The invention relates to a novel method of enameling substrates comprised of glass or vitroceramic material, according to which method the enamel composition contains graphite as a component, with the aim of improving the mechanical properties of the enameled substrate and/or conferring anti-adhesive properties on the composition. The invention also relates to the composition, and the enameled substrates obtained.

The invention relates to the deposition of enamels on a glass substrate, particularly a glass pane. The invention particularly concerns a novel method of producing an enamel layer on a substrate comprised of glass; further an enamel composition suitable for use in producing an enamel layer on a glass substrate; and the enameled products obtained.
The term xe2x80x9cenamelxe2x80x9d as used herein will be understood to mean
the enamel composition or paste which one applies to the glass, and/or
the enamel layer formed, at various stages of the production method described hereinbelow.
The term xe2x80x9csubstrate comprised of glass material(s)xe2x80x9d will be understood to mean any glass-based substrate, particularly substrates comprised of glass proper (e.g. glass panes), but also a substrate comprised partly of crystalline materials and partly of glass, such as a substrate comprised of vitroceramic materials (used, e.g., for certain cooktops).
Enamels are well known in the art, and are particularly used on substrates comprised of glass proper, such as vehicle glass panes, architectural glass panes, and mirrors. Enamels have been used to form borders, decorative layers, and protective layers (masks) against UV radiation. These may be used particularly for protection of adhesive layers used to mount the glass in a window opening of a vehicle body, e.g. in the case of a windshield or a rear window, or to mount of accessories, e.g. rear-view mirrors; or to protect collector strips for arrays of heating elements; etc. Enamels are also used for coating vitroceramic substrates, such as cooktops.
The enamel used for these applications is generally formed from
a powder comprising a glass frit (vitreous matrix) and (possibly) colorant pigments, wherewith the frit and the pigments are based on metal oxides, and
a medium, known as the vehicle, which facilitates application of the enamel composition to the substrate, and adhesion of the composition to the substrate at the time of application.
Various methods may be used to apply the enamel to the substrate, e.g. spray painting, serigraphy, roll-coating, etc.
Preferably, serigraphy is used, which enables a wide variety of layer shapes and structures to be produced, and is highly reproducible.
In a preferred method of producing the enamel layer,
the enamel is applied to the substrate by serigraphy,
the wet coating which has been applied is dried to the point of good adhesion to the substrate and a general cohesion sufficient such that the enameled substrate can be handled without marring the coating,
(possibly) additional coats are likewise applied and dried, and, finally,
the enamel coat(s) is/are subjected to a heat treatment at high temperature, whereby the enamel is vitrified to produce the final coating.
The enamel coatings may result in deterioration of certain mechanical properties of the enameled substrate as compared to the un-enameled substrate. For glass substrates which must meet certain safety requirements in architectural or automotive applications, particularly applications for automobile sunroofs, such requirements may be quite stringent, particularly as to impact resistance (dropping sphere test, ANSI 26.1).
A related problem is that of satisfying requirements for protection against UV radiation, which specify that an enamel coating must have a certain opacity. Quite evidently, the opacity depends on the thickness of the enamel coating. In the case of a coating intended to protect a strip of adhesive, the coating thickness must generally be greater than 30 micron in the wet state (when the coating has been applied to the substrate prior to drying and firing of said coating), which approximately corresponds to 20 micron coating thickness after the firing and is regarded as a criterion for proper thickness of an enamel coating. Consequently, the amount of enamel required to be used is high, with attendant high cost.
Another requirement in current practice relates to manufacture of a glass pane with regions of different opacity, e.g. in producing a sunroof pane for an automobile, having an enamel with a fine screen pattern in the central region of the pane and a peripheral strip of highly opaque enamel. To achieve this variegated enameling it is generally necessary to make at least two passes (execute two serigraphy operations). In a first pass, enamel is deposited at least in the central zone, in the form of a fine screen pattern applied in a thin layer in order to achieve good definition of the pattern. Then in a second pass the peripheral strip is deposited, using a different serigraphy fabric, achieving a thicker coating having the required opacity. This method is time-consuming and costly, because two serigraphy stations are required, and two drying steps.
The opacity of an enamel can be increased by increasing the pigment content of the composition used to coat the glass; at the same time, the thickness of the coating can be reduced. However, increased pigment content in the enamel tends to result in poorer mechanical properties of the resulting enameled substrate.
A further problem associated with enameling of a glass substrate develops when enameled substrates are subjected to shaping operations (e.g. bending), generally concurrently with the firing of the enamel. In the course of the shaping, frequently the enamel covering the glass substrate undergoing shaping will stick to elements which contact the enameled article, which elements may be, e.g., curving-molds or may be other articles undergoing shaping at the same time. The adhesion results in, among other things, deterioration of the enamel layer.
Certain known enamels have anti-stick characteristics (also called xe2x80x9canti-adhesivexe2x80x9d characteristics). They do not adhere, or only minimally adhere, to elements which contact them during shaping. These enamels are principally enamels comprising oxidizable metals or comprising components which form crystalline phases. However, they cause embrittlement of substrates to which they are applied, which embrittlement often exceeds that caused by traditional non-anti-adhesive enamels, and, further, they contribute to adverse changes in the mechanical properties of the resulting enameled substrates.
The invention eliminates the described drawbacks of the state of the art. The invention proposes a novel method of producing at least one enamel layer on at least a part of a glass substrate, which substrate may particularly be a glass frame. The method enables enameled substrates to be fabricated which have improved mechanical properties.
The invention consists of using graphite in enamel compositions for coating glass substrates. According to the invention, the graphite enables enameled substrates to be fabricated which have improved mechanical properties.
The invention proposes a method of enameling a glass substrate, particularly a glass pane, according to which method, with the aim of improving the mechanical properties of the enameled substrate, an enamel composition containing graphite is deposited on at least a part of the surface of the substrate, the resulting layer is (optionally) dried, and subsequently the enamel coating is fused or vitrified.
The invention also relates to an enamel composition for a glass substrate, which composition comprises
a powder comprised of a glass frit and a pigment or pigments,
a medium enabling the production of a material of a viscosity well-suited for the application of the composition to the substrate and facilitating a binding or adhesion to the substrate, and
graphite;
and which composition is intended to enable production of an enameled substrate having improved physical properties. Advantageously, with the aim of obtaining enameled substrates having improved mechanical properties, the composition comprises at least 0.2 wt. %, preferably at least 0.5 wt. % of graphite (based on the total weight of the enamel composition).
The use of graphite in enamel compositions and in the described method affords a number of advantages. Notably, the glass substrate enameled with a graphite-containing enamel according to the invention displays less loss of strength and durability in comparison to a non-enameled substrate than do substrates enameled with the same enamel but without graphite.
The graphite in the enamel composition also confers anti-adhesive properties on the enamel, for many enamels according to the invention. Accordingly, the enamels do not exhibit such a stickiness during shaping operations that the enameling process is adversely affected. Thus another purpose for which graphite may be used in enamel compositions for coating of glass substrates is to render the compositions anti-sticking.
Beside enabling improvement of the mechanical properties of enameled substrates, the graphite facilitates the use of enamel compositions having a high pigment content (e.g. greater than 30-35 wt. %), wherewith the presence of the graphite compensates for the adverse changes in mechanical properties of the enameled substrates due to the higher pigment content. The use of graphite and/or an increase in the pigment content in the enamel enable(s) production of enamels with higher opacity, thereby enabling lower coating thicknesses.
The favorable relation of opacity to coating thickness which is enabled by the use of the inventive composition allows production of certain enameled glass panes wherewith the enamel coating can be applied in a single pass, whereas the use of known compositions would require at least two passes. In the example of an enameled glass pane for an automobile sunroof which pane is designed with a central region having a thin layer of enamel in a fine screen pattern and a peripheral region of high opacity, by adjusting the pigment content and/or graphite content in an enamel composition according to the invention, to meet the stringent requirements for opacity of the peripheral region with the use of a thin (shallow) enamel layer applied with only one pass corresponding to the application of a relatively thin coating.
Other advantages are afforded by the possibility of employing an enamel composition rendered more opaque by the presence of a higher pigment content, and/or the presence of graphite; e.g., one such advantage being that the coating of the substrate by a mask comprising a black primer can be suppressed under certain circumstances, and another being that the appearance of the surface may be enhanced.
A further advantage of the use of graphite in enamel compositions is that graphite only minimally changes the rheological properties of the enamel paste which relate to application of the paste to the substrate by means of serigraphy. If one were to use, e.g., carbon black instead of graphite, this advantage would be lost. Graphite of the also called xe2x80x9cpyrolytic carbonxe2x80x9d also has the advantage of being very resistant to the high temperatures used in the vitrification of the enamel. At these temperatures, on the order of 550-650xc2x0 C. for enamels intended to cover substrates of glass proper (or on the order of 900xc2x0 C. for enamels intended to cover vitroceramic substrates), the decomposition of the graphite is minimal to zero, and the graphite remains in the enamel. In comparison, carbon black would decompose to form carbon dioxide before reaching 550xc2x0 C., leading to formation of a porous enamel.
As indicated supra, the graphite is preferably employed in the proportion of 0.2 wt. % (based on the total weight of the composition). The greater the content of graphite in the enamel, the more effective the graphite is in improving the mechanical properties of the resulting enameled substrate. However, if used in proportions above 20 wt. %, graphite may render the firing of the enamel more difficult.
The powder present in the enamel composition according to the invention, which powder is comprised of a glass frit and pigments, generally represents 60-90 wt. % of the total enamel composition.
The glass frit may be any known glass frit based on oxides, chosen, e.g., from among the oxides of silicon, lead, zinc, bismuth, titanium, zirconium, sodium, boron, lithium, potassium, calcium, aluminum, tin, vanadium, molybdenum, magnesium, etc.
The pigments used according to the invention may be chosen from among the compounds containing oxides of metals such as chromium, copper, iron, cobalt, or nickel, etc., or from among the chromates of copper, cobalt, etc.
Because the presence of the graphite compensates for the adverse changes in mechanical properties, pigments may be used in proportions greater than the usual proportions, as mentioned above, wherewith pigment contents of up to 70 wt. % may be employed (on the basis of the weight of the frit plus the pigments), which may be compared with the usual pigment contents not generally exceeding 30-35 wt %. Preferably, the higher the content of the pigments and/or graphite the lower the fusion point of the glass frit should be, in order to obtain a composition having a fusion point comparable to the usual fusion point of compositions according to the state of the art.
The medium (vehicle) present in the enamel composition according to the invention may be any medium ordinarily used in known enamel compositions. It may be comprised of solvents, diluents, oils (e.g. pine oils and other vegetable oils), resins (e.g. acrylic resins), petroleum fractions, filmogenic materials, etc.
The powder is worked into suspension in the medium to provide a paste composition suitable to be applied, e.g., by rolling or serigraphy or other printing-like techniques, onto a glass substrate.
The inventive enamel composition may advantageously be prepared from known enamel compositions or from components of known enamel compositions (e.g. glass frits). The preparation may consist merely of adding graphite to a known enamel composition or known component(s) of enamel compositions, rather than completely reformulating; similarly, it may be unnecessary to modify apparatus used in traditional enameling methods.
The glass substrate to which the described enamel composition is applied may be a bare glass substrate or one already covered with one or more layers of enamel. The substrate may comprise one or a combination of a plurality of glass sheets, and may be tempered to confer improved mechanical strength and durability and improved thermal properties. The inventive enameled substrate thus comprises at least one glass sheet covered on at least a part of one of its faces with a composition according to the invention.
In the inventive method of enameling glass substrates (particularly glass panes), the enamel composition is preferably applied to the substrate by serigraphy, followed by firing, wherewith the firing may occur in the course of the heat treatment connected with shaping and/or with tempering of the substrate. Generally, firing temperatures on the order of 600-700xc2x0 C. are used for substrates comprising glass proper, and on the order of 900-1000xc2x0 C. for vitroceramic substrates.
The enamel composition may also be applied by spraying in the nature of paint spraying, by coating onto a screen, roll-coating, etc.
Generally, the application of the composition is followed by drying, to enable sufficient adhesion and cohesion of the coating to and on the substrate, said drying being accomplished by means of, e.g. IR radiation, UV radiation, hot air, or microwave radiation. In the case of microwave heating, the graphite has the advantage of serving as a microwave dopant. In a case where a plurality of coatings are applied to a substrate, preferably each coating layer is dried before the next is applied, and the firing is carried out on all of the layers together.
Possible shaping and/or tempering of the glass substrate are carried out by known methods. In particular, gravity means may be utilized for the shaping, wherewith if laminated panes are to be produced the shaping may be performed on glass substrates in pairs; or molds may be utilized; and in the case of a substrate which is to be both shaped and tempered, the tempering may be carried out after the shaping of the enameled substrates, and in or on the same apparatus.
In the case where a plurality of glass substrate articles are to be shaped simultaneously, with the aim of producing laminated glass panes, the enamel is applied to at least one of the substrates, and the substrates are assembled, following which the shaping is carried out. The glass substrates are then mutually separated to enable insertion of at least one intermediately disposed film comprised of a different material, and the laminated glass pane is then produced by assembling the pieces and subjecting the structure to heating and pressure.
Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will be apparent from the following examples:
An enamel composition was prepared by mixing together the following:
100 parts by weight (pbw) of a powder comprising c. 16 wt. % SiO2, c. 50 wt. % PbO, and c. 34 wt. % of other intermediate or modifier oxides, wherewith about 30 wt. % of said powder was represented by pigments based on iron-, chromium-, and cobalt oxides, and
25 pbw of a medium based on pine oil and comprised of acrylic resins in the amount of 3 wt. % (of said medium).
The composition was applied by serigraphy to a glass sheet 305xc3x97305 mm, followed by drying and then by firing at c. 640xc2x0 C. The resulting enameled sheet was subjected to a test of impact strength (dropping sphere test, ANSI 26.1, test no. 6). The test involves a determination of the height of drop of a sphere of c. 227 g which results in breakage of the enameled sheet. A higher height index represents greater impact strength of the enameled substrate.
As a general guideline, for enameled glass panes used in producing automobile sunroofs or the like, the said height index should be at least 3.05 m.
In the present Example, the height index was c. 1.80 m.
A determination of the opacity of the enamel was also made. The opacity can be expressed in terms of optical density. As a general guideline, for an enamel coating intended to protect a strip of adhesive, the desired opacity correponds to an optical density of at least 3. The optical density of the enamel according to the present Example was measured with a densitometer, e.g. a Gretag(R) D 200 apparatus. The optical density measured was c. 3.2.

