to form a pocket for catching and throwing the lacrosse ball. Traditionally-strung pockets are required by the rules of the women's game and have four or five longitudinal leather and/or synthetic thongs, eight to twelve stitches of lateral cross-lacing and no more than two "shooting/throw" strings. To facilitate stringing of the thongs, a series of upper thong holes 32 are provided in transverse wall 16 and paired with corresponding thong holes 34 in stop member 18. To complete the pocket web, nylon strings are woven around the thongs and laced through string holes 36 in sidewalls 14A, 14B and one or more throwing or shooting strings are woven through the thongs extending transversely between the throwing string holes 38 on the upper portions of sidewalls 14A, 14B. These are typical features of a lacrosse stick and are shown generally in Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,495; Crawford et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,984; and Tucker et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,947, which are each incorporated herein by reference. In order to comply with the rules of the women's game, the pocket must be strung such that the top of a lacrosse ball (2.5 inches in diameter) placed in the pocket held horizontally extends above the top edge of the side walls 14A, 14B. The rules of the men's game allow traditional stringing but also permit mesh pockets that are significantly deeper and more forgiving. The pocket of a men's stick must be strung so that the top of a lacrosse ball placed in the pocket extends above the bottom edge of the side walls 14A, 14B.
Although the synthetic materials used in the construction of the head 10 impart many performance advantages over traditional wooden heads, the synthetic, monolithic double-wall head fails to outperform wooden heads in one critical aspect: pocket "give." Specifically, whereas traditional unitary single walled wooden and gut sticks deflected under the force of a caught ball, the strength and rigidity of synthetics required for head durability combined with a rigid metal or composite shaft precludes pocket "give", and more give is desirable to facilitate catching the bouncy, hard rubber lacrosse ball. Because the synthetic heads use substantially rigid materials to provide the structural integrity and durability of the head frame, the thong holes provide little deflection against which the pocket strings can pull or stretch. In other words, the thong holes in a synthetic head do not deaden the tension of the pocket webbing, as occurs, for example, when a lacrosse ball hits the pocket. Similarly, the rigid connection between the head 10 and the unyielding shaft provides no deadening or absorption of the force of the ball.
Notably, this pocket "give" is most critical in the women's game in which shallow pocket depth rules necessitate tightly strung pockets. As a result of the necessary tension, when a lacrosse ball hits the pocket the impact forces are returned to the ball, producing a rebounding or trampoline effect that can propel the ball out of the pocket. This makes it difficult to catch and control thrown balls, particularly balls thrown at high velocity. Indeed, for all but the most skilled players, a lacrosse ball can easily bounce out of a legally strung pocket. In essence, the pocket, strung on a rigid unforgiving frame, can acts like the strings of a tennis racquet to rebound the ball out of the pocket. Although this trampoline effect is more pronounced in the tightly strung women's lacrosse heads, the desire to absorb the impact of an incoming ball is equally applicable to men's lacrosse heads. Thus, there remains a need for an apparatus that provides the pocket "give" of a traditional wooden head while maintaining the lightness, durability, and structural integrity of modern synthetic lacrosse heads.


The container for flat articles, especially coins, which is part of a storage system for magnetic tape cassettes, in a motor vehicle, comprises a housing open on one side, a slider member insertable in the open side of the housing against a spring force and a locking device for locking the slider member in an inserted position. To provide a particularly reliable way of holding coins of different sizes so that they do not rattle when the container is moved, the slider member has a movable compartment floor which, as the slider member is pushed into the housing, is pressed by spring elements underlying it against an upper housing wall. The upper housing wall can be provided with foam strips and the compartment floor can be corrugated and provided with a fleece to better hold coins without rattling.

The invention relates to a container for flat articles, especially coins, as part of a storage system for magnetic tape cassettes or the like for installation in a motor vehicle.
Containers that comprise, several housings open at a front side are known for, storing cassettes in vehicles. In each housing there is inserted a slider member on which the cassette is placed and pushed into the housing for storage. To remove the cassette, the slider member is unlocked by operation of a lock button. A pressure spring arranged between the rear wall of the slider member and the housing pushes the slider member together with the cassette out of the housing.
In addition to storing cassettes, it is often desirable to be able to store other articles in the vehicle as well, especially coins. Special coin holders have therefore already been proposed which can be fastened to the dashboard of the motor vehicle by adhesive strips. Moreover, it is known to integrate coin holders, for example, in the glove compartment.
The coin holders are generally designed so that they are suitable only for holding a specific size of coin. If smaller coins are placed in them, the noise they cause is irritating, which in turn often results in the integrated coin holders not being used. Finally, the coin holders are equally of no use for cross-border journeys on account of the different coin sizes.

