A connection policy for a communications network has a local connection policy indicating which paths between a given one of the nodes (computer A, router A, host 898) and others of the nodes (computers B, C, filters B1, B2, C1, C2, hosts 890, 892) are allowable paths, by a symbolic expression of ranges endpoint addresses and other local connection policies in respect of other nodes. It is implemented in a distributed manner by determining, for the given node, which of the allowable paths, are dual authorized as allowable by the other local connection policy relating to the other node at the other end of that path, by Boolean operations on the symbolic expressions. For a given message for a given path between two of the nodes having their own local connection policies, both of these nodes determine whether the given path is currently dual authorized. This can provide reassurance that changes in versions of the connection policy won't transiently open a risk of undetected unwanted communication.

In most physical IT infrastructure, resource utilization is very low: 15% is not an uncommon utilization for a server, 5% for a desktop. It is known to try to address this by sharing a physical machine between different users. Typically in a utility data center there may be hundreds of machines networked and shared by many enterprises. Each enterprise may be running many applications to serve their own customers. Known operating systems can be used to time share the physical processing resources of the machines between the different enterprises. Various ways are known to abstract or hide the underlying physical resources from the applications run by the enterprises.
Overlay networks are known and make it easy to change the network configuration, abstracting devices from the configuration of the real network.
Storage virtualisation is also known. There are many commercial storage virtualization products on the market from HP, IBM, EMC and others. These products are focused on managing the storage available to physical machines and increasing the utilization of storage.
Virtual machine technology is a known mechanism to run operating system instances on one physical machine independently of other operating system instances. It is known to have a single physical hosting machine running two or more virtual machines connected by a virtual network on this machine.
A virtual machine (VM) is a self-contained operating environment that emulates a hardware platform. It can run a "guest" operating system. A real operating system called a virtual machine manager (VMM) is run on the physical hardware platform. The VMM runs one or more VMs and can contain multiple virtual devices, one of which can be a virtual network interface card (VNIC). VMware is a known example of virtual machine technology, and can provide isolated environments for different operating system instances running on the same physical machine.
An example of a virtual network interface is described in "SoftUDC: A Software-Based Data Center for Utility Computing", Kallahalla et al, Computer, November 2004, p38-46. Virtual machines access networking via a virtual network interface (VIF), which mimics an Ethernet device. A virtual machine manager (VMM) forwards outbound network packets to its physical network interface and dispatches incoming network packets to appropriate VIFs. The VMM encapsulates the packet and sends it to another VMM or a virtual router on the same VNET. The receiving VMM unwraps the packet and delivers it to the target VM.
In "Towards Automated Provisioning of Secure Virtualized Networks", by Cabuk et al, November 2007, it is explained that a VMM can be hosted directly on the computer hardware (e.g., Xen) or within a host operating system (e.g., VMware). Today's virtual network implementations for VMMs are usually virtual switches or bridges that connect the virtual network cards of all VMs to the actual physical network card of the physical machine. All VMs can potentially see all traffic; hence, no isolation or other security guarantees can be given. While that level of security may be sufficient for individual and small enterprise purposes, it is certainly not sufficient for larger-scale, security-critical operations. This document proposes security-enhanced network virtualization, which (1) allows groups of related VMs running on separate physical machines to be connected together as though they were on their own separate network fabric, and (2) enforces cross-group security requirements such as isolation, confidentiality, integrity, and information flow control.
Related VMs (e.g., VMs belonging to the same customer in a data center) distributed across several physical machines, are grouped into virtual enclave networks, so that each group of VMs has the same protection as if the VMs were hosted on a separate physical LAN. If some VMs in a group are co-hosted on the same hardware; it is not necessary to involve the physical network during information flow between two such VMs.
A secure network virtualization framework helps realize the abstraction of Trusted Virtual Domains (TVDs) by guaranteeing reliable isolation and flow control between domain boundaries. The framework is based on existing and well-established network virtualization technologies such as Ethernet encapsulation, VLAN tagging, and virtual private networks (VPNs).
It is known to provide isolation between a secure "internal" network and insecure "external" machines or networks such as the internet, by providing filters in the form of firewalls. These typically allow packets through if their source and destination addresses (such as IP source and destination addresses) are within given ranges. The ranges can be set by a site or enterprise operator or administrator according to an external security policy.
It is known from "Distributed Firewalls" by Steven Bellovin, November 1999 issue of ;login: p37-39, to provide a distributed firewall in which policy is centrally defined, but enforcement takes place at each endpoint in a network rather than at a boundary or gateway to the network. This can reduce dependency on network topology, compared to conventional firewalls, but relies on three notions: a policy language indicating what sort of connections are permitted, a distribution mechanism for distributing a policy file to all endpoints such as host machines to be protected, and at each of the host machines accepting or rejecting packets according to the policy. The sender identity may be securely verified using for example IPSEC.

Distributed network connection policy management

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


There is provided a laser beam processing method in which generation of foreign substances from cut can be suppressed and contamination of a surface of a work can be decreased when performing the processing method using a laser beam on the work made of a polymer material, and a laser processed product. Further, the present invention is to provide a laser beam processing apparatus that is used in the laser beam processing method. The present invention relates to a laser beam processing method for processing the work made of a polymer material using a laser beam, wherein the work is irradiated with a laser beam in a state that the optical axis of the laser beam is tilted in the advancing direction of processing by a prescribed angle with respect to the vertical direction of the work.

Methods of cutting a work made of a polymer material are mainly with a blade or a metal mold. In the cutting of a polymer material using a blade or the metal mold, foreign substances from the cut may be generated from the work due to the impact of cutting, and the foreign substances may fall off from the cut surface. Therefore, there has been a necessity to improve the processing accuracy of the cut surface and to improve the quality of the product.
Cutting by a laser beam has been investigated, for example, as a method of cutting to improve the quality of the processed product. Cutting by a laser beam makes it possible to reduce the cut foreign substances generated when the blade, etc. is used. However, with this method, a polymer material that is radiated with the laser beam changes into a gas due to thermal decomposition, and a phenomenon that is similar to an explosion occurs. Also, there is a problem that the generated gas contaminates the surface of the work.
For example, when a laser beam 12 is irradiated from the vertical direction to a work 11 as shown in FIG. 2, a gas 13 that is generated due to the decomposition of the polymer material diffuses in the direction parallel to the surface of the work 11. Therefore, the surface of the work 11 is contaminated by the gas 13.
As disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method has been considered of cutting a work made of metal by irradiating a laser beam from a direction that is tilted by a prescribed angle opposite to the advancing direction of cutting. This method has an effect of improvement for melted substances that attach to the backside of the work. However, the gas that is generated due to the decomposition of the metal advances and diffuses in the direction parallel to the surface of the work as shown in FIG. 3. Therefore, the surface of the work is contaminated even with the method described in Patent Document 1.
A method of cutting is disclosed in Patent Document 2 in which an improvement for melted substances on the backside is investigated by using a work made of a plastic material. However the contamination of the surface of the work cannot be prevented even with this method.    Patent Document 1 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-290685    Patent Document 2 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-262083

Laser processing method and land laser processed product


A seat for an automobile vehicle comprises a seat pan (2) and a seat back (3), the seat pan (2) featuring a seating surface that is approximately horizontal extending from the seat back (3) to a forward limit (43), the seating surface comprising a fixed seating surface (4) and a mobile front section (5) spanning at least part of the width of the forward limit (43). The front section (5) can move between a raised position in which it is aligned with the fixed seating surface (4), and a tilted position in which the front section (5) is tilted down below the fixed seating surface (4) forming ridge (44) with it that is more or less parallel with the forward limit (43), this position being suitable to accommodate a seated child.

When a child becomes too big to sit in an infant's car seat installed in a vehicle, the child is placed directly in a seat. Vehicle seats, however, are generally designed for adults. Consequently, the seating surface is often too long for only the child's thighs to rest on the seat when the child's back is braced against the seat back. The seat pan extends partially beneath the child's legs and the feet are not supported. This position is obviously uncomfortable for the child.
Document DE 44 12 617 describes a seat in which a front section of the seat pan pivots downward. The fixed part of the seat pan is thus sufficiently short for the child to be able to bend his/her knees. The child's feet are then in contact with a surface of the mobile part of the seat pan. When the mobile part is in the raised position, the seat pan supports the thighs of an adult in the normal fashion.
However, when the mobile part pivots, it occupies a space that extends beyond that normally occupied by the seat, and is exposed to bumps, particularly from the occupant's feet.

Automobile vehicle seat adaptable to accommodate a child


There is provided a method of treating a copper or copper alloy substrate to provide improved resistance to both oxidation and to chemical attack. The substrate is immersed in an aqueous solution containing both chromium (VI) ion and phosphate ions. The treatment is particularly effective for protecting imaged printed circuit boards during storage, handling and use.

