A gas turbine engine comprises, in fluid flow series, a gas-generator compressor, a combustor, a gas-generator turbine, and a free power turbine. The gas-generator compressor is an axi-centrifugal compressor comprising a plurality of axial compression stages followed by a single centrifugal compression stage, wherein the International Standard Atmosphere, sea-level static (hereinafter ISA SLS) design point pressure ratio of the axi-centrifugal compressor is from 12 to 16, and a ratio of the ISA SLS pressure rise across the axial compression stages to the ISA SLS pressure rise across the centrifugal compression stage is from 0.75 to 1.

Turboshaft-configuration gas turbines are known, and find particular application as auxiliary power units (APUs) in airliners. Most engines in such an application are single-spool turboshaft engines, which comprise a turbine which drives a compressor and the load. Most turboshaft engines are designed to drive loads which require a fixed synchronous speed (such as in electrical power generation) or operate according to a cube-law (such as ship propellers).
Such operational constraints on the engine often result in sub-optimal designs, as part load compressor surge margin is eroded due to the fixed output speed. This is because as the compressor is forced to operate at a constant non-dimensional speed (N/√T) despite a reduction in corrected flow (W√T/P). This leads to compromises in the aerodynamic design of the compressor, and consequently increases fuel consumption and emissions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and apparatus for providing a translation environment for a computer system. Structurally, the present invention includes three main components: a codeset manager, a codeset database, and a codeset translation engine. The codeset manager compiles a set of codeset definitions. The compiled codeset definitions, or translation methods, are included in a codeset database. To translate a character, a client process requests the translation, specifying a source codeset and a target codeset from the codeset translation engine. The codeset translation engine transmits the requested translation to the codeset manager which searches the codeset database for an appropriate translation method. If no appropriate translation method exists in the codeset database, the codeset manager may be able to create a translation method using one or more translation methods in the codeset database. If an appropriate translation method is found or created, the translation method is executed to perform the requested translation. The translated character or characters are then returned to the client process.

Translation of single and multi-byte characters is a common and well know procedure within computer systems of many types. For example, computer systems routinely translate between characters of the ASCII codeset and characters of the EBCDIC codeset. In general, a number of differing methods exist for the translation of characters between differing codesets. Practice has established that each of these methods may be more, or less, optimal for a particular translation. Thus, for small codesets, such as the ASCII codeset, translation may be accomplished using simple translation tables. These translation tables map characters in the source codeset to equivalent characters in the target codeset and result in a translation method which is both relatively fast and relatively simple. Unfortunately, application of this fast and simple methodology to large codesets, such as the Kanji codeset, results in translation tables which may be intractably large. As a result, when large codesets are involved, it is often necessary to use an alternate translation method which is both more complex and more time consuming than simple translation tables.
Based on the foregoing, it is easy to appreciate that there is a necessity for a variety of translation methods. Unfortunately, the differing needs of different translations has encouraged the implementation of translation systems in a piecemeal and haphazard fashion. As a result, it is generally the case that multiple distinct translation systems exists within a single computer system where each translation system will be directed at translation between a small number of differing codesets.
The existence of multiple translation system within a single computer system has several disadvantages. For example, replication of the same translation method results in wasted systems resources, such as computer memory and disk space. In addition, replication of the same translation method is generally expensive wastes programmer time as the method is reimplemented one or more times. Additionally, implementation of multiple translation systems may result in an incomplete translation capability. As an example, assume that a first process includes a translation from an idealized codeset A to an idealized codeset B. Assume as well that a second process includes a translation from the idealized codeset B to an idealized codeset C. Under these circumstances, if a process requires a translation from codeset A to codeset C, a new translation method will have to be constructed. This, in spite of the fact that a method already exist in the system which might be used to perform the desired translation.
A separate disadvantage associated with traditional methodologies for translation is the difficulty associated with the addition of new translations to the system or modification of existing translations. More specifically, when multiple translation systems exist within multiple parts of a computer system, there may be no easy way to add a new translation that is generally available within the computer system. Instead, addition of a new translation often requires that the translation be added separately to multiple parts of the computer system. Such an approach makes it difficult to maintain the computer system.


A refrigerator includes a cabinet, a main door, an auxiliary storage compartment provided to a rear surface of the main door, and a sub-door. The main door is rotatably connected to the cabinet, and the sub-door is rotatably connected to the main door. An access opening is provided in the main door to allow access to the auxiliary storage compartment. The refrigerator also includes a button exposed at a front surface of the sub-door to receive input provided by a user, a hook member having a pivot shaft mounted to its rear end, and a locking protrusion provided in a groove located on a front surface of the main door that can selectively couple to the hook member. The hook member protrudes backward from a rear surface of the sub-door and can rotate within the sub-door about the pivot shaft in response to receipt of user input at the button.

Generally, a refrigerator is an appliance for storing food and the like in a frozen or refrigerated state within a storage compartment by discharging, into the storage compartment, cold air generated through a refrigeration cycle constituted by a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator, etc.
The refrigerator generally includes a freezer compartment for storage of food or beverages in a frozen state in a cabinet, and a fresh food compartment for storage of food or beverages at low temperature.
Refrigerators may generally be classified into a top mount type refrigerator, a bottom freezer type refrigerator and a side-by-side type refrigerator. In the top mount type refrigerator, a freezer compartment is arranged above a fresh food compartment. In the bottom freezer type refrigerator, the freezer compartment is arranged under the fresh food compartment. In the side-by-side type refrigerator, the freezer compartment and the fresh food compartment are arranged side by side.
More recently, various functions have been added to the refrigerator in addition to the function of storing food in a refrigerated or frozen state. For example, a dispenser may be installed at the door of a refrigerator to provide purified water and ice, or a display may be installed on the front surface of the door to display the state of the refrigerator so as to manage the refrigerator.
In addition, the volume of the refrigerator has been increased, and a door shelf or accommodation case to store objects has been provided to the inner side of the door so as to efficiently utilize the accommodation space.
Particularly, a fresh food compartment door may include a main door to open and close the compartment, and a sub-door rotatably mounted to the main door to allow access to an auxiliary storage compartment provided to the inner side of the main door through an opening formed in the main door. The auxiliary storage compartment at the inner side of the main door may be called a home bar, and the sub-door may be called a home bar door.


An aggregator device provides an iSCSI client with a list of storage areas which are offered by a single aggregated network array. The storage areas on the list are provided by multiple data storage systems and are accessible by the client using data paths which are out-of-band with the aggregator device. The aggregator device further receives an iSCSI login request from the client. The iSCSI login request identifies a particular storage area on the list of storage areas. The aggregator device further generates and sends an iSCSI login response to the client in response to the iSCSI login request. The iSCSI login response includes a network address of a particular data storage system of the multiple data storage systems which provides the particular storage area to enable the client to directly access the particular storage area using a data path which is out-of-band with the aggregator device.

The iSCSI protocol is a standard developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for communicating SCSI commands and data over TCP/IP networks. In this context, iSCSI client computers called "initiators" operate to store data into and retrieve data from data storage arrays called "targets" using packets transmitted over Ethernet connections (the Internet, LANs, WANs, etc.). Each data storage array is a specialized computer system configured to store data within portions of computerized memory (e.g., volumes, LUNs, etc.) with a high level of fault tolerance (e.g. RAID) and low latency (e.g., caching optimizations).
One conventional approach to operating multiple data storage arrays is for a system administrator to manage the arrays as separate array elements. Under this approach, each iSCSI client (or initiator) views the multiple data storage arrays as individual, independent arrays. For example, the clients can view a first array, ARRAY1, which provides access to multiple volumes VOL0, VOL1, VOL2, etc. Similarly, the clients can separately view a second array, ARRAY2, which provides access to multiple other volumes VOL0, VOL1, VOL2, etc., and so on.
Another conventional approach, which is illustrated in FIG. 1, involves the use of an Intelligent Switch (IS) 20 which (i) interconnects between iSCSI clients 22 and multiple data storage arrays 24, and (ii) enables the iSCSI clients 22 to view the data storage arrays 24 as a single array. FIG. 1 shows an IS 20(A) having a client-side interface 26 for connecting to multiple iSCSI clients 22(1), 22(2), 22(3), and an array-side interface 28 for connecting to multiple data storage arrays 24(A)(1), 24(A)(2), 24(A)(3). During operation, the IS 20(A) essentially acts as a front-end to the data storage arrays 24(A)(1), 24(A)(2), 24(A)(3) by receiving iSCSI commands 30 from the clients 22 and processing these iSCSI commands 30 on behalf of the clients 22. Furthermore, data 32 which is exchanged between the clients 22 and the data storage arrays 28(A)(1), 28(A)(2), 28(A)(3) passes through the IS 20(A) in an "in-band" manner. To increase throughput beyond that which is provided by the IS 20(A), other ISs 20 can be added. For example, as further shown in FIG. 1, another IS 20(B) operates as a front-end to additional data storage arrays 28(B)(1), 28(B)(2), 28(B)(3). In this situation, each client 22 must be configured to communicate with two arrays, i.e., a first array presented by the IS 20(A) and a second array presented by the IS 20(B).

