A method and apparatus for simulating a microelectronic circuit includes the steps of storing of a microelectronic circuit or system representation in a computer system and then dividing the circuit or system into portions containing nonlinear elements and linear partitions. The linear partitions are then independently solved for by modelling each linear partition using Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) to form multiport admittance macromodels. These macromodels provide admittance and current stencils, which may be functions of time, to a global MNA matrix used by SPICE at each time point to simulate the operation of the entire microelectronic circuit. A linearized transient representation for the nonlinear elements is provided as SPICE admittance and current stencils using conventional techniques. By using AWE techniques to solve the linear partitions separately, significant savings in computation time and improved computational storage efficiency can be achieved.

Simulation has long been an essential step in the design and manufacture of microelectronic circuits and systems. Present day Ultra-Large Scale Integration (ULSI) devices may include hundreds of thousands or millions of active electronic devices ("transistors") on an integrated circuit chip, which are interconnected on the chip to perform a particular function. The large capital investment required to fabricate microelectronic devices and the difficulty in reworking microelectronic devices which do not operate as planned, have produced the need to simulate circuit performance before manufacture.
Accordingly, many simulators have been developed and marketed. One widely used circuit simulator is a program which was developed at the Electronics Research Laboratory of the University of California, Berkeley, known as SPICE. In general, SPICE is a system for simulating nonlinear circuits in time, using nonlinear time-independent generalized admittance representations. A popular version of SPICE (SPICE 2) is described in "SPICE Version 2G.6 User's Guide" Berkeley: University of California, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1980 by Vladimirescu et al.
Circuit simulators have also been the subject of patent protection because they are an integral part of the design and fabrication of microelectronic devices. Recently issued patents concerning circuit simulators are U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,643 to Wong entitled Method and Apparatus for Substantially Improving the Throughput of Circuit Simulators; U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,971 to Horwitz entitled Circuit Simulation; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,911 to Kimura et al. entitled Apparatus for Effecting Simulation of a Logic Circuit and Method for Producing a Semmiconductor Device Using the Simulation Approach.
Circuit simulators are typically software based, and are designed to accept a description of the circuit which defines the circuit topology and element values. Each element in the circuit is typically specified by an element line containing the element name, the connecting nodes, and electrical parameter values. Simulators typically simulate circuits which contain passive devices such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, inductors and mutual inductors; stimuli, such as voltage and current sources, and active devices such as bipolar junction transistors (BJT), junction field effect transistors (JFET) and metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET). The simulator can typically be configured to perform DC analysis, AC small signal analysis and transient analysis.
As the feature sizes of integrated circuits continue to shrink, and operating speeds increase, the characterization of the parasitic effects associated with the interconnect circuit becomes more critical and more difficult. In the past, the delays caused by the interconnects could simply be disregarded when simulating the behavior of the entire integrated circuit. This was because the microelectronic circuit's functional logic devices including logic gates dominated the simulation profile in terms of overall delay. However, as the feature sizes of integrated circuits continue to shrink, the resistance of the circuit's interconnections per unit length increases. This causes an increase in delay, or otherwise offsets the speed advantages obtained using devices having smaller feature sizes.
In addition, the close proximity of metal lines makes the component cross-talk capacitance larger. Even inductance effects, which are evident for boards and multichip modules which comprise microelectronic systems, may be important for modeling the integrated circuit packaging or chip to package interface. Accordingly, a complete circuit simulation of an integrated circuit must now account for the resistive, inductive and capacitive effects of the interconnect paths in addition to simulating the effect of the logic gates and other functional logic devices.
It will be understood by those having skill in the art that a conventional circuit simulator, such as SPICE, could be used for a complete simulation of a microelectronic circuit, including the logic devices and the interconnect paths. However, because of the large numbers of circuit elements in the interconnect portion of the circuit, a complete simulation may become extremely time consuming, and may exceed the storage capabilities of the processing system on which the simulation is run.
A major improvement in the simulation of linear interconnects is described in a publication by Lawrence T. Pillage and Ronald A. Rohrer entitled Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation for Timing Analysis, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design, Vol. 9, No. 4, April 1990, pp. 352-366, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Described is an Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE) methodology to provide a generalized approach to linear resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) circuit or system response approximations. AWE is a general method for computing a qth order approximate model of a circuit or system, and can be obtained by computing 2g moments of the circuit or system and matching these moments to the circuit's or system's impulse response. The moments, in their simplest interpretation, represent the coefficients of the powers of s in the Taylor series expansion of the homogeneous circuit response. Once the desired number of moments is found, they may be mapped to the approximate dominant poles of the lower order approximating system. The corresponding residues are then computed using the poles and moments. Once the residues of the approximate response are found, the time domain response of an interconnect circuit, for example, may be determined.
In the AWE technique, moments of a circuit may be generated by successively solving an equivalent DC circuit with all capacitors replaced by current sources and all inductors replaced by voltage sources. The resulting voltages across the capacitors and currents through the inductors comprise one generation of circuit moments. Initially, all capacitor-current sources and inductor-voltage sources are set to zero, and independent voltage and current sources of the actual circuit are set to their final values. For subsequent moment generations, each capacitor-current source is set to the product of its capacitance and its previous moment, while each inductor-voltage source is set to the product of its inductance and its previous moment. This process may be continued until the desired order of approximation is obtained. It has been shown that, for large numbers of interconnects, AWE can provide more than a hundredfold speed increase compared to a conventional SPICE circuit simulation.
In order to provide a complete analysis of a microelectronic circuit, not only must the behavior of the linear interconnects be included, the behavior of the nonlinear portions of the circuit must be included as well. Typical nonlinear aspects of a microelectronic circuit include, for example, the presence of nonlinear drivers, nonlinear loads and nonlinear transmission elements such as pass transistors, as part of the circuit. The occurrence of these types of nonlinear aspects in conjunction with the interconnect circuit is especially prevalent in present-day technologies where a single interconnect net can be expected to travel through a nonlinear buffer, through chip-packaging to traces on a multi-chip module (MCM) or printed circuit board (PCB), and back onto a another integrated circuit through packaging and to a nonlinear load, for example. Thus, while interconnect problems are largely linear, complete analysis requires the inclusion of the nonlinear portions of the interconnect circuit as well.
The AWE technique, however, is limited to the solution of linear circuits only. Consequently, improved techniques for solving nonlinear portions of the circuit in conjunction with the interconnect circuit need to be developed to provide accurate transient analysis of the entire microelectronic circuit.

Method and apparatus for simulating a microelectronic circuit


A method and apparatus for forming high-speed water droplets takes advantage on a synergy of features disclosed by the present invention including a low Weber number in a chamber in which a liquid stream breaks up into droplets; a reduced break up distance for forming the water droplets by introducing turbulence into the liquid source, thereby providing a unit or tool that is of practical size; accomplishing the generation of high-speed water droplets without using a complex driver; reducing the liquid's surface tension thereby facilitating the creating of near spherical droplets; and maintaining the droplets in form until they strike the surface of a workpiece.

The formation and use of streams of liquid propelled by very high pressure to very high speeds is well known in the industry. Such streams are used for cleaning surfaces of dirt and contaminants and for removing coatings such as paint. Some researchers have noted that non-steady streams are more effective than steady streams for these applications. In non-steady applications, the stream is broken up into slugs or drops. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,740 incorporated herein by reference.
The prior art in this area of technology has suffered from several drawbacks including, but not limited to, the need to use a complex driver, such as a high frequency ultrasonic generator, or the like, for causing formation of the slugs or drops. Further, without a driver, other prior art devices are unsuitable for commercial exploitation due to the fact that the distance required for a stream of liquid to break up into drops is too long to provide a commercially usable device.