The present invention broadly relates to a method for treating a copper or copper alloy substrate to improve resistance to both oxidation and chemicals. More particularly, the substrate is immersed in an aqueous solution containing chromium (VI) ions and phosphate ions.
Copper and copper based alloys are widely used in electrical and electronic applications. Among the more widespread electronic uses are the manufacture of leadframes from strip and the manufacture of conductive circuit traces from foil. The foil is either wrought, produced by mechanically reducing the thickness of a strip such as by rolling, or electrodeposited, produced by electrolytically depositing copper ions on a rotating cathode drum and then removing the deposition from the drum. The foil is bonded to a dielectric support layer which is either rigid such as FR-4 (a flame retardant epoxy), or flexible such as a polyimide. After lamination, circuit patterns are formed in the copper foil by selective etching.
Copper is a material of choice for electronic applications due to high electrical conductivity. One drawback with copper and its alloys is reactivity. The metal reacts with oxygen and tarnishes. The metal is also reactive with some of the chemical solutions encountered during the manufacture of electronic components such as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Many anti-tarnish coatings to prevent oxidation of a copper foil prior to lamination are known. These coatings do not also impart improved chemical resistance, particularly after lamination.
Some typical anti-tarnish coatings, all of which are assigned to the same assignee as the present application and all of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety herein, include (1) mixtures of chromic acid and phosphoric acid; (2) sodium dichromate and phosphoric acid; and (3) a co-deposited layer of chromium and zinc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,929 to Caule discloses an aqueous solution containing 3.5 grams per liter (g/l) to saturation of sodium or potassium dichromate mixed with 8-85% phosphoric acid (83-1436 g/l). A foil is immersed in the solution for at least two seconds and then rinsed. Preferably, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,400, also to Caule, rinsing is in an alkaline solution (PH 8.5-11) at a temperature above 90.degree. C. As further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,627, also to Caule, the treated foil is then laminated to a substrate with an adhesive.
The Caule coating provides the foil with good anti-tarnish resistance. However, the coating is applied prior to lamination and imaging of the foil to form lead traces. A necessary characteristic of the coating is limited acid resistance as disclosed in the '627 patent. The anti-tarnish coating is dissolved in an acid prior to imaging of the foil.
Another coating is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,315 to Parthasarathi which discloses a solution containing 0.02 to 1 g/l chromic acid and 0.02 to 1 g/l phosphoric acid. The solution is used at a temperature of from 60.degree. C. to 90.degree. C. and the foil immersed for 1-120 seconds.
The above coatings are applied non-electrolytically. An electrolytic coating comprising a co-deposited layer of chromium and zinc is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,968 to Lin et al. The substrate is immersed in an aqueous basic solution containing hydroxide ions, from 0.07 g/l to 7 g/l zinc ions and from about 0.1 g/l to 100 g/l of a water soluble hexavalent chromium salt. The concentration of either the zinc ions or the chromium (VI) ions or both, is less than 1.0 g/l. An electric current of from about 1 milliamp per square centimeter to about 1 amp per square centimeter is impressed across the electrolytic cell with the substrate forming the cathode. The electrolytically deposited coating provides an anti-tarnish coating readily removed in both dilute hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.
The above treatments are well suited for protecting a copper or copper alloy substrate prior to photoimaging. It is also desirable to provide an anti-tarnish coating to protect imaged circuit traces laminated to a printed circuit board from oxidation, exposure to chemicals, temperature cycling, and contaminants such as fingerprints, soils and residual chemicals. Unfinished printed circuit boards are frequently stored before being further processed and improved performance is achieved by minimizing tarnish during storage. The printed circuit boards may be multi-layer with a plurality of planar circuit traces separated by dielectric layers. The anti-tarnish coating of the invention enhances adhesion between circuit traces and the dielectric layer.

Protective coating having adhesion improving characteristics


According to the invention, a method for creating an electronic greeting card that references a gift is disclosed. In one step, a selection of the electronic greeting card is received from a sender of that greeting card. Identification of the gift is received. A code indicative of the gift is created, whereby the code facilitates retrieving information about the gift. The code is embedded in the electronic greeting card.

This invention relates in general to greeting cards and, more specifically, to electronic greeting cards.
Electronic greeting cards (eCards) are analogous to paper greeting cards, but are available only on computers in electronic form. These eCards are available from web sites such as BlueMountain.com™. An eCard is usually sent by an e-mail message that invites the recipient to execute a program or applet that displays a greeting that could be animated or could include a personalized message. Some eCards are displayed within a browser window and could use Macromedia Flash™ animation
With paper greeting cards, the sender may accompany the card with a gift commensurate with the occasion as is customary in some cultures. It is known to also include cash, a check or gift certificate along with the paper greeting card to serve as the gift. Electronic greeting cards provide no mechanism for including a gift with the card.
In the appended figures, similar components and/or features may have the same reference label. Further, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the first reference label is used in the specification, the description is applicable to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label irrespective of the second reference label.


A process for applying a metal layer to surfaces of light metals is proposed, in which iron is electrolytically deposited on the surfaces from a deposition bath containing Fe(II) compounds using dimensionally stable anodes insoluble in the deposition bath. The process is especially suitable for coating cylinder faces of internal combustion engines and of rotationally symmetrical parts with layers having very high wear resistance, especially of valves, nozzles and other parts of high-pressure injection systems for motor vehicle engines. In addition, the present invention pertains to nanocrystalline iron-phosphorus layers, which can be formed preferably by depositing iron in the presence of compounds containing orthophosphite and/or hypophosphite. These layers also have good corrosion resistance besides the good wear resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a process for applying a metal layer to surfaces of light metals, especially to surfaces of aluminum, magnesium and their alloys, to applications of the process for coating cylinder faces of internal combustion engines and rotationally symmetrical parts with layers having very high wear resistance, especially of valves, nozzles and other parts of high-pressure injection systems for motor vehicle engines as well as to a nanocrystalline iron-phosphorus layer.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
In coating light metals, especially aluminum, magnesium and their alloys, considerable efforts were made in the past to optimize the desired surface properties of these metals for the applications being considered. These metals are relatively soft and have, in general, only insufficient tribological and corrosion properties, so that their fields of use are very limited without additional precipitation hardening of the surface, unless special and correspondingly expensive alloys, e.g., supereutectic AlSi, are used. There has been great interest for some time especially in the automotive industry in using light metals to reduce weight in order to reduce the fuel consumption. For example, engine blocks are manufactured from this material. The cylinder faces, in particular, now require special measures to meet the specifications. It was therefore necessary to find processes for improving the surface with which the desired properties can be obtained.
W. Paatsch reported in this connection in Metalloberfläche, Vol. 51 (1997), pp. 678–682, that the surface of aluminum materials can be improved in a suitable manner with nickel-phosphorus layers and nickel layers applied by electroplating, in which hard materials are embedded as a dispersion in the layer, e.g., with silicon carbide as the dispersed material, so that the surface properties of the light metal meet the requirements imposed on cylinder faces in internal combustion engines. These layers partly confer good corrosion resistance and a high degree of protection against wear on the surfaces. As an alternative, good wear properties can also be obtained with hard chromium layers on the light metal surfaces, optionally aftertreated according to a plasma nitriding process. As an alternative, it is also possible to use thermal spraying processes, e.g., the powder or wire spraying process. To reach a sufficient adhesive strength on the cylinder faces of the layers deposited according to these processes, the energy of the particles sprayed on must be as high as possible. Detonation spraying and the HVOF (High Velocity Oxygen Fuel) technique are therefore used. For example, tungsten carbide particles can be applied to the surfaces in a metal matrix, e.g., in a cobalt or cobalt-chromium layer, so that a very strongly adhering and especially particularly corrosion-resistant layer is formed. Tungsten carbide layers that have very good tribological properties can also be prepared by plasma spraying.
However, depending on the process according to which they were prepared, the said layers have various drawbacks: On the one hand, the preparation of these layers is extremely complicated and therefore expensive, so that they are not suitable for mass application, as in the automotive industry (especially detonation spraying and the HVOF technique). The described nickel-phosphorus layers deposited by electroplating lack sufficiently good tribological properties. This also applies to the above-mentioned silicon carbide dispersion layers. The latter have not proved successful as coatings for cylinder faces, because the emergency running properties of the engine, i.e., the ability of the engine to withstand a transient separation of the oil film on the faces without damage, were not satisfactory in this case. This was due to the unsatisfactory corrosion resistance of the layers at excessively low oil temperatures over a long time and/or to unsatisfactory resistance to fuels with high sulfur content and to the insufficient wear properties that are associated herewith.
An alternative coating system is described in DE 196 53 210 A1. These are corrosion-resistant iron layers that contain 0.02 wt. % to 0.5 wt. % of nitrogen. It is stated that these layers can be deposited on aluminum or its alloys by electroplating. The coating of the inner sides of aluminum cylinders of internal combustion engines are given as examples of the application of such layers. A deposition bath containing iron(II) ions is used to deposit the layers, and the layer is deposited electrolytically using an anode consisting of iron or preferably using an insoluble anode, which consists of a titanium plate having a film consisting of an oxide of ruthenium, iridium, tantalum, tungsten, rhodium, cobalt or manganese.
Another coating method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,719. Iron layers are deposited in this case according to electroplating processes on pistons of internal combustion engines, the pistons consisting of aluminum or its alloys. A bath containing iron(II) sulfate is used for this purpose. Graphite, lead, platinum and titanium are used as materials for the anodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,412 discloses a bath for depositing iron-phosphorus alloy layers. Such baths contain iron(II) ions, hypophosphorous acid, a hypophosphite, phosphorous acid or an orthophosphite and optionally boric acid or aluminum chloride. The layers obtained have a phosphorus content of 0.1 wt. % to 9.9 wt. %. The layers are applied, e.g., on the inner walls of pistons of internal combustion engines. According to the data contained in this document, the layers possess good tribological properties.
In many cases, the suitability of the baths used for the deposition for use in industrial processes is not satisfactory in mass production despite the great advances made in this area. For example, functional layers of uniform thickness must be able to be deposited with little effort on the inner walls of the cylinders, and the reproducibility and the constancy of the desired layer thickness is of particular significance as well. The adhesive strength of the functional layers applied to the light metal surfaces also fails to meet the specifications in all cases. This applies especially to the layers applied according to the plasma spraying method. Furthermore, the problem that the constancy of the conditions required for a qualitatively satisfactory mass production can be achieved during the process only with considerable efforts is encountered with the use of electroplating processes for depositing iron layers as well. Despite comprehensive monitoring and control methods for conducting the process, it has not yet become possible to guarantee a fine setting for the lasting constancy of the process parameters, so that it is not possible to eliminate variations in the quality of the deposited layers without problems. The documents mentioned contain no references to these problems and to their solution.