Techniques for presenting multiple data storage arrays to iSCSI clients as a single aggregated network array


There is provided an information processing apparatus in which an efficiency of a work that is being executed by a client application during the activation at present doesn't deteriorate, a recording process for recording the contents of the work so that they can be smoothly reconstructed can be executed, and a reproducing process which corresponds to the recording process and is provided to reconstruct the work contents can be efficiently executed. In the recording process, an event message which is generated by an input of the user is recorded into an event message memory. In the reproducing process, the event message is read out from the event message memory, the event message is stored into a transmission message buffer through a reproduction message buffer, and the event message is transmitted from the transmission message buffer to a client application.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information processing apparatus and method and an information processing system which are used for an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, workstation, or the like having a window system of a server client type, wherein the contents of work which is executed on a window opened on a display are recorded so that they can be reconstructed and the recorded work contents are reconstructed.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional window system of the server client type, by communicating messages among an input device, such as keyboard mouse, or the like, a window system server for managing a display such as a CRT, liquid crystal display, or the like, and an activated client application, the user can execute a work using the client application while watching the window opened on the display.
In the server client type window system, it is desired that the contents of work which is executed on the open window by the client application are reconstructed later without improving the existing window server and client application of the system.
To realize the above method, there is considered a method whereby a window in which the work contents have been drawn is recorded as bit map data at any desired time during the work or, in the case of work in an application which has a saving/loading function, there is also a method whereby the work contents are preserved at any time during the work by changing file names. According to these methods, the contents of the work which is executed on the open window by the client application can be recorded so that the work can be reconstructed, without improving the existing window server and client application of the system.
However, according to the former method of recording the window during the work as bit map data, in order to reconstruct the work as if a video image were reproduced, each time a drawing state of the window changes, it is necessary to preserve the new set of bit map data. Consequently, an extremely large memory capacity is necessary, the load on the processing for recording the bit map data increases, and the processing of the work itself in the client application is delayed. Those drawbacks cause deterioration in working efficiency.
As for the reproduction of the work, although the work contents can be seen as a bit map image, the work cannot be continued after completion of the reproduction.
On the other hand, according to the latter method of preserving the work contents by changing the file name during the work at any desired time, although the work can be continued after completion of the reproduction, it can be realized only by that application to reconstruct the work saving/loading function has. To reconstruct the work as if a video image were reproduced, each time the drawing state of the window changes, it is necessary to preserve the file. Therefore, an extremely large memory capacity is necessary, the load on the processing for preserving increases, and the processing of the work itself in the application is delayed. Those drawbacks cause deterioration in working efficiency.
Further, since it is necessary to read out a number of files continously in the reproducing mode, it is very difficult to execute the reproduction smoothly.
It is an object of the invention to provide an information processing apparatus and method, in which the efficiency with which work is executed in a client application during the activation doesn't deteriorate, a recording process to record the work contents so that they can be smoothly reconstructed can be executed, and a reproducing process which corresponds to the recording process and is necessary to reconstruct the work contents can be efficiently executed.
Another object of the invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and method, in which the efficiency with which work which is being executed in a client application during the activation at present doesn't deteriorate, and a recording process to record the work contents so that they can be smoothly reconstructed can be executed.
A halfway participating process of a new user during the execution of a cooperating work using the conventional window shared system is realized by interrupting the work of the user which has participated so far, saving the work contents at that time point, finishing the client application, making the client operative under an environment including the new user after that, and loading (reading) the saved contents.
In the above conventional apparatus, however, using such halfway participating process, the relatively high costs of saving and then reloading the state of the client means that the work efficiency is deteriorated. Further, there is a problem in the requirement that the user must designate a file to preserve the state of the client because of the operation of the halfway participation and the operation for this purpose is troublesome.
The invention is made in consideration of the above problems of the conventional techniques and it is an object of the invention to provide an information processing system in which a working efficiency and an operability when executing a participating process in the middle are improved.

System for reproducing contents of work operable in digest reproducing mode by digesting portion corresponding to the time interval between two event messages stored in memory


Disclosed are synthetic and "humanized" versions of green fluorescent protein (GFP) genes adapted for high level expression in mammalian cells, especially those of human origin. Base substitutions are made in various codons in order to change the codon usage to one more appropriate for expression in mammalian cells. Recombinant vectors carrying such humanized genes are also disclosed. In addition, various methods for using the efficient expression of humanized GFP in mammalian cells and in animals are described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of reporter genes and particularly provides improved green fluorescent protein (GFP) genes, constructs and methods of use. The gfp genes disclosed herein are humanized gfp genes adapted for expression in mammalian and human cells by using preferred DNA codons.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reporter molecules are frequently used in biological systems to monitor gene expression. Commonly used reporter genes include .beta.-galactosidase, firefly luciferase, alkaline phosphatase, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and .beta.-glucuronidase (GUS). However, the available reporter genes have certain drawbacks that limit their use. A frequently encountered limitation is that the introduction of a substrate is required. Other drawbacks include, for example, the size of certain proteins which means that expression of reporter-fusion proteins can be difficult.
Another useful strategy is to label a protein with a fluorescent tag to enable subsequent detection and localization in intact cells. Fluorescent labeling is used in conjunction with immunofluorescence and fluorescence analog cytochemistry, in which the biochemistry and trafficking of proteins are monitored after microinjection into living cells.
Fluorescence labeling has generally been achieved by purifying proteins and covalently conjugating them to reactive derivatives of organic fluorophores. In these methods, the stoichiometry and locations of dye attachment are often difficult to control and careful repurification of the proteins is usually necessary. A further problem is introducing the labeled proteins into a cell, which often involve microinjection techniques or methods of reversible permeabilization to introduce the proteins through the plasma membrane.
A molecular biological alternative to fluorescent-tagged proteins has been made possible by recent advances and the cloning of green fluorescent protein (GFP). The green fluorescent protein (GFP) encoded by the gfp10 gene from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria is a protein of 238 amino acids which absorbs blue light (major peak at 395 nm) and emits green light (major peak at 509 nm) (Morin and Hastings, 1971; Ward et al., 1980; Prasher et al., 1992). The GFP hexapeptide chromophore starts at amino acid 64 and is derived from the primary amino acid sequence through the cyclization of serine-dehydrotyrosine-glycine within this hexapeptide (Shimomura, 1979; Cody et al., 1993).
The light-stimulated GFP fluorescence is species-independent and does not require any cofactors, substrates, or additional gene products from A. victoria (Chalfie et al., 1994). This allows GFP detection in living cells other than A. victoria so long as meaningful gene expression can be achieved. The small size of gfp10 and the "real-time" detection of the product thus makes GFP a promising candidate for use as a reporter gene.
Certain GFP variants have recently been reported that have improved spectral properties. For example, Heim et. al. (1994) described a mutant that fluoresces blue and contains a histidine in place of Tyr66. Heim et. al. (1995) later described a Ser65.fwdarw.Thr GFP mutant that has a spectrum much closer to that of Renilla reniformis, which has an extinction coefficient per monomer more than 10 times that of the longer-wavelength peak of Aequorea GFP.
However, despite certain developments, such as the variants described above, the present usefulness of GFP is still limited by variable and, at best, low expression levels in mammalian cells. Therefore, it is evident that new developments in GFP technology are needed before the full potential of this protein can be realized, particularly in applications that require expression in mammalian cells, including gene therapy strategies.

Humanized green fluorescent protein genes and methods

The University of Florida Research Foundation Inc.


A facsimile apparatus (1) is provided with a function of making a facsimile communication through a telephone line (2). The facsimile apparatus includes: a memory device (8) for storing information to indicate a condition related to the facsimile communication; a voice data storing device (15) for storing predetermined various kinds of voice data; a speech signal synthesizing device (16) for synthesizing a speech signal on a basis of the stored information and the stored voice data; and a transmitting device (3) for transmitting the synthesized speech signal onto the telephone line (FIG. 1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In a facsimile apparatus, a plurality of operation parameters are set and stored in an internal memory device of the facsimile apparatus. Here, the operation parameter is a numerical value indicating various kinds of operation modes and operation conditions of the facsimile apparatus. For example, such operation parameters includes a parameter indicating a transmitting level of the image data, a parameter indicating a receiving level of the image data, and a parameter indicating various kinds of image quality modes such as a standard mode, and a fine mode which is to be selected in case that the characters of the original to be transmitted by the facsimile operation are fine or small when they are read.
In this kind of facsimile apparatus, the above-mentioned operation parameters are displayed or printed out by means of a display device or a printing device equipped in the facsimile apparatus, so that the user can be aware of the operation parameters currently set in the facsimile apparatus.
In the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus, however, the operation parameters can be displayed or printed out only at the site of the user using the pertinent facsimile apparatus. In other words, the operation parameters cannot be known at the site of the opponent party i.e. the other facsimile apparatus, with which the facsimile communication is to be established. Accordingly, the facsimile communication may fail or result in a very poor image transmission because the operation conditions or the operation modes of the two facsimile apparatuses are not matched or relatively properly set, which is the great problem of this kind of facsimile apparatus.
To overcome this problem, it may be proposed that the operation parameters are coded and transmitted to the opponent party along with the ordinary facsimile communication. However in this case, the structure of the facsimile apparatuses and the manner of the communication would be quite complicated.
As the information to indicate the operation condition of the facsimile apparatuses communicated with each other, the information as for the receiving level of the image data at the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side, is especially important from a view point of the outputted image quality on the receiving side. Thus, there is a facsimile apparatus which has a function to detect the receiving level of the image data, and displays or prints out the detected receiving level on the display or by the printer, so that the user at the receiving side can be aware of the receiving level. However in this case, since the display or print-out of the receiving level of the image is performed only at the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side, the user at the transmitting side has to call up the opponent party after the facsimile transmission and ask the opponent party about the receiving level, in order to check the receiving level of the image at the receiving side.