Container for flat articles, especially coins

fischerwerke Artur Fischer GmbH & Co. KG.


A machine for container formation by folding a die-scored paperboard structure to close flaps shaped by the scoring that serve as the top and bottom of the container. A scored paperboard sheet is loaded onto a male pedestal inner pattern such that the foldable top and bottom container portions extend beyond the pattern, whereupon armature driven semicircular outer patterns, having upper and lower fingers adapted to be driven by corresponding fluid driven pin stabilizers, close upon the sheet. While closed over the sheet, the pins are activated to move the fingers inward on the inner pattern and force fold the container along the score lines, followed by automatic retraction of the pins and outer patterns. The container is thus pre-folded in preparation for shipping as a flat paper form that is ready for folding on the crease lines thus formed. One or both flaps of the container can be folded along the crease lines to form a closure at one or both ends. When folded, the flap forms a plurality of inwardly directed pyramidal segments that are crimped along the container axis to form the closure.

Advances in technology now enable construction of containers form a broad variety of materials that may be laminated or otherwise coated. A box folding procedure may be followed in succession by a sealing process, dependent on whether the container is intended for storage of dry or liquid contents.
The initial activity in box folding is scoring the container blank to form segments or box sections that are divided by weakened points which are the score lines. The prior art folding procedure generally provides for advancing container blanks along a conveyor belt to a backing bar where a folding belt engages a box flap edge to fold the flap onto a container panel. The container blanks are thus folded along their score lines for box formation with the designed segments or sections.
The paramount considerations for box folding machines is speed of the operation and minimizing process interruptions, for effective reductions in manufacturing costs.
Therefore, a need exists for a paper box folding apparatus that would enable simple manual alignment of the box blank on the backing bar to form properly proportional segments according to the box design; that would give folds on the score lines to avoid skewing; and, to achieve the folding process with paramount speed and a minimum of interruptions in the process. In addition to the foregoing, a need exists for an inexpensive paper board container that is easy to assemble and close. These are among the objectives that are achieved by the invention disclosed herein.

Container folding machine and product thereof


Communication systems may benefit from a control channel for contention based transmission and collision avoidance. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced may use such control channels for contention based transmission. In particular, such control channels may be valuable with respect to LTE-based local area network (LTE-LAN). A method, according to certain embodiments, may include preparing control information for a contention based physical uplink shared channel. The method may also include transmitting and/or receiving the control information on a physical uplink control channel and a control only physical uplink shared channel, or only on the control only physical uplink shared channel.

Field
Communication systems may benefit from a control channel for contention based transmission. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced may use such control channels for contention based transmission. In particular, such control channels may be valuable with respect to LTE-based local area network (LTE-LAN).
Description of the Related Art
There are several scenarios for local area, for example indoor hotspot as shown in 3GPP technical report (TR) 36.814, where the area is mainly composed of multiple rooms. There also exists another scenario, for example an office enterprise, where the area is large work place. Neither the deployment of pico nor home eNode B (eNB) in current 3GPP is sufficient for this office enterprise scenario.
In 3GPP LTE, contention based random access is supported for uplink (UL) access and synchronization. From a physical layer perspective, the L1 random access procedure encompasses the transmission of random access preamble and random access response. A random access channel occupies 6 resource blocks in a subframe or set of consecutive subframes reserved for random access preamble transmissions. The eNodeB is not prohibited from scheduling data in the resource blocks reserved for random access channel preamble transmission.
Here the contention based UL transmission is used for random access, not for data transmission. Fixed 6 RBs are adopted in random access which is not suitable for data transmission. Furthermore, random access grant instead of ACK/NACK (A/N) is transmitted in response to random access.
Another approach is contention based UL transmission with a common/broadcast UL grant. In this approach the eNB broadcasts the contention based resources via a common UL grant to all UEs. When UE has data to send, UE may perform contention based transmission on the contention based resources indicated by the common UL grant.
However, the collision between UEs is very large since the available contention based resources are exactly the same. Moreover, the contention based resources are given by eNB and are common for all UEs while the data requirement for each UE may vary to large extent. Only the UE knows its own accurate buffer status. Furthermore, an UL grant is still needed.