Method for applying a metal layer to a light metal surface


The invention relates to a rim for a bicycle wheel comprising an annular body with sidewalls wherein at least one sidewall includes a brake track configured to cooperate with a bicycle brake pad. The brake track includes a groove that extends along a helically shaped path.

As known, a rim for a bicycle wheel comprises an annular body intended to be coupled, on a radially outer side thereof, with a tyre of the bicycle wheel and, on a radially inner side thereof, with a plurality of spokes of the bicycle wheel.
Typically, the aforementioned annular body comprises opposite sidewalls and a bottom wall in which holes are formed for housing the heads of the aforementioned spokes.
On such sidewalls brake tracks are provided, on which the bicycle brake pads act.
In order to provide the rims made from light alloy (typically aluminium or alloys thereof) with a desired hardness, it is known to perform on such rims a surface treatment of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO).
However, outdoor tests have shown that the aforementioned treatment penalises the braking, making it discontinuous and/or irregular (in technical jargon, this is known as non-modular braking). In particular, such braking is initially very weak and then too sudden.
In order to make braking more continuous and/or regular, it is known to make suitably oriented grooves on the brake track.
EP 1 018 443 describes a rim comprising, at the brake track, a plurality of concentric circumferential grooves typically made in the extrusion step of the rim.
The Applicant has found that making the aforementioned grooves in the extrusion step requires that an extrusion matric is provided that is specially shaped to make such grooves, with a substantial economic burden and complication of the process. Moreover, after a lot of braking, the aforementioned concentric circumferential groves form corresponding groves on the brake pad and, when they reach a depth equal to the height of the grooves of the brake track, the brake pad no longer offers material to be abraded by the grooves of the brake track, this having a negative impact on the braking efficiency.
On the other hand, making concentric circumferential grooves through subsequent chip-removal mechanical machining would require either the use of a plurality of tools, one for each groove, or the use of a single tool and the consequent need to provide for a discontinuous relative radial movement between rim and tool. Also in this case there would be either an excessive economic burden or excessive complication of the process.
On the market there are also bicycle wheels comprising, at the brake track, a plurality of substantially parallel grooves oriented along a direction inclined by an angle close to 45° with respect to the circumferential or radial direction of the rim. Such rims are subjected to a plasma electrolytic oxidation surface treatment. Also in this case, making the plurality of grooves through subsequent chip-removal mechanical machining requires discontinuous relative circumferential movement between rim and tool, with consequent complication of the process.
Moreover, the Applicant has found that grooves of the type described above cause a lot of noise during braking.

Rim for a bicycle wheel and respective bicycle wheel, as well as method for manufacturing said rim


The present invention provides a method and system for creating a bidirectional link between first and second online albums in a peer-to-peer photo sharing network. Exemplary embodiments include receiving on a first peer, a user request to create a bidirectional link, wherein the request includes an identification of a first online album on the first peer and a URL of a second online album on a second peer; automatically sending to the second peer, a URL of the first online album and a request to create a link on the second online album to the first album; and automatically creating a link on the first online album to the second online album using the URL of the second online album. In a further embodiment, the link to the second online album is displayed with information regarding the second online album, including an online status of the peer hosting the linked online album.

Online photo sharing sites provide consumers with a way to upload and store digital images for viewing and sharing with others over the Internet. The assignee of the present application has developed a peer-to-peer (P2P) based photo sharing site in which the computers of each member in the network become peer nodes that are capable of directly communicating with other peer nodes in the network so that consumers can share images with one another without going through a central server. In both types of photo sharing sites, users typically store uploaded images in online web photo albums that guests are invited to view, download, and order prints.
In contrast to photo sharing sites, a blog is a hosted service on a central site that allows consumers to publish or post personal journals called weblogs, or blogs for short, on the Web. A personal blog maintains dated text entries in chronological order and can take many forms, such as an online scrapbook for pasting links and quotes from items found on the Web; personal diaries, often illustrated with digital snapshots; and some are more like digital soapboxes, providing a platform for airing opinions and commentary. A user (known as a blogger) adds entries using a simple online form in their browser, where weblog publishing software on the central server takes care of formatting the page layout and other supporting functions.
A publishing standard known as MOVABLETYPE by SIX APART of San Francisco, Calif. is widely used for blogging. One service of the standard called TrackBack allows two blog entries to link bidirectionally. This allows a blogger to comment on another person's blog by creating one link on their own blog to the other person's blog, and by creating a second link on the other person's blog to the blogger's blog, creating a bidirectional link.
Although TrackBacks are a convenient service to bloggers, TrackBacks have several disadvantages. One is that blogs are hosted on a central site, meaning that one user or blogger, cannot directly access the blog of another user without going through the central site. Therefore, the track backs must be created through the central site. In addition, although blogs may contain some image data, a TrackBack is only capable of displaying a headline and perhaps the first paragraph of the blog being discussed so that when a user is visiting blog A, the user can read a text message regarding blog B and decide whether or not to click on a link to visit blog B.
In a peer-to-peer image file sharing system, people create albums about all kinds of common subjects, such as pets, children, sports, etc., and it would be desirable to create communities based around the themes of these albums by allowing users to create bidirectional links between albums. However, services such as TrackBack are used with central hosted blogs, but not with P2P networks, or in desktop hosted photo sharing applications. In addition, bidirectional link services such as TrackBacks are capable of only creating links that display text messages, and cannot be used to create a link between online albums, which include primarily thumbnail images, rather than text messages. Therefore, there is no existing mechanism in P2P photo sharing networks for a user viewing an album to discover other related albums except by manually performing keyword searches in online album metadata.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for allowing an online album owner to automatically establish a bidirectional link between another online album and the owner's album to thereby inform guest viewers of both albums of related albums.

Automatic creation of bidirectional online album links in a peer-to-peer photo sharing network


A first and a second MOS transistor of the same conductivity type are connected in series between a load and a fixed voltage source. The gates of the first and second MOS transistors are connected to sources of input voltage which are of a magnitude smaller than the threshold voltages of the two MOS transistors. The first MOS transistor located next to the load is kept in saturation. A related circuit includes a first and a second MOS transistor of the same conductivity type are connected in series between a load and a fixed voltage source. The first MOS transistor located next to the load is kept in saturation. The gates of the first and second MOS transistors are connected to the gates of third and fourth diode-connected MOS transistors of the same conductivity type as the first and second MOS transistors. The third MOS transistor is connected between a first input current node and a fixed voltage source. The fourth MOS transistor is connected between a second input current node and a fixed voltage source. The third and fourth MOS transistors may alternatively be connected to first and second input transistors and a bias transistor arranged as in a differential amplifier. At least one diode-connected transistor is included in series with at least one of the transistors which has a gate connected to an input voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analog MOS transistor circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to analog MOS transistor circuits useful for analog rectification and correlation of input parameters, such as voltage or current, and for other non-linear differential operations on voltage input parameters.
2. The Prior Art
Circuits are known which have the capability to correlate input parameters, such as voltage or current. A Gilbert multiplier, described in the book Analog VLSI and Neural Systems, by Carver A. Mead, Addison Wesley Publishing Co. 1989, at p. 92, is an example of such a circuit. There are also circuits which compute quadratic or gaussian similarity metrics, such as the circuit described in co-pending application Ser. No. 535,283, filed Jun. 6, 1990. However, there is no circuit known to the inventors which is capable of combining the multiplication function and the gaussian similarity metric.