An MS, for a GSM/EDGE network, arranged to, as a first alternative, use every 13th TDMA frame with an odd number as an idle frame which is used for neighboring cell measurements and every 13th TDMA frame with an even number as a PTCCH, a Packet Timing Control Channel. The MS is arranged to, as a second alternative, use every 13th TDMA frame with an odd number as a PTCCH and every 13th TDMA frame with an even number for neighboring cell measurements. The MS is arranged to transmit information to the network that the MS supports the use of the second alternative, and to receive information from the network about which of these two alternatives that the MS should use.

In GSM networks which are enabled for EDGE, so called GSM/EDGE networks, there is always a need to improve the utilization of the network's radio resources. One of the reasons for this is the introduction of so called "smart phones" which are designed to perform a large number of applications which use autonomous access triggers for communication with the application servers. Another reason for the need to improve the utilization of the network's radio resources is the increasing use of so called Machine Type Communication devices, usually referred to as MTC devices.
In a GSM/EDGE network, so called "timing advance" is used for the devices in the network, here referred to generically as Mobile Stations, MSs, with an ongoing RLC/MAC connection in order to align the MSs' transmit time with the receive window in the base stations. The timing advance is estimated by the network and signaled to the MSs via the channel known as the PTCCH channel, the Packet Timing Control Channel. For each MS, a specific PTCCH sub channel is allotted, i.e. one MS—one PTCCH sub channel.
In a GSM/EDGE network, the network does not know whether or not more data will be transmitted from an MS, which means that the network does not know exactly when to disconnect a specific RLC/MAC connection, as a result of which the network usually prolongs the RLC/MAC connections in order to avoid renewed costly access procedures over the Common Control Channel, the CCCH. This, however, results in an increased consumption of PTCCH sub channels, which must be seen against the fact that at present, the number of PTCCH sub channels that can be used simultaneously is 16 per time slot. At present, every 13th TDMA frame in a 52-multiframe with an even frame number is used for a timing advance procedure, by means of the MSs transmitting bursts for timing advance measurements in the uplink and receiving timing advance messages from the network in the downlink, while every 13th TDMA frame in a 52-multiframe with an odd number is called an Idle frame and is used by the MSs for neighboring cell measurements. The term "every 13th TDMA frame" is here used to refer to a system in which frame "number zero", i.e. the first TDMA frame in a 52-multiframe, is used as the starting point for the counting of "every 13th TDMA frame".

Device and method for extended PTCCH space


A mobile vehicle for inserting jointed pipe into a well, having a derrick and hydraulic rams to raise and lower same, adapted to conduct additional operations which will allow a well to be completed by this vehicle alone. Three winches are provided, a first to raise and lower power tongs to manoeuvre and thread jointed pipe, a second situate on the bed of the vehicle to raise and lower jointed tubing, and a third likewise mounted on the bed of the vehicle on which a conductive wireline is wound, for raising and lowering logging and swabbing devices in the well. Levelling jacks are provided at four corners of the vehicle to permit levelling of the vehicle and alignment of jointed pipe with the borehole of the well. Each of the rams, power tongs, levelling jacks, first, second, and third winches are hydraulically powered, preferably by a single pump, as each of the aforementioned devices are not operated at the same time but sequentially.