Method of enameling substrates comprised of glass materials; enamel composition used; and products obtained thereby


A bracket system, for suspending pergola beams from an existing structure, the existing structure having a vertical wall and roof rafters that each have a rafter top and a rafter end that extends beyond the vertical wall over a ground surface, each of the pergola beams having a supported end, including a plurality of brackets. Each bracket having a mounting assembly for attaching to one of the rafters, a support assembly for attaching the support end of one of the pergola beams, and a connecting assembly that suspends the support assembly from the mounting assembly. The pergola beams extend over the ground surface, away from the existing structure, supported only by the bracket at the support end and without any vertical supports.

Pergolas and trellises are often provided to complement a structure, by providing support for vines and climbing plants, and by providing shade that increases the space that may be comfortably occupied on sunny days.
Trellises can differ in configuration from generally vertical structures to facilitate a rose bush or climbing vine, to those that have overhead beams as commonly found in all pergolas. While there are some technical differences between a trellis and a pergola, both standardly require the support of vertical posts that are secured to the ground surface. Such vertical posts therefore have a footprint that occupies space that might interfere with other uses of that space and may cause a discontinuity in an otherwise open area.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.

Bracket system for attaching a cantilevered pergola to a roof rafter


In a thermal switch device having a reed switch, a temperature-sensitive magnetic cylinder (1) and cylindrical permanent magnets (2a, 2b) disposed around the reed switch (3), and an insulator case (7), the case is provided with an inner cylinder (5) formed in an inner space of the case. The reed switch is supported in the inner cylinder, and the temperature-sensitive magnetic cylinder and the cylindrical permanent magnets are fitted on the inner cylinder. A heat conductor member (6) is attached to the case to be partially exposed outside the case while partially be in contact with the temperature-sensitive magnetic cylinder and the cylindrical permanent magnets.

This invention relates to a thermal switch device comprising a thermal reed switch assembly and an insulator case containing the thermal switch assembly, and in particular, to a mounting structure of the thermal reed switch assembly into the case.
A thermal switch device is well known in the art which comprises a thermal reed switch assembly contained in an insulator body. The thermal reed switch assembly comprises a reed switch having a pair of reeds and a temperature-sensitive magnetic structure mounted on the reed switch. The temperature-sensitive magnetic structure comprises at least one temperature-sensitive magnetic ring or cylinder and at lest one cylindrical permanent magnet. The temperature-sensitive magnetic ring has a Curie point at a desired temperature, and exhibits magnetism and paramagnetism at lower and higher temperatures than the Curie point, respectively. Therefore, the temperature variation of the temperature-sensitive magnetic ring around the Curie point changes flow of the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet through the paired reeds of the reed switch to control ON/OFF operation of the reed switch. Thus, the circumferential temperature of the thermal reed switch assembly can be detected as the ON/OFF state of the reed switch.
In a conventional structure of a thermal switch device of the type as described above, the thermal reed switch assembly is contained in an insulator body of such as synthetic or plastic resin as molded by the mold-in process. A lead frame is connected to the paired reeds before the molding operation. A frame portion of the lead frame is cut out after completion of the molding operation. Thus, two lead conductors or pieces are led out of the insulator body and are connected to the reeds, respectively.
The provision of the lead frame results in an unstable positioning of the reed switch assembly in a mold during the molding operation. This makes it difficult to produce the thermal switch device having a constant thickness of the insulator body surrounding the thermal reed switch assembly. Accordingly, it is difficult to produce the thermal switch devices having a constant temperature-sensitive characteristics.