Circuits for wide input range analog rectification and correlation


An input device includes a touch panel and a control unit. The touch panel is configured to be switched between a normal operation mode and a special operation mode. The control unit is configured to control the touch panel. In the special operation mode, the control unit is configured to: generate a special-operation-mode-based input portion based on a continuous contact with the touch panel; and accept a release of the continuous contact with the touch panel as an input to the special-operation-mode-based input portion.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the description in this section is not prior art to the claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
To prevent an illegal operation involving the impersonation of a person, an authentication function for a user is required for an electronic apparatus. In a typical electronic apparatus, authentication in which authentication information (such as a password) is input via an input device has been widely used. However, at the time of input, if the motion of the hand of the user and the input device of the electronic apparatus are seen by a third person, the input information may be leaked to the third person.
To solve this problem, an input device that prevents input information from being known by the third person has been proposed. This input device includes a voice generating unit that generates a voice, and performs an input operation based on information obtained by the sense of hearing in addition to the sense of vision of the user. Accordingly, even if the motion of the hand of the user and the input unit of the electronic apparatus are seen by a third person, this input device prevents leakage of the input information.
In addition to the input device using the voice, an input device that can read biological information of a human is examined. In this input device, physical features (such as fingerprints and the iris) of a human are input so as to prevent information leakage due to a furtive glance by a third person.

Input device, input method, and electronic apparatus that suppresses information leakage


An aspect includes a plurality of throttle controllers having a modular hierarchy comprising a plurality of levels within each of a plurality of processor cores that control a plurality of throttling actions. The throttling actions include dynamic adjustment of execution suspension within the processor cores. A plurality of input throttle events at each of the processor cores is resolved based on the modular hierarchy. A chip controller coupled to the processor cores can synchronize the throttling actions between the processor cores.

The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly, to a multi-layered processor throttle controller.
Computer systems can include a variety of processing resources that can be shared between multiple applications and/or multiple logical partitions. Power demands within components, such as multi-core processors, can change over time as various workloads are started and completed. Changes in workloads, power supply fluctuations, thermal events, and other such factors can impact power management within a processing system. Frequency and voltage scaling can be used to adjust power consumption within a processing system but may result in power system noise and other effects.

Multi-layered processor throttle controller

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The invention provides a pipe 100 for an aircraft refuel system, the pipe comprising an outer section 200 making up a pipe wall, the pipe wall having an outer and inner 230 surface, a surface texture 310 on the inner pipe wall surface, the surface texture comprising projections 311 projecting inwards from the inner pipe wall surface towards the centre of the pipe. The surface texture may be riblets 311 and may be coated with an anti-bacterial coating 340. The surface texture may be formed from a layer of conductive material, in the form of a foil 300. The outer section 200 may be made from a non-conductive, preferably composite material. The invention also provides a method of manufacturing piping for an aircraft refuel system using a mandrel 400.

The present invention concerns piping used in aircraft refuel systems. More particularly, this invention concerns a pipe comprising an outer section making up a pipe wall, the pipe wall having an outer and inner surface. The invention also concerns a method of manufacturing piping for an aircraft refuel system.
Conventional refuel piping is manufactured from aluminium and extruded in lengths to suit the required fuel tank geometry. Brackets are used, wherever needed, in order to brace pipework. Fittings and adaptors are used to accommodate fuel system equipment, such as valves. FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art fuel system piping configuration. This configuration includes a high number of parts, has a high weight and is costly to manufacture.
In the piping configuration of FIG. 1, the manufacturing method used and the materials used result in internal skin imperfections on the inside of the pipe. This increases the roughness of the inside of the pipe and increases the skin friction as the wetted area of the inside of the pipe is increased. In order to minimise the skin friction in the pipes, the inside of the pipe bore can be polished. However, this manufacturing process is not particularly practicable as the cost of the polishing process is high and it is not possible to achieve a perfectly smooth bore pipe.
Any skin friction generated in the pipes, results in inefficiencies in the refueling process. This makes refueling slower, resulting in increased turnaround time and subsequent cost for the aircraft operator. The refuel equipment also requires more power for a given speed of refuel. This is sometimes not possible and, in any case, increases the cost for the refueling operator.
The present invention seeks to mitigate the above-mentioned problems. Alternatively or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved pipe for an aircraft refuel system. Alternatively or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved method for manufacturing pipe for an aircraft refuel system.


Guidewires useful for cooperating with catheters may be actively steered and/or provide adjustable stiffness. Angle or curvature of a guidewire, and/or flexural modulus of a guidewire, may be adjusted at one or more locations between ends thereof. Variable stiffness segments may include electrically operated compressible and/or extensible materials. Multiple tensile elements may terminate at different body elements to adjust angle or curvature at multiple locations. Multiple circumferentially and/or radially contractible fiber regions may be provided and distributed over a length of a guidewire. Adjustable flexure elements arranged in or along a guidewire may be electrically operated. A flexible core member may be centrally arranged in a tubular body. A flexible guide wire or track may cooperate with electrically operable motor units.

Catheters are used for performing diagnostic procedures and for delivering therapeutic agents to internal sites within a human body that can be accessed through various lumen systems, such as the vasculature. A guidewire is a device used to enter tight spaces (e.g., obstructed or tortuous passages) within the body, or to assist in inserting, positioning, and moving a catheter—such as through bends and branches of blood vessels. Guidewires vary in size, length, stiffness, composition, and tip shape. A conventional guidewire may include a slight bend at its distal end, and may be guided by selective rotation and advancement along a pathway to a desired target location. Thereafter, the guidewire may be held in place, and a catheter may be advanced along a longitudinal axis of the guidewire.
Insertion of a guidewire into a vessel lumen is schematically illustrated in FIG. 1A. A guidewire 10 is advanced into a target vessel lumen 12, which may include multiple bends or turns 14, 16. As shown in FIG. 1B, the guidewire 10 is deflected as it is pushed forward against walls of the vessel lumen 12. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 1C, a catheter 18 is advanced over the guidewire 10, which provides a stable support during advancement.
A side cross-sectional schematic view of a portion of a conventional flexible guidewire 20 is shown in FIG. 2. A distal portion of the guidewire 20 includes a tip 22 (which may be convex along its outer perimeter) to which a longitudinal core wire or mandrel 24 and a safety ribbon wire embodied in a flexible coil 26 (e.g., distal coil) are attached. The core wire or mandrel 24 may include a constant diameter portion 24A over much of its length, as well as first and second reduced diameter portions 24B, 24C between the constant diameter portion 24A and the tip 22. As shown in FIG. 2, an external coating 28 may be provided over the constant diameter portion 24A of the longitudinal core wire or mandrel 24, and the flexible coil 26 may be provided over the first and second reduced diameter portion(s) 24B, 24C between the coated constant diameter portion 24A and the tip 22. The flexible coil 26 may be generally helical in shape, similar to a spring. A proximal coil portion 26A including a first (e.g., smaller) coil pitch may extend over the first reduced diameter portion 24B of the core wire or mandrel 24, and a distal coil portion 26B including a second (e.g., larger) coil pitch may extend over the second reduced diameter portion 24C of the core wire or mandrel 24, wherein the second reduced diameter portion 24C of the core wire or mandrel 24 has a smaller diameter than the first reduced diameter portion 24B. Relative to the coated constant diameter portion 24A, increased flexibility is provided by the first reduced diameter portion 24B of the core wire or mandrel 24 covered by the proximal coil portion 26A, and still further increased flexibility is provided by the second reduced diameter portion 24C of the core wire or mandrel 24 covered by the distal coil portion 26B. The guidewire 20 is therefore tapered along its length, with decreasing diameter sections toward the tip 22 to reduce stiffness to allow for better steerability. Thus, the guidewire 20 has flexibility that increases with proximity to the tip 22, and stiffness that increases with increasing distance away from the tip 22. As further shown in FIG. 2, the outside diameter of each of the external coating 28, the proximal coil portion 26A, and the distal coil portion 26B may be substantially the same. The external coating 28 provides lubricity for navigation and for delivering catheters, and may include materials such as PTFE, polyurethanes, or silicone-based materials, that are preferably hydrophilic in nature. A coating may further include Heparin or other therapeutic agents to reduce thrombogenicity.
Maneuvering a guidewire within the body can be difficult. At least a certain degree of flexibility is necessary or desirable for most applications, but a guidewire must also maintain sufficient stiffness to provide support to permit advancement of a catheter. A static guidewire 20 such as illustrated in FIG. 2 may have regions with differing flexibility and stiffness properties proximate to the tip 22, but such properties are established during manufacture (therefore fixed with respect to time) and are not subject to temporal alteration (e.g., with respect to degree and/or position). Since stiffness of a static guidewire cannot be changed, a guidewire must be exchanged with another wire if a different stiffness is needed, thereby prolonging a surgical procedure with concomitant risk to the patient. Examples of conventional static guidewires (which come in various lengths, stiffnesses, and configurations) include LUNDERQUIST® Extra Stiff (Cook Inc., Bloomington, Ind., US), Amplatz™, and ASAHI INTECC® Standard (Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd., Nagoya, JP), among others.
Moveable core guidewires have been developed, such as the NAMIC® Angiographic Core Guidewire (North American Instrument Corp., Hudson Falls, N.Y., US) and the STARTER™ moveable core guidewire (Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc., Maple Grove, Minn., US). In certain instances, moveable core guidewires can change stiffness by moving a core wire within an outer coil. With the core removed, the remaining outer coil provides a flexible and generally atraumatic tip. A moveable core allows for changing a curvature of a J-shaped tip to aid in branch selection. However, frictional forces may render it difficult to move a core through an outer coil when the guidewire is positioned in a tightly curved path, and movement of a core relative to an outer coil also entails the risk that a core may inadvertently stab through a coil, thereby risking puncture of adjacent tissue. Safe core movement is typically limited to the most distal 10 cm (proximate to a tip) of a moveable core guidewire. Generally, moveable core guidewires have outer diameters of at least about 0.035 inch (0.89 mm) and tend to straighten when stiffness is increased.
Conventional guidewires may range in outer diameter from about 0.014 inch (0.36 mm) to about 0.038 inch (0.97 mm) (with smaller values corresponding to static guidewires), and may vary in length from about 45 cm to about 260 cm or more. Depending on the core material, a conventional static guidewire may have a minimum radius of curvature of from about 18 mm to about 40 mm, and a movable core guidewire may have a minimum radius of curvature (without deformation of the metal core) of from about 2 mm (e.g., in a state with the core removed) to about 18 mm (e.g., in a state with the core in place).
Guidewires that permit a certain degree of steerability have been developed, such as disclosed in International Patent Application Publication No. WO 2014/089273 A1 to Lenker et al. Additionally, guidewires with adjustable flexibility or stiffness are known, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,346 B2 to Griffin et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,551,019 B1 to Kroll.
Despite various developments in the guidewire art, the art continues to seek advancements in guidewires that may be actively steered and/or provide adjustable flexibility, to facilitate precise and rapid placement of a catheter in a desired location within a body.

ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY


When a color original is scanned by a scanner connected to a network environment, the number of bright pixels and the number of dark pixels within the image data are calculated, and according to the calculated results, one of the color information files for highlight, shadow and standard is selected. The selected file is attached to the scanned data, and sent to an external personal computer or the like. The personal computer uses the selected file to perform color conversion of the scanned data. Accordingly, color conversion in accordance with brightness of an image is enabled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses, image processing methods and programs to cause computers to perform image processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a program to cause a computer to perform image processing that allow high-precision color conversion of an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a technique for reading an image from an original with a reading device like a scanner, performing color conversion with a computer connected to a network, and outputting the image to a printer or the like is known.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-177754 discloses a scanner system in which the system having a plurality of scanners connected to a network determines which scanner to use, in terms of hardware, according to an input condition of the original.
For color conversion of an image, a color information file (or a color conversion file, e.g., an ICC (International Color Consortium) profile) specific to a device is referred to, which is created based on representative colors. The file defines color information specific to the device, and is used for exchanging the color information with another device.
The color conversion file generally stores data of representative colors picked up considerably roughly from a color space that the relevant device is able to reproduce, and data of the corresponding colors in another color space, by correlating the data with each other. Color conversion of the colors having not been picked up are carried out by interpolation. This type of color conversion employing interpolation from roughly picked up colors, however, is disadvantageous because the precision in color conversion is degraded.
For example, if colors R, G and B are represented with 8 bits each, each color can be expressed with 256-step gradation. In the combination of RGB, approximately 16,770,000 colors can be expressed.
To handle these colors, measuring all the 16,770,000 colors and preparing color conversion files (look-up tables) by correlating them with, e.g., L*a*b* data would be unrealistic, since it requires an enormous file capacity. In practice, it is common to pick up each color of RGB every 10 steps of gradation or so to obtain data of less than 1,000 colors, and to prepare color conversion files correlating the obtained data with L*a*b* data. In this case, data of the colors having not been picked up are obtained by interpolation, which often results in insufficient precision for fine color reproduction.

Image processing apparatus, method and program enabling high-precision color conversion


The present invention relates to lighting device (10). The lighting device comprises a light guide plate (12), and at least one array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) (14), which LEDs are accommodated in holes arranged in the light guide plate, wherein each hole has: at least two side facets (18) through which light from the LEDs is to be laterally coupled into the light guide plate, and at least one corner (20) formed by two converging side facets of the at least two side facets. This promotes TIR at adjacent light sources and therefore diminishes losses due to absorption or scattering at adjacent holes.

Progress in the brightness, lumen efficacy and affordability of solid state light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) enables new lighting applications that are no longer restricted to niche markets. LEDs offer several advantages over traditional light sources, such as long lifetime, low operating voltage, instant on, etc. For these and other reasons, LEDs are becoming more and more suited for making lamps for several applications such as color variable lamps, spotlights, LCD backlighting, architectural lighting, stage lighting, etc.
For many lighting applications, the light of a single LED is not sufficient, and light of multiple LEDs needs to be combined to form a light source. One solution is to mix light of multiple LEDs in a light guide, before the light leaves the lighting device. An example of such a solution is disclosed in the document "LED Backlight designs using Luxeon high flux light source solutions" by Lumileds, Seattle 2004, http://www.lumileds.com/pdfs/Luxeon_light_source_solutions.pdf. A backlight based on side-emitting LEDs described in this document is schematically illustrated in FIGS. 1a-1b. With reference to FIGS. 1a-1b, the backlight 100 comprises a light guide 102 provided with circular through holes 104b which are arranged in a linear array along an edge 106 of the light guide. In each through hole, there is provided a side-emitting LED 108, whereby light from the LEDs is coupled into the light guide through the sidewall of the through holes, as illustrated by exemplary ray traces 110.
However, when in such a solution the in-coupling holes 104 are closely spaced, it may occur that light from one LED 108a leaves the light guide 102 through a neighboring hole 104 and gets absorbed or scattered at the LED 108b inside this hole. This is illustrated by exemplary ray trace 112 in FIG. 1a. Simulations have shown that for a densely packed linear array of side-emitting LEDs the light leakage is typically about 10% (5% per neighbor). Thus, the lumen efficiency of such a lighting device is degraded.

Lighting device employing a light guide plate and a plurality of light emitting diodes


A kneeling bench and a head rest with a face opening afford a user a way to be comfortably situated in a face down position to perform rowing motions with free weights or weight stacks. The lateral distance between the two bench elements can be adjusted as can the vertical distance to accommodate different sized users. In addition the angle of the head rest is adjustable between angles of 25° and 35° from the horizontal.

The present invention is directed to the field of exercise devices. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a bench which supports the user's weight via a kneeling bench and a headrest leaving a zone from the mid-sternum to the knees open to permit a rowing arm motion.
The exercise equipment industry has mushroomed in the last 10 years. In the same time period, health clubs have grown in numbers and membership. The equipment used in health clubs is typically complex and expensive. Home gymnasiums, while providing numerous exercise options, are often complicated and difficult to use. Our lives, already complicated by work and family, cry out for simplicity to provide relief in the area of exercise.
The knee-chest rowing bench of the present invention provides a simplicity that is elegant, providing a face-downward support that comfortably supports the user's weight while permitting a significant range of motion for both arms simultaneously or, each arm individually. The user can use the bench with free weights such as barbells and dumbbells or with weight stacks employing cables and pulleys. The bench of the present invention is designed to provide the benefits of the barbell bent over rowing without the risks. Bent over rows are very effective exercise for the upper back but a dangerously strenuous exercise for the lower back.
Other attempts at providing a supported-type of bent-over row unit have typically relied on a long-axis support (i.e., a padded board) which runs continuously from episternal notch down to the umbilicus (navel) or lower. However, this type of support creates two problems: first, it interferes with breathing due to compressing the rib cage and abdomen against the board. Second, the support board acts as an obstacle or barrier since, in this exercise, the barbell is meant to be pulled into a zone ranging from just inferior to the nipple line (imaginary horizontal line connecting both nipples) down to the umbilicus. In this instance, the support board acts to decrease the effective range of motion (ROM).
One arm dumbbell rows are sometimes performed as a substitute for barbell bent-over rows. However, this exercise is considered secondary, at best, in terms of effectiveness. Furthermore, the stabilizing arm, which is kept straight, tends to bear an increased amount of stress to the shoulder and rotator cuff musculature.
The knee-chest rowing bench of the present invention includes plural support surfaces including a kneeling platform at a first level for supporting a majority of the user's body weight in a kneeling position at a height in the range from one foot to two feet from a floor; a headrest for at a second level above said first level for supporting the user's head in a face down orientation; the plural support surfaces supporting the user's full weight leaving unencumbered a zone at least between the user's mid-sternum and navel to facilitate arm motion and breathing at a height sufficient to permit the user's arms to swing in a fully extended position without contacting the floor.
The exercise bench preferably has means to adjust both the horizontal and vertical distances between the headrest and the kneeling bench, in order to comfortably accommodate individual body sizes and shapes. The headrest preferably has an opening in its upper supporting surface to comfortably accommodate the user's face. The angularity of the headrest is preferably adjustable between a range of 25° and 35°, again, in order to accommodate personal preference and afford maximum comfort. A pair of, preferably, vertically oriented handles are positioned either side of the headrest to provide the user balance while doing rowing exercises with the opposite hand.
The knee-chest rowing bench of the present invention is geared to the serious weight trainee, be it a school athlete, body builder, fitness enthusiast or dedicated home trainee.
Various other features, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the following specification.