Typically, when an oil or gas well has been drilled, a number of further steps are required to complete the well to ready it for production. A logging operation, a swabbing operation, and an operation involving insertion of pipe or tubing into the well, and finally a perforation step to perforate said tubing, typically are additional steps required to ready a well for production.
The logging step requires the lowering of a logging instrument into the drilled well. The logging instrument is an elongate cylindrical device that is typically lowered from a well-servicing vehicle via an electrically-conductive wireline (referred to in the well completion and servicing industry as an "e-line") into the drilled well. The logging device emits gamma rays or the like and is used to receive reflected waves from the petroleum formation, such reflected waves indicating physical properties of rock formation in which the well is drilled useful for determining whether further steps, such as whether fractionation of the petrochemical formation in which the well lies, would be needed or beneficial. Information and data from the logging instrument is relayed to the surface of the well via the wireline, and the data is "logged" by means of recording instrumentation, typically situate in the service vehicle at the surface of the well. The logging instrument is thereafter brought to the well surface by the wireline, which is wound on a winch expressly provided on the service vehicle for this purpose.
The step of swabbing a well involves the removal of water which may be in the well, to permit the flow of petroleum from the formation into the well. Such swabbing operation involves the lowering, by means of another wireline, typically a high strength cable, of a plug which has a valve thereon. The plug is lowered in the well, with the water in the well flowing through the valve from the underside of the plug to the upperside of the plug, thereby allowing the plug to settle towards the bottom of the well. Thereafter, the valve closes when the plug is raised. In such manner the raising of the plug allows water above the plug to be removed from the well when the plug is withdrawn, so as to thereby "underbalance" the well and permit its later use in oil or gas recovery. The swabbing operation frequently needs to be carried out a number of times in order that the well be as underbalanced as possible.
After a well is drilled, the well is typically cased with metal tubing or piping so as to prevent inadvertent closure of the well due to shifting or collapse of surrounding strata, and to permit the pumping, in the case of oil, or the pressurized flow of gas, in the case of natural gas, from the well. This step is a further step necessary to complete a well and ready it for production.
In this tubing insertion step, the tubing which is inserted into the well may be continuous tubing, which is typically used in deeper wells (in excess of 1,500-2,000 meters), or in the case of shallow wells, joined pipe is used which provides slightly higher resistance to fluid flow due to the pipe joints, but which is tolerable in shallower wells. Any tubing, regardless of whether continuous or joined pipe, must be perforated at the lowermost extremity of the well, to allow oil or gas to flow into the tubing at the lowermost portion of the well, and thereafter flow up and out of the well via the upper tubing.
Accordingly, the final step in completing a well, typically after logging and swabbing have been carried out, involves the lowering, by means of a conductive wireline, of an explosive charge situated on the lowermost end of the inserted tubing. Such tubing-conveyed charge is then, when substantially all of the tubing been inserted into the well, detonated at the lowermost portion of the well (i.e. the producing portion of the well), to permit gas or oil to flow through into the resulting holes (perforations) in the tubing/casing, and thereby permit the oil or gas, as the case may be, to flow up or be drawn up to the surface of the well via the unperforated tubing now above. This procedure is typically known in the art as TCP ("tubing conveyed perforation").
Each of the above steps is typically needed to be conducted in order to bring a drilled well into production.
Mobile rigs for the drilling of wells are well known in the art, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,847,098, 3,109,523, 3,670,831, 3,734,210, 3,994,350, 4,371,046, 4,478,291, 5,094,302 and 5,794,723.
Typically, these prior art drilling rigs are relatively large and heavy, particularly where they are adapted for drilling deeper wells (i.e. wells of more than 1500 to 3000 m in depth).
In the prior art, due to the size and complexity of the above prior art drilling rigs, these units are usually only adapted for the drilling of the well. Lighter, less complex, "rigless" well servicing equipment, which cannot drill but which can carry out one or more steps in the completing of the well, such as the logging and/or swabbing operations, are typically employed for these purposes.
One such example of a prior art "rigless" well service vehicle is the "first generation" mobile servicing vehicle manufactured by Big Guns Perforating and Logging Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who is also the assignee of this invention described later herein. Such mobile vehicle essentially consists of a double-axle vehicle, the rear bed thereof having a chain-driven winch having a 9/16 inch cable wound thereon for carrying out swabbing operations, and a further drum having a 5/16 inch conductive wireline wound thereon, used for lowering a logging instrument for logging operations. Such vehicle further carried on the bed thereof computerized equipment for "logging" and analyzing the data received from the logging instrument via the 5/16 inch conductive wireline.
This prior art vehicle, while useful, was recognized as being more practical if it could further carry out TCP (tubing conveyed perforation), so that the drilling vehicle which possessed a rig or derrick to permit drilling as well as insertion of tubing into the well would not need to be manoeuvred back over the well to insert the tubing after the logging operations had been done by the service vehicle. In other words, it was recognized that it would be more economical if the Big Guns service vehicle could conduct all of the steps of logging, swabbing, tubing insertion and perforation, so that immediately after drilling the well the drilling rig could permanently depart from the well site to other locations where its valuable services are needed, and leave the task of completion of the well to a service vehicle.
Accordingly, to this end, a mast was further added to the first generation service vehicle made by Big Guns Perforating and Logging Inc., which, by having a mast of at least 30 feet in height, could permit the insertion of 30 foot lengths of jointed pipe into the well to complete TCP. These "second generation" service vehicles then properly became a service rig, in that they then possessed a mast, pivotably coupled to the bed of the vehicle, which could be raised by hydraulic pistons to a substantially vertical or slightly over-vertical position. To stabilize the mast/derrick when in a raised position, such vehicles had manual telescoping stabilizing jacks proximate each of the left, right, front, and back corners of such vehicle, to prevent tipping.
Disadvantageously, however, such "second generation" service rig vehicles needed at least one additional service vehicle having auxiliary equipment such as hydraulic power tongs for the power handling and threading of jointed pipe during the TCP operation. This auxiliary equipment was typically supplied by another service vehicle having such equipment on the rear bed thereof, which provided such function when it likewise was backed up to the well, typically opposite the service rig vehicle, so that workers could utilize the service rig to hold the pipe, and the hydraulic power tongs on the additional service vehicles to thread the joined pipe together for insertion into the well.
As an attempt to design a vehicle which could provide a number of well completion steps, U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 teaches a mobile vehicle/carrier 22 having a collapsible mast or derrick 40 which may be hydraulically raised and lowered by means of hydraulic pistons 52. A winch 46 and cable is provided proximate the crown of the derrick 40 for performing functions such as manipulating joined pipe segments if required. A further wireline winch assembly 100 and a drum 102 having a conductive wireline wound thereon allows a logging instrument to be lowered into the well to permit logging and vertical wells.
The vehicle/carrier 22 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 possessed stabilizers 32 at each corner, incorporating a vertically extendible hydraulic jack or lifter 34 for engaging the ground 21, to level the rig as desired during operation, thereby removing some or all of the rig's weight from the front and/or rear axles 26,28. A platform 47 was further provided, movable from a retracted position to an operable position by a fastline winch 49 situate proximate the crown of the derrick 40. Notably, platform 47 was permanently affixed to the derrick 40 (ref. FIG. 5) at a fixed height, and travelled with the vehicle 22.
Importantly, vehicle 22 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,0003,598 was adapted for injecting continuous tubing (CT). As such, it possessed a large removable reel 82, part of a cartridge assembly 80, on which CT was wound. An injector 70, slidable on the derrick 40 by means of winch 46, was provided, for injecting the continuous tubing in the well, was also necessary.
While U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 discloses that it may be used for manipulating joined pipe (as opposed to CT) if need be, and indeed discloses winch 46 for such purpose, disadvantageously vehicle 22 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 clearly is poorly suited to insertion of jointed pipe. In particular, such vehicle 22 for effective use in inserted jointed (as opposed to continuous pipe) required another service vehicle having power tongs to mechanically join pipe segments together, as it clearly lacked any such equipment. In particular, for shallower wells, where jointed pipe instead of CT is typically used, to carry out manipulation of jointed pipe would require disengagement of winch 46 with injector 70, as injector 70 was not needed, in order to allow derrick-mounted winch 46 to handle jointed pipe. However, all that winch 46 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 can do is raise and lower jointed tubing—no power mechanism other than winch 46 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 to handle jointed pipe, nor could the derrick 40, due to the provision of slidable injector 70 on derrick 40, be adapted to provide such power tongs, as they would plainly interfere with the injector 70. Particularly, while U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 discloses that such carrier/vehicle 22 may also be used to insert jointed pipe into a well, derrick 40 with its sliding injector 70 clearly lacked the ability to provide upwardly and downwardly moveable power tools to allow power manipulation of jointed pipe, as the injector 70 would necessarily Interfere with such devices. At least one other service vehicle would be necessary to provide such capability.
Accordingly, the ability to insert jointed pipe in an efficient manner was not, nor capable of being, provided by vehicle 22 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598. Accordingly, vehicle/carrier 22 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598 suffered from the similar shortcoming of the second generation Big Guns vehicle, namely the need for other service vehicles having additional equipment to be present.
In addition, due to the provision of a large cartridge assembly 80 for CT injection and a sliding injector 70 on vehicle 22 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,598, as well as a platform 47 which was permanently mounted on vehicle/carrier 22 and transported with such vehicle 22, vehicle 22 was necessarily large and cumbersome.
Accordingly, there exists a real need in the industry for a single, multi-function well servicing vehicle for shallow wells, capable to not only conducting logging and swabbing operations, but also effectively and efficiently being able to insert joined pipe into the well. Also necessary is the ability to carry out tubing conveyed perforation, so as to be able to complete a pre-drilled well and ready it for production without the need for any other well servicing vehicles.


A reader generates a scanning beam for reading a bar code symbol on a selected item. The reader includes a motion sensor or software program for discriminating between the selected item and other items also having bar code symbols thereon. The motion sensor or software program for discriminating between the items may discriminate between an item swept past the reader and stationary items, or an item moved into the field of view of the reader, held stationary and moved out of the field of view and stationary or moving items or between an item placed within a predetermined distance range and other items.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reader for reading an indicia, for example a reader for reading bar code symbols on products at a point of sale transaction terminal.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In prior art readers comprising a scanner and a decoder, the scanner generates a scanning spot which traverses the target indicia such as a bar code symbol and light reflected from the bar code symbol is received by the decoder wherein a digital electrical signal is generated and analyzed to decode the information contained in the bar code symbol.
When such a bar code reader is used, for example at a point of sale, to read a bar code symbol on a product being purchased the scanning beam may not be directed exclusively at the target bar code symbol but may also scan and be reflected by bar code symbols on neighboring items which it was not intended to scan. The reflected scanning beam from the other items may be received by the decoder as a result of which incorrect information may be generated. As a specific example of such a problem, where a product being purchased is scanned at a supermarket point of sale the scanning beam may also be reflected by, for example, magazines on a magazine rack adjacent to a supermarket point of sale.
It will be appreciated therefore that the conventional bar code reading system can give rise to problems when items having bar code symbols are found adjacent or nearby the item to be scanned.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,080 which is incorporated herein by reference describes a bar code scanner capable of automatically scanning bar code data without a manually activated trigger to initiate a scan of bar code data. The scanner includes a light source for illuminating the bar code symbol, a photodiode array for detecting light reflected by the bar code symbol, a CCD shift register for converting the data generated in parallel in the photodiode array to a serial format and a digitizer circuit for converting the data to digital pulses. The digitized signal corresponding to the serial data is produced during a read-out period and the signal is examined to establish whether a valid bar code symbol has been read; a valid bar code symbol is indicated when the signal comprises a given number of pulses (for example, eight pulses) each pulse corresponding to a bar in the bar code symbol. The scanner continues to scan until a valid bar code symbol has been identified at which point the scan cycle is terminated. The scan cycle is recommenced after a predetermined number of successive read-out intervals following the reading of the valid bar code symbol. In order to ensure that the same bar code is not read again the number of pulses in each of the predetermined number of read-out intervals is monitored. U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,080 relates only to a static beam or field of view optical reading system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,924, which is commonly assigned with the present application and incorporated herein by reference, describes an arrangement for decoding of bar code symbols in which a symbol is scanned by a light beam, light reflected from the symbol is sensed by a detector and the detected time widths (the length of time spent by the scanning light beam traversing a bar or space) are compared with a threshold value to determine if the bar code symbol is within the working range of the bar code scanner. For example, if the detected time width is smaller than a predetermined threshold value then a bar code symbol is outside a predetermined distance zone. A second evaluation is then performed to establish whether the detected bar code symbol is a valid bar code symbol i.e. it has all of the characteristics of a valid bar code symbol (for instance a check may be carried out to ensure that the detected bar code symbol has a sequence of bar and space widths which conform to the methodology of acceptable bar code symbols). Once a successful scan of a given bar code symbol has taken place any scans of an identical bar code symbol within a predetermined time is ignored on the assumption that it is the same bar code symbol that is being read. In a preferred embodiment the arrangement is provided in a gun-shaped device having a trigger allowing manual activation of the scanning light beam.

Bar code reader with means for discriminating between a moving indicia and a stationary indicia


A stroller includes a first wheel assembly, a second wheel assembly, and a handle bar assembly, with each respective assembly being configured to connect to respective first, second, and third rotatable elements of a folding mechanism. Each of the first, second, and third rotatable elements are rotatably supported by a common axle. The stroller further includes a leverage element rotatably supported by a leverage axle, with the leverage axle being supported by the third rotatable element and being arranged in a parallel relationship with the common axle. The leverage element includes an axle slot for accommodating movement of the common axle. The leverage element also includes a first pin and a second pin, with the first pin being rotatably supported by the first rotatable element in a receptacle arranged at a first distance from the common axle, and the second pin being rotatably supported by the second rotatable element in a second receptacle at a second distance from the common axle.