Thermal switch devise comprising reed switch and temperature-sensitive magnetic structure supported in and out, respectively, of an inner cylinder of case


A surface seismic survey is generated or obtained from Earth's surface and is based on time in which acoustic waves are reflected to Earth's surface. One or more tools measure density and sonic velocity of a subsurface formation. An estimate of acoustic impedance is obtained from the density and the sonic velocity to generate a synthetic seismic survey. The synthetic seismic survey and the surface seismic survey are compared and/or correlated. The acoustic impedance can be iteratively estimated until the synthetic seismic survey matches the surface seismic survey. Matching the surface seismic survey with the synthetic seismic survey may ensure that the surface seismic survey may be calibrated in actual depth.

To obtain hydrocarbons, a drilling tool is driven into the ground surface to create a wellbore through which the hydrocarbons are extracted. Typically, a drill string is suspended within the wellbore. The drill string has a drill bit at a lower end of the drill string. The drill string extends from the surface to the drill bit. The drill string has a bottom hole assembly (BHA) located proximate to the drill bit.
Measurements of drilling conditions, such as, for example, an inclination and an azimuth, a drift of the drill bit, fluid flow rates and fluid composition, may be necessary for adjustment of operating parameters, such as, for example, a trajectory of the wellbore, flow rates, wellbore pressures, production rates and the like. The BHA has tools that may generate and/or may obtain the measurements of the drilling conditions. For example, the BHA may acquire information regarding the wellbore and subsurface formations. Technology for transmitting information within a wellbore, known as telemetry technology, is used to transmit the information from the tools of the BHA to the surface for analysis. The information may be used to control the tools. Adjustment of the drilling operations in response to accurate real-time information regarding the tools, the wellbore, the formations and the drilling conditions may enable optimization of the drilling process to increase a rate of penetration of the drill bit, reduce a drilling time and/or optimize a placement of the wellbore.
High angle wells and horizontal wells increase retrieval of the hydrocarbons and improve recovery of the area in which the wellbore is located. To optimize the placement of these wells, the wellbore must be drilled into the target reservoir at the appropriate depth. Typically, information derived from a seismic survey is used to ensure that the wellbore is drilled in the target reservoir at the appropriate depth. In addition, the seismic survey may indicate properties of a region located beneath the drill bit to enable adjustment of the drilling operations, such as, for example, determination of a distance to drill before setting the next string of casing.
The seismic survey may be obtained by processing reflected seismic waves generated by subsurface seismic reflectors, such as, for example, the top and the bottom of the target reservoir. The reflected seismic waves are typically generated by a seismic acoustic source located at the surface, either on land, as generally shown in FIG. 1A, or offshore, as generally shown in FIG. 1B. When a seismic wave encounters a boundary between two materials having different impedances, a portion of the seismic wave is reflected and a portion of the seismic wave is transmitted through the boundary. Processing of the reflected seismic waves provides a graph indicating a surface seismic section of the area as a function of time as generally shown in FIG. 1C. However, the graph merely indicates the time the reflected acoustic waves were acquired and does not indicate a depth at which the reflected acoustic waves were reflected.
Before the well is drilled in the target reservoir, an accurate depth of the location of the subsurface reflectors associated with the target reservoir is unknown. Typically, the two-way travel time of acoustic waves measured at the surface during seismic survey acquisition and processing only enable association of a time with each of the subsurface seismic reflectors in the time domain. For example, a specific reflector may be associated with a time of 5 milliseconds. However, a great deal of uncertainty remains as to the true (or actual) depth of the target reservoir (or any other subsurface layer).

System and method for generating true depth seismic surveys


Non-volatile memory cells including complimentary metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors and embedded ferroelectric capacitor and methods of forming the same are described. In one embodiment, the method includes forming on a surface of a substrate a gate level including a gate stack of a MOS transistor, a first dielectric layer overlying the MOS transistor and a first contact extending through the first dielectric layer from a top surface thereof to a diffusion region of the MOS transistor. A local interconnect (LI) layer is deposited over the top surface of the first dielectric layer and the first contact, a ferro stack including a bottom electrode, a top electrode and ferroelectric layer there between deposited over the LI layer, and the ferro stack and the LI layer patterned to form a ferroelectric capacitor and a LI through which the bottom electrode is electrically coupled to the diffusion region of the MOS transistor.

Ferroelectric random-access memories (F-RAM) typically include a grid or an array of storage elements or cells, each including at least one ferroelectric capacitor and one or more associated transistors to select the cell and control reading or writing thereto. When an external electric field is applied across a ferroelectric material of a ferroelectric capacitor in the cell, dipoles in the material align with the field direction. After the electric field is removed, the dipoles retain their polarization state. Data is stored in the cells as one of two possible electric polarizations in each data storage cell. For example, in a one transistor-one capacitor (1T1C) cell, a "1" may be encoded using a negative remnant polarization, and a "0" is encoded using a positive remnant polarization.
The ferroelectric capacitor in an F-RAM cell typically includes a ferroelectric material, such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT) between an upper electrode and a lower electrode. The transistors in the cells are typically metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors fabricated using a standard or baseline complimentary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process flows, involving the formation and patterning of conducting, semiconducting, dielectric and materials. The composition of these materials, as well as the composition and concentration of processing reagents, and temperature used in such a CMOS process flow are stringently controlled for each operation to ensure the resultant MOS transistors will function properly. Materials and processes typically used to fabricate the ferroelectric capacitor differ significantly from those of the baseline CMOS process flow, and can detrimentally impact the MOS transistors.
Thus, in conventional methods of fabricating F-RAM the ferroelectric capacitor is fabricated in a separate layer overlying or the layer in which the MOS transistors are fabricated and isolated therefrom by one or more layers. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that conventional methods of fabricating F-RAM require several extra mask and processing steps, all of which increase fabrication time, costs, and defect density lowering a yield of working memories.


A trash compactor is provided with a channel in the cavity of the trash compactor for allowing string to pass behind and below the compacted trash in the cavity of the trash compactor making it easy to secure the compacted trash in bales before removing the bale from the cavity of the trash compactor. The channels are inside of the bottom and back walls of the cavity and allow a strap therein to draw a string from the top back wall of the cavity to the front of the bottom wall of the cavity. The string can then be extended to circumnavigate the bale and be tied off before removing the bale from the cavity. The straps can be reinserted in the channels ready to pull string around the back and underneath the next bale.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to trash compactors and more specifically to baling trash in the trash compactor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most trash compactors compress trash in the compactor into a cube shape but when the trash is removed the trash tends to expand and unless contained in a bag or box the cube of compacted trash tends to expand and fall apart making the compacted trash hard to handle and move from the trash compactor to a waste container such as a dumpster or for shipping to a land fill.
It would be an advantage to be able to bale the compacted trash in the trash compactor before removing the compacted trash and transporting it to waste storage and thereafter to a landfill or other waste disposal facility.

Compactor/baler with built-in supply storage


Provided are method and apparatus for writing and reproducing a multimedia service using a tag in order to provide an intuitive interface for a user using a multimedia service. The method includes selecting a multimedia service to be written; generating tag information identifying the selected multimedia service; and writing the generated tag information to a tag. Accordingly, multimedia service information and content information can be stored in a tag by being written to tag information using a common format, and thus the user can later execute a service operation by easily writing information of a desired service operation to a tag and then simply connecting the tag to a tag reading device.

1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to writing and reproducing a multimedia service using a tag, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for writing and reproducing a multimedia service to provide an intuitive interface for a user using a tag when using multiple multimedia services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as multiple multimedia services are provided based on home networks, the consumer can use various kinds of content, such as home content, various broadcasting service data provided by external content providers, shared documents through web applications, content related to entertainment, personal homepages, etc.
Accordingly, a user interface method that enables a user to use the ever-increasing amount of content in an easy and tangible manner is needed.
Also, bar-codes as print tags, and integrated circuit (IC) chips or radio frequency identification (RFID) using wireless antennas as electronic tags are prevailing at gradually lower costs, and thus a more intuitive and easier multimedia service interface can be provided by using these tags.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of writing and reproducing multimedia service by using tag and apparatus therefor


A system includes a virtual queue controller configured to receive an indication of a reduced capacity event from an amusement park attraction, determine a reduction in capacity of the attraction, identify each guest having a return time in a virtual queue of the attraction that is affected by the reduced capacity event, remove guests having affected return times from the virtual queue, and generate a reaccommodation time slot for the guests removed from the virtual queue, select two or more updated return times within the reaccommodation time slot for each of the guests removed from the virtual queue, provide a notification to each guest removed from the virtual queue requesting guest input to select a single updated return time from the two or more updated return times, and return each guest to the virtual queue upon receiving a corresponding selection of the single updated return time.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of amusement parks. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure are related to techniques for managing reduced capacity events in a virtual queue.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Theme park or amusement park attractions have become increasingly popular, and various amusement park attractions have been created to provide passengers with unique motion and visual experiences. Guests entering the various amusement park attractions may utilize a virtual queuing system that places the guests in a virtual queue rather than a physical queue, which allows the guests to enjoy other features of the amusement park while their position in the virtual queue advances. However, amusement park attraction downtimes or partial closures may affect actual loading times at the amusement park attraction, causing guests to have to wait for extensive periods of time in loading lines at the amusement park, negating some of the benefits of having the virtual queue. Accordingly, it is now recognizable that it is desirable to improve virtual queue system during reduced capacity events (e.g., park attraction downtimes or partial closures).