Method and apparatus for forming high-speed liquid


Information appliance, computing device, or other processor or microprocessor based device or system provides security and anti-viral, anti-hacker, and anti-cyber terror features, and can automatically create multiple sequentially or concurrently and intermittently isolated and/or restricted computing environments to prevent viruses, malicious or other computer hacking, computer or device corruption and failure by using these computing environments in conjunction with restricted and controlled methods of moving and copying data, combined with a process that destroys malicious code located in computing environments and data stores.

When based on the prior art, computers, cell phones, and a wide spectrum of devices that use computer or processor technology are vulnerable to computer hackers, viruses, cyber-terrorists, spy-ware, and/or other malicious or harmful computer program code. While anti-virus software is known, such anti-virus software frequently becomes obsolete with each new virus that is written and released. Furthermore, at least some damage will usually be done to some computers during the initial stages of such release. Use of firewalls and other protective measures are also known, however, firewalls are generally not integrated into portable computers or portable computers operating over a public network outside of a corporate Information Technology (IT) environment, and a number of hacking techniques exist to defeat such firewalls in any event. The world-wide cost of damage from computer viruses, spy-ware, and hacking each year has been estimated to run into the tens of billions of dollars. More significantly with the ever increasing reliance on computers to control and maintain operation of air-traffic, transportation systems, building environmental control, stock markets, telephone systems, nuclear-power plants, and other public and private infrastructure, the potential harm from such malicious code goes beyond any monetary assessment.
What is needed is an architecture, system, and operational methodology that provide a measure of immunity from computer hacking, viruses, spy-ware, cyber-terror attacks, and the like, malicious activity. In a sense there remains a need for a universal vaccine against such malicious agents.
There also remains a need for a computer that, unlike conventional computers that enable the user to initiate "repairs" on demand by reverting to known clean installation of operating system and application program software and/or data, resets or erases memory and data stores to create a known clean or sterile storage environment prior to opening files or data sets.

Computer system architecture and method providing operating-system independent virus-, hacker-, and cyber-terror-immune processing environments


A rotor for a brushless motor which can securely prevent an idle running and a scattering of a magnet while restricting a manufacturing cost as low as possible. The rotor is provided with a sintered ring magnet in which not-ground recess portions are formed in an axial direction of a inner peripheral surface in correspondence to a magnetic pole, and a portion between the recess portions is ground in an inner peripheral surface having a desired inner diameter, a rotor yoke in which convex portions each having a larger diameter than the inner diameter of the sintered ring magnet are formed in an axial direction of an outer peripheral surface in correspondence to the recess portion, and a through hole is pierced in an axial center, and which is concentrically adhered to the sintered ring magnet by fitting the recess portions and the convex portions, and a shaft inserted and fitted to the through hole of the rotor yoke.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of a rotor for a brushless motor provided with a sintered ring magnet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various motors such as an induction motor, a commutator motor and the like have been conventionally used as a motor, however, a brushless motor having a high performance has been frequently used in recent years. In an inner rotor type brushless motor which is one of the brushless motor types, a magnet is arranged in an outer periphery of a rotor forming an inner rotor and is fixed to a rotor yoke by an adhesive agent. The magnet includes a so-called segment type in which a plurality of magnet pieces are arranged in a peripheral direction in correspondence to a number of poles of the brushless motor, and a ring magnet which is formed in a cylindrical shape and is magnetized in multi poles in a peripheral direction. However, in the segment type, an adhesive strength is weakened as a result of a temperature increase, and there is a risk that the magnet pieces are scattered in a centrifugal direction on the basis of the rotation of the rotor, and there is a problem that a reliability of the magnet pieces against the scattering is lowered if the number of the magnetic poles of the rotor is increased.
In order to prevent the magnet pieces from being scattered, there has been invented a structure in which a metal cylinder body is provided as a scatter preventing member in an outer periphery of the rotor, and a so-called magnet interior type structure in which holes are provided in a peripheral edge portion along an outer peripheral surface of the rotor yoke, and a magnet piece is fitted and inserted to each of the holes. However, in order to arrange the metal cylinder body, it is necessary to make a magnetic gap between the magnet piece and stator wide, so that there is a problem that the performance of the motor is reduced. Further, there is a problem that an eddy current is generated in the metal cylinder body and the motor efficiency is reduced. In the magnet interior type, because the rotor yoke exists in outer sides of the magnet pieces in the same manner, the magnetic gap becomes wide, and because the rotor yoke exists between the magnet pieces, all magnetic fluxes of the magnetic pieces do not make their way to the stator side, and the magnetic fluxes leak to the other magnet pieces in both sides via the rotor yoke, so that there is a problem that the performance of the motor is reduced.
Accordingly, the ring magnet is superior to the segment type magnet piece in that the magnet is prevented from being scattered. However, if the adhesive strength is weakened even in the case of employing the ring magnet, there is generated a problem that an idle running is generated with respect to the rotor yoke. On the contrary, there has been invented a structure in which a recess portion is formed in an end portion of an inner periphery of the ring magnet, a convex portion constituted by a key or a pin is provided in the rotor yoke, and the idle running is prevented by engaging the recess portion and the convex portion (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-178042). Further, there has been invented a structure in which a protruding portion in an axial direction is formed in an inner periphery of the ring magnet, a recess portion in an axial direction is formed in an outer periphery of the rotor yoke, and the protruding portion and the recess portion are matched and fitted to each other, thereby preventing the idle running (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-174745).
Because the compact structure and the high performance of the brushless motor have made progress, a neodymium type sintered ring magnet having a high magnetic flux density is frequently used in the rotor of the industrial high performance brushless motor. The sintered magnet is structured such that a magnetic field is formed in a magnet particle within a forming mold frame in which a core rod is arranged in a center of a cylindrical sleeve, however, an outer periphery and an inner periphery after forming is not formed in a complete round shape but formed in a polygonal shape or generates a strain, due to a thermal expansion and contraction caused by the sintering, and an orientation of the magnet particle. Accordingly, the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface of the ring magnet are ground so as to be finished in desired shape and size after being manufactured. However, in the case where the protruding portion, the recess portion and the like for fitting to the rotor yoke are formed in the inner periphery of the ring magnet as mentioned above, it is necessary to finish these protruding portion and the like in a desired dimensional precision, so that there is a problem that the grinding step becomes complicated, and a manufacturing cost is increased.
Further, the brushless motor having a high output has been used in an elevator, a power steering of a motor vehicle, and the like in place of the conventional hydraulic motor, however, in the brushless motor used for transporting a passenger or the like as mentioned above, it is necessary to prevent the idle running and the scattering from being generated as much as possible in view of a safety.

Rotor for brushless motor and brushless motor


Retro-inverso peptides derived from leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) having between 18 and about 40 amino acids and including the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 1. These peptides have the same activity as native LIF and also have neurotrophic activity. Because of the D-amino acid linkage in the peptides, they are less susceptible to proteolytic degradation in vivo.