Contention based transmission and collision avoidance


A computer system includes an input device (210) and at least one processor (205). The processor receives (600) an electronic document that includes data representing a telephone number. The processor further receives input via the input device selecting (615) a telephone number from the electronic document. The processor additionally signals (725), via a packet-switched network, a telecommunication system to connect a call between the telephone number and a calling party telephone number in response to the selection of the telephone number.

Conventional electronic mail (e-mail) and Hyper-text Markup Language (HTML) documents have become popular means for sending data across the Internet. These electronic documents often include contact information for persons or entities sending the documents. This contact information typically includes telephone numbers and address information, and can further include conventional web addresses or e-mail addresses in conventional hyper-text format. The hyper-text addresses permit a reader of the document to "click" on the bolded and underline hyper-text, using a conventional mouse, and immediately access a website associated with the hyper-text using a conventional web browser. Hyper-text additionally permits a reader of a document to "click" on hyper-text of e-mail addresses to quickly compose and send e-mail to the e-mail addresses contained in the hyper-text. Conventional hyper-text, therefore, permits quick and easy contact with persons and entities contained in electronic documents.
Electronic documents, however, also often contain telephone numbers associated with persons or entities that a reader may wish to contact. In contrast to the use of hyper-text links, a reader of an electronic document conventionally is required to manually enter a telephone number, contained in the electronic document, into a telephone to enable the reader to contact a person or entity associated with the telephone number.
Therefore, there exists a need for a system and method that, similar to hyper-text links for e-mail and web-site addresses, permit quick and easy establishment of a telephone call with a telephone associated with a telephone number contained in an electronic document, using a computer input device, such as a mouse.

Systems and methods implementing internet screen dialing for circuit switched telephones


The invention relates to a system and method for screening a patient for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using recordings of tracheal breathing sounds of both nose and mouth breathing in the upright and supine positions to compute characteristic features of the patient, the characteristic features being compared to the mean values of similar features of OSA and non-OSA training groups to classify a patient as OSA or non-OSA.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder characterized by repetitive pharyngeal collapses resulting in extended pauses in breathing (apnea) or instances of abnormally low breathing flow (hypopnea) during sleep. Untreated OSA may result in neurocognitive impairments and cardiovascular complications including hypertension, heart failure, stroke, excessive daytime sleepiness, as well as increased risk of occupational and traffic accidents.
Severity of OSA is quantified by apnea hypopnea index (AHI), which is the number of apnea and hypopnea events per hour of sleep. An apnea event is defined as complete cessation of respiratory airflow for at least 10 s, whereas a hypopnea event is characterized by a decrease in airflow by 50% for 10 s. Apnea/hypopnea events usually result in a significant drop (>4%) in blood oxygen saturation level (SaO2). In OSA, by far the most common type of sleep apnea, breathing is interrupted despite respiratory effort, because the airway is physically blocked. In central sleep apnea (CSA), the effort to breathe is weak or absent. Mixed sleep apnea is a combination of OSA and CSA.
An estimated 2-7% of women and 4-14% of men over 30 years of age have moderate to severe OSA. However, most OSA patients are not clinically diagnosed. A major study in the United States found that in a population with access to a sleep disorders clinic, more than 80% of middle-aged men and women who suffered from moderate or severe OSA had not been diagnosed. Undiagnosed OSA negatively impacts overall health and quality of life, is associated with increased risk of accidents, and is very costly to the medical system. The mean annual medical cost of an undiagnosed OSA patient is estimated to be approximately twice that of a non-OSA individual, accounting for several billion dollars in additional annual medical costs in the U.S. alone.
Currently, standard testing for OSA involves overnight polysomnography (PSG) in a sleep laboratory. PSG includes simultaneous recording of electroencephalogram, electrooculogram, electromyogram of chin and anterior tibialis, respiratory airflow, electrocardiogram, pulse oximetry, and snoring sounds. Because PSG is expensive, time-consuming, and inconvenient, many patients with OSA are not diagnosed or treated.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved methods of diagnosing OSA. The present invention satisfies this demand.