Systems and methods for a smart virtual queue


A finger-operated lever device to be installed on a handlebar of an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) or other applicable vehicle, for actuating a cable to cause acceleration of the internal combustion engine of the vehicle. The lever device includes a housing, an internal first lever assembly connectable to the cable, and an external second lever assembly. The external lever assembly and the internal lever assembly are connected so that user operation of the external lever assembly causes the internal lever assembly to rotate. The external lever assembly is divided into two portions, a support member and an extension member. The extension member can be adjusted at different angles to the support member, allowing the user to set the angle of the lever to most comfortably fit to his or her riding posture.

An All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) is an open three-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicle that includes a seat and a steering handlebar, and that is designed for driving over very irregular terrain while also being capable of driving over asphalt. The experience of riding an ATV is unique for several reasons. In the first place, handlebar steering provides a very sportive driving experience, similar to that of driving a motorcycle or a mountain bike (MTB), but different in that the vehicle has three or four wheels instead of two. In the second place, the driver generally rides in a straddled position, further enhancing the sportive driving feeling. In addition, the driver can ride the ATV either sitting down or standing up, depending on the type of terrain or on his/her specific desire at any given moment. ATV's are thus versatile vehicles that provide many riding styles, although the use for which they are especially designed is to ride over rough terrain.
ATV's are usually provided with an internal combustion engine to power the vehicle and cause it to move. Such a combustion engine generally comprises one or more cylinders, inside each of which there is a combustion chamber and a movable piston. Internal combustion engines work in cycles. In each cycle, a mixture of fuel and air is injected into the combustion chamber; then, the piston moves towards the chamber and compresses the injected mixture; the fuel explodes (a spark can be provided therefor), causing the piston to move outwards from the combustion chamber. A crank shank converts the longitudinal outward and inward movement of the pistons into a rotational movement that is eventually transmitted to the tractor wheels. The combustion engine further includes a throttle valve or other valve capable of adjusting the amount of fuel or air in the mixture. Adjusting the amount of fuel or air in the mixture causes the motor to accelerate or decelerate, depending on whether the fuel/air ratio is increased or decreased. A user-operable mechanism, external to the engine, allows the user to act on the valve in order to accelerate or decelerate the motor. Normally, the user-operable mechanism for accelerating an ATV is included in the handlebar, in further resemblance to motorcycles, and is connected to the throttle valve or other applicable fuel-, air- or mixture-regulating valve by a cable.
Various types of user-operable handlebar accelerating mechanisms are known in ATV's present in the market. For instance, the user-operable mechanism can consist of a turnable gripping portion capable of pulling the aforementioned cable. The turnable gripping portion is usually on the right side of the handlebar so that the user can accelerate or decelerate the vehicle by rotating the gripping portion using his/her right hand. Although traditionally used in motorcycles, mechanisms based on a turnable gripping portion can result quite uncomfortable to use in ATV's, particularly when the user is standing up, as they force the user's wrist to flex upwards excessively in order to accelerate the vehicle. Alternatively, the user-operable handlebar mechanism can consist of a lever that is actuated by the user's thumb and that is capable of pulling the aforementioned cable. Such a mechanism is sometimes referred to as thumb throttle. Thumb throttles are advantageous in that they require less or no movement of the user's wrist. However, they present the drawback of the user having to slightly ungrasp the handle to allow for his/her thumb to press the lever. Because of this, thumb throttles can be uncomfortable and even dangerous to use, especially when riding in a standing position, and particularly when performing a riding modality known as ATV Cross. In said modality, the user performs jumps with the ATV, and thus needs to strongly hold on to the handlebar in order not to fall off of the vehicle; in such riding conditions, having to soften the grip in order to press the thumb lever can result very dangerous and even fatal.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to provide a safe and comfortable user-operable handlebar mechanism for actuating a cable, such as a cable for operating a throttle valve for accelerating an ATV or other vehicle provided with an internal combustion engine.

Finger-operated lever device to be installed on a vehicle handlebar for actuating a cable of a vehicle


A high speed safety circuit arrangement is provided for a hydraulic press which is driven by a hydraulic cylinder assembly constituted by a principal cylinder unit and a subsidiary cylinder unit. The circuit arrangement comprises a servo valve disposed in one of at least a pair of conduit lines for supplying a pressure fluid from a source thereof into the principal cylinder unit and the subsidiary cylinder unit, a first logic valve disposed in the other of the conduit lines and switched on and off and by the servo valve and a first electromagnetic valve for opening and closing that other conduit line, a second and a third logic valve of which each is switched on and off, and at least one is selectively actuatable, by a second electromagnetic valve to interconnect an upper and a lower chamber of the principal cylinder unit in a hydraulic circuit.

There have hitherto been known certain hydraulic circuit arrangements for a hydraulic press in which a slide is vertically driven up and down by a hydraulic cylinder assembly, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-18801, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-39285 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-155089.
In particular, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-18801 has described a fluid pressure control circuit arrangement having a construction in which a circuit for supplying a pressure fluid into a hydraulic cylinder assembly is provided with a directional control valve and a pilot check valve such that by switching the directional control valve so as to allow the fluid pressure to be applied via the check valve to the hydraulic cylinder assembly, the latter may act to drive any particular load operatively associated therewith.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-39285 has specifically disclosed a hydraulic circuit arrangement for a press in which the cylinder assembly is constructed to include a pressure cylinder unit having a larger pressure receiving area and a subsidiary cylinder unit having a smaller pressure receiving area but operable at a higher speed, the two cylinder units being arranged on a common center line. And, there a construction is employed in which the respective pistons of the two cylinder units are coupled together by a piston rod in the two rod cylinder assembly with the piston rod in the high speed cylinder unit projecting upwards thereof.
And, the system is so configured that after the high speed cylinder unit is supplied with the pressure fluid so as to allow its piston to be driven at a higher speed, the pressure cylinder unit may be supplied with the pressure fluid to allow a larger pressing force to be derived so as to be capable of meeting with a greater load.
Further, a specific hydraulic system as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-155089 has also adopted a cylinder assembly constituted of a high speed cylinder unit and a pressure cylinder unit. In this specific arrangement there is provided at the side of the piston in the pressure cylinder unit a sequence valve that is adapted to be opened and closed by using a pilot pressure.
And, the system specifically disclosed there is so configured that by permitting the sequence valve to be switched on and off, a high speed operation may be switched to a pressing operation, thus being capable of meeting with a greater load at a higher speed without requiring a special piping unit or valves externally fitted.
With a fluid pressure control circuit arrangement as disclosed in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 2-18801 it is noted, however, that where a dust is introduced onto a spool in the directional control valve so as to disturb its downward displacement the pressure fluid from the pressure cylinder may no longer be constricted, thus bringing about the inconvenience that there can arise the danger of an increased load.
With a hydraulic circuit arrangement as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Hei 6-39285, it is also noted that a bite into a die may arise during a pressing operation while a large force of removal may not be obtained. There then arises an inconvenience that a pressed sheet may not be removed from its die bite.
It further is noted that with a high speed for a greater load cylinder assembly as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-155089 in which the sequence valve is provided internally of the piston in the pressure cylinder unit, not only is its maintainability poor but also there may be brought about a danger arising from the fact that the piston rod in the high speed cylinder unit is projecting upwards thereof.
With the above described problems taken into account it is an object of the present invention to provide a high speed safety circuit arrangement for a hydraulic press that is capable of permitting a slide to be driven and operated at an increased speed and yet with due safety.

High-speed safety circuit for a hydraulic press


A flashlight having a primary housing includes an illumination bulb operative through a switch member relative to the housing, wherein a secondary housing arranged parallel to the access of the first primary housing in contiguous communication therewith extending to the housing forward end includes an actuator switch to effect projection of pressurized gas therefrom. Such gas is typically in a form of nerve reacting gas typically known as Mace.RTM..

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to flashlight apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved gas dispensing flashlight apparatus wherein the same permits use of the flashlight as a self-defensive weapon in the dispensing of a nerve reacted gas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Flashlight apparatus of various types are utilized in the prior art as indicated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,016,148; 5,086,377; and wherein U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,333 to Manatos sets forth a tear gas palm pistol arranged for projection of tear gas therefrom.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by providing for a flashlight arranged to combine the employment of a nerve reactant gas such as Mace.RTM. particularly for use in law enforcement scenarios and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A shallow trench isolated FET LDD structure that has a low probability of short circuiting at the silicon to trench interface or between the source or drain and the gate (because of a titanium silicide bridge) is described. It is based on an isolation trench having a top portion with vertical sides and a lower portion with sloping sides. With the filled trench in place, along with a polysilicon gate and gate oxide, the thinner, lightly doped, N type layer is formed using ion implantation. Spacers are then formed on the gate but, prior to the second ion implant step, a few hundred Angstroms of silicon is selectively removed from the surface. This causes the trench filler material to extend above the wafer surface and the spacers to extend above the gate. A deeper, more strongly N-type, layer is then formed in the usual way, followed by the standard SALICIDE process for making contact to source, gate, and drain.