Cytokines are proteins which are produced during the effector phases of natural and specific immunity and serve to mediate and regulate immune and inflammatory responses. Cytokines, like other polypeptide hormones, initiate their action by binding to specific receptors on the surface of target cells. One of the most well known families of cytokines are the interleukins which mediate natural immunity. For a detailed description of the structure and function of the interleukins, see Abbas et al. Cellular and Molecular Immunology, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, pp. 225–243, 1991.
Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), named for its ability to inhibit proliferation of a myeloid leukemic cell line by inducing differentiation, is a member of a family of ligands that includes IL-6, oncostatin M, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and cardiotrophin-1 (Gearing, Adv. Immunol. 53:31–58, 1993; Pennica et al., J. Biol Chem. 270:10915–10922, 1995; Patterson, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91:7833–7835, 1994). Although these cytokines share only very limited sequence homology, they exert very similar effects on a variety of tissues. For example, several of these proteins, including LIF, can induce the same set of acute-phase response proteins in liver, support the self renewal of cultured embryonic stem cells, inhibit lipogenesis and enhance the survival of cultured motor neurons. LIF is produced by diverse cell populations, including macrophages, synoviocytes and chondrocytes. When applied to peripheral nerves in vivo, LIF is retrogradely transported and rescues damaged sensory neurons (Hendry et al., J. Neurosci. 12:3427–3434, 1992; Cheema et al., J. Neurosci. Res. 37:213–218, 1994). LIF also regulates the growth and differentiation of osteablasts and endothelial cells. The rising follicular fluid LIF level around the time of ovulation indicates that LIF may play a role in ovulatory events, early embryonic development and implantation (Senturk et al., Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 39:144–151, 1998; Stewart, Annals N.Y. Acad. Sci. 157–165).
Neurotrophins and neurotrophic factors are proteins or peptides capable of affecting the survival, target innervation and/or function of neuronal cell populations (Barde, Neuron, 2:1525–1534, 1989). The efficacy of neurotrophins both in vivo and in vitro has been well documented. For example, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) promotes survival of chicken embryo ciliary ganglia in vitro and supports survival of cultured sympathetic, sensory and spinal motor neurons (Ip et al., J. Physiol. Paris, 85:123–130, 1991).
A major obstacle to the in vivo therapeutic use of peptides is their susceptibility to proteolytic degradation. Retro-inverso peptides are isomers of linear peptides in which the direction of the sequence is reversed (retro) and the chirality, D or L, of each amino acid is inverted (inverso). There are also partially modified retro-inverso isomers of linear peptides in which only some of the peptide bonds are reversed and the chirality of the amino acid residues in the reversed portion is inverted. The major advantage of such peptides is their enhanced activity in vivo due to improved resistance to proteolytic degradation (For review, see Chorev et al., Trends Biotech., 13:438–445, 1995). Although such retro-inverso analogs exhibit increased metabolic stability, their biological activity is often greatly compromised (Guichard et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A., 91:9765–9769, 1994). For example, Richman et al. (J. Peptide Protein Res., 25:648–662) determined that analogs of linear and cyclic leu-enkephalin modified at the Gly3—Phe4 amide bond had activities ranging from 6%–14% of native leu-enkephalin. Chorev et al., (ibid.) showed that retro-inversion of a peptide which inhibits binding of vitronectin to its receptor resulted in one peptide which was less potent than the parent isomer by a factor of 50,000, and another peptide which was 4,000 fold more potent than the parent cyclic peptide. Guichard et al. (TIBTECH 14, 1996), teach that retro-inverso (all-D-retro) antigenic mimicry may only occur with peptides in random coil, loop or cyclic conformations. In the case of "helical" peptide, adequate functional mimicry would be expected only if the helicity was, in fact, absent under the solvent conditions used for assessing antigenic mimicry.
There is a need for LIF-derived and neurotrophic peptides exhibiting increased metabolic stability while retaining biological activity. The present invention addresses this need.


In a DDR operation mode, (L−1) count signal BRDYB is inverted to a low level when 1 is subtracted from initial latency (e.g., L=3). As a result, a delayed signal S (N1BD)/S (N1D) in reverse phase to signal S (N1)/S (N1B) is provided and internal clock signal CKI becomes high during the high level period of the second cycle. This is operated in synchronization with both edges of the external clock signal CLK, and output of double the frequency is started. In the external clock signal cycle immediately before completion of counting of initial latency in a count period for initial latency, the internal clock signal CKI is changed over to double the frequency. Validity flag RDY is changed to a high level during a second cycle of the double frequency.

Background Art
In the synchronous semiconductor memory device disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. H11 (1999)-213668 (hereinafter referred to as "Patent Document 1"), a circuit shown in FIG. 9 is used as a control pulse generating circuit. It comprises an internal clock signal generator 150, a frequency divider 152, and a selector 153.
The internal clock signal generator 150 receives an external system clock signal CLK and generates an internal clock signal PCLK_DDR for a double data rate (DDR) operation mode having the same frequency as the external system clock signal CLK. The frequency divider 152 receives this internal clock signal PCLK_DDR, divides its frequency, and generates an internal clock signal PCKL_SDR for single data rate (SDR) operation mode having half the frequency of the internal clock signal PCLK_DDR.
The selector 153, in response to mode control signal/DDR, selects either one of internal clock signal PCLK_DDR for DDR operation mode or internal clock signal PCLK_SDR for SDR operation mode, and provides it as the internal clock signal PCLK.
When operating in DDR operation mode, the mode control signal /DDR has a low level. At this time, a DDR transmission switch 154 of the selector 153 is turned on in response to mode control signal/DDR and mode control signal/DDR inverted by an inverter 158, while a SDR transmission switch 156 is turned off. Therefore, internal clock signal PCLK_DDR for DDR operation mode is provided as the internal clock signal PCLK.
When operating in SDR operation mode, the mode control signal /DDR has a high level. At this time, the DDR transmission switch 154 of the selector 153 is turned off, and the transmission switch 156 is turned on, and internal clock signal PCLK_SDR for SDR operation mode is provided as the internal clock signal PCLK.
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the configuration depicted in Patent Document 1, the internal clock signal PCLK_DDR for DDR operation mode generated by the internal clock signal generator 150, and the internal clock signal PCLK_SDR for SDR operation mode provided from the frequency divider 152 are selected by the selector 153 and the internal clock signal PCLK is generated. In the selector 153, in response to the mode control signal/DDR and the signal from the inverter 158 providing its inverted signal, either one of the transmission switches 154, 156 is turned on while the other is turned off.
However, switching the operation mode between the SDR operation mode and the DDR operation mode depends on the transition of the logic level of the mode control signal/DDR. But since an operational delay may occur in the inverter 158 and transmission switches 154, 156, a time delay may occur between the transition of the mode control signal/DDR and the changeover of the internal clock signal PCLK.
In Patent Document 1, the counting of latency and the generation of various flags are controlled in response to the internal clock signal PCLK. It is necessary, therefore, to control the internal clock signal PCLK operating at double frequency by DDR operation mode and the load may be increased in this circuit configuration for handling the high speed clock.

Synchronous storage device and control method therefor


A gage tool (700) for inspecting tolerances of a gas turbine engine seal plate (430) includes a base plate (710) and a top plate (720). The base plate (710) includes a base opening (712) and a slot (711) with an annular shape sized to receive a seal plate (430). The top plate (720) includes a top opening (723). The base opening (712) and top opening (723) each provide access to a portion of a seal plate (430) within the gage tool (700). The gage tool (700) also includes a first gage (750) with a probe tip for measuring a variation in an outer interlacing surface (433) of a seal plate (430) and a seal slide gage (740) for measuring a force required to rotate the seal plate (430) within the gage tool.

Gas turbine engines include compressor, combuster, and turbine sections. Certain components of a gas turbine engine may be subject to numerous tolerances. Some free-state tolerances may be difficult to determine and measure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,787 to N. Akiyaroa discloses a device for measuring a flatness of a plate such as a silicon wafer, a GGG wafer, a printed circuit board, a ceramic substrate, or the like. The measuring device is provided with a disc which is disposed in parallel with the plate on one of the surfaces of the plate and is driven by a rotating drive source and a plurality of detectors for detecting a distance from the detector to the surface of the plate, the detectors being disposed on the surface closer to the disc. With this arrangement, distance data from the plurality of the detectors to the surface of the plate is obtained during the course of the rotation of the disc, and a flatness of die plate is measured.
The present disclosure is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discovered by the inventors.