Acoustic system and methodology for identifying the risk of obstructive sleep apnea during wakefulness


A proceeds processing apparatus has an apparatus body, and a keyboard and a card reader provided on the apparatus body for entering first data indicative of the contents of a transaction. An operation control is accommodated in the apparatus body for executing data processing including proceeds processing by performing arithmetic operations with inputted data. A display and a printer are provided on the apparatus body and interconnected to the operation control for outputting the result of data processing. A customer-oriented input unit has a keyboard and a control for inputting second data for determining whether or not the first data entered are agreed to. An interface and a cable electrically interconnect the keyboard and the control to the operation control. The operation control determinines, in response to the second data fed from the keyboard and the control, whether or not the first data are agreed to on the basis of the second data and feeds a result of decision to the display and printer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cash register or similar proceeds processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A proceeds processing apparatus such as a cash register is usually installed in a store or similar facility and operated by an attendant or a clerk to enter data of article codes, amounts of money, etc. In response, the apparatus executes proceeds processing including summation of the amounts of money, receipt of money, issuance of a detailed account, and totalization. Proceeds processing apparatus applicable to a POS system is interconnected to a host data processing apparatus by a communications line to interchange transaction data with the latter. With this kind of proceeds processing apparatus, it is possible to debit a customer's account when a credit card is used or to settle accounts even when a debit card is used.
A prior art proceeds processing apparatus has a body which is composed of a keyboard and/or a scanner for entering data of article codes, amounts of money and so forth, a display for displaying article codes, amounts of money and so forth as well as operation guidances, a printer for printing out transaction data on a recording medium to issue a detailed account or receipt, and a card reader having a slot adapted for receiving a card to read data out of the card. An operation control unit controls such components of the apparatus to sum the amounts of money and settle the accounts. A communication control unit is interconnected to the operation control unit while a communication line is interconnected to the communication control unit, whereby the communication of the apparatus with a host computer is controlled.
A proceeds processing operation available with the above construction is as follows. When an attendant or a clerk starts up the apparatus by, for example, turning on the power switch of the apparatus, a guidance meant for the attendant appears on the display. Guided by the guidance, the attendant enters data indicative of amounts of money and other similar data on the keyboard or via the card reader. In response, the apparatus totalizes the inputted data and communicates with the host computer to execute proceeds processing. The contents of the proceeds processing are printed out on a recording medium by the printer to produce a detailed account in the form of a receipt or statement strip, for example.
A problem with the prior art proceeds processing apparatus is that usually a customer at a store, for example, cannot see the contents of a transaction processed by the apparatus until a statement issued after a sequence of proceeds processing has been handed to the customer. More specifically, a customer is not allowed to compare the contents of a transaction processed by the apparatus with those of the actual transaction until he receives a statement on which those contents are printed. Assume that the result of processing executed by the apparatus differs from the contents of the actual transaction due to the attendant's erroneous operations of the keys. Then, the customer in many cases cannot find the error until the customer receives a detailed account indicated on a statement. In such a case, the attendant has to cancel the entire proceeds processing executed by the apparatus and start inputting all the necessary data again.
A current trend in business transactions including shopping is toward the use of credit cards and cash cards in place of cash. The prior art proceeds processing apparatus allows proceeds processing in connection with such cards to be finished even without confirming the contents of a transaction of which the data was entered by an attendant. Actually, it often occurs that a customer does not notice incorrect processing executed by the apparatus until the store debits the customer's account later, for example.
As stated above, the prior art proceeds processing apparatus is not satisfactory in various aspects such as efficient processing, customer service, and mutual reliance between customers and facilities.
A proceeds processing apparatus which guarantees the issuance of a detailed account of a transaction is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 157995/1986. The apparatus disclosed in this Laid-Open Publication is constructed such that until a detailed account of a transaction has been issued and an exclusive operation for confirming the receipt thereof has been performed, processing associated with the next transaction cannot be done. This is successful in, for example, preventing a person from unjustly including data of a certain transaction in the processing of the subsequent transaction.