In FIG. 1 we show a schematic view of a Field Effect Transistor (FET) of the Lightly Doped Drain (LDD) type. Polysilicon gate 2 lies on P-type silicon substrate 1 with gate insulation layer 3 between them. The gate is used to control current flow between the two N-type regions 4 one of which serves as a source while the other serves as a drain. To improve performance of the device, region 4 does not interface directly with P material 1 under the gate. Instead 4 connects to region 5 which is both thinner and more lightly doped than region 4.
To make this structure, region 5 is formed first by ion implantation, using gate 2 as a mask. Then, dielectric spacers 6 are formed on the vertical sidewalls of 2 and region 4 is formed using a second ion implantation, with the spacers now serving as the mask.
It is also necessary to electrically isolate the device from other electrical components on the same P substrate. This is often done by means of shallow trench isolation (STI). Trench 7 having gently sloping walls (at a typical angle of about 80 degrees from the vertical) is formed using standard etching techniques and then back filled with a dielectric material (usually silicon oxide).
To make electrical contact to the source, gate, and drain regions, the Self Aligned Silicide (SALICIDE) process is used. A layer of metal such as titanium is deposited over all surfaces and then given a brief, but intense, heat treatment or Rapid Thermal Anneal (RTA) which is sufficient to cause the titanium to react with all silicon surfaces with which it is in contact, thereby getting converted to titanium silicide. The titanium does not react with any of the non-silicon surfaces that it contacts such as the spacers and the shallow isolation trench. Thus, following the RTA, a selective etch may be used to remove all unreacted titanium while leaving behind the titanium silicide. The latter is a good electrical conductor so the net result is separate contacts to the source and drain, separated from the gate contact by the spacers. Similarly, no titanium silicide will form on the top surface of the isolation trench 7 so it continues to function in this capacity.
As part of subsequent processing, it is often necessary to lay down a thin (about 350 Angstrom) oxide layer on the structure of FIG. 1 followed by a removal etch. For example, I/O circuitry present elsewhere on the surface (not shown) need to be protected by a layer of oxide prior to titanium deposition in order to improve ESD performance. This resist protection oxide (RPO) is formed by protecting the appropriate area with photoresist and then etching unprotected areas in the usual way. This results in the removal of about 350-400 Angstroms of any unprotected oxide, including the surface of the oxide that was used to fill trench 7. Also, it is often necessary to remove native oxide (or even all remaining oxide) prior to the formation of silicide surfaces. A `pre-Ti sputter` etch (usually HF solution) is normally performed. This results in the removal of 50-100 Angstroms of the oxide that was used to fill trench 7.
The appearance of the structure of FIG. 1 after RPO etch and `pre-Ti sputter` etch is shown in FIG. 2. As shown, the top surface of the trench filler oxide material has now dropped below the top surface of layer 4 that is adjacent to it. The step in the surface that is formed as a result of this has an exposed vertical edge that is pointed to by arrow 22. Bearing in mind that, during the SALICIDE step that follows, titanium silicide will form on the newly exposed vertical edge 22, it is apparent that only a very thin layer of N-type silicon in region 4 remains between titanium silicide that forms on 22 and P-type silicon region 1. Thus the possibility that source/drain region 4 may short to the main substrate is increased substantially.
Another possible source of shorting via a titanium silicide bridge is also present. In this case, the short is between the source and the gate or between the drain and the gate. It will occur if a small amount of titanium silicide is formed on either of the spacers as a result of some diffusion of silicon to the surface of the spacer during the RTA. The present invention seeks to provide a process and structure that eliminates both type of short.
Prior art that we have come across and that may have some bearing on the present invention includes Yamauchi (U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,232 June 1995) who describes a non-volatile memory based on a floating gate. Part of the structure that is shown by Yamauchi includes silicon nitride spacers on the vertical sides of the floating gate, said spacers extending upwards to some point that is higher than the gate.
Douglas (U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,511 April 1990) teaches a method for etching a deep trench in silicon for use in a capacitor structure having positively sloped, but steep, sidewalls and a flat bottom.
Tamaki et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,090 January 1987) show how to make a trench having walls that are vertical for their lower half and positively sloping for the upper half.

Recessed structure for shallow trench isolation and salicide process

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A computer micro-architecture employing a prevalidated cache tag design includes circuitry to support virtual address aliasing and multiple page sizes. Support for various levels of address aliasing are provided through a physical address CAM, page size mask compares and a column copy tag function. Also supported are address aliasing that invalidates aliased lines, address aliasing with TLB entries with the same page sizes, and address aliasing the TLB entries of different sizes. Multiple page sizes are supported with extensions to the prevalidated cache tag design by adding page size mask RAMs and virtual and physical address RAMs.

The technical field encompasses computer architectures having prevalidated cache designs. In particular, the technical field encompasses an architecture to support virtual address aliasing and multiple page sizes.
Computer systems may employ a multi-level hierarchy of memory, with relatively fast, expensive, but limited-capacity memory at the highest level of the hierarchy proceeding to relatively slower, lower cost, but higher-capacity memory at the lowest level of the hierarchy. Typically, the hierarchy includes a small fast memory called a cache, either physically integrated within a processor or mounted physically close to the processor for speed. The computer system may employ separate instruction caches and data caches. In addition, the computer system may use multiple levels of caches. The use of a cache is transparent to a computer program at the instruction level and can thus be added to a computer architecture without changing the instruction set or requiring modification to existing programs.
A cache hit occurs when a processor requests an item from a cache and the item is present in the cache. A cache miss occurs when a processor requests an item from a cache and the item is not present in the cache. In the event of a cache miss, the processor retrieves the requested item from a lower level of the memory hierarchy. In many processor designs, the time required to access an item for a cache hit is one of the primary limiters for the clock rate of the processor, if the designer is seeking a single cycle cache access time. In other designs, the cache access time may be multiple cycles, but the performance of a processor can be improved in most cases when the cache access time in cycles is reduced. Therefore, optimization of access time for cache hits is critical to the performance of the computer system.
Associated with cache design is a concept of virtual storage. Virtual storage systems permit a computer programmer to think of memory as one uniform single-level storage unit but actually provide a dynamic address-translation unit that automatically moves program blocks on pages between auxiliary storage and the high speed storage (cache) on demand.
Also associated with cache design is a concept of fully associative or content-addressable memory (CAM). Content-addressable memory is a random access memory that, in addition to having a conventional wired-in addressing mechanism, also has wired-in logic that makes possible a simultaneous comparison of desired bit locations of a specified match for all entries during one memory-cycle time. Thus, the specific address of a desired entry need not be known since a portion of its contents can be used to access the entry. All entries that match the specified bit locations are flagged and can be addressed on the current or subsequent memory cycles.
Memory may be organized into words (for example, 32 bits or 64 bits per word). The minimum amount of memory that can be transferred between a cache and the next lower level of memory hierarchy is called a line or a block. A line may be multiple words (for example, 16 words per line). Memory may also be divided into pages, or segments, with many lines per page. In some computer systems page size may be variable.
In modern computer memory architectures, a central processing unit (CPU) produces virtual addresses that are translated by a combination of hardware and software to physical addresses. The physical addresses are used to access a physical main memory. A group of virtual addresses may be dynamically assigned to each page. A special case of this dynamic assignment is when two or more virtual addresses are assigned to the same physical page. This is called virtual address aliasing. Virtual memory requires a data structure, sometimes called a page table, that translates the virtual address to the physical address. To reduce address translation time, computers may use a specialized associative cache dedicated to address location, commonly called a translation lookaside buffer (TLB).
If a cache stores an entire line address along with the data and any line can be placed anywhere in the cache, the cache is said to be fully associative. For a large cache in which any line can be placed anywhere, the hardware required to rapidly determine if and where an item is in the cache may be very large and expensive. For larger caches a faster, space saving alternative is to use a subset of the address (called an index) to designate a line position within the cache, and then store the remaining set of the more significant bits of each physical address, called a tag, along with the data. In a cache with indexing, an item with a particular address can be placed only within a set of lines designated by the index. If the cache is arranged so that the index for a given address maps exactly to one line in the subset, the cache is said to be direct mapped. If the index maps to more than one line in the subset, or way, the cache is said to be set-associative. All or part of an address may be hashed to provide a set index that partitions the address space into sets.
With direct mapping, when a line is requested, only one line in the cache has matching index bits. Therefore, the data can be retrieved immediately and driven onto a data bus before the computer system determines whether the rest of the address matches. The data may or may not be valid, but in the usual case where the data is valid, the data bits are available on the data bus before the computer system determines validity. With set associative caches, the computer system cannot know which line corresponds to an address until the full address is compared. That is, in set-associative caches, the result of a tag comparison is used to select which line of data bits within a set of lines is presented to the processor.
In a cache with a TLB, the critical timing path for a hit requires a sequence of four operations: 1) a virtual tag must be presented to the TLB to determine the location of a corresponding physical tag in random access memory (RAM) in the TLB; 2) the physical tag must then be retrieved from the TLB random access memory; 3) the physical tag from the TLB RAM must then be compared to physical tag""s accessed from the tag section of the cache; and 4) the appropriate data line must be selected. The sequence of four operations is required to read the cache and can be a limiter to processor frequency and processor performance.
A computer architecture with a prevalidated tag cache design includes a prevalidated tag that holds TLB bits corresponding to TLB entry slot numbers, instead of physical or virtual addresses. To support virtual address aliasing, additional logic circuits are added to the cache micro-architecture. The logic allows the prevalidated tag cache design to allow different users with different virtual addresses to access a same physical address space. The logic circuitry may include a physical address, content addressable memory (CAM) and a page size mask. The logic circuit compares physical addresses and page sizes among existing TLB entries a new TLB entry. If a match is found, the logic circuit can direct invalidation of an existing TLB entry, replacement of the TLB entry, or saving of the current TLB entry in a new TLB slot location.
To support multiple page sizes, additional logic circuits are added to the cache micro-architecture. This logic allows the prevalidated tag cache design to support multiple page sizes. The logic may include a subset of the physical address in the prevalidated tag, a page size mask and a content addressable memory (CAM) in the prevalidated tag. A page size mask and optionally a CAM that uses the page size mask for virtual address hits, may be added to the TLB. Logic may be added to the cache hit logic to add in page variable results.