Strollers, also referred to as push-chairs or prams, are commonly used to transport infants or toddlers. Foldable strollers offer the advantage of being easy to stow when not in use.
The state of the art includes U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,039 B2 (Valdez, et al.), describing an all-terrain baby stroller having a folding mechanism. The stroller comprises a foldable, tubular metal frame with a transversely extending rear axle assembly and a front wheel. The tubular frame includes left and right folding assemblies. Each of the folding assemblies includes two rotatable members, each having a disk with a notch and an arm; one arm being connected to the stroller handle and the arm being connected to the front wheel frame. The rotatable members, along with a corresponding rear wheel supports, are contained between housing halves that allow the arms to protrude outside of the housing. The inside wall of each half of the housing has a recess sized and shaped such that when the two halves of the housing are positioned together, the recesses form a cavity to securely receive the upper free-end portion of the rear wheel support. The disks are rotatable about a common bushing and may be interlocked by means of a spring-loaded tip mounted on the rear wheel support. The stroller may be folded by retracting the tip from the notches and rotating the disks with respect to one another, such that the front wheel support and the handle support are moved into close proximity to the rear wheel support.
The state of the art also includes U.S. Pat. No. 7,632,035 B2 (Cheng) which discloses a baby stroller having a folding mechanism. The folding mechanism includes a folding assembly having a first and second rotatable members rotatably mounted on an axle to rotate relative to each other. The first rotatable member is positioned for rotation in a first rotation plane and the second rotatable member is positioned for rotation in a second rotation plane, the first and second rotation planes are spaced apart. The first rotatable member has a first gear and the second rotatable member has a second gear. The folding assembly further has a third gear and a fourth gear configured to rotate together as a unit. The third gear is positioned in driving engagement with the first gear and the fourth gear is positioned in driving engagement with the second gear so that the first rotatable member and the second rotatable member rotate relative to each other in geared coordination.
The state of the art also includes U.S. Pat. No. 8,205,907 B2 (Chicca), describing a collapsible stroller having a frame with two so-called cam-fold units. Each cam-fold unit includes an inverse cam comprising a follower and a motion-transfer pin. Each of cam-fold units is coupled to the pusher handle and to the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly. Each cam-fold unit includes a cam-support base, an inverse cam including a follower and a motion-transfer pin, and a pin mover. The cam-support base is coupled to the rear wheel assembly. The follower is coupled to the front wheel assembly so that the front and rear wheel assemblies move relative to one another when the follower is moved, by movement of the motion-transfer pin and pin mover. The pin mover is coupled to the pusher handle so that the pin mover moves relative to the rear wheel assembly to cause relative movement of the motion-transfer pin, follower, and front wheel assembly relative to the rear wheel assembly when the pusher handle is moved by a user relative to the rear wheel assembly.
The applicant has devised and embodied this invention to overcome certain shortcomings with the prior art and to obtain further advantages.


Novel attenuators for use in single-channel applications are disclosed. The attenuators include a crosslinked siloxane copolymer composition, prepared by crosslinking a vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer with a silane crosslinking agent in the presence of a platinum catalyst. The crosslinked copolymer overlies a portion of a side-polished optical fiber or tapered optical fiber. Optical energy propagating through the fiber can be extracted when the refractive index of the crosslinked material is varied about that of the optical fiber. The attenuators are useful in single-channel applications, such as the ever-popular 1310 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths.

The present invention relates to fiber optic attenuators for use in single-channel applications, and more particularly to the use of crosslinked siloxane polymers as refractive index matched materials in such devices.
Dense wavelength division multiplexed (D/WDM) optical networks increase their transmission capacity by employing multiple co-propagating, discrete, wavelength channels, each carrying independent data streams. Currently, D/WDM systems operate in the 1550 nm spectral region because of the availability of optical amplifiers containing erbium-doped optical fibers (i.e. Er+3 fiber). However, as amplifier technology develops, and capacity demands increase, D/WDM systems are expected to expand their spectral extent and increase their channel density.
Broadband fiber optic devices, such as variable attenuators, couplers, and switches having a controllable spectral response, are critical components of D/WDM systems. The availability of dispersion and refractive index controlled polymers can be used to develop side-polished fiber- (SPF) and tapered fiber-based device designs. Examples of such devices and polymers are disclosed in copending commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. Nos. 09/139,787, 09/139,832 and 09/139,457, all filed on Aug. 25, 1998.
In contrast to broadband devices, which are designed to cover a spectral region of tens of nanometers, single-channel or narrowband devices are used in DJWDM systems where single channels are separated out. Certain polymers having a specific refractive index associated therewith at any given single wavelength can be incorporated into such narrowband devices. Classes of polymers, such as polyolefins and polysiloxanes, have excellent optical properties making them ideal for use as optical materials.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,217,811 and 5,266,352, Filas et al. disclose optical devices in which certain crosslinked silicone polymers are incorporated to index match optical components, such as the end of a broken optical fiber, to other optical devices. The polymer disclosed is a vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer crosslinked with tri- or tetrafunctional silanes in the presence of a platinum catalyst. Examples of refractive index matching applications include coupling the end of one broken optical fiber to another or into a light detector, optical matching a lens to the end of the broken fiber, connecting the end of an optical fiber to a waveguide, and coupling energy from the waveguide into a PIN photodetector. In all these examples, the optical fiber is broken, and the polymer is positioned in series between the components, such that the optical signal is transmitted through the polymer without alteration.
As disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,493 and the aforementioned copending commonly assigned patent applications, certain organic polymers having an index of refraction close to that of the fiber can be applied to the side surface of a SPF optic or tapered fiber for use in variable optical attenuators (VOAs). Such attenuators lower the optical signal levels of light transmitted therethrough, without the need to break the optical fiber. The disclosed polymers exhibit a change in refractive index proportional to a change in temperature. OPTI-CLAD(copyright) 145, which is available from Optical Polymer Research, Inc. is an example of such a polymer. Polyolefin/dye compositions, wherein the refractive index varies with polymer composition as well as with temperature, are disclosed in the aforementioned copending commonly assigned U.S. application Ser. Nos. 09/139,457 and 09/139,787. These polymers can be used in broadband applications to give a uniform spectral response, but because of the inclusion of the dye, the polyolefin compositions are limited to use in the 1500-1600 nm wavelength region.
A need therefore exists for a polymer composition and optical gel that can attenuate light within a single channel. Furthermore, a polymer composition is desirable wherein the refractive index (xcex7) can be controlled by changing the temperature of the polymer or by controlling the polymer composition. Such a polymer gel should exhibit good thermal stability, good attenuation control at operating temperatures varying over a wide range, very low dxcex7/dT, low power consumption, and low polarization dependent loss. The present invention meets the aforementioned needs.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention is a single-channel attenuator comprising a portion of an optical fiber through which optical energy can propagate, wherein the portion has a side surface through which at least some of the optical energy can be extracted. Overlying the side surface of the optical fiber is a crosslinked siloxane polymer composition, which is the product of crosslinking an uncrosslinked vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer with a silane crosslinking agent in the presence of a platinum catalyst. The optical energy propagating through the fiber can be controllably extracted therefrom at a particular wavelength by adjusting the refractive index of the crosslinked siloxane polymer composition. Preferably, it should substantially match the refractive index of the optical fiber. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9csubstantiallyxe2x80x9d matched refers to within about 0.5%, and the term xe2x80x9coptical fiberxe2x80x9d is interchangeable with the term xe2x80x9cfiber opticxe2x80x9d.
In addition, the attenuator may optionally include a controllable heating/cooling source in contact with the crosslinked siloxane polymer composition (and optionally with the uncrosslinked copolymer to induce curing) wherein the controllable heating/cooling source provides a controllable stimulus to change the temperature of the crosslinked polymer composition, thereby adjusting the refractive index until it substantially matches that of the optical fiber.
In another aspect, the invention is a method for preparing a vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer having a desired mole percent of phenyl monomers. The method comprises redistributing monomers from a first vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer and a second vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer. The method comprises the steps of:
(a) mixing the first vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer having a higher mole percent of phenyl monomers with the second vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer having a lower mole percent of phenyl monomers in the presence of a trace amount of an alkaline hydroxide selected from the group of KOH and NaOH; and
(b) heating the mixture of step (a) at a temperature and for a time sufficient to produce a clear homogenous solution.
The clear solution contains the vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer having a desired mole percent of phenyl monomers lying between the higher and lower mole percent.
In yet another aspect, the invention is a fiber optical device for attenuating optical energy (i.e. attenuator) within a single channel, as set forth above. However, the vinyl-terminated dimethylsiloxane-diphenylsiloxane copolymer, which is subsequently crosslinked, is prepared by the redistribution method of the present invention.


A method for non-contact measurement of stress in a thin-film deposited on a substrate is disclosed. The method may include measuring first topography data of a substrate having a thin-film deposited thereupon. The method may also include comparing the first topography data with second topography data of the substrate that is measured prior to thin-film deposition. The method may further include obtaining a vertical displacement of the substrate based on the comparison between the first topography data and the second topography data. The method may also include detecting a stress value in the thin-film deposited on the substrate based on a fourth-order polynomial equation and the vertical displacement.

Substrates having one or more layers of one or more thin-film material deposited thereupon may be used in many applications in the field of electronics. The thickness of such thin-film may range from about a few hundred angstroms to several micrometers.
Due to a variety of reasons including for example, differences in properties of the substrate material and that of the material used for the thin-film deposition, mechanical stress may develop in the thin-film. Mechanical stress developed in the thin-film can be either compressive or tensile. In a substrate having the thin-film deposited on top, development of compressive stress in the thin-film may cause the substrate to bow in a concave direction while development of tensile stress in the thin-film may cause the substrate to bow in a convex direction. Thus, in instances in which a planar substrate is subjected to thin-film deposition, compressive as well as tensile stresses developed in the thin-film may cause a surface of the substrate to deviate from planarity. Mechanical stress in thin-films is a potential cause of the substrate failure due to delamination and cracking of thin-films.

Non-contact measurement of a stress in a film on a substrate


The present invention relates to a circuit board. A circuit board in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes a base substrate; an interlayer insulating layer covering the base substrate; a via structure passing through at least the interlayer insulating layer of the base substrate and the interlayer insulating layer in the vertical direction; and an etch stop pattern disposed on the interlayer insulating layer in the horizontal direction to surround the via structure and made of an insulating material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit board and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a circuit board with a via structure which has a vertically perpendicular side surface and can implement a fine pitch, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the miniaturization and thinning of electronic components progress, there is also an increasing demand for miniaturization and thinning of package substrates and printed circuit boards, and there is also a demand for high fine pitch of metal vias such as a normal via, a blind via, and a buried via which are applied to these electronic substrates.
The levels of fine pitch required for a via structure applied to the recent package substrates and printed circuit boards are that the width of a via pad is less than 15 μm, the width of a via is less than 5 μm, and the interval between the vias is less than 30 μm. However, since the conventional vias are usually formed to have an inclined side surface, there are limitations in reducing the interval between the vias. Further, when the thickness of a resist layer used as an interlayer insulating layer is large, the conventional via forming techniques have difficulty in implementing an integrated via structure due to difficulty in forming a precise via hole. Particularly, when the thickness of the resist layer is greater than 2 μm, further greater than 10 μm, since it reaches the limits of resolution of a photolithography process, there is a demand for techniques that can form an integrated via structure regardless of the thickness of a resist layer.

Circuit board and method for manufacturing the same


A process for depositing electrical charges on a dielectric surface by means of a high velocity jet of fluid which strikes the surface, flows over it and triboelectrically charges it, and then separates from the surface.

Electrets and polymer electrets in particular have important device applications in current and future products in the electronics and computer industry. They have been used in such devices as capacitors and electret microphones, piezoelectric electrets in loudspeakers, pressure sensors and actuators, pyroelectric electrets in laser power meters and temperature sensors. In order for these dielectrics to have ferroelectric, piezoelectric, pyroelectric or nonlinear optical properties, they must be poled in an intense electric field of the order of 1 Megavolt/cm to uniformly align their electric dipoles. This poling is currently done in one of three ways, by a corona discharge, by uniaxially or biaxially stretching for polymer films or by applying a large voltage across the electret while it is immersed in a high dielectric constant oil. Corona poling is accomplished by using a field emission tip or wire to produce ionized gas molecules which are deposited on the front surface of an electret sheet which is metallized on its back side. With a surface potential of the order of 1000 Volts on an electret with a typical thickness of tens of micrometers, a poling field of approximately 1 Megavolts/cm can be achieved. Problems with corona poling include the use of high voltages at high currents, considerable chemical reactivity due to the ionized species produced, possible sputtering away of the corona tip or wire and gas evolution generated from chemical reaction. Stretching for polymer films can also enhance the orientation of the polymer chains and is often done when the polymer is extruded in sheets and may be done at elevated temperatures or in conjunction with applied electric fields. Obviously stretching cannot be done for crystalline electrets or for polymers on a rigid substrate and for those cases where it can be done, there are considerable changes in the film thickness and roughening of the film's surface. Finally, electrodes may be deposited on both sided of the electret film and a large voltage may be applied across the film while it is immersed in a bath of high dielectric constant oil. This is necessary in order to avoid dielectric breakdown which would occur in air at fields of the order of 30 Kilovolts/cm. Difficulties with this procedure include contamination of the electret with the oil or impurities, the need for both sides to have electrodes and incompatibility with certain applications of polymer electrets such as RAM memories.
Whitmore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,308, discloses a device for generating a flow of ionized gas that is directed toward and against the surface of a dielectric web for altering or changing the electrostatic charge on the web.
Roth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,962, discloses a method for uniformly charging insulating surfaces by providing a surface having a non-uniform charge density thereon and contacting the non-uniformly charged surface with a material causing the charged surface to attain a uniform charge density in contacted areas.
Hawkins, U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,374, discloses a method for increasing the effectiveness of electrostatic pinning of a dielectric film onto an electrically grounded moving surface by passing the film in proximity to but out of contact with at least one electrode. This imparts an electrostatic charge to the surface of the film. In addition, the electrode is surrounded with an atmosphere consisting essentially of a gas in which a wire current before breakdown of at least about 100 microampere/inch of wire can be generated.
Adler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,746, discloses poling a ferro-electric body using an ionized gas or other medium as a poling electrode.
Kamogawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,709, discloses a method for enhancing the charge retention of a photosensitive layer wherein an ion wind is created and applied to the photosensitive material prior to its reuse.
Garbett, U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,168 discloses a dielectric tape of polyfluoroethylenepropylene which is electrostatically charged to a high level charge density using a motor driven capstan on which the tape is moved at a controlled velocity past a sponge assembly charged by a high DC voltage. The sponge assembly is wetted with a dielectric fluid mixture of methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol and acetone. By endosmosis, a bead of fluid from between the sponge and the FEP tape causes the fluid to be evenly distributed on the tape.
Talbott et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,856, discloses a method for treating discrete pieces of material to ensure adequate conductance thereof for orientation in an electric field for electrostatic alignment. The material is exposed to a conductance-improving substance or substances, such as an alkali or alkaline earth metal salt of a weak acid, quaternary ammonium salts, or gases such as ammonia, chlorine, sulfur dioxide, etc. prior to being subjected to the electric field.
Micheron et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,228 discloses a method for preparing a material having piezoelectric properties by dipole orientation of a poled dielectric. A dipole polarization is effected by a charged jet of small liquid drops or droplets. An electric field is created between two superficial zones of an object brought to different electric potentials. At least one of the zones is exposed to an electrically charged jet of droplets.
Bergen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,997, discloses a method for charging a receptor surface to a predetermined voltage by generating ions in a chamber, entraining the ions in a rapidly moving fluid stream passing into, through and out of the chamber, depositing the ions on a charge receptor and biasing the back of the charge receptor with a bias equal to and of opposite potential of said predetermined voltage desired on the receptor surface.

Jet deposition of electrical charge on a dielectric surface

International Business Machines Corporation


A digitally controlled circuit breaker includes a conventional thermal circuit breaker (10) which is controlled by a solenoid (16) to override the thermal aspect thereof. The solenoid (16) is controlled by a digital processing section (20). The digital processing section (20) has a digital control module (22) with multiple profile tables associated therewith. The profile tables allow the digital control module (22) to compare a sensed current from a sensor (24) with a predetermined current value as a function of time and to generate the control signal for the solenoid (16) if the sensed current exceeds that in the profile. The profiles can optionally be downloaded to the module (22) through a serial communication port (36). The digital control module (22) is also operable to sense the voltage of the circuit breaker to determine zero crossing points and phase angle, which phase angle can be utilized to determine the type of load and, therefore, can alter the profile to be utilized. Display (30) provides a visual communication device for the control module (22). Various self-test features including generating a simulated current to the digital control module (22) and automatic recovery if the execution of the stored program in the digital control module (22) is disrupted.

Circuit breakers have been designed to prevent the current through an AC line from exceeding a predetermined energy level to both prevent fires and to prevent damage to loads that are disposed on the lines. Typically, circuit breakers have utilized a thermal switch which, when reaching a certain temperature due to excessive current passing therethrough, will cause the breaker to trip.
There are a number of disadvantages to present circuit breakers, the primary one being the manner in which they make a trip determination. This trip determination is typically made based upon a predetermined amount of current passing through a thermally sensitive element, whose characteristics change at certain temperatures. These characteristics will cause a mechanical trip to occur at temperatures above a predetermined threshold. However, these type of breakers have little sensitivity to the type of load and merely react to the RMS current. For example, some loads require a large amount of inrush current when they start up. This can potentially trip a breaker unnecessarily. Another disadvantage is that with respect to "arcing," wherein the line has a small gap disposed therein, the current therethrough being intermittent but on the average less than necessary to trip the breaker. However, this arcing can result in sparks that can potentially cause a fire.
With respect to inrush current, this refers to the amount of current that is required whenever a line has voltage initially applied thereto. This inrush current differs from load type to load type. The decay or recovery of the startup load is another variable. Some loads, such as those associated with incandescent lighting, recovers in one to two half-cycles (8 to 16 milliseconds). Other loads, such as vacuum cleaners, have an exponential decay lasting 10 to 40 half-cycles (80 to 300 milliseconds), while motors which start under load, such as those used with air compressors, spas, and swimming pool pumps tend to maintain constant high current for several cycles, 10 to 20, then rapidly decay to their normal operating current.
Another condition that must be taken into account is the condition when a motor electrically or mechanically stalls during startup. In the case of mechanical stalling, the motor typically maintains its maximum startup current until the motor burns up and/or the breaker trips. Electrical stalling differs in that the motor is starved for starting current and is unable to develop enough speed to counter the EMF to achieve normal operating current. As the current is still quite high in this condition, this tends to damage the motor by overheating before the circuit breaker trips. Several things can cause electrical stalling: brownout (low line voltage), the wire being too small for the distance involved, connection contact resistance (wire nuts, contacts), and for multi-phase breakers where one leg is defective or tripped. All these electrical stalling conditions reduce the operating voltage to the motor causing a loss of current necessary to produce starting torque.
Even after the motor has successfully reached a startup condition without tripping the breaker, there is still the consideration of the motor load current surging during usage. These surge currents may range from low operating currents to maximum startup currents. Motor surging is often due to alternate loading and unloading of the motor, such as hydraulic resonance of water and entrapped air in a water pump system or an elastic coupling driving an inertial load in a mechanical arrangement.
The following table illustrates a typical residential circuit breaker trip time versus constant overload.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Typical Residential Circuit Breaker Trip Times vs Constant Overload % Of Breaker Circuit Breaker Rating 20 Amp Rating 30 Amp Rating Trip Time ______________________________________ 100% 20 Amps 30 Amps No Trip 200% 40 Amps 60 Amps 50 Sec 300% 60 Amps 90 Amps 12 Sec 500% 100 Amps 150 Amps 3 Sec 1,000% 200 Amps 300 Amps 0.62 Sec 5,000% 1,000 Amps 1,500 Amps 0.01 Sec ______________________________________
One of the primary disadvantages, as noted above, is that a conventional circuit breaker does not account for the differing type of load or for the variations of loads during operation thereof It merely trips when the load current exceeds its rating for a specified time or fails to trip when it in actuality should due to arcing, etc. There is a class of circuit breakers, called magnetic, which will trip immediately when instantaneous currents exceed 8.times.10x of the breakers ratings. However, again these breakers do not account for differing type of loads and also are susceptible to false tripping because of their speed. Although the false tripping of the circuit breaker due to high inrush currents does protect the system, it is bad for the breaker, since the tripping of a breaker in and of itself can cause the breaker to fail. Present-day circuit breakers are typically rated for only one trip. The manufacturer recommends replacement of the breaker after each tripping. This, in part, is due to the fact that the breaker trips at any current level and, at high current levels, this can cause damage due to heavy arcing across the contacts.

Circuit breaker with integrated control features


A horizontal synchronization pulse generation circuit generates a horizontal synchronization pulse to be added to an encoded composite video signal. An input receiving circuit receives an encoded input video signal representing video information received from input video signals. An output video signal represents the encoded input video signal in all portions of the signal except the horizontal synchronization period. During the horizontal synchronization period a current is switched through a path resistor and used to generate the voltage level of the horizontal synchronization pulse. The voltage drop across the path resistor during the horizontal synchronization period is applied directly to the output video signal thereby generating a horizontal synchronization pulse. The current switched through the path resistor is generated by a voltage drop across a current resistor. The ratio of the path resistor to the current resistor is matched, allowing the required signal accuracy to be achieved in the voltage drop across the path resistor and generating the appropriate voltage drop across the path resistor according to the current flowing through the current resistor. The horizontal synchronization pulse generation circuit does not clamp the voltage level of the encoded input video signal, but instead generates the horizontal synchronization pulse in reference to the level of the encoded video signal.

A composite video signal contains information which is used by a video system to generate a video picture on a display, monitor or television. Each period, within the horizontal portion of a composite video signal contains information representing one horizontal output line which is to be output on the video display, monitor or television. Each horizontal period includes a horizontal synchronization pulse, a burst signal and a video information signal. In many video transmission systems, color or chrominance information is represented by a particular phase of the chrominance subcarrier signal that is amplitude modulated with color information. The horizontal synchronization pulse is used by a phase locked loop to synchronize the system for displaying the next horizontal line of video information. The burst signal is used to synchronize the phase of the sampling pulses with the phase of the color subcarrier signal. The burst signal has a burst signal frequency equal to 3.58 MHz, which is the frequency of the chrominance subcarrier f.sub.SC. The video information signal then comprises the chrominance subcarrier having different phases amplitude-modulated with chrominance information. The composite color video signal includes both luminance and chrominance information.
A video encoder circuit receives RGB video signals from a video source and encodes a composite video signal representing the RGB signals for transmission to other systems. In order to comply with the National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) video specifications, horizontal synchronizing pulses must be embedded in the video stream in order for the receiving systems to operate properly. These horizontal synchronizing pulses must also be set to exact levels in order to meet the NTSC specifications. A horizontal synchronization pulse is included within each horizontal period of the encoded video signal in order to allow the receiving system to synchronize to each horizontal line of video information within the encoded video signal.
The horizontal synchronization pulse is added into the encoded composite video signal before it is transmitted from the video encoder circuit. Typical prior art video encoder circuits generate exact horizontal synchronization pulse levels by first clamping the encoded video signal to a precise reference voltage level. Accordingly, during the time period when the horizontal synchronization pulse is to be added, the voltage of the composite video signal is exactly known by the system. A switching circuit is then used to switch to a steady, precise horizontal synchronization voltage level, during the horizontal synchronization time period. At the end of the horizontal synchronization time period, the switching circuit switches away from the steady, precise horizontal synchronization voltage level and back to the composite video signal. Accordingly, the resulting encoded video signal includes a horizontal synchronization pulse during the horizontal synchronization time period and the composite video signal during all other periods.
A video encoder circuit, as described above, requires the generation of two precise voltage reference levels for clamping the encoded video signal to the precise reference voltage level and for generating the horizontal synchronization pulse at the horizontal synchronization voltage level. Because of the difficulty associated with generating such precise voltage levels within an integrated circuit, external components are required to generate the necessary voltage levels. A clamping circuit is required to clamp the encoded video signal to the precise reference voltage level. A switching mechanism is also required to switch between the encoded video signal and the horizontal synchronization voltage level at the beginning of the horizontal synchronization pulse and to then switch back from the horizontal synchronization voltage level to the encoded video signal at the completion of the horizontal synchronization pulse. What is needed is a horizontal synchronization pulse generating circuit within a video encoder which does not require the clamping and switching circuitry and the generation of the precision voltage levels required by the video encoder circuits of the prior art.

Horizontal synchronization pulse generation circuit


A method includes undoing, in reverse program order, changes in a state of a processing device caused by speculative instructions previously dispatched for execution in the processing device and concurrently deallocating resources previously allocated to the speculative instructions in response to interruption of dispatch of instructions due to a flush of the speculative instructions. A processor device comprises a retire queue to store entries for instructions that are awaiting retirement and a finite state machine. The finite state machine is to interrupt dispatch of instructions in response to a flush of speculative instructions previously dispatched for execution in the processing device and to undo, in reverse program order, changes in a state of the processing device caused by the speculative instructions while concurrently deallocating resources previously allocated to the speculative instructions.

Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to processing systems and, more particularly, to the reversal of speculative state changes and resource recovery in processing systems.
Description of the Related Art
Processing devices, such as central processing units (CPUs), graphical processing units (GPUs), and accelerated processing units (APUs), implement instruction pipelines to increase executed instruction throughput. A typical instruction pipeline includes several pipeline stages, such as an instruction fetch stage, a decode stage, an execution stage, a memory access stage, and a write-back stage. Instruction schedulers can be used to improve the overall pipeline throughput by optimizing the order or schedule of execution of instructions. For example, out-of-order instruction scheduling can be used to schedule instructions for execution in the pipeline in an order that is different than the program order of the instructions.
Processing devices may also be able to execute instructions speculatively. For example, the processing device typically includes branch prediction logic that can predict a path following a conditional instruction such as a branch instruction. The processing device can speculatively execute instructions on the path before results of the branch instruction are known. Branch prediction logic can predict the instruction path with reasonable accuracy and consequently speculative instruction execution can improve the performance of the processing device. However, branch prediction logic is not perfect and the processing device should be able to recover when the branch prediction logic picks the wrong path and instructions that were executed speculatively along incorrectly predicted paths are flushed from the pipeline. Recovery typically includes waiting for any speculative instructions along correctly predicted paths to retire. Once the correct speculative instructions have retired, state changes caused by the incorrect speculative instructions can be reversed. Resources such as register file entries that were allocated to instructions along the incorrectly predicted path may then be recovered.

Accelerated reversal of speculative state changes and resource recovery


A host interface includes transition detection circuitry, transition phase averaging circuitry, and bit stream sampling circuitry. The transition detection circuitry receives an incoming bit stream and a reference clock signal and detects transitions of the incoming bit stream with respect to the reference clock signal. The transition detection circuitry also determines relative phases of the transitions with respect to the reference clock signal. The transition phase averaging circuitry determines an average relative phase of the detected transitions with respect to the reference clock signal and also determines, based upon the average relative phase of the detected transitions with respect to the reference clock signal, a sampling phase with respect to the reference clock signal. The bit stream sampling circuitry samples the incoming bit stream at the sampling phase with respect to the reference clock signal to extract the bit values. The incoming bit stream may comply with the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 interface standard.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to portable electronic equipment and more particularly to a multi-function handheld device.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known, integrated circuits are used in a wide variety of electronic equipment, including portable, or handheld, devices. Such handheld devices include personal digital assistants (PDA), CD players, MP3 players, DVD players, AM/FM radio, a pager, cellular telephones, computer memory extension (commonly referred to as a thumb drive), etc. Each of these handheld devices includes one or more integrated circuits to provide the functionality of the device. For example, a thumb drive may include an integrated circuit for interfacing with a computer (e.g., personal computer, laptop, server, workstation, etc.) via one of the ports of the computer (e.g., Universal Serial Bus, parallel port, etc.) and at least one other memory integrated circuit (e.g., flash memory). As such, when the thumb drive is coupled to a computer, data can be read from and written to the memory of the thumb drive. Accordingly, a user may store personalized information (e.g., presentations, Internet access account information, etc.) on his/her thumb drive and use any computer to access the information.
As another example, an MP3 player may include multiple integrated circuits to support the storage and playback of digitally formatted audio (i.e., formatted in accordance with the MP3 specification). As is known, one integrated circuit may be used for interfacing with a computer, another integrated circuit for generating a power supply voltage, another for processing the storage and/or playback of the digitally formatted audio data, and still another for rendering the playback of the digitally formatted audio data audible.
Integrated circuits have enabled the creation of a plethora of handheld devices, however, to be "wired" in today's electronic world, a person needs to posses multiple handheld devices. For example, one may own a cellular telephone for cellular telephone service, a PDA for scheduling, address book, etc., one or more thumb drives for extended memory functionality, an MP3 player for storage and/or playback of digitally recorded music, a radio, etc. Thus, even though a single handheld device may be relatively small, carrying multiple handheld devices on one's person can become quite burdensome.
Handheld devices employ a host interface to a host, e.g., computer. As the host interface technology advances so does the bit rate supported. The USB 2.0 standard supports a maximum bit rate of 480 Mbps, using a non-synchronous serial bit stream transfer technique. While a transmitting device has little difficulty in creating this bit stream, a receiving device has great difficulty in synchronizing to the incoming bit stream and sampling the incoming bit stream at an appropriate location, e.g., midway between possible transition times. Thus, a need exists for a host interface that synchronizes to the host interface bit stream and that correctly extracts incoming digital information from the host interface bit stream.


Embodiments of the invention enhance a mounting precision of a head gimbal assembly with respect to a carriage. In one embodiment, a rotating disk storage device comprises a magnetic disk; head gimbal assemblies each including a slider provided at a front end thereof and a mounting portion provided at a rear end thereof, the slider including a head for reading data from the magnetic disk; and a carriage holding a voice coil. The carriage is formed with a pivot opening into which a pivot cartridge for turning about a pivot shaft is inserted and mounting surfaces on which the mounting portions of the head gimbal assemblies are mounted, and a first pad, a second pad and a third pad projected so as to come into partial face contact with the head gimbal assemblies on the mounting surfaces.

The present invention relates to a rotating disk storage device, such as a magnetic disk drive or an optical magnetic disk drive, and particularly to a rotating disk storage device having a construction which enhances the precision of mounting a head gimbal assembly to a carriage.
A magnetic disk drive as a rotating disk storage device has been used as a data recording device for a personal computer. With recent progress of technology, data recording density is increased, and super-miniaturization of a hard disk, that is, a magnetic disk has been promoted.
Such a magnetic disk as described above comprises a magnetic disk provided with a recording surface formed with a magnetic layer on the surface thereof and provided so as to be rotated about a spindle, a head stack assembly, and a control unit for writing and reading data to and from the magnetic disk and controlling the operation of the head stack assembly.
The head stack assembly comprises a head gimbal assembly and a carriage. The head gimbal assembly is provided with a suspension load beam secured to a mount plate for mounting the carriage thereto. The suspension load beam is attached with a slider, which is provided with a magnetic head for reading and writing data and provides an air bearing surface (ABS). The carriage is partly formed with a coil support to hold a voice coil. The coil support is arranged in a magnetic field formed by a voice coil magnet and a voice coil yoke. The voice coil magnet, the voice coil yoke and the voice coil constitute a voice coil motor (VCM) for producing a driving force for turning the carriage.
When the magnetic disk rotates, an airflow on the surface thereof provides an air bearing, which gives buoyancy to the air bearing surface of the slider, thereby slightly raising the slider from the surface of the magnetic disk. By the driving force of the voice coil motor, the slider turns about a pivot shaft approximately in a radial direction of the magnetic disk while slightly floating from the surface of the magnetic disk. Thus, the magnetic head is able to write and read data to and from a specified position of the disk surface.
Further, the magnetic disk drive employs a CSS (Contact Start Stop) system or a load/unload system in order to prevent a phenomenon called a stiction such that a magnetic head sticks to a magnetic disk to make rotation of the magnetic disk impossible, or to cause damage to the magnetic head or magnetic disk. The CSS system has a construction in which a concavo-convex portion is provided on the surface of the magnetic disk only at a specific region thereof, and when rotation of the disk is stopped, the magnetic disk is retracted at the specific region. The load/unload system has a construction in which a ramp is provided for making the disk apart from the magnetic disk when the rotation of the disk is stopped.
Furthermore, there is provided a stopper for limiting a turning range of the head stack assembly. This stopper comes in contact with a crush point of the carriage to limit the turning range.
As such a rotating disk storage device as described, a data recording device by which various difficulties produced when miniaturization is made has been proposed (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-243044.
The magnetic disk drive has been recently further miniaturized, and 2.5 type (2.5 inch or approximately 6.35 cm type) to 1 type (1 inch or approximately 2.54 cm type) have been developed. In the super-miniaturized magnetic disk drive as described, the dimensional tolerance of the component parts thereof is made further smaller, and it is demanded that its processing precision and mounting precision are maintained further strictly as compared with conventional devices. By way of example, in the magnetic disk drive, a magnetic disk and a head stack assembly are mounted as separate components on the base of a casing. In this case, a slider attached to the head gimbal assembly is configured to float at a fixed height from the recording surface of the magnetic disk at the time of operation. Accordingly, the height or altitude of the head gimbal assembly with respect to the height of the recording surface of the magnetic disk has to be set within the range of tolerance strictly in the assembled state. To this end, it is necessary that the magnetic disk be mounted on the base of the housing with high precision and the head gimbal assembly also be mounted on the carriage while maintaining the parallelism between them strictly.
On the other hand, with the miniaturization of the magnetic disk drive, the carriage constituting the head gimbal assembly has been also required to have a further precise shape, and a synthetic resin such as a liquid crystal polymer has been used in place of the conventional aluminum die-cast. This is because it is difficult to manufacture a carriage of precise construction by casting or metal processing. However, in the synthetic resin, it is impossible to carry out secondary processing such as surface finishing by way of polishing or cutting after molding, unlike metal, thus necessitating fabricating a mold with high precision.
To provide the parallelism between the mounting surface of the carriage and the head gimbal assembly, the whole portion of a cavity or the like of the mold corresponding to the mounting surface has to be cut and adjusted. It is however very difficult to cut the whole portion corresponding to the mounting surface. In addition, when the whole portion is cut excessively, the cavity or the like has to be prepared again. Further, even if the parallelism of the mounting surface of the carriage is satisfactorily provided, when the head gimbal assembly is mounted on the carriage and fastened by a pivot cartridge and a nut, a slight warp occurs in the head gimbal assembly. Accordingly, a mold making allowance of the warp in advance has to be fabricated, and a trial and error approach has been required to fabricate a mold in order to provide parallelism in the state of being assembled as the head stack assembly.

Rotating disk storage device having a carriage formed with non-binding pads

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.