Proceeds processing apparatus requesting a customer to confirm proceeds processing


An occupant detecting device comprises plural cells provided at a seating part of a vehicle seat and defined by an array of rows in a width direction of the vehicle seat and columns in a cross direction of the vehicle seat for detecting partial pressures of the seating part, a total pressure value calculating means for obtaining a total pressure value by summing up the detected partial pressures, a determining means for determining a condition of the vehicle seat on which an adult passenger is sitting based on a comparison result between the obtained total pressure value and a determining value threshold, a temperature sensor for detecting temperature, and a correcting means for correcting at least one of either the total pressure value calculated based on the detected temperature or the determining value threshold.

Recently, a vehicle equips an air bag apparatus at front portion thereof (on a driver seat or on a passenger seat) for improving safety on a collision. When the vehicle crashes into an object due to an accident, the air bag apparatus outputs a signal (an operation signal) to an air bag actuator based on a signal from the collision detecting sensor for actuating an inflator and inflating the air bag instantaneously.
On this account, for improving the safety on the vehicle collision, a vehicle having a function for switching a place where the air bag is inflated considering a direction of the impact due to the vehicle collision has been on a market. In this case, the air bag needs to be actuated based on an accurate determination whether or not a passenger is sitting on the vehicle seat. The judge whether or not the passenger is sitting on the vehicle seat, especially on the passenger seat, needs to be done more precisely because such seat may be variously occupied by a adult, a children or a baby on a child seat (Child Restraint System, hereinafter referred to as CRS).
Various types of the occupant detecting devices for determining whether of not the passenger is sitting on the vehicle seat have been disclosed so far. For example, an occupant detecting device including plural cells at the seating surface thereof for detecting a partial pressure applied to a certain point of the vehicle seat where is defined by a matrix in a two-dimensional array of rows extending in a width direction of the vehicle seat and columns extending in a cross direction of the vehicle seat as disclosed in a Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.2002-87132.
Such occupant detecting device tends to be affected by temperature, so that occupant detecting devices need to be able to correct such influences. For example, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications No.2001-4469, No.2000-28366 and No.2003-14564, temperature detecting element is embedded in a pressure sensor applied to the occupant detecting device, and sensitivity and a characteristic of the pressure sensor being affected by temperature can be corrected depending on the detected temperature by the element. Further, according to a Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.2002-160571, an estimated weight obtained based on a sensor signal for determining the seat condition may be corrected. Specifically, based on a detected value of the temperature sensor, a characteristic curve is selected, and a correction factor for the weight estimation is determined.
In such known occupant detecting devices, the pressure detected by the pressure sensor is corrected in consideration of such characteristic of the pressure sensor being affected by temperature change; however, influences due to the temperature may differ when the occupant detecting device is actually embedded inside the vehicle seat. For example, when the occupant detecting device is embedded at a urethane pad in the vehicle seat, the pressure sensor may be affected by a hardness change of the urethane pad as well as the aforementioned characteristic of the pressure sensor being influenced from temperature change.
The known occupant detecting devices have not considered possible influences due to the temperature change on mounted condition in the vehicle seat, such as the influence of the hardness of the urethane pad and the like. The present invention therefore seeks to provide an occupant detecting device for improving the accuracy of determining a condition of the vehicle seat on mounted condition in the vehicle seat in spite of the effect of temperature.


A ZIF socket includes a cover slidably engaged with a base to which a cam is pivotably connected. The cam is selectively rotated in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction thereby driving the cover to move laterally in opposite directions with respect to the base. The rotational plane of the cam is substantially parallel to the plane of movement of the cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket for a CPU, especially a ZIF PGA socket having an actuation structure by which the ZIF PGA socket is operative between a loosened state and a tightened state for receiving and securing pins of the CPU in position during insertion of the CPU into the socket.
2. The Prior Art
Conventional ZIF PGA connectors are usually installed with an actuation mechanism for controlling insertion/withdrawal of a CPU chip. This actuation mechanism is normally controlled by a handle which is often operated in a vertical manner thus positioning the socket between a loosened state and a tightened state. In the loosened state the socket is prepared for insertion of the CPU or withdrawal thereof with minimal friction. In the tightened state, the socket firmly secures pins of the CPU therein preventing withdrawal of the CPU. The operation of the handle of the actuation mechanism usually blocks nearby components due to its vertical displacement. To eliminate this problem, the handle portion of the actuation mechanism is replaced by an external tool such as a screw driver. FIGS. 19 and 20 illustrate a conventional ZIF PGA socket having a cover 100 defining a plurality of first passageways 146 therethrough and a first opening 110 in a first edge thereof. A base 300 is adapted to be slidably attached to the cover 100. The base 300 includes a plurality of second passageways 310 in alignment with the corresponding first passageways 146. Each second passageway 310 receives a contact for electrical and mechanical engagement with a pin of a corresponding component. The base 300 defines a second opening 340 at an edge thereof substantially communicating with the first opening 110 of the cover 100. The cover 100 comprises two side walls 130 extending downward from two sides thereof, each defining two recesses 135 in an interior surface thereof. The base 300 has a pair of protrusions 320 formed on opposite side walls thereof for slidable reception in the corresponding recesses 135 of the cover 100. A first slot 120 is formed in an underface of the cover 100 communicating with the first opening 110. A second slot 330 is formed in the base 300 communicating with the second opening 340. An actuation device 200 is rotatably received between the first slot 120 of the cover 100 and the second slot 330 of the base 300 and includes a central rotational section 210. Two cam sections 220 are connected to opposite ends of the central rotational section 210, and an engagement slot 215 is defined on a circumferential periphery of the central rotational section 210 of the actuation device 200 for reception of an external tool (not shown) and actuation thereby within a ninety degree range so as to move the cover 100 via the two cam sections 230 in a horizontal direction with regard to the base 300. The actuation device 200 further comprises two end rotational sections 230 connected to the corresponding cam sections 220 for facilitating rotation of the actuation device 200 upon operation by the external tool.
Although this conventional socket has solved the inconvenience mentioned above, the structure thereof is complicated and the dimension, especially the height thereof, occupies too much space thus violating the trend of compactness in the computer field. Hence, it is requisite to provide a new structure for overcoming the above disadvantages.


A vending machine is provided with a cabinet having a plurality of slanted shelves. These shelves will feed to an elevator which can be located in the center of the vending machine, to one side of the vending machine or at the rear of the vending machine. Packaged beverages will feed by gravity from the shelves to the elevator and then be delivered to the delivery port in the face of the cabinet. This delivery port will be at a convenient height for the consumer. The shelves in the cabinet are readily reconfigurable such that their positioning within the cabinet can be easily altered. Gravity release devices are provided on each shelf for discharging the packaged beverages to the elevator. These gravity release devices are powered by an activation device on the elevator. Thus, electrical connections or the like are unnecessary for the individual shelves.

The present invention relates to a vending machine for vending packaged beverages. In particular, the present invention relates to vending machine having a cabinet with a plurality of vertically spaced shelves, elevator means for receiving packaged beverages from the shelves by gravity feed and for delivering articles to a delivery port in the front face of the cabinet.


A liquid-damming protective bank comprises a member abutting against a surface upon which a vertical force acts with the purpose of pressing and anchoring the same against the surface. The bank member has a first long side edge turned towards a flood side and an opposite long side edge turned towards a dry side of the protective bank. Between the surface (2) and the bank member (1) there is applied a device (12) extending axially along the bank, e.g. a mat, the purpose of which is to drain away flood liquid possibly leaking in under the member from the flood side so as to keep the area on the bottom side of the member elongating from the long side edge of the draining device (12) being closest to the flood side to the dry side, at or close to atmospheric pressure in order to obtain a maximum pressure difference in relation to the hydraulic pressure keeping the protective bank sealing against the surface.