Apparatus and method for virtual address aliasing and multiple page size support in a computer system having a prevalidated cache


A method for pushing email in heterogeneous networks as well as a mobile terminal and a server are disclosed. The method comprise steps of: sending a mail notification including at least mail priority and mail size of the email from a mail-pushing server to a mobile terminal; determining, by the mobile terminal, a download strategy for the email based on at least one predefined threshold, said mail priority and said mail size; and downloading said email from the mail-pushing server based on the determined download strategy. With the above solutions, it is possible to seamlessly integrate the long standby duration in the WAN mode with free-of-charge and high speed in the LAN mode and thus give a full play to these advantages. Moreover, the mobile terminal can select automatically the most suitable mail access strategy based on network condition and mail size for the simultaneous realization of effective power saving and efficient transmission.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the optimized email transmission, and particularly to a method for pushing email in heterogeneous networks as well as a mobile terminal and a mail-pushing server utilizing the method.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the advancement of mobile communication technology, a mobile terminal is currently equipped with multiple network interfaces and thus the capability of simultaneously accessing several kinds of networks, such as Bluetooth, WIFI and GPRS. Although the data transmission rate is high in the mode of WIFI, for a mobile device, the operating distance is limited and the standby power consumption is rather large. Consequently, the mobile device in such mode cannot live up to the service requirements of long-term standby for mobile mail and waiting for new mail notification. For example, with WIFI function enabled, HP iPaq can be on standby for only 2 to 3 hours before it runs out of the power. In addition, the standby status can last less than 24 hours for the WIFI mobile phone from CISCO. On the other hand, the technologies such as GPRS, EVDO and 3G provide a long-distance network access capability and give better solutions for the standby annoyance to a mobile device. Due to the limitation on frequency bandwidth and terminal performance, however, the data transmission rate is relatively low, in particular, far lower than that achievable by a WIFI-enabled device.
In order to overcome the standby problem with the WIFI-enabled device, some solutions have been proposed, such as Power-Save Extension Protocol by Wi-Fi Multimedia and APSD (Automative Power-Save Delivery) by Atheros. All of these schemes require that wireless access points and terminals be modified to support more complex power-saving management protocols, for the purpose of a better power-saving effect. Moreover, even if these protocols are added, the standby duration for WIFI can be extended from several hours to less than 20 hours, which lags far behind the requirements of 7*24 hours corporate mail service.
Currently, various corporate email-pushing schemes are all implemented over WAN (Wide Area Network) such as GPRS/CDMA. Therefore, it is difficult to make full use of the characteristics of heterogeneous networks in selecting a cheap and rapid WIFI for network access, even with the wide popularity of WIFI access environment. Meanwhile, a proprietary WIFI mail client end suffers from certain power management strategy, leading to a scheme of short standby duration and poor applicability.

Method for pushing email in heterogeneous networks, mobile terminal and server


A source document set including one or more source documents to be migrated from a source application package to a destination application package can be analyzed for migration issues. The migration issues can be reported to a user and/or resolved prior to migration by software. Software can also be provided for the extraction of a source macro from a source document, parsing of the source macro, mapping of specific source APIs to destination APIs and the generation of destination macro code.

The present invention relates to document migration.
Some application packages support the importing, or migration of documents from other application packages. For example, the StarOffice™ application package supports the importation of documents from various other application packages, including Microsoft® Office application packages from Microsoft Corporation.
In many instances, the importation or migration of the documents can be achieved without any issues. However, sometimes issues may be encountered. Such issues can be caused, for example, due to particular formatting, or the presence of embedded code, macros, etc. Where a single document is to be migrated, this can typically be addressed by appropriate measures before and/or after the migration.
However, where a large number of documents are to be migrated, potential migration issues and the potential costs associated with such issues may not readily be apparent to the user. To investigate such matters manually would be very time consuming and it would not be possible from such a manual approach to obtain an accurate assessment of the number and extent of such potential migration issues, and also of the cost of addressing such issues.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to facilitate migration by addressing such issues by assisting in the assessment and consequently the addressing of any such migration issues.


Earring enhancements attach to an earring such as a hoop earring and allow a decorative element to dangle at or near the center of a hoop. Enhancements may be interchangeable and may attach to a variety of earring styles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of jewelry and in particular to earrings. More particularly, the present invention to relates to enhancements of hoop earring designs.
2. Description of Related Art
Hoop earrings have been in use throughout history in various cultures of the world. Hoop earrings of gold, silver, and bronze have been found in ancient graves in Crete, dating to about 2000 B.C. Although burying jewels along with the dead was customary at the time, the everyday use of earrings has been well documented, too, thanks to enduring images on coins, vase paintings, and terra-cotta figures.
Today, hoop earrings are available in a variety of styles that include hoops of various sizes and thickness of the hoop material, or hoops enhanced by the addition of one or more precious or semi-precious stones, set in the outer surface of hoop. There are also styles of hoop earrings in which various attachments may hang from the bottom or lower part of the hoop to dangle below the earring, for example. Additionally, various designs may be engraved into the surface of the hoop, or the hoop may incorporate designs such as hearts or crosses within the hoop structure.
In spite of the enhancements over the millennia, the hoop earring has remained basically an empty hoop, and no effective way has been found to add interest and beauty to the center of the hoop earring. This problem is exacerbated by the necessity to attach the hoop to the ear lobe, typically directly or substantially directly above the center of the hoop so that the hoop dangles directly below the ear lobe. One attempt to address the problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,481, in which a monofilament is stretched horizontally across the opening of the hoop and various ornaments may then be attached to the wire to hang within the hoop. The '481 patent discloses that various ornaments such as a girl on a swing or animal figures may be attached to the filament in such a way that the attached ornament would swing within the earring by twisting the filament. Unfortunately, the '481 patent does not describe a way to provide easily interchangeable ornaments to an earring because it appears the ornaments are permanently crimped onto the filament. Additionally, there appears to be no way the described device could be used to present a precious stone setting or other decorative element dangling within the center of the hoop.


An electronically steered weather radar system comprises a plurality of transmit/receive modules, a plurality of antenna modules, and a system signal processor. Each transmit/receive module may be configured to adjust the phase of a radio frequency (RF) signal to be transmitted and received. Each antenna module may be in communication with one transmit/receive module. The antenna modules may form an antenna array configured to transmit a system beam in a direction determined by the phase of the RF signal from each transmit/receive module and to generate the RF signal from the received system beam. The system signal processor may be configured to perform a first scan to detect meteorological formations wherein the system signal processor communicates with each transmit/receive module to adjust the phase of the RF signals such that the antenna array transmits and receives the system beam through a plurality of azimuth angles and a plurality of elevation angles.

A weather radar system generally detects the weather that is occurring in front of an aircraft, typically along its flight path. The weather radar system is usually positioned in the forward section of the aircraft and may include an antenna, an antenna position element, a transmitter, a receiver, and a signal processing element. The transmitter may generate a signal for the antenna to transmit forward of the aircraft. The antenna may also receive the signal after it has been reflected from clouds or other meteorological formations in front of the aircraft. The receiver may amplify the reflected signal and the signal processing element may prepare the reflected signal to be received by other equipment, such as a display monitor. The antenna may be oriented to transmit or receive in a given direction or may be swept in either azimuth or elevation by the antenna position element.