Free-state seal plate functional gage tool


A hydrogen tank is mounted on a roof so that a valve unit mounted to one end in a longitudinal direction of the hydrogen tank is separated as far apart as possible from a front platform and a middle platform of a fuel cell equipped bus and so that the longitudinal direction of the hydrogen tank is in a lateral direction of a vehicle. Thus, even if hydrogen leaks from the valve unit or a fusible plug valve of the valve unit is fused to discharge hydrogen from the tank, the influence of the leaking or discharged hydrogen on the front platform and the middle platform can be reduced.

As a conventional vehicle of this type, a bus is proposed in which a plurality of gas fuel tanks each having a valve body mounted to a port opening at a front end in a longitudinal direction and store compression natural gas are mounted on a roof of a vehicle so that the longitudinal direction of the gas fuel tanks is in a vehicle fore/aft direction (for example, see Patent Document 1). In this vehicle, the longitudinal direction of the gas fuel tank is in the vehicle fore/aft direction, and thus a gas fuel tank longer than a vehicle width can be used.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-239845

Vehicle and method of mounting gas fuel tank


A carrying clip for detachably connecting an accessory to a tool belt in the form of an elongate flexible strap defining an upper edge includes a gripping portion configured to be gripped by the fingers of a user and positioned in proximity, and positioned in proximity to the straps upper edge. The gripping portion is associated with and supports an accessory to be detachably connected to the strap. An attachment member, which may be in the form of a spring-clip or a snap-lock clip arrangement, is used for detachably connecting the gripping portion to the strap and for removing the gripping portion and associated accessory by engagement of the gripping portion with the finger of the user and lifting the gripping portion in a general upward direction relative to the strap.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a utility belt system and, more specifically, to an ergonomic convenient-to-use retainer for detachably attaching an accessory to a modular/customizable utility belt.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Tool bags and/or belt-supported pouches for carrying nails, screws, bolts and other tools are well known in the industry. Typically, a "tool belt" is a belt having a number of pouches and/or tool holders fixedly or permanently attached to the belt. However, since no two people are alike or perform their tasks in the same way, the preferred locations, sizes and shapes of the pouches and tool holders vary according to the tradesperson and the task at hand. Accordingly, there is a need for a tool belt that can be easily modified to suit the individual and the task at hand.
Numerous tool bags and tool belts have been proposed that have removable or interchangeable pouches or tool holders. However, these tool bags have offered a limited range of adjustability, and the pouches and tool holders can be easily knocked off of the belt, causing nails, screws, bolts and/or tools to fall and possibly scatter. This is especially dangerous when a person is working at a higher level and other people are below him or her.
The known tool belts have also exhibited disadvantages in the ways in which pouches or object-receiving receptacles are added, removed or interchanged. As suggested, such receptacles have typically been permanently attached to the tool belts. When removable, these items have been inconvenient, difficult or awkward to attach or detach from the tool belt, especially when the pouches or receptacles are large, bulky or heavy. With most tool belts, pouches are provided with loops through which the belts can be threaded. With such tool belts, pouches or receptacles can be removed only by opening the belt and sliding all the pouches off one or the other end of the belt. Examples of such tool belts are described in U.S. Design Pat. No. D302,489 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,105. Other patents disclose the use of various fasteners, such as snaps, hook and loop tape (e.g., "VELCRO") and the like. These fasteners frequently make it difficult, if not impossible, to detach the pouch, especially if one has to do this with one hand while the other hand is occupied. The fasteners are typically behind the pouches, which means that they must be released or forcibly separated or pulled apart, with the user's force moving in a direction substantially away from the user. And most tool belts are not intended to facilitate the attachment, detachment or interchange of pouches in the context of difficult or complicated conditions, such as while climbing a ladder, stretched out under a car, crouched in a tight space, etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Retainer for detachably attaching an accessory to a utility belt


The state of conduction of an MOS transistor 11 is definitively controlled by a laser beam 21, by forming an electrical connection 22 between the gate 16 and the subjacent portion d of the source region 14 or drain region 15. The invention is applicable in particular to the correction (reconfiguration, redundancy) of integrated circuits and to the programming of integrated PROMs.

The invention applies generally to the manufacture and design of circuits that are integrated in the monocrystalline semiconductor substrate of a chip and are produced from MOSFETs (metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors). The invention advantageously applies to the manufacture and design of large-sized, very large scale integration chips, or VSLI chips, and particularly to the chips that include a programmable read only memory. At present in the manufacture and design of large scale integrated circuits attempts are being made to use the laser widely, to modify the circuits of the chips. Circuit modification is naturally done, when the chip is a programmable read only memory or includes such a memory. Laser programming thus serves to determine the state of conduction of the memory cells. On the other hand, a modification of the circuits of the chip is presently done to correct certain connection defects. Generally, laser programming as a function of the integrated circuits of a chip has numerous applications and numerous advantages.
An integrated circuit is essentially a semiconductor substrate including doped regions for comprising electronic components and having an interconnect structure of these components. The interconnect structure rests on the substrate via a dielectric silicon dioxide (SiO2) layer formed by growth of the material of the substrate. The dielectric layer is generally thin above the doped regions, being on the order of several tens of nanometers, and thick (several nanometers thick) between these regions. The interconnect structure presently comprises a plurality of conductive layers separated by insulating layers and connected to one another at certain points by vias passing through the insulating layers. Each conductive layer comprises numerous conductors parallel to one another in a direction orthogonal to the conductors of a neighboring conductive layer. Conductors of the lower layer are connected with the corresponding regions of the substrate via openings made in the thin dielectric layer covering these regions.
At present, manufacturing very large scale integrated circuits on large sized chips produces only a low percentage of chips that are not defective. Defects may be either in the semiconductor substrate or in the interconnect structure formed on the substrate for connecting the components of the chip. Several methods for correcting defects, to increase the percentage of usable chips, are known. These correction methods involve the reconfiguration of the circuits or redundancy of functional blocks. Reconfiguration comprises modifying the wiring or the function of a defective circuit, while redundancy comprises substituting a homologous block, especially provided for correction, for a defective block.
Reconfiguration and redundancy are done by the intermediary of additional wiring designed to be connected to the defective wiring by a predetermined connection program. More precisely, the design of integrated circuits in a chip provides that the original conductors of certain functional blocks or elements of the chip cooperate with the substitute conductors of the corresponding correction circuit. The original conductors and the substitute conductors may be wires of the interconnect structure or of the doped regions of the substrate. The correction comprises inhibiting the defective functional blocks or elements and connecting their original conductors to corresponding substitute conductors.
Several programming methods, in particular for programmable read only memories or for correcting circuits, are presently in use. However, these methods avoid resorting to control of the conduction of a transistor bonding device for connecting one conductor to another conductor. In fact, the device for polarizing and controlling the bonding transistor or transistors would involve a complex and expensive bonding device of relatively large surface area. Considering the great number of bonds to be provided on one large-sized VLSI chip, the surface area and cost of the set of bonding devices would be prohibitive. Consequently, programming methods tend to make maximum use of bonds that are programmable by laser beam. These bonds are made between two superimposed conductors insulated from one another by an insulating layer. The design of the integrated circuits thus comprises superimposing an original conductor, in particular by growth, and the corresponding substitute conductor for circuit correction, or the two line and column conductors of a programmable read only memory (PROM). However, the conventional connection by laser in the zones of superposition of the two conductors requires that the upper conductor be placed at a level above the interconnect structure. This constraint greatly complicates the wiring and makes the channels provided for the interconnections of the interconnect structure undesirably bulky. This is also true if the defective functional blocks and elements are isolated by laser cutting.