An antenna that can ensure a sufficient radio receiving level and a radio-wave receiving device on which the antenna is equipped are provided. The antenna includes a columnar magnetic core formed by a ferromagnetic body, a coil portion wound around the magnetic core, a flat-plate state extension portion extended from an end portion of the magnetic core, and a standing portion provided at least on a one-direction face of the extension portion. Such antenna is suitable for installation on a wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece, particularly requiring a reduction in size and weight. By this arrangement, while the time display dial is more easily viewable, the radio controlled timepiece ensures that a sufficient standard-wave receiving level is provided.

The radio controlled timepiece is a timepiece provided with a function of receiving a standard wave (40 kHz radio wave, for example) including time information and date information by a cesium atomic clock with an accuracy of 1 second in 1 million years by a built-in antenna for correcting a time error. Thus, accurate time can be displayed all the time as compared with a quartz timepiece in which an error of approximately 20 seconds per month is generated, and labor to correct time can be omitted and thus, the radio controlled timepiece has been rapidly prevailing in these days.
In the radio controlled timepiece, its receiving performance is determined by an antenna characteristic and a receiving-circuit characteristic.
As a type of the antenna, a coil-like bar antenna in which a conductor is wound around a core formed by a ferromagnetic body and the like is generally used since the wavelength of the standard wave is as long as approximately 5 km and resonance by a wavelength direction in the wrist watch is difficult. An electromotive force is obtained at a coil by a magnetic flux transmitted through the bar antenna.
A receiving circuit detects time information based on an output of the antenna and transmits it to a watch movement. The watch movement refers to complex components in which a battery and circuit elements such as a count circuit required for a watch operation are collected up in a single unit. Depending on the cases, a time display measure such as a dial plate, a liquid crystal display device and the like may be included.
The wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece has a role as an article of taste other than a function as a watch, and its design and texture are important. Particularly, a sense of high-class feeling as a watch is an important element, and metal exterior constituting the exterior of a watch body by metal is desired.
However, an output of an antenna is extremely lowered if housed in the metal exterior. That is because an eddy current is generated on the surface of the metal exterior, which makes difficult for the standard wave to enter the inside of the watch and a magnetic flux generated by an electric current flowing through the antenna is prevented by a counter magnetic flux by the eddy current generated on the surface of the metal exterior and the current flowing through the antenna is prevented.
That is, the wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece has a problem that the standard wave is difficult to be received with the metal exterior though it is desired. Thus, there are many proposals made for an art with which receiving is possible even in the metal exterior. For example, it is an art to improve the shape of the antenna. By increasing a receiving sensitivity of the antenna, more standard wave can be received.
The wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece uses a bar antenna in many cases as mentioned above, and an art that the receiving sensitivity is increased by improving the shape of a magnetic core of the bar antenna is known (See Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, for example).
FIG. 26 is a diagram for explaining a related art shown in Patent Document 1 and is modified for ease of explanation without departing from its gist. In FIG. 26, reference numeral 100 denotes a watch exterior, 102 for a magnetic core, 103 for a coil wound in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic core 102, and 104 for an extension portion of the magnetic core 102. The coil 103 actually has a thin wire wound in order, but for ease of understanding, it is shown cylindrically. In addition, portions not necessary for the explanation are omitted.
As shown in FIG. 26, the related art shown in Patent Document 1 is provided with the extension portion 104 on both sides of the magnetic core 102, and by directing the extension portion 104 toward the side of a windshield glass (not shown), much more magnetic flux is led to the magnetic core 102 with respect to the standard wave incident from the windshield glass side.
FIG. 27 is a diagram for explaining a related art shown in Patent Document 2 and is modified for ease of explanation without departing from its gist. In FIG. 27, reference numeral 100 denotes a watch exterior, 102 for a magnetic core, 103 for a coil wound in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic core 102, 104 for an extension portion of the magnetic core 102, and 106 is a radio-wave collection plate connected to the extension portion 104. Similarly to FIG. 26, the coil 103 is shown cylindrically. Note that, portions not necessary for the explanation are omitted.
As shown in FIG. 27, in the related art shown in Patent Document 2, the radio-wave collection plate 106 is connected to the extension portion 104 of the magnetic core 102 so as to be curved in the watch exterior 100. With such configuration, more standard wave entering the watch exterior 100 can be led to the magnetic core 102 and in addition, directions where the radio controlled timepiece can receive the standard wave are increased. The wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece is worn on an arm and its direction is changed in various ways according to an action of a human body, and increase in the directions capable of receiving a wave is effective.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-3675 (page 15, FIG. 11)
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-235701 (pages 5 to 7, FIG. 3)
The related arts shown in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2 both consider the case where the watch exterior 1 is metal and a flow of the magnetic flux is not prevented by the metal exterior. However, with these structures, it is known that more standard wave cannot be received.
That is, with the related art shown in Patent Document 1, since the extension portion 102 is merely extended from the magnetic core, when seen from the windshield glass side (not shown), of the watch exterior 1, the extension portion 102 is small in the planar view and is not in a structure to receive more standard wave. With such structure, the magnetic flux cannot be obtained effectively.
Moreover, if a time display measure such as a dial plate, a liquid crystal display device and the like is provided on a top portion of the antenna, they shield the standard wave, and even with presence of the extension portion 102, the standard wave can not be received effectively.
In the related art shown in Patent Document 2, a wave catching portion 115 is formed in a fan shape when seen from the windshield glass side (not shown), of the watch exterior 100, which is suitable for leading the standard wave incident from the windshield glass side to the magnetic core, but similarly to the related art shown in Patent Document 1, if the time display measure is provided at a top portion of the wave catching portion 115, it shields the standard wave and the wave catching portion 115 can not effectively receive the standard wave any more.
For the recent wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece, more size reduction is in demand and the size reduction of the watch exterior has progressed. However, the time display measure is preferably bigger as long as time information is to be seen more easily. For example, if the time display measure is a hand-type analog-display dial plate, devices have been made to thicken the hands.
That is, the standard wave is getting more difficult to be received with size increase of the time display measure and the hands.
In addition, if the antenna end portion is too close to the metal exterior in the wrist watch constituted by the metal exterior, an eddy current loss is generated between the metal exterior and the antenna, which causes a situation of loss of antenna gain. Further, if the antenna is brought into contact with the metal exterior, the eddy current flows to the antenna and the entire metal exterior, and the antenna output is lowered. Thus, it is necessary that the antenna and the exterior should be separated by an appropriate distance.
Furthermore, since a loss is also generated inside of the antenna due to the eddy current and hysteresis loss, immoderate increase of the size of the antenna will enhance the influence of these resistance factors rather than the capability of collecting the magnetic flux, and the antenna gain will be lost to the contrary.
Besides, if self-inductance of the antenna is raised by size increase of the antenna, a self-resonant frequency of the antenna is lowered, and a frequency band that can be used as an antenna is narrowed.
As obvious from the explanation, with the related arts shown in Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, the provision of the time display measure for notifying time, which is an essential purpose of a watch, more easily to be seen and the receiving of more standard wave can not coexist at the same time.
Therefore, a wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece having solved such problems has been in a strong demand.
A technical object of the present invention is to solve such problems and to provide an antenna that can ensure a sufficient radio receiving level and a radio-wave receiving device equipped with the antenna. Particularly, the technical object of the present invention is to provide an antenna for radio controlled timepiece that can be housed in the wrist-watch type radio controlled timepiece for which small size and light weight are required, and the radio controlled timepiece provided with the antenna for radio controlled timepiece and an easy-to-see time display measure, which can ensure sufficient receiving level of the standard wave.

Antenna and radio-wave receiving device provided with antenna


Damage to the package body and external leads of a leaded semiconductor device assembly is prevented by a carrier assembly. The carrier assembly includes a rigid bottom (lower) plate positively supporting the package body and providing a bottom cover for the external leads. A semi-rigid top (upper) plate positively holds the package body against the bottom plate, prevents movement of the package body with respect to the carrier assembly, and covers the external leads. Fasteners are provided for securing the upper plate to the lower plate, preferably at the four corners of the plates. In this manner, a durable "sandwich" structure is created, with the package disposed between the lower and upper plates and the body and leads well protected against damage.

As used herein, a "semiconductor device" is a silicon chip (die) containing circuit elements on a face thereof, and a "semiconductor device assembly" is a silicon chip contained within a package and connected (wired or bonded) to conductive leads which exit the package.
The patent literature is replete with examples of semiconductor device assemblies having a plurality of leads exiting the package. For example:
Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,771,330 and 4,880,419 disclose an integrated circuit chip 10 mounted to a die attach pad 22. Lead fingers 16 radiate outward from the area of the die attach pad. Bond wires 18 connect the die to the inner ends of the lead fingers 16. The outer ends of the lead fingers 16 are bonded (26) to package leads 28 which extend outward from the enclosing package 32. These two patents are examples of epoxy encapsulated semiconductor device assemblies.
Ceramic packaged semiconductor device assemblies are also common, examples of which are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,207 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,113.
The complexity of modern semiconductor devices results in a high number of leads. Lead counts in excess of one hundred are not uncommon. For high lead count packages, the leads are necessarily very thin and closely spaced. Spacing on the order of 15-25 mils (center-to-center) is not uncommon. Evidently, these leads are very delicate, and extreme care must be exercised in handling the package to avoid damaging the leads so that they can be properly aligned with conductors on a printed wiring board (e.g.) to which the packaged device is ultimately mounted. Common damage modes include: 1) physical distortion of the leads, or 2) removal of plating from the leads due to scraping (the leads are commonly gold-plated).
In the process of packaging a semiconductor device, it is typical that the semiconductor die is inserted into an opening in the package. The package already has external leads exiting the package body, and lead fingers within the package body. The lead fingers are bonded (or wired) to the external leads. After the semiconductor device is connected to the lead fingers, a lid is applied over the package opening to seal the device within the package. During these packaging steps, there are many opportunities for causing damage to the external leads while handling and processing the package.
FIG. 1 shows a typical semiconductor device assembly 100, for which the present invention is especially pertinent. The assembly includes a square, flat ceramic package 102 containing a semiconductor die (not shown) within a cavity that is covered by a lid 104. A plurality of external leads 106 emanate from each side of the package 102, generally coplanar with the bottom surface of the package. Only eight leads per side are shown, for illustrative clarity. During installation of the semiconductor device in the package, the outer ends of the leads 106 are typically connected together by a lead frame ring 108 which helps support the leads. The leads 106 and the ring 108 are formed of a single patterned piece of metal (e.g., gold-plated copper) which is on the order of only about 8 mils thick. The leads themselves are usually about 350 mils long and 8 mils wide, and lead spacing of 15-25 mils is common. Evidently, the leads are extremely delicate.
After the semiconductor device is mounted and connected within the sealed package, the lead frame is excised. Often, there are holes 110 disposed at the four corners of the lead frame for locating the entire assembly in a machine that excises the lead frame.
As mentioned above, in the process of mounting the die in the package, and capping the package, the entire assembly is typically passed through an oven. Typically the lid is provided with a peripheral solder seal that will fuse with a corresponding metallic ring around the periphery of the package opening when exposed to a thermal cycle in the oven. Conveyor transports are common, and the packages may be placed on "boats" for the journey through the oven.
These "boats" are rigid structures having openings for the package body. These openings provide access from the bottom of the boat for automated machinery to lift the semiconductor assembly up from the boat during some of the packaging processes. Typically, the package is laid down directly on the boat, with the leads supporting the entire semiconductor device assembly. Because the boat is the direct support for the semiconductor device assembly, contact between the leads and the boat occurs. During the installation and removal of the package from the boat, physical bending of the leads may occur because of the close tolerances necessary to maintain package alignment. At the points of contact, motion of the semiconductor device assembly on the boat has been observed to cause the lead coating (plating) to be worn or scratched away, exposing either the under coat or the base metal. Further, with existing boat transports, the ceramic package body is not directly supported, since the package is held in place by the lead structure. This has been observed to allow damage to the ceramic through chipping or cracking. Further, with existing boat transport techniques, the leads are exposed to the operating environment during the above-mentioned processes, and contamination of the leads has been observed to occur from various forms of splatter.


A method and apparatus for filtering suspensions of medical and biological fluids, one aspect of which is separating a suspension comprising at least two types of particles which are differently sized or shaped and in which the first type of particle may be deformable at a relatively lower force and/or faster rate than the second type of particle. A filter member is provided having substantially precisely dimensioned pore sizes, with the pores being dimensioned to allow passage of the first type of suspended particle without distortion or only minimal distortion and passage of the second type of particle only with substantial distortion. Because the filter membrane has precisely dimensioned pores, with spacing between the pores being maintained despite the smaller interval between the pores, the porosity of the membrane may be much greater than nominal pore size membranes, allowing faster filtration rates and/or smaller membranes for a given filtration rate, while reducing the exposure time of the cells within the shear environment, and consequently reducing particle damage. Various methods for preventing clogging of the membrane are also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to the separation of particles suspended in solution based upon unique characteristics of the various particles such as the shape, size and/or deformability, and more particularly to the selective separation or filtration of cells, cell components or fragments thereof which have one or more various unique physical characteristics.
Techniques for the separation of constituents of various medical/biological fluids, such as whole blood, are in wide use for many diagnostic, therapeutic, and other medically-related, applications. For example, centrifugal separation based upon the different densities and settling velocities of the constituent components to be separated is well known. The CS-3000 separator, sold by Baxter Healthcare Corporation of Deerfield, Ill., is one example of a centrifugal separator that has been very successfully used in separating whole blood into constituent components, such as red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC), platelets, and plasma for collection or depletion of the desired components from a donor or patient. While centrifugation has proven to be a generally satisfactory method of achieving separation, in certain applications the purity of the separated components is not as high as desired due to the very close and/or overlapping densities and settling velocities of the different suspended particles.
Mesh and aggregate structures and membranes are also used to remove particles from suspension. Typically such filters exhibit substantial surface area and/or roughness that can cause particle damage in biological suspensions, e.g., RBC hemolysis and platelet activation in blood.
Separation of biological fluids using a filter membrane with a nominal pore size is also common. For example, it is widely known that a filter membrane having 0.22 micron nominal pore size can be used to filter out assorted bacteria and the like from a liquid. Such membranes, also sometimes called capillary pore membranes, are available in polyester and polycarbonate material from, e.g., Nuclepore Corporation, and in polysulfone from Gelman Sciences, Inc. Such filter membranes have also been used to filter the cellular components of blood (sometimes called the xe2x80x9cformedxe2x80x9d components) from liquid plasma, i.e. xe2x80x9cplasmapheresis.xe2x80x9d
While these membranes have worked satisfactorily in certain applications, such filter membranes have only a nominal pore size, as distinguished from pores of precise and consistent size, shape, and relative spacing to one another. Indeed, it is not uncommon for such nominal pore size membranes to include xe2x80x9cdoubletsxe2x80x9d (i.e., overlapping, non-conforming pores) which would allow passage through the membrane of particles larger than the nominal pore size. To be useful in performing procedures in which particles in a solution are xe2x80x9ccleansedxe2x80x9d of undesirable particles, the undesirable particles being several times larger than the desired particles, filter membranes must exhibit virtually no doublets.
The occurrence of doublets in prior art filter membranes, due to their fabrication techniques, has forced a compromise in their design. Specifically, in order to keep the occurrence of doublets to an acceptable low level, the mean pore-to-pore spacing must be relatively large, which limits the porosity (i.e., the ratio of the total pore area to the total membrane area) of these prior art membranes to about 7% and less. Generally, a lower porosity results in a lower flow rate through the filter membrane. Thus, although a filter membrane having a nominal pore size is suitable for defining an average or nominal maximum particle size that passes through the filter membrane, such membranes are not precisely sized to permit selective filtration of particles of comparable size based on other unique characteristics such as shape or deformability, and have significant drawbacks that limit their application.
A further difficulty with membrane separation of biological and other fluids is impairment of flow through the membrane due to the fouling or clogging of the filter membrane. Such fouling or clogging generally results from the deposition on the surface of the filter membrane of particles too large to pass through the membrane and plugging of the pores. Various methods are known for reducing or preventing the clogging of such membranes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,145 to Schoendorfer, herein incorporated by reference, discloses a xe2x80x9ccouette flowxe2x80x9d filter system in which the extraction of filtrate is accomplished through a membrane mounted on a cylindrical rotor within a stationary cylindrical cell. The relative movement between the two concentric cylinders generates a surface velocity that establishes vigorous vortices at the surface of the rotor. These vortices, called Taylor vortices, constantly sweep the membrane surface to limit cell deposition, while continuously replenishing the medium to be filtered.
A different technique to reduce membrane fouling is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,726 to Duggins, herein incorporated by reference. This patent discloses a method and apparatus for carrying out plasmapheresis by conducting blood over the surface of a microporous membrane in reciprocatory pulsatile flow by a peristaltic oscillator or other suitable pump for causing reciprocatory pulsations.
More specifically, Duggins discloses a filter housing having a blood flow region between two plasma flow regions. A central blood inlet port is connected to the blood flow region of the housing, while a blood collection channel is connected to a plasma-depleted blood outlet port, and a plasma collection port is connected to a plasma outlet port. A pair of membranes is disposed between each plasma flow region so that there is a blood flow path between the membranes. Blood is conducted in a forward direction (i.e., away from its source) over the first surface of each filter membrane by, e.g., a rotary peristaltic pump, a piston or syringe pump, or a plunger or hose pump. Blood flow is pulsed in a reciprocatory fashion by a peristaltic oscillator connected to the housing through ports connected to areas near the end of the flow path. As a result, blood can be conducted in the forward direction and in a reverse direction over a first surface of each membrane at a net positive transmembrane pressure, while reducing the transmembrane pressure during the forward and reverse conduction of the blood. The frequency and volume of the reciprocatory pulses are selected to maximize the flow of plasma through the membranes without causing extensive blood trauma. The plasma which passes through each membrane is collected, while the plasma depleted blood is recirculated to the blood flow region.
More recently, it has been possible to make microporous filter membranes with pores having precise size and shape through techniques such as those shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/320,199, entitled xe2x80x9cPorous Microfabricated Polymer Membrane Structurexe2x80x9d, filed Oct. 7, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,406, having the same assignee as the present invention and which is incorporated herein by reference. The aforesaid application generally discloses a process for microfabricating precise membranes using etchable polyimide film on a silicon substrate. A polymer film layer is made from a photoimageable polyimide material. The film is processed using negative photoresist techniques or etchable membrane fabrication technique to create a predefined geometric pattern of holes and intermediate spaces defining strands.
Alternatively, other processes, such as positive photoresist techniques, RIE (Reactive Ion Etching), LIGA (an abbreviation of the German for lithographic, galvanoformung, abformung, or in English, lithography, electroforming, and molding), may be used to create filter membranes with extremely small pore size (e.g., less than 10 microns) and having virtually zero doublets that are exceptionally uniform, with a high degree of consistency from one pore to the next. Further, electron beam and ion etch techniques also are possible means to produce precision, high porosity membranes with exceptionally small pores. With the doublet problem essentially eliminated by these various fabrication techniques, organic membrane structures with very high porosities (exceeding 35% and potentially achieving 80%) can be generated with the pore area limited only by structural considerations.
It is a general object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus utilizing precise pore size and shape membranes for selectively separating the particles or components in a medical, biological or other suspension based on the size, shape, deformation characteristics, or other unique characteristic of the various components to be separated.
More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for selectively separating the various components of whole blood, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, or substances that may be found in whole blood, based upon their size, shape, and/or deformation characteristics.
It is a further object of the invention to provide method and apparatus employing precise pore size which include means for preventing fouling or clogging of the surface of the filter membrane.
These objects, as well as others which will become apparent upon reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. Before turning to the detailed description, and for purposes of summary only, one aspect of the present invention is embodied in a method for separating a suspension comprising at least two types of particles, which are differently sized or shaped. Such particles may be biological cells or cellular components and, more particularly, animal cells or cellular components characterized by having a non-rigid cell membrane, free of a rigid outer cell wall, and consequently being subject to trauma when stressed. The first type of particle may also be, but is not necessarily, deformable at a relatively lower force and/or faster rate than the second type of particle. This method comprises providing a filter membrane having substantially precisely dimensioned pore sizes, with the pores being dimensioned to allow passage of the first type of suspended particle without distortion or with only minimal distortion and passage of the second type of particle only with substantial distortion. Because the filter membrane has precisely dimensioned pores, with the spacing between the pores being maintained despite the smaller interval between the pores, the porosity of the membrane may be much greater than nominal pore size membranes, with less internal pathway variability. This allows faster filtration rates and/or smaller membranes for a given filtration rate, reducing the exposure time of cells within the shear environment of the separator and, consequently, reducing particle damage (such as WBC damage, platelet activation, and/or RBC hemolysis). Similarly, the smooth membrane surface and the smoothness of the internal pathways of the pores permit more consistent fluid shear near the membrane surface and further reduces the exposure time of the particles to the pores.
In this method, the membrane is contacted with the suspension to allow the passage of the first type of particle and to block passage of the second type of particle. To enhance the passage of the first type of particle through the pores, in one class of embodiments the membrane thickness may be small relative to the first type of particle. In another class of embodiments the membrane thickness may be large relative to the second type of particle in order to further inhibit deformation of the second type of particle. To enhance passage of the first type of particle and blockage of the second type of particle, the time that the suspension and membrane are in contact, the force of contact between the suspension and membrane and/or the relative movement between the suspension and membrane may be selectively varied, either alone or in combination.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method may be provided for filtering a suspension comprising at least two types of differently sized and/or shaped particles that differ in deformability characteristics. In this method, the filter membrane has substantially precisely dimensioned pores and may also have a very high porosity. The suspension and the precise pore size filter membrane are brought into contact with each other with a force or for a time sufficient to allow deformation of the first type of particle for passage through the pores, but insufficient to allow deformation of the second type of particle for passage through the pores.
Although the two aspects or methods above are referred to separately, they are not necessarily separate and may be employed in combination. For example, it is within the scope of the present invention to employ a precise pore size membrane that has precise size, and wherein the solution to be filtered includes first and second types of particles of different shape and different deformation characteristics. The precisely dimensioned pores may be of a shape conforming generally to the shape of the first particle only and of a size that requires some deformation of the first particle to pass therethrough. The suspension is brought into contact with the membrane for sufficient time and/or pressure to allow the first particle to deform and pass through the pores, but not the second particle. As in the first-described method, the time that the suspension and membrane are in contact, the force of contact between the suspension and membrane and/or the relative movement between the suspension and membrane may be selectively varied, either alone or in combination, to enhance passage of the first type of particle through the membrane.
In the methods referred to above, the lack of non-conforming pores improves the purity of separation and the very high available porosity improves the process by reducing the suspended particles"" exposure time in the filtration shear field, as the particles pass through the membrane, by a factor of about 3 to 11, thus reducing the trauma to the separated particles due to filtering. The required membrane area is reduced by a similar factor, thus potentially reducing device size and cost substantially, and reducing particle stress related to the time of exposure of the particle to the shear field.
In the methods described above, an additional step of cleaning the upstream surface of the membrane may be included to prevent accumulation of the second type of particle on the surface of the membrane, which may result in clogging or blocking of the pores. By way of example, and not limitation, the cleaning step may be performed by flowing suspension across, i.e., parallel to, the surface of the filter membrane, creating turbulence on the surface of the membrane to sweep the clogging particles off the surface, or relatively oscillating the membrane and suspension to flush the second type of particles off the surface of the membrane.
The present invention is also embodied in apparatus for carrying out the above methods. An apparatus for performing the first mentioned method, for example, may comprise a filter membrane having substantially precisely dimensioned pores (which includes membrane thickness requirements), shaped to correspond substantially to the shape of the first type of particle and to allow passage thereof without or upon only minor deformation of the first type of particle, but to block passage of the second type of particle. Means is provided for bringing the suspension and the membrane into contact sufficient to permit passage of the first type of particle through the membrane, but insufficient to allow for substantially any of the second type of particle to pass through the membrane pores. The aforesaid means may also reduce clogging of the membrane pores.
Apparatus for performing the second identified method may also comprise a filter membrane having substantially precisely dimensioned pores (which includes membrane thickness requirements). In the second embodiment, the membrane pores are precisely dimensioned to allow passage of the first type of particle only upon deformation and the first type of particle is deformable at a faster rate than the second type of particle. Like the apparatus for performing the first method, the second apparatus also includes means for bringing the suspension into contact with the membrane with a forcexe2x80x94either direct or shearxe2x80x94and for a time sufficient to permit the first type of particle to deform and pass through the membrane, but insufficient to allow deformation of substantially any of the second type of particle for passage through or plugging of the membrane pores. Of course, great care is necessary in the selection of membrane materials for separation, concentration, or removal of particles from suspension, particularly in the case of biological suspensions such as blood. Hydrophilic materials, such as polycarbonate, or special surface coatings or modifications, in addition to anticoagulants, are typically required for blood products to avoid or minimize platelet activation, blood cell aggregation, clotting, and/or hemolysis.
As set forth more fully below, these methods and apparatus find particular application in the selective separation of the formed elements of blood (red cells, white cells and platelets) from one another or the separation of formed components from the plasma, the liquid in which they are suspended. If, for example, in the first method and apparatus the liquid to be separated is whole blood, and it is specifically desired to separate the white blood cells from the red blood cells, a filter membrane may be provided that has pores precisely rectangularly dimensioned to measure approximately 1.8 microns to 3.5 microns by approximately 6.0 microns to 14.0 microns to allow passage of red blood cells without deformation or with only minor deformation and white blood cells only upon substantial deformation of the white blood cells. It is known that white blood cells deform at a substantially slower rate than red blood cells when subjected to the same force. The whole blood and filter membrane are brought into contact for a time sufficient, or with a force sufficient, or a combination of time and force sufficient, to allow any required deformation of the red blood cells for passage through the pores in the filter membrane, but insufficient to deform substantially all of the white blood cells for passage through the pores.
The description above is intended only by way of summary. A more detailed description of the various features and advantages of the present invention are set forth below.

Method and apparatus for filtering suspensions of medical and biological fluids or the like