Transmit/receive module for electronically steered weather radar


A telecommunications network such as an ATM, Frame Relay or packet based network will be better managed by identifying nodes through which a virtual connection is routed between two end nodes. A new method of tracing the nodes on the route includes sending trace cells downstream of a monitoring node toward one or both end nodes. Each downstream node either loops back a trace cell identifying itself to the monitoring node or forwards the trace cell further. A plurality of trace cells sent along the route identify nodes located thereon. In one embodiment, the trace cell is an extension of the ATM FMOAM cell (ATM Fault Management OAM cell) specified for loopback functions.

Telecommunication networks must be properly maintained to ensure that adequate network performance is achieved and that end-user services are supported. Maintenance functions include "performance management" (continuous in-service performance monitoring for proactive warning of performance degradation), "fault management" (detection and location of network trouble and failure), and configuration management (provisioning). In performing these functions, especially configuration management, it is important to be able to trace the route of a virtual connection which exists between two nodes through a network. The route is made up of a series of links, each link being formed by a pair of nodes or connection points. To trace a route, it is therefore necessary to determine the identities of such nodes through which a virtual connection is routed. These identities also enable the network links and segments in the connection to be identified. Depending on the identity level of detail, the network elements such as cross connects and switches in each node can also be identified.
Specifically, the tracing of the route is required for the following reasons:
to generate a record of the connection route in terms of the identities of the nodes and network elements in the route; PA1 to verify that the trace record matches the provisioning database record of the connection, and to update the database if desired, e.g., after a route reconfiguration; and PA1 to fault locate a misroute, i.e., determine the network element, node and link where a misroute has occurred.

Method of tracing the route of virtual connections


The present invention provides a nitride semiconductor laser element, comprising: a nitride semiconductor structure having a first nitride semiconductor layer, a second nitride semiconductor layer, and an active layer provided between the first and second nitride semiconductor layers; a cavity end face provided to the nitride semiconductor structure; and a protective film having a hexagonal crystal structure, and having a first region provided on a first crystal surface of the nitride semiconductor structure in the cavity end face and a second region provided on a second crystal surface in the surface of at least one of the first and second nitride semiconductor layer, the first and second regions of the protective film are oriented in the same axial direction as that of the respective first and second crystal surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nitride semiconductor laser element and more particularly relates to a nitride semiconductor laser element having a protective film with cavity end faces.
2. Background Information
With a nitride semiconductor laser element, there is a concern that the cavity end faces formed by cleavage or RIE (reactive ion etching) will have a lower band gap energy. If the band gap energy of the cavity end face is too low, the laser light that is supposed to be emitted will instead be absorbed by the cavity end face. The absorption generates heat in the cavity end face, leading to damage or deterioration of the semiconductor laser element that is typified by COD (catastrophic optical damage), which means that it is difficult to raise output or sustain continuous drive for an extended period.
Various ways of dealing with this problem have been proposed, such as a method in which an oxide film or nitride film that cuts light absorption at the cavity end face and functions as a window layer is formed as a protective film of the cavity end face, or a method in which the thickness of the protective film formed on the cavity end face is varied according to the optical density to be emitted.
With a nitride semiconductor laser element, however, even if a protective film is formed from a material capable of cutting light absorption at the cavity end face, when the protective film is formed as a monocrystal or polycrystal, a difference in its lattice constant from that of the nitride semiconductor of the cavity end face can cause cracks to develop in the protective film or in the nitride semiconductor layer, so that the film cannot function as an end face protective film, and the element characteristics suffer. Particularly when the protective film has good crystallinity, although the end face protective film will be able to reflect or transmit laser light favorably, the protective film itself will be susceptible to cracking, creating problems with reliability. Thus, in the past, it was difficult to produce a nitride semiconductor laser element having a protective film with good crystallinity.
On the other hand, when the protective film is an amorphous film, stress in the film can cause the protective film to peel, or heat generated when light is absorbed at the end face can drive up the temperature of the cavity end face, which decreases the band gap of the cavity end face, further increases the absorption of outputted light, accelerates end face deterioration, and inhibits the desired function from being performed.
Also, even if a protective film is formed covering the semiconductor layer surface to prevent the protective film from peeling, the film will still peel away from the ends of the semiconductor layer surface under prolonged drive or high output drive. Also, when a protective film is formed covering the semiconductor layer surface from the cavity end face, the corners of the laser element are subjected to stress, which causes lifting or peeling of the protective film at the corners.


A system for automatic engagement of a driver assistance system comprises an input interface, a processor, and an output interface. The input interface is configured to receive data associated with one or more events. The processor is configured to evaluate the risk associated with the data and to determine that the risk indicates a state change in a driver assistance system is appropriate. The output interface is configured to provide an indication that the state change in the driver assistance system is appropriate.

Modern vehicles (e.g., airplanes, boats, trains, cars, trucks, etc.) can include a vehicle event recorder in order to better understand the timeline of an anomalous event (e.g., an accident). A vehicle event recorder typically includes a set of sensors, e.g., video recorders, audio recorders, accelerometers, gyroscopes, vehicle state sensors, a global positioning system (GPS), etc., that report data, which is used to determine the occurrence of an anomalous event. If an anomalous event is detected, then sensor data related to the event is recorded and transmitted to a vehicle data server for later review. An anomalous event can also place the vehicle and its driver and passengers at risk.

Automatic engagement of a driver assistance system


Techniques and apparatuses for identifying weak charge pumps and for setting an optimal clock period for charge pumps to minimize variations in a current-voltage characteristic. A current sink which absorbs a specified current is connected to an output node of a charge pump. In one approach, a success or fail status is set for a charge pump by driving it with a specified clock period in a constantly pumping mode and determining if the output voltage reaches a specified output voltage. In another approach, a success or fail status is set for a charge pump by driving it with a specified clock period in a regulation mode and determining if the period in which the output voltage cycles is a specified multiple, e.g., 2×, of a period of the clock signal. In another approach, an optimal clock period is determined.

The present technology relates to charge pumps.
Electronic devices often require regulated voltages in order to operate properly. Typically, a supply voltage of the device is provided to a voltage regulator which can translate the voltage to an output voltage at different levels. Various types of voltage regulators can be used. For example, a charge pump, or voltage converter, provides an output voltage which is different from the supply voltage. A charge pump typically uses capacitors as energy storage elements to provide an output voltage which is higher or lower than the input voltage. Moreover, a charge pump can include voltage regulation circuitry to maintain the output voltage at a constant level.