In a first aspect, this invention relates to a liquid-damming protective bank of the kind which comprises a member, e.g. a flexible, liquid-filled casing and/or a flexible skirt, abutting against a surface, e.g. the ground, upon which a vertical force acts with the purpose of pressing and anchoring the same against the surface, said protective bank having a first long side edge turned towards a flood side and an opposite, second long side edge turned towards a dry side of the bank.
Phenomena of flood may occur in very different areas and under very different circumstances. A frequent type of flood may hit houses situated in the vicinity of watercourses, e.g. lakes and rivers, temporarily overflowing their banks due to extreme precipitation. Water may then flow by surface over the ground to the house and cause various damage thereto, such as filling possible basement spaces with water or partial filling of localities on the ground floor. Water damage of this type are without exception very costly to master. In other cases, fluids of another type than water, e.g. oil, fuels, chemicals and the like, may spill over on areas or surfaces as a consequence of a leakage of an unexpected type.
Regardless of the type of the flood, there is a general ambition to try to countercheck the flood and to confine the proportions thereof, more precisely by erecting some type of protective bank which stems the liquid flow. The house-owner erects a bank surrounding the house with the purpose of preventing the water from approaching the same. Inversely, in case of a leakage, the protective bank is erected with the purpose of preventing the liquid from distancing from the source of leakage.
Conventional methods for erecting protective banks make use of solid materials, usually of a mineral nature. A common way is to manually lay out sandbags in more or less high rows. Another way is to erect banks of soil by means of suitable machines. However, these methods have disadvantages. To the extent that mechanical dredging or excavation is possible at all, the method is time-wasting and most often only possible to resort to at a late stage. Furthermore, it rather often causes pits and other wounds in the ground. The sandbag method is not only time-wasting but also laborious. Many times, neither machines nor sandbags are available in the immediate surroundings of the flood, and therefore time-consuming transportations have to be carried out before the erection of the bank can be started. This means that the protective bank may be in place too late.
With the purpose of obviating the disadvantages associated with earth banks and protective banks of sandbags respectively, it has lately been developed protective banks erected of mobile damming devices in the form of hose-like casings which may be stored, handled and transported in a collapsed state and filled with liquid, usually water, at the very site of a flood. Examples of such hose-casings are disclosed in abundance in the literature of patents. See, e.g. FR 1 375 854, EP 496 519, U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,474 , U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,800 , U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,821 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,919. A substantial advantage of such hose-casings is that they are diminutive in a collapsed state, at the same time as the weighty material which is required for anchoring the casings in a protective bank, usually is available in abundance at the site of the flood in the form of water. Well-nigh unlimited amounts of damming devices in the form of hose-casings may therefore quickly and smoothly be brought to a place hit by a flood and activated on site by the simple measure of filling the same with water. The majority of the previously known damming devices in the form of hose-casings also comprise a skirt turned towards the flood side, of more or less explicit width, most commonly being anchored by means of nail- or stud-like anchoring members, the purpose of which is to seal against the surface.
Another mobile damming device, commercially available under the trade mark of PORTADAM, makes use of an impermeable, skirt-like membrane abutting with a long side portion along the surface, having an opposite long side portion abutted against a framework erected in the line of defence and consisting of a plurality of oblique support legs.
One thing that the previously known protective banks using mobile or portable damming devices have in common, is that the member of the protective bank abutting against the surface is brought to abut against the same over its entire area in the praiseworthy purpose of obtaining the biggest possible tightness against the surface. Thus, the previously known constructions originate from the fundamental idea that the larger the area of contact against the surface, the more reliable becomes the protective bank. However, this fundamental idea is partly based on erroneous premises. Namely, if water, as often is the case in practice, after all starts to leak in under e.g. a skirt kept pressed against the surface by the hydraulic pressure acting on the top side of the skirt, the pressure difference between the top side and the bottom side of the skirt will be substantially reduced. This means that the area of the skirt influenced from below by the same hydraulic pressure as the top side, will lose its anchoring ability. If seepage water under hydraulic pressure is spread out under the skirt and/or the hose-casing all the way from the flood side to the dry side, the protective bank will gradually lose its anchoring ability and thereby its sealing ability against the surface, and finally be loosened from its line of defence. The same reduction of pressure difference exists, of course, also in those cases when a hose-casing without a skirt (see e.g. EP 496 519) is used to erect the protective bank. As soon as water starts to leak in under the surface of the hose-casing abutting against the ground, the total anchoring ability is gradually reduced, meaning that, in a state when the horizontal displacement force from the flood water exceeds the anchoring force, the casing simply floats away on the water lying under the same.
In this context, it should also be pointed out that flood water may find its way down in voids in the ground, under the surface thereof, and subsequently reappear on the surface and exert a lifting pressure against the bottom side of the protective bank.

Liquid damming protective bank as well as a method and a damming device for erecting such a protective bank


A method for determining occupancy of a parking space using a heat map includes receiving sensor data from one or more sensors positioned such that a surface area is within a field of view, the sensor data at least indicating a speed and location of a traffic participant. Generating the heat map based on the traffic participant(s) and determining a heat index associated with each portion of the heat map. Determining a traffic participant is stopping, parking, or leaving a parking space based upon the change of speed movement between, high and low, and moving or parking, heat index portions.

Traffic on roads and parking areas includes traffic participants, such as, but not limited to, vehicles, streetcars, buses, pedestrians, and any other moving object using public roads and walkways or stationary objects such as benches and trash cans. Organized traffic generally has well established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, and traffic control intersections. However, in addition parking areas may have movement patterns that are not part of typically established right of ways, e.g. vehicles or pedestrians my cut across marked parking spaces. Traffic may be classified by type: heavy motor vehicle (e.g., car and truck), other vehicle (e.g., moped and bicycle), and pedestrian. It is desirable to have a system and method for monitoring the traffic to determine whether specific parking spaces within a parking area are occupied.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

System and method for determining parking occupancy detection using a heat map


Provided are several apparatus and methods to attenuate illumination light in a projector. Illumination light may be attenuated by directing polarized light toward a liquid crystal (LC) attenuation panel. The panel selectively modulates some, all, or none of the polarized light passing through. The light from the panel is then directed toward a polarization device. The polarization device analyzes the polarized light, and allows or denies the light to pass therethrough based on the polarization of the light.

Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS), LCD panel, and digital micromirror device (DMD) projectors project a light image by the modulation of a light source (or lamp) using the respective (LCoS, LCD, DMD) modulation device or modulation devices. To improve sequential contrast and gray-level bit depth, it is known to attenuate the light source of a projection system in accordance with the video signal. For example, when displaying a fully black screen between video segments, ideal infinite sequential contrast could be obtained by simply turning off the lamp. Likewise in dark scenes with brightness levels only a small fraction of maximum, the output of the lamp might be reduced to improve the sequential contrast. In theory, by attenuating the light source in this way, the full bit-depth of the modulation device (or panel) can be used with a scaled luminance level to provide an increased sequential contrast. In most practical systems, however, such as in a ultra-high-pressure (UHP) mercury lamp, the light source itself cannot be intrinsically diminished in a practical way, due to speed constraints and other known difficulties, and instead an external aperture has been used to control light output.
A known "aperture" method for reducing the intensity output of a light source is the use of an electromechanical auto-iris as a dynamic aperture stop to provide active attenuation of a projection light source. FIG. 1 shows such a known mechanical auto-iris illumination system 100, in which an electromechanical device provides an auto-iris 130 with a variable aperture, having an array of curved spring-steel leaves whose orientation is determined electro-mechanically by the relative position of two rings. Illumination system 100 attenuates light from light source 102 by mechanically increasing or decreasing the aperture 132 through which the illumination passes. Auto-iris 130 is used to attenuate light source 102 achromatically to increase dynamic range of the system 100, and also to reduce the working f-stop (f/#), increasing contrast at the lower intensity settings. Dynamic range in this context describes the ability to maintain pixel gray level count at various image intensity settings, which in turn means the display has a good full gray representation for bright and dark images. Closing the aperture 132 therefore both attenuates the illuminating light and increases the working f/#, the latter also helping with contrast at any given light level, though often at the expense of uniformity. Though quite effective, mechanical components such as auto-iris 130 within illumination system 100 are prone to reliability issues, are costly, noisy, provide undesirable vibration, and have relatively slow response times.


A battery cell monitoring circuit comprises an input pin; a reset command detection circuit comprising an integrator circuit coupled to the input pin; a counter circuit coupled to an output terminal of the integrator circuit; and a one-shot circuit coupled to an output terminal of the counter circuit; a logic gate coupled to an output terminal of the one-shot circuit; and a reset circuit coupled to the logic gate.

Various electronic devices (e.g., electric vehicles, smartphones) are powered by rechargeable batteries. The rechargeable batteries may include one or more battery cells. To provide reliable operations of a rechargeable battery, a battery management system (BMS) monitors a status indicator (e.g., voltage, temperature, load balance, fault mode) of the rechargeable battery. The BMS may include one or more battery cell monitoring circuits. A battery cell monitoring circuit may be configured to monitor the status indicator of one or more battery cells of a rechargeable battery. A battery cell monitoring circuit may also be referred to as a cell monitor control (CMC) or a cell monitor unit (CMU). By monitoring the status indicator, the BMS ensures that the rechargeable battery is operating within safe parameters. If the BMS determines the rechargeable battery is not operating within safe parameters or loses communication with a battery cell monitoring circuit, then the BMS performs actions to protect the rechargeable battery.

Reset circuit for battery management system