Method for controlling the state of conduction of an MOS transistor of an integrated circuit


A method for the isolation of CDRs in a defined framework that is stable and soluble in reducing environment is described as well as thus obtainable scFv. Starting from such scFv with defined framework a scFv library can be generated wherein the framework is conserved while at least one complementary determining region (CDR) is randomized. Such library, e.g. in yeast cells, is suitable for screening for antibody/CDR-interactions or for screening for antibodies.

Antibodies are preferred tools for biochemical and molecular biology research, diagnostics and medical applications due to their high affinity and specificity to the antigen and due to their relatively high stability in vitro and in vivo. Antibodies are made of two heavy and two light chains, which contain the variable regions at their N-termini and which are linked by disulfide bridges. Single chain antibodies have been engineered by linking fragments of the variable heavy and light chain regions (scFv). Each variable domain contains three complementary determining regions (CDR) embedded in a framework. These CDRs are responsible for the interaction with the antigen. Each variable heavy and light region contains an intradomain disulfide bridge, which was reported to be critical for stability of the single chain antibody (Biocca et al., 1995; Derman et al., 1993).
The most commonly used technique to identify single chain antibodies which bind specific epitopes is by phage display and variations thereof (for review see Hoogenboom et al., 1998). This screening system has major advantages over conventional techniques like immunization or hybridoma technique, namely that it can uncover monoclonal single chain antibodies within a relatively short time.
Single chain antibodies expressed within the cell (e.g. cytoplasm or nucleus) are called intrabodies. Due to the reducing environment within the cell, disulfide bridges, believed to be critical for antibody stability, are not formed. Thus, it was initially believed that applications of intrabodies are not suitable. But several cases are described showing the feasibility of intrabodies (Beerli et al., 1994; Biocca et al., 1994; Duan et al., 1994; Gargano and Cattaneo, 1997; Greenman et al., 1996; Martineau et al., 1998; Mhashilkar et al., 1995; Tavladoraki et al., 1993). In these cases, intrabodies work by e.g. blocking the cytoplasmic antigen and therefore inhibiting its biological activity.
Up to now, intrabodies were most of the time derived from monoclonal antibodies which were first selected with classical techniques (e.g. phage display) and subsequently tested for their biological activity as intrabodies within the cell (Visintin et al., 1999). Although successful intrabodies are described (see above), it is today completely unpredictable whether such an intrabody is functional within the cell (for reviews see Cattaneo, 1998; Cattaneo and Biocca, 1999). The reasons are most probably the different environments: Phage display and other classical techniques are performed under oxidizing conditions, therefore disulfide bridges are formed, whereas intrabodies must function in reducing conditions. This reducing environment can lead to insufficient solubility of the intrabody and hence they form non-functional aggregates. The solubility of an intrabody can be modified by either changes in the framework (Knappik and Pluckthun, 1995) or the CDRs (Kipriyanov et al., 1997; Ulrich et al., 1995).
However, the hitherto known systems are limited with regard to their application to detect intracellular targets. Therefore, it is a growing need to have a reliable technology and system to screen directly for intrabodies specific for an antigen.
In WO 99/36569, Wittrup et al. describe a method to display proteins and scFv on the cell wall of yeast by using a yeast endogenous protein fragment derived from Aga2p for localization on the cell wall. Libraries of proteins and scFv can be screened interacting with other proteins. Other related systems are described in EP 0 407 259 (Boquet et al., 1991). These systems are comparable to the phage display screening where the protein or peptide library is also presented on the surface. However, these techniques cannot be used for intracellular screenings to identify intrabodies.
The patent document JP 11000174 (Kyoko et al., 1999) describes the use of yeast Pichia pastoris for high level expression and secretion of antibody Fab fragments. This yeast is famous for its high secretion level and is therefore preferably used for this application. The secreted antibody can be harvested by purification of the supernatant. Furthermore, in EP 0 590 067, WO92/22324, JP 060 30 778, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,698,435, 5,595,889, JP 10313876 yeast is used for production of secreted proteins or antibodies. EP 0 698 097 and WO 94/25591 disclose application of the production and secretion of only the heavy chain or fragments thereof for further applications. JP 0 902 0798; JP 051 05700; and JP 050 97704 describe methods of yeast secretion to obtain hepatitis vaccine when administered to the human body or to organisms in general.
It is also already known from WO 99/28502 to use yeast for screenings of single chain antibodies. Said application discloses the use of a DNA construct library for a single chain monoclonal antibody fusion reagent. his scFv library (therein termed sFv library) is subsequently used for screenings. However, it has now been found that the stability and solubility of intrabodies can vary dramatically due to the use of a non specified framework. Furthermore, it could be shown that a direct correlation exists between the in vivo performance and the in vitro stability and solubility. Therefore, the use of mRNA derived libraries of different scFv fragments is limited in view of the possibility to identify CDR which have a high affinity to the antigen because, although the CDRs would in principle show the required high affinity to the antigen, the corresponding framework is not soluble enough and thus aggregates, making it impossible to select for this monoclonal scFv. Thus, there is still a need for improved antibodies, or intrabodies, respectively.
The growing applications of scFv directed against intracellular targets raise the need for reliable screening systems for intrabodies. Cytoplasmic targets of scFv are the most demanding application due to the instability of the scFv under reducing conditions and the unpredictability of the antibody stability. This stability and also solubility problem can be solved by using defined frameworks, optimized for intracellular application.

Intrabodies with defined framework that is stable in a reducing environment and applications thereof


In this invention, an image blur correction apparatus adapted to an optical apparatus, which has an image blur correction means, a driving means for driving the image blur correction means in a predetermined direction, and an energization control means for controlling energization to the driving means in accordance with a vibration signal corresponding to the vibration state of the optical apparatus, also has an energization restricting means for restricting a current supplied to the driving means by the energization control means to less than a predetermined restricting level, and a determination means for determining the restricting level of the energization restricting means in accordance with the detection result of a gravitation direction detection means for detecting the gravitation direction, whereby the upper limit of the energization amount to the driving means is changed in accordance with the gravitation direction to attain driving suitable for the direction of gravitation acting on the apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image blur correction apparatus for correcting an image blur produced by hand vibrations and the like in a camera, optical equipment, and the like.
2. Related Background Art
Since all operations such as exposure determination, focusing, and the like important for photographing are automated in contemporary cameras, even a person who is not skilled in camera operation rarely fails in taking pictures.
In recent years, a system for correcting an image blur produced by hand vibrations acting on a camera has been studied, and nearly all factors that lead to photographing failures are removed.
A system for correcting an image blur produced by hand vibrations will be briefly explained below.
Hand vibrations of a camera upon photographing normally have a frequency ranging from 1 Hz to 12 Hz. In order to take a picture free from any image blur even when such hand vibrations have been produced upon releasing the shutter, simply stated, vibrations of the camera produced by hand vibrations must be detected, and a correction lens must be displaced according to the detection value. Hence, in order to take a picture free from any image blur even when hand vibrations have been produced, camera vibrations must be accurately detected as a first requirement, and changes in optical axis arising from the camera vibrations must be corrected by displacing the correction lens as a second requirement.
In principle, such vibrations (camera vibrations) can be detected by mounting, in a camera, a vibration detection device or the like, which is comprised of a vibration detection portion for detecting acceleration, velocity, or the like, an integrator for electrically or mechanically integrating the output signal from the vibration detection portion to output a displacement, and the like. An internal correction optical device is controlled to change the photographing optical axis based on the detection information or the like, i.e., a correction optical system is displaced via a driving means to attain image blur correction.
In order to drive the correction optical system, a coil and magnet are conventionally used as a driving means. The coil or magnet is set on a stationary portion, the magnet or coil is set in the correction optical system, and the optical system is driven by supplying a current to the coil. In an image blur correction device proposed, when the vibration detection device detects vibrations in a vertical vibration direction (to be referred to as a pitch direction hereinafter) upon holding the camera at normal position, and in a horizontal direction (to be referred to as a yaw direction hereinafter) perpendicular to the pitch direction, the driving means (two sets of driving means are set to correct vibrations in the two directions, i.e., the pitch and yaw directions) are independently driven in the two directions.
With the above-mentioned image blur correction device, the photographer can enjoy less strict photographing conditions regardless of hand vibrations, but since the driving means for driving the correction optical system are added, the following problems are feared.
First, when the photographer inadvertently moves the camera before actual photographing, a large vibration amount is detected, and an unnecessarily large current is supplied to the driving means for the correction optical system. As a consequence, the camera battery is wasted, thus disturbing energy and power savings.
Second, when a large current is supplied to drive the correction optical system while film feeding or electronic flash charging is in progress, large current loads are superposed, thus posing a serious problem in the camera system.
To solve such problems, a current restricting means for restricting the current to be supplied to the driving means for the correction optical system is used to attain power savings in the driving means.
However, when the correction optical system is driven in the two directions, i.e., pitch and yaw directions, the loads acting on the driving means in the individual directions are not always equal to each other as they largely depend on gravitation acting on the correction optical system. More specifically, since an extra load acts in driving the correction optical system in the gravitation direction, a larger load acts on the driving means in the gravitation direction. However, conventionally, since the current restricting levels that allow currents to be supplied to the driving means for the correction optical system assume equal values in both the pitch and yaw direction regardless of any imbalance corresponding to the weight of the correction optical system, the driving force of the driving means in the gravitation direction considerably deteriorates as compared to the driving means in the other direction.


A data validation system in a communication network has a bidirectional control plane and an independent message production plane. A sending device and a validation device communicate via the control plane and the production plane. A signer device and a validation device access message data from the sending device via the production plane. A computer-based network key manager conveys key data to the signer device and validation device via the control plane. The signer device accesses a message from the message sending device, produces a signature, and attaches the signature to the message. The validation device accesses the message received at the receiving device and uses the key data to validate the signature.

Source path validation in packet networks may rely on a destination trusting the contents of the frames and packets received which are susceptible to modification by any entity with access to the traffic in a prior segment. As a result, digital security response personnel and systems must review traffic logs consisting of hundreds of millions records with varying levels of detail to determine actual origin and validity.
The disproportionate computational and analytical burden put on the responders provides attackers with significant advantage when attempting to evade detection.

System and method for validating a message conveyed via a network


A mechanical lever buckle having a buckle base plate, a lever element, a buckle prong and a belt loop element having a belt guiding element for guiding a belt in a belt guiding direction is disclosed. The buckle base plate includes an elongated slit oriented in the belt guiding direction. The lever element includes an elongated guiding opening that allows passage of at least a portion of the buckle prong. The lever element is attached to the buckle base plate at a first rotation axis, such that during rotation the elongated guiding opening intersects at all time with the elongated slit and the buckle prong slides along the slit and the elongated guiding opening. The lever element includes a lever tooth that interacts with a belt loop tooth when the lever element is rotated to the determined angle of rotation to block a belt loop element's movement.

A belt or watch strap generally comprises two parts: a buckle and a leather belt. The belt itself may also be made out of materials other than leather. In the case of the watch strap, this comprises a leather strap rather than the leather belt, whereby this may also be made out of materials other than leather.
FIG. 1A shows an example buckle 2 from prior art which comprises a belt clip 1 and a conventional buckle prong 3. The buckle 2 further comprises a belt loop 4 and a belt beginning cavity 7. The buckle prong 3 is ended at its end opposite from the buckle 2 by a stopper element 31.
FIG. 1B illustrates the buckle 2 attached at a belt beginning 52 of a belt 5. The belt beginning 52 is positioned in the belt beginning cavity 7 and secured by the belt clip 1 which is rotated into a locking position. A belt ending 51 of the belt 5 is inserted by sliding into the belt loop 4. The belt 5 comprises in a portion proximate the belt ending 51 a number of belt holes 53, whereby at least one of the belt holes 53 at the time may be positioned relative to the buckle 2 such that the conventional buckle prong 3 and its stopper element 31 are inserted into it.
It is understood that the belt 5 should be replaced by a strap (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B in case the buckle 2 is used for a watch strap. The use of the strap has no influence on the manner in which the buckle 2 is used, and thus the belt 5 and the strap are fully interchangeable.
FIGS. 2A and 2B show the buckle 2 respectively in open and closed positions. In FIG. 2A, the buckle 2 is in the open position such that the conventional buckle prong 3 and its stopper element 31 are positioned to be inserted into one of the belt holes 53. In FIG. 2B the conventional buckle prong 3 and its stopper element 31 have been pushed into the one of the belt holes 53 by bringing the buckle 2 closer to the concerned belt hole 53.
FIGS. 3A and 3B show the buckle 2 respectively in open and closed positions in use with a worn out example of the belt 5. The fact that the belt 5 is worn out may be seen at the sizes of the belt holes 53 which are generally larger than the sizes of the corresponding belt holes 53 seen in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B. While in the latter 4 figures the belt holes 53 are dimensioned such that walls of the belt hole 53 into which the conventional buckle prong 3 has completely been inserted, enter in intimate contact with the convention buckle prong 3, on the contrary in FIGS. 3A and 3B the walls of the belt hole 53 into which the conventional buckle prong 3 is completely inserted do not anymore have intimate contact on the whole circumference of the belt hole 53 with the conventional buckle prong 3.
The wear of the belt holes 53 occurs has a result of a prolonged use of the belt 5 together with the buckle 2, during which the conventional buckle prong 3 is repeatedly inserted and removed from one belt hole 53 at a time, and during which also a continuous tension of the belt 5 on the inserted conventional buckle prong 3 may be exerted while the belt is being worn by a user (not shown in the figures). As a result of the wear of the belt holes 53, the conventional buckle prong 3 may more easily be released and exit the belt hole 53 in which it is meant to remain inserted, hence allowing the buckle 2 to open in an unwanted manner and the belt 5 to fail in its function. Moreover the buckle 2 causes a wear of the belt holes 53 which may be considered excessive when compared to an overall wear of the belt 5.
The invention aims to address the problems encountered with the buckle from prior art when used with a belt or a watch strap.

Mechanical lever buckle for belt and watch strap


Disclosed is a weather information processing device that can make the users of a mobile object aware of the changes in weather conditions in various environments. The weather information processing device is mounted in a vehicle and includes a first arithmetic processing element and a second arithmetic processing element. The first arithmetic processing element intermittently measures a weather condition variable indicating the weather conditions that a vehicle is in contact with, and if the current measurement value of the weather condition variable has a deviation of a predetermined value or greater from a reference value, generates a weather change detection information indicating the deviation. The second arithmetic processing element transmits the weather change detection information to another weather information processing device mounted in another vehicle to make it output a first weather information according to the weather change detection information.

Hitherto, there has been known a weather detection system composed of a vehicle and a navigation server (for example, refer to Patent document 1).
In the weather detection system, a sensor for detecting probe information and weather data is disposed in the vehicle, and the detected probe information and the detected weather data are sent to the navigation server via a navigation device. In the navigation server, the weather conditions of an area where the vehicle is present are detected on the basis of the received probe information and the received weather data.

Weather information processing device and weather information processing system


Methods and devices for generating an augmented reality output are described. In one aspect, the method includes: obtaining camera data from a camera associated with an electronic device, the camera data defining an image representing a card having a graphic disposed thereon; obtaining sensor data from a sensor associated with the electronic device; and generating an augmented reality output on an output interface based on the sensor data and the graphic.

Electronic devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, are sometimes equipped with cameras. Cameras may, for example, be used to allow a user to capture a video or a still photograph. Some electronic devices may store images which are captured with a camera to a memory of the electronic device. Some electronic devices may transmit data via a communication subsystem to another electronic device in order to provide a video based chat.
Electronic devices may use camera data to provide an augmented reality. Augmented reality is a process wherein a live view of a physical, real world environment (which may be obtained via the camera) may be augmented by computer generated input.
The functions and features provided by augmented reality systems are often quite limited.
Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elements and features.

Method and device for providing augmented reality output


The described embodiments augment an activity performed in a first application at a source electronic device using a controller at a companion electronic device. The source electronic device receives controller information describing a controller that the activity performed in the first application accepts controller data from, determines a controller identifier for the controller information, and broadcasts a controller advertisement comprising the controller identifier. Upon receiving the controller advertisement, the companion electronic device determines whether a second application that can provide the controller data is available at the companion electronic device. If the second application is available, the companion electronic device establishes a cooperative-activity communication channel with the source electronic device. The companion electronic device uses the cooperative-activity communication channel to provide controller data to the source electronic device. The source electronic device provides the controller data to the first application to cause a corresponding action to be performed.

Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to activity cooperation between electronic devices.
Related Art
Recent advances in computer technology have enabled manufacturers to produce powerful computing devices in various form factors, thereby enabling users to use a device as small and portable as a smartphone or a tablet to perform tasks that once required a desktop or laptop computer. Because of these advances, users often possess and use multiple computing devices, e.g., a smartphone while on the road, a tablet in meetings, and a laptop or desktop computer at a desk.
Although a user may possess different devices, each with powerful computing capabilities, in certain cases, the user may find him- or herself using a device that is ill-suited for a task being performed or for the situation that the user is in. For example, the user may need to enter data at a device that does not have a keyboard or touch screen, whereas other devices the user possesses may provide a virtual and/or physical keyboard. As another example, the user may be viewing a presentation or playing a game on a device that lacks easily manipulated controls for controlling the viewing of the presentation or the playing of the game.
In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same figure elements.

Companion application for activity cooperation


A chain guide having excellent durability is provided. The chain guide includes a guide base arranged along a portion of an outer periphery of a chain for transmitting torque and elongated in the direction in which the chain travels; a plurality of roller shafts attached to the guide base so as to be spaced apart from each other along the direction in which the chain travels; and rollers rotatably supported by the respective roller shafts. The distance between the centers of each adjacent pair of the rollers is set to be shorter in the area where a larger load is applied to the rollers.

In an automobile engine, rotation of a crankshaft is transmitted to a camshaft by means of a timing chain (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "chain"), to open and close valves of combustion chambers by rotating the camshaft.
Chain transmission devices are used to drive such camshafts. Many of such chain transmission devices include a driving sprocket attached to the crankshaft, a driven sprocket attached to the camshaft, a chain trained around the driving sprocket and the driven sprocket, a pivotable chain guide arranged at the loose side of the chain, a chain tensioner pressing the chain guide against the chain, and a fixed chain guide arranged at the tension side of the chain.
The pivotable chain guide is biased by the chain tensioner, so as to press the chain. As a result thereof, tension of the chain is kept constant. The fixed chain guide controls vibration of the chain while keeping an ideal travelling line of the chain.
As the pivotable chain guide or the fixed chain guide, which is used in the above chain transmission devices, sliding type chain guides are known of which the guiding surface extending along the travel direction of the chain is brought into sliding contact with the chain. Since the chain guides of this type are brought into sliding contact with the chain, resistance to travelling of the chain is large. Therefore, transmission loss of torque is large.
In order to overcome this problem, the inventors of the present invention have proposed in the below-identified Patent document 1 a chain guide including a plurality of rollers spaced apart from each other along the travel direction of the chain such that the chain is guided by the respective rollers.
Since this chain guide is in rolling contact with the chain (rolling type), resistance to travelling of the chain is small. Therefore, transmission loss of torque is small.

Chain guide and chain transmission device


A magnetically coupled safety valve with satellite outer magnets. A safety valve includes a housing having multiple chambers extending longitudinally in a pressure bearing wall of the housing, and multiple magnetic devices, each of the magnetic devices being reciprocably disposed in a corresponding one of the chambers. Another safety valve includes multiple first magnetic devices, a second magnetic device magnetically coupled to the first magnetic devices, with the first magnetic devices being circumferentially spaced apart and encircling the second magnetic device. Yet another safety valve includes a housing having a pressure bearing wall, and multiple magnetic devices, each of the magnetic devices being reciprocably disposed in the housing wall, and each of the magnetic devices being completely surrounded by the housing wall.

The present invention relates generally to equipment utilized and operations performed in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides a magnetically coupled safety valve with satellite outer magnets.
Operation of a safety valve using magnetic coupling across a pressure isolation barrier has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,556. The entire disclosure of this prior patent is incorporated herein by this reference.
A magnetic coupling force generated between two sets of annular shaped magnets in the prior patent is dependent mainly on the volume of magnetic material and the separation between the annular magnets. Unfortunately, space is very restricted in a downhole environment, which particularly limits the available volume in a safety valve, and when high pressure differentials need to be resisted by the pressure isolation barrier, these factors cause the magnetic coupling force to be significantly reduced.
Therefore, it may be seen that improvements are needed in the art of magnetically coupled safety valves. It is among the objects of the present invention to provide such improvements.

Magnetically coupled safety valve with satellite outer magnets


A system for implementing synchronized objects for software transactional memory may include one or more processors and a memory storing program instructions executable by the processor to implement a transactional-memory manager configured to coordinate memory access requests directed at the memory from a plurality of transactions. The transactional-memory manager records, within a collaborator record for a shared data object in the memory, identifications of a set of two or more transactions that have requested synchronization on the object. In response to a commit request from a given transaction of the set, the transactional-memory manager determines whether to commit or abort the given transaction based at least in part on the transactional states of other transactions in the set, examining the collaborator record to identify the other transactions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer systems. More particularly, it is directed to synchronization mechanisms for computer systems implementing transactional memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of computer systems, considerable effort has been expended on developing techniques to support concurrent access to shared resources. Mutual exclusion locks and monitors represent two traditional concurrent programming synchronization mechanisms. Locks and monitors protect shared resources by separating access to them in time; for example, in one implementation, as long as a given thread of execution retains a lock on an object or resource, no other thread of execution may modify the object, and any other thread attempting to modify the object may be blocked from further execution until the lock is released.
However, locking techniques are known to suffer from several limitations. Coarse-grained locks, which protect relatively large amounts of data, often do not scale. For example, threads of execution on a multiprocessor system may block each other even when they do not actually require concurrent access to the same data. Fine-grained locks may resolve some of these contention issues, but only at the cost of added programming complexity and the increased likelihood of problems such as deadlocks. Locking schemes may also lead to an increased vulnerability to thread failures and delays—e.g., a thread that is preempted or does expensive input/output operations while holding a lock may obstruct other threads for relatively long periods, thereby potentially reducing the overall throughput of the system.
The transactional-memory programming paradigm has been gaining momentum as an approach of choice for replacing locks in concurrent programming. In transactional-memory programming, sequences of concurrent operations may be combined into nonblocking atomic transactions, thus making parts of the code appear to be sequential without the need to use locks. Executing threads indicate transaction boundaries, e.g., by specifying when a transaction starts and when it ends, but do not have to acquire locks on any objects. Transactional-memory programming techniques may allow transactions that do not overlap in data accesses to run uninterrupted in parallel; transactions that do overlap may be aborted and retried.
The atomicity and isolation of transactions may significantly simplify concurrent programming. Atomicity is a property that guarantees that either all steps in a transaction succeed, or the entire transaction is rolled back, thus giving the impression that the transaction never occurred. Isolation refers to the ability of a transactional system to make operations in a transaction appear isolated from all other transactions or external operations. While attractive from the perspective of decreasing programming complexity, strict isolation may have some negative implications for transactional-memory systems: e.g., it may prevent interactions between transactions. Such interactions may be useful for several purposes, such as implementing condition synchronization and increasing concurrency. Synchronization techniques that allow such interactions may make it easier to implement increased parallelism within transactions, thereby potentially enhancing system-wide throughput in transactional-memory systems, and may provide a way for some transactions to share modified values of data prior to committing without compromising isolation for other transactions that do not need to share uncommitted data.

Synchronized objects for software transactional memory


An accessory support apparatus is provided for use with an aluminum ladder or the like having a pair of laterally spaced rails and a plurality of open-ended D-shaped rungs extending between the rails. The support apparatus includes an elongated body having a first end that is D-shaped for receipt in the open ends of the rungs, and a support tray received on an opposed end of the body for supporting a can, bucket, brush, tool or the like for easy access by a person climbing the ladder. The support tray is preferably received on the body of the apparatus for relative pivotal movement, and can be secured in place in any of a plurality of different angular orientations so that the tray is properly positioned for use. In addition, an assembly can be provided for securing the apparatus in place on a ladder to prevent it from falling from the ladder or being inadvertently removed.

This invention relates generally to accessory support devices for use with ladders, and more particularly to an apparatus for use with aluminum extension ladders for supporting paint cans, brushes, tools, cleaning equipment and other accessories commonly used by individuals while climbing such ladders.
Aluminum extension ladders are commonly used by house painters, window cleaners, roofers, repairmen and the like for reaching hard-to-reach heights around homes and businesses to complete painting, cleaning, construction and/or repair projects. Such ladders commonly are constructed of one or more ladder extensions, wherein each extension includes a pair of laterally spaced side rails between which numerous, vertically spaced rungs extend. Typically, the rungs are D-shaped tubes that protrude through corresponding D-shaped holes in the rails, and are bent back against the rails or otherwise deformed such that the rungs are rigidly secured to the rails. As such, each rung is open-ended at both ends.
Because this known type of ladder is extremely versatile and relatively inexpensive, it is used by individuals in the performance of many varied tasks such as house painting, window cleaning and the like. However, some skill and care must be employed by anyone climbing on ladders, and it is often difficult for a person to hold all of the accessories required for a particular task while remaining balanced on the ladder. As such, any type of accessory support apparatus that can be used in combination with ladders will facilitate use of the ladder in completing various tasks, and will reduce any danger of injury that might otherwise occur if a person removed both hands from the ladder in order to hold such accessories.

Accessory support apparatus for use with a ladder


A method for forming an electret containing positive ions, includes: a first step of contacting water vapor including positive ions to a Si substrate to which heat is being applied, and forming an oxide layer including those ions; a second step of, along with applying an electric field that makes the side of the oxide layer that does not contact the Si substrate be the negative side, and that makes its other side be a positive side, applying heat to the Si substrate in a hydrogen atmosphere, and causing the ions in the oxide layer to shift; and a third step of contacting water vapor including a chemical substance, in an atmosphere of an inactive gas, for forming a hydrophobic chemically adsorbed monomolecular layer, and thus forming a hydrophobic membrane upon the oxide layer; wherein the second step and the third step are performed continuously within one common vessel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for forming an electret containing positive ions.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, the manufacture of an electret is performed by injecting electric charges into an insulation layer with a corona electrical discharge. However since, with an electret that has been manufactured by this method, there are the problems that the electric charge density in the insulation layer is low, and also that the electric charge level may decrease due to long-term use, accordingly a construction for an electret is desired that can provide a higher electric charge density and also a longer life.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2010-068643, a construction is disclosed for manufacturing a planar comb-tooth electrode incorporating an electret, in which so-called BT treatment (Bias-Temperature treatment) is performed by applying a voltage of around 500 V to around 1000 V to an alkali glass while heating it to a temperature that is less than the glass transition point, so that alkali ions within this alkali glass are shifted and a region that is depleted in alkali ions is created.
In recent years, by employing the MEMS technique to manufacture comb-tooth electrodes in a three-dimensional construction, a compact electricity generation element has been developed in which the electrostatic capacity between the opposing electrodes has been increased. For example, mutually opposed three-dimensional comb-tooth electrodes of this type are used in the electricity generation element disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2010-011547, and a silicon oxide layer is used as an insulation layer in which an electret is formed, with the electric charge of the electret being established upon this insulation layer by a corona electrical discharge.

Method for forming electret containing positive ions


A belt unit used for an image forming apparatus is provided. The belt unit includes a rotatable endless belt, a plurality of stretching members configured to stretch the belt, an urging member, and a contact and separation unit configured to be able to switch a position of the stretching member urged by the urging member. In moving the stretching member urged by the urging member from the separation position to the contact position, the contact and separation unit makes one end side of the stretching member urged by the urging member in a longitudinal direction coming into contact with the inner surface of the belt faster than the other end side, and temporarily decreases the movement speeds of the both ends of the stretching member in the longitudinal direction respectively before arriving at the contact position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a belt unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, configurations of stretching the inner surface of an endless belt using a plurality of stretching members have been known. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-057953 discusses an image forming apparatus having a mechanism for moving at least one of a plurality of stretching members to a position where tension of a belt goes slack, and using the mechanism to cause the tension of the belt to be released.
In some cases, the image forming apparatus may not be used by users for a long time after the production of the image forming apparatus. For the above reason, configurations in which the tension of the belt is loosened at the time of manufacture, and the tension is applied to the belt at initial installation by a user have been known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-286606 discusses an image forming apparatus having a mechanism for applying tension to a belt using power of a user when the user pulls a paper feed cassette of the image forming apparatus out of the apparatus body at initial installation.
However, in the known configurations, problems may occur in making the stretching member come in contact with the belt to set the tension of the belt at high level. In the configuration in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-057953, one of the plurality of stretching members is moved while the relation with the other stretching members is kept in parallel, and the stretching members come in contact with the belt at the same time at the entire area in the axis direction. Accordingly, the impact in stretching the belt is large. Further, in controlling the positions of the stretching members using the cam discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-057953, due to a large impact generated when the stretching members come in contact with the belt, the cam may move. Then, the positions of the stretching members may not be kept at the regular positions.
As discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-286606, in the configuration the tension is applied to the belt using the user's power, depending on the power of the user, the impact due to the contact of the stretching members with the belt increases.
As described above, the large impact in stretching the belt may not only cause damage to the belt, but also cause an impact sound unpleasant to the users.

Belt unit and image forming apparatus having the belt unit