Charge pump strength calibration and screening in circuit design


The system, method, and program of this invention, referred to herein as nest elimination, performs query rewrite transformations, within a database management system (DBMS), for a certain class of object queries over views that involve derived nested sets. The nest elimination algorithm uses query rewriting to avoid computing these nested sets in certain common cases. For each quantifier in a query (if the quantifier is defined over a nested set that is a part of a view or if the quantifier is implemented by a subquery that projects a NEST aggregate) the following functions are performed: a) resetting an element to which a quantifier is bound in the database query to an argument of a nest aggregate function in a nest subquery of a view; b) adding a null testing predicate to the rewritten database query; c) adding quantifiers defined within the nest subquery to the rewritten database query; d) adding predicates from the nest subquery of the view to the rewritten database query; and e) rewriting each expression involving a quantifier over an instance into a path expression. The resulting rewritten query is then further processed by the DBMS such as through a query optimizer, etc. By avoiding nested set computations for a certain class of queries, the rewritten query can result in improved processing performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems, methods, and computer programs in the field of processing database queries in database management systems (DBMSs) including relational, hierarchical, and object-oriented DBMSs, and more specifically to query rewrite transformation techniques for a certain class of queries that unnest a nested collection of objects in a database system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Databases are computerized information storage and retrieval systems. A relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) which uses relational techniques for storing and retrieving data. Relational databases are organized into tables which consist of rows and columns of data. The rows are formally called tuples. A database will typically have many tables and each table will typically have multiple tuples and multiple columns. The tables are typically stored on random access storage devices (DASD) such as magnetic or optical disk drives for semi-permanent storage.
A DBMS is structured to accept commands to store, retrieve, and delete data. One widely used and well known set of commands is called the Structured Query Language (SQL). The current SQL standard is known informally as SQL/92. The definitions for SQL provide that a DBMS should respond to a particular query with a particular set of data given a specified database content, but the method that the DBMS uses to actually find the required information in the tables on the disk drives is left up to the DBMS. Typically there will be more than one method that can be used by the DBMS to access the required data. The DBMS will optimize the method used to find the data requested in a query in order to minimize the computer time used and, therefore, the cost of doing the query.
In object-oriented databases (OODB), the database is organized into objects having members that can be pointers to other objects. An object can have parent-child hierarchical relationships. The objects contain references, and collections of references, to other objects in the database, thus leading to databases with complex nested structures.
The integration of object technology and database systems has been an active area of research for the past decade. One important aspect of the integration of these two technologies is the provision of efficient, declarative query interfaces for accessing and manipulating object data. Compared to other aspects of object-oriented database (OODB) technology, such as integrating persistence into object-oriented languages like C++ and Smalltalk, queries were given relatively little attention in the early days of OODB research. See "Third Generation Data Base System Manifesto, Mike Stonebraker, Computer Standards & Interfaces, 12, December 1991. In "Object-Oriented Database Systems: Promise, Reality, and Future," Won Kim, Proc. 19th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, Dublin, August 1993, it is pointed out that even today, a number of commercial OODB systems are quite weak in this regard. As the OODB field has developed, however, a number of proposals for OODB query languages have appeared in the database literature including the following:
"A Data Model and Query Language for EXODUS," Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, Carey, Mike; DeWitt, David; Vandenberg, Scott; Chicago, June 1988.
"A Model of Queries for Object-Oriented Databases," Kim, Won; Proc. 15th International Conference on Very Large Data Basses, Amsterdam, August 1989.
"A Query Language for the O.sub.2 Object-Oriented Database System," Bancilhon, Francois; Cluet, S.; Delobel, C.; Proc. 2nd International Workshop on Database Programming Languages, Hull, Richard; Morrison, Ron; Stemple, David, editors; Gleneden Beach, June 1989, Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, Inc.
"Query Processing in the ObjectStore Database System," Orenstein, Jack; Haradhvala, Sam; Margulies, Benson; Sakahara, Don; Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, San Diego, June 1992.
"CQL++: A SQL for a C++ Based Object-Oriented DBMS," Dar, S.; Gehani, N.; Jagadish, H.; Proc International Conference on Extending Data Base Technology, Advances in Database Technology - EDBT '92. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vienna, 1992. Springer-Verlag.
"Querying Object-Oriented Databases," Kifer, Michael; Kim, Won; Sagiv, Yehoshua; Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, San Diego, June 1992.
"Object Query Language," Atwood, Tom; Duhl, Joshua; Ferran, Guy; Loomis, Mary; Wade, Drew; Object Database Standards: ODMG - 93 Release 1.1, R. G. G. Cattell, editor, Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 1993.
"Experiences building the open oodb query optimizer," Blakeley, Jose; McKenna, William J.; Graefe, Goetz, Proc. ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, Washington, D.C., May 1993.
While proposals outnumber actual implementations, several of these language designs have indeed been implemented as the query interfaces for significant commercial OODB products. See, "A Query Language for the O.sub.2 Object-Oriented Database System," Bancilhon, Francois; Cluet, S.; Delobel, C.; Proc. 2nd International Workshop on Database Programming Languages, Hull, Richard; Morrison, Ron; Stemple, David, editors; Gleneden Beach, June 1989, Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. See also, "Query Processing in the ObjectStore Database System," Orenstein, Jack; Haradhvala, Sam; Margulies, Benson; Sakahara, Don; Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, San Diego, June 1992.
The commercial OODB systems that are generally considered to have the best object query facilities are O2 and ObjectStore. (ObjectStore is a trademark of Object Design, Inc.) Each provide their own flavor of an object query language. ObjectStore's query language is an extension to the expression syntax of C++. O2's query language is generally more SQL-like, and has been adapted into a proposed OODB query language standard (OODMG-93) by a consortium of OODB system vendors, but it differs from SQL in a number of respects. (See, "Object Query Language," Atwood, T.; Duhl, J.; Ferran, G.; Loomis, M.; and Wade, D.; Object Database Standards:ODMG-93 Release 1.1, Cattell, R. G. G., editor, Morgan-Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., 1993; and "Observations on the ODMG-93 Proposal," Kim, W., ACM SIGMOD Record, 23(1), March 1994.)
Furthermore, it should be noted that SQL has object relational queries, and Illustra Relational Database System has object oriented features in it.
As with any database management system such as object-oriented or relational, query rewrite transformations and system-managed query optimization are essential features to ensure acceptable query performance. Query rewrite transformations for optimizing queries have been developed previously for relational DBMSs. See "Extensible/Rule Based Query Rewrite Optimization in Starburst," Hamid Pirahesh, Joseph M. Hellerstein, and Waqar Hasan, In Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, San Diego, June 1992; "Magic is Relevant," Inderpal Singh Mumick, Sheldon J. Finkelstein, Hamid Pirahesh, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, In Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, pages 247-258, Atlantic City, May 1990; and "The Magic of Duplicates and Aggregates," Inderpal Singh Mumick, Hamid Pirahesh, and Raghu Ramakrishnan, In Proc. 16th International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, Brisbane, August 1990. Many of these transformations also apply for Object Query Systems. However, new query rewrite transformations that apply specifically to Object Query Systems still need to be developed. See "A General Framework for the Optimization of Object-Oriented Queries," Sophie Cluet and Claude Delobel, In Proc. ACM-SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, San Diego, June 1992.
A query can declaratively specify the contents of a view. For relational databases, a view is essentially a virtual table having virtual rows and virtual columns of data. Although views are not directly mapped to real data in storage, views can be used for retrieval as if the data they represent is actually stored. A view can be used to present to a user a single logical view of information that is actually spread across multiple tables.
Object oriented (OO) views provide a similar service for object data as relational views do for relational data. An OO view is an alternative way of looking at data in objects contained in one or more queryable collections. An OO view is a named specification of a virtual result collection. Similarly to relational views, the bodies of OO views are queries that declaratively specify the contents of the view. In contrast with relational schemas, OO schemas are defined with a rich set of types that include multivalued attributes such as collections. These types directly model hierarchical and many-to-many relationships in the application's schema. For example, a department has a set of employees, an employee has a set of children, and so on.
In some cases, an application schema designer might wish to define an OO view having a data member that is a nested collection of objects, while the underlying data over which the view is derived has no nested collections. The embedded collection is then created using a "nest" operation in the query that implements the view's multi-valued data member. However, there can be a significant performance penalty in computing nested collections.

Database management system, method, and program for providing query rewrite transformations for nested set elimination in database views

International Business Machines Corporation


An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) task cooperation method based on an overlapping coalition formation (OCF) game includes: constructing a sequential OCF game model for a UAV multi-task cooperation problem; using a bilateral mutual benefit transfer (BMBT) order that is biased toward the utility of a whole coalition to evaluate a preference of a UAV for a coalitional structure; optimizing task resource allocation of the UAV under an overlapping coalitional structure by using a preference gravity-guided Tabu Search algorithm to form a stable coalitional structure; and optimizing a transmission strategy based on the current coalitional structure, an updated status of a task resource allocation scheme of the UAV, and a current fading environment, so as to maximize task execution utility of a UAV network. The method quantifies characteristics of resource properties of the UAV and a task, and optimizes the task resource allocation of the UAV under the overlapping coalitional structure.

With the rapid development of aerospace and wireless communication systems, UAVs have been developed to perform various, large-scale and complex tasks such as combats in the battlefield, search and rescue under disaster circumstances, reconnaissance and monitoring, emergency charging, and many other fields due to their versatility, cost-efficient, and intrinsic mobility. However, with the limited capabilities (i.e., limited on-board energy and payload, and limited communication resources) of a single UAV, the UAVs often cannot have enough required resources to accomplish these tasks separately. In order to overcome the capacity constraints of a single UAV, a plurality of UAVs can form swarms to perform tasks efficiently in a multi-UAV network.
Important research was performed and investigated a cooperative task assignment scenario that the UAVs form swarms and then each swarm select one task to perform under non-overlapping coalition formation (CF) game, where the coalition formation aim to complete the assigned tasks as soon as possible under resource constraints. J. Chen proposed coalition selection and spectrum allocation through joint optimization to study task allocation in the multi-UAV network in his research work in 2021 (reference: J. Chen, Q. Wu, Y. Xu, N. Qi, X. Guan, Y. Zhang, and Z. Xue, "Joint task assignment and spectrum allocation in heterogeneous UAV communication networks: A coalition formation game-theoretic approach, "IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 440-452, 2021). F. Afghah, M proposed a CF game model based on reputation scheduling to ensure reliable cooperation between UAVs when there are some self-interest UAVs in a network (reference: Afghah, M. Zaeri-Amirani, A. Razi, J. Chakareski, and E. Bentley, "A coalition formation approach to coordinated task allocation in heterogeneous UAV networks" in 2018 Annual American Control Conference (ACC), 2018, pp. 5968-5975).
However, existing UAV task cooperation methods based on a CF game have the following problems: (1) Most of the existing UAV task cooperation methods only consider a mode in which each UAV coalition executes one task. However, the UAVs actually may allocate their resource to a plurality of task points and cooperatively execute the plurality of task points based on a sequential task execution schedule. (2) Most of the existing UAV task cooperation methods only focus on completion of a task, but ignore costs of executing the task by a UAV coalition, such as a flight loss, a time cost, and so on. (3) Recent advancements in the UAV technology allow a UAV to carry diverse devices and resources, such that the UAV has a variety of capabilities.
Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish properties of resources required by different types of tasks in more detail.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) task cooperation method based on overlapping coalition formation (OCF) game

Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics