An expansion card mounting assembly includes an expansion card, a rear wall, and a rotating member. The expansion card includes a slot cover which has a bent portion. The rear wall defines a slot to receive the slot cover covered thereon in a first direction. A support piece is formed on the rear wall and above the slot to support the bent portion when the slot cover is covered on the slot of the rear wall. The rotating member is mounted on the rear wall, and rotatable on the rear wall about a second direction substantially parallel to the first direction. The rotating member includes a pressing board to press the bent portion against the support piece after the rotating member rotates in the second direction to a locked position.

Relevant subject matter is disclosed in a U.S. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 7,388,759; ) filed on Dec. 29, 2005 and entitled "MOUNTING ASSEMBLY FOR EXPANSION CARDS", which is assigned to the same assignee as this patent application.
1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to mounting assemblies and, particularly, to a mounting assembly which readily and firmly secures a plurality of expansion cards in a computer chassis.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, many computer systems and other electronic devices employ circuit cards, such as expansion cards, adapters, and PC boards. These cards or boards are typically mounted perpendicularly to a computer motherboard. In particular, the cards are usually inserted into edge card connectors mounted on the computer motherboard. However, merely inserting a card into an edge card connector is typically insufficient to securely maintain the card within the computer chassis. Cards connected in this fashion can easily disconnect from the edge connector, which may prevent, or significantly inhibit, acceptable operation of the computer. Accordingly, additional structure is used to secure a card within a computer chassis. A conventional manner of securing a card within a computer chassis is to provide a card bracket fastened to the computer chassis with a removable screw. Specifically, each mounting bracket is normally disposed across a card slot formed in the computer chassis and may include an aperture through which the fastener may pass. However, securing a card-mounting bracket to a computer chassis in this manner may present problems. One significant disadvantage of a screw-secured bracket is that the fastener is often inadvertently dropped into the computer chassis during installation and removal of the bracket.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A method of multi-scale neural image compression with intra-prediction residuals is performed by at least one processor and includes downsampling an input image, generating a current predicted image, based on a previously-recovered predicted image, and generating a prediction residual based on a difference between the downsampled input image and the generated current predicted image. The method further includes encoding the generated prediction residual, decoding the encoded prediction residual, and generating a currently-recovered predicted image based on an addition of the current predicted image and the decoded prediction residual. The method further includes upsampling the currently-recovered predicted image, generating a scale residual based on a difference between the input image and the upsampled currently-recovered predicted image, and encoding the scale residual.

ISO/IEC MPEG (JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11) has been actively searching for potential needs for standardization of future video coding technology. ISO/IEC JPEG has established JPEG-AI group focusing on AI-based end-to-end neural image compression using deep neural networks (DNNs). The success of recent approaches has brought more and more industrial interests in advanced neural image and video compression methodologies.
Given an input image x, the target of neural image compression (NIC) is to use the image x as the input to a DNN encoder to compute a compressed representation y that is compact for storage and transmission, and then, use y as the input to a DNN decoder to reconstruct an image x. Previous NIC methods take a variational autoencoder (VAE) structure, in which the DNN encoders directly use the entire image x as its input, which is passed through a set of network layers that work like a black box to compute the output representation y. Correspondingly, the DNN decoders take the entire representation y as its input, which is passed through another set of network layers that work like another black box to compute the reconstructed x.
Instead of directly encoding the original whole image, the block-based intra-prediction and residual coding mechanism has been proven highly effective for compressing image frames in modern video coding standards like High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and Versatile Video Coding (VVC). The entire images are partitioned into blocks of various sizes, and a prediction block is generated by copying the boundary pixels of previous compressed blocks along a variety of angular directions. Then, the residuals between the original block and the prediction block are compressed. Residuals can be much more efficiently encoded than the original pixels, and better coding performance can be achieved.
Multi-scale processing is another effective mechanism to improve the efficiency of learned image representation for image reconstruction tasks like NIC. By using different coding strategies at different scales, better encoding performance can be achieved.

Method and apparatus for multi-scale neural image compression with intra-prediction residuals


The present disclosure relates to methods, compositions, and kits for treating hair. The methods entail the use of multiple compositions, which can be incorporated into kits. The methods include: (I) optionally, cleansing the hair, for example, with a cleansing composition such as a shampoo; (II) optionally, treating the hair with a rinse-off conditioning mask, and rinsing the rinse-off conditioning mask from the hair; (III) applying a leave-on hair-treatment composition to the hair; (IV) without removing the leave-on hair-treatment composition, subsequently applying a leave-on hair crème to the hair; and (V) without removing the leave-on hair-treatment composition and the leave-on hair crème, styling the hair. The methods provide durable styling and conditioning benefits, frizz control/curl definition, and general hair manageability qualities.

Individuals desire healthy and strong hair, as healthy looking hair is in general a sign of good health and good hair-care practices. Nonetheless, nutrition, environmental influences, and chemical hair treatments can lead to hair damage that significantly weakens and dulls the hair over time. Gloss and moisture balance are deleteriously affected making the hair more difficult to manage and style. Furthermore, dry hair that has been weakened or damaged is also prone to breakage and the formation of "split ends."
Nutrition plays a crucial role in the health of hair, but nutrition alone is not sufficient to compensate for the various types of physical, chemical, and environmental damage that prevent optimal hair quality. Physical hair damage is often the result of repeatedly manipulating the shape of the hair. For example, hair styles such as ponytails, buns, and braiding are quick and easy but when done too often and too tightly, can impart strain on the edges of the hair and cause a receding hair line. Hair also becomes physically damaged during detangling and styling. Excessive detangling can result in split ends and breakage.
Many chemical treatments are available for changing the appearance of hair. For example, hair may be lightened or bleached and oxidative dyes can be used to change the color of the hair. Chemical treatments for permanently straightening or curling the hair are also common. Chemical treatments are popular because their effects are long-lasting and can be drastic. Nonetheless, the biggest drawback to chemical treatments is the strain and damage they cause to the hair. This is because chemical treatments permanently change the chemical and physical structure of the hair. Another cause of chemical hair damage is heat. Repeated use of heating appliances such as flat irons and blow-dryers remove moisture from the surface of the hair cuticles, resulting in brittle, dry hair that become more vulnerable to breakage.
The environment also influences the health of hair. Regions with hard water can affect the look, feel and shine of the hair. This is because hard water leaves mineral deposits, which accumulate over time on the hair and eventually prevents moisture intake into the hair. The hair becomes dry, frizzy, and is prone to tangles. Environmental factors, such as strong sun, wind, cold air, extreme temperature variations and changes in air humidity can also damage the hair. The static and dry winter air contributes to moisture loss.
Dry and damaged hair can be particularly difficult to style, especially naturally curly hair. Individuals with naturally curly hair and chemically curly hair (from perming or waving) often seek to reduce frizz and improve curl definition, which becomes more difficult when the hair is damaged and dry. Naturally curly hair also tends to more easily tangle. Thus, methods useful for treating hair including damaged and and/or naturally curly hair are desirable.

Methods, compositions, and kits for treating hair


An apparatus for presenting a curved workpiece to a workstation, includes a frame member and a guide channel associated with the frame member for receiving a curved workpiece in a generally upright position. A first pusher mechanism is reciprocally movable in a transverse direction relative to the guide channel for engaging and positioning the workpiece against a bearing surface of the guide channel. A second pusher mechanism is advanceable within the guide channel to engage the workpiece and to advance the workpiece to the workstation. The apparatus has particular application in the manufacture of curved surgical needles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for orienting a curved workpiece at a workstation. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for presenting a curved surgical needle blank at a work station in a predetermined orientation during needle manufacture.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The manufacture of surgical needles involves many processing steps to transform the raw needle stock into a highly precisioned surgical needle product. Some of these processes include straightening, cutting, shaping, grinding, boring, pressing and coating operations.
Presently, surgical needle manufacture is carried out at a series of workstations. Each station is equipped with appropriate machinery to perform the desired process on the needle blank. The equipment presently used for needle manufacture requires a relatively high degree of manual intervention to operate the apparatus as well as to present and orient the needle blank with respect to the operative components of the equipment.
Recently, emphasis has been placed on automating the manufacture of surgical needles. The benefits of automation are readily apparent, i.e., increased productivity and a decrease in the number of rejected units. However, attempts towards automating needle manufacture have not proved to be as successful as initially envisioned. This is particularly attributed to the inability of design engineers to develop manufacturing equipment which can position and present the needle in a desired orientation relative to the operative components of the equipment without necessitating some degree of manual intervention. In particular, with specific regard to the manufacture of curved surgical needles, design engineers have been unsuccessful in devising equipment having material handling features which can accommodate the curved configuration of the needle.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for needle manufacture which can present a curved needle in a predetermined desired orientation at a workstation. It would also be desirable to provide such an apparatus which can be readily adapted for use with a variety of needle manufacturing processes.

Apparatus and method for orienting a curved workpiece


A mobile communication device (100) includes a camera module (102) which provides an image stream when the camera module is active. The image stream is used to display images on a display (114) to provide a viewfinder function so that a user of the mobile communication device can see to what the camera is aimed. While the mobile communication device is operating in camera mode, the mobile communication device receives a signal at a radio receiver (104) during a time slot of a time division multiple access frame (110). To prevent the camera module from interfering with the receiver operation, the camera module operation is suspended during the receiver time slot.

Mobile communication devices are in widespread use throughout the world, particularly in metropolitan regions. As the popularity of these devices has increased, the cost of manufacturing them has come down. In response, manufacturers of these devices have sought to enhance them by expanding the functionality of these devices. One feature that has gained acceptance in the marketplace is the use of a camera module integrated into the mobile communication device to allow the user of the mobile communication device to take digital photographs.
When the camera mode of such a device is enabled, the display of the mobile communication device acts as a camera view finder so the user can see where the camera is presently aimed. The video signals generated by the camera module generate a substantial amount of electromagnetic interference (EMI) in the mobile communication device, which affects the sensitivity of the receiver. Therefore, when the camera mode is in use, the mobile communication device may miss receiving communication information due to the effect of the EMI. Therefore there is a need for a means by which the effect of EMI on a receiver of the mobile communication device may be reduced.

Method and apparatus for reducing the effect of EMI on receiver sensitivity in a camera phone


The apparatus for constructing a multi-channel output signal using an input signal and parametric side information, the input signal including the first input channel and the second input channel derived from an original multi-channel signal, and the parametric side information describing interrelations between channels of the multi-channel original signal uses base channels for synthesizing first and second output channels on one side of an assumed listener position, which are different from each other. The base channels are different from each other because of a coherence measure. Coherence between the base channels (for example the left and the left surround reconstructed channel) is reduced by calculating a base channel for one of those channels by a combination of the input channels, the combination being determined by the coherence measure. Thus, a high subjective quality of the reconstruction can be obtained because of an approximated original front/back coherence.

In recent times, the multi-channel audio reproduction technique is becoming more and more important. This may be due to the fact that audio compression/encoding techniques such as the well-known mp3 technique have made it possible to distribute audio records via the Internet or other transmission channels having a limited bandwidth. The mp3 coding technique has become so famous because of the fact that it allows distribution of all the records in a stereo format, i.e., a digital representation of the audio record including a first or left stereo channel and a second or right stereo channel.
Nevertheless, there are basic shortcomings of conventional two-channel sound systems. Therefore, the surround technique has been developed. A recommended multi-channel-surround representation includes, in addition to the two stereo channels L and R, an additional center channel C and two surround channels Ls, Rs. This reference sound format is also referred to as three/two-stereo, which means three front channels and two surround channels. Generally, five transmission channels are required. In a playback environment, at least five speakers at the respective five different places are needed to get an optimum sweet spot in a certain distance from the five well-placed loudspeakers.
Several techniques are known in the art for reducing the amount of data required for transmission of a multi-channel audio signal. Such techniques are called joint stereo techniques. To this end, reference is made to FIG. 10, which shows a joint stereo device 60. This device can be a device implementing e.g. intensity stereo (IS) or binaural cue coding (ECC). Such a device generally receives—as an input—at least two channels (CH1, CH2, . . . CHn), and outputs a single carrier channel and parametric data. The parametric data are defined such that, in a decoder, an approximation of an original channel (CH1, CH2, . . . CHn) can be calculated.
Normally, the carrier channel will include subband samples, spectral coefficients, time domain samples etc, which provide a comparatively fine representation of the underlying signal, while the parametric data do not include such samples of spectral coefficients but include control parameters for controlling a certain reconstruction algorithm such as weighting by multiplication, time shifting, frequency shifting, . . . The parametric data, therefore, include only a comparatively coarse representation of the signal or the associated channel. Stated in numbers, the amount of data required by a carrier channel will be in the range of 60-70 kbit/s, while the amount of data required by parametric side information for one channel will be in the range of 1.5-2.5 kbit/s. An example for parametric data are the well-known scale factors, intensity stereo information or binaural cue parameters as will be described below.
Intensity stereo coding is described in AES preprint 3799, "Intensity Stereo Coding", J. Herre, K. H. Brandenburg, D. Lederer, February 1994, Amsterdam. Generally, the concept of intensity stereo is based on a main axis transform to be applied to the data of both stereophonic audio channels. If most or the data points are concentrated around the first principle axis, a coding gain can be achieved by rotating both signals by a certain angle prior to coding. This is, however, not always true for real stereophonic production techniques. Therefore, this technique is modified by excluding the second orthogonal component from transmission in the bit stream. Thus, the reconstructed signals for the left and right channels consist of differently weighted or scaled versions of the same transmitted signal. Nevertheless, the reconstructed signals differ in their amplitude but are identical regarding their phase information. The energy-time envelopes of both original audio channels, however, are preserved by means of the selective scaling operation, which typically operates in a frequency selective manner. This conforms to the human perception of sound at high frequencies, where the dominant spatial cues are determined by the energy envelopes.
Additionally, in practically implementations, the transmitted signal, i.e. the carrier channel is generated from the sum signal of the left channel and the right channel instead of rotating both components. Furthermore, this processing, i.e., generating intensity stereo parameters for performing the scaling operation, is performed frequency selective, i.e., independently for each scale factor band, i.e., encoder frequency partition. Preferably, both channels are combined to form a combined or "carrier" channel, and, in addition to the combined channel, the intensity stereo information is determined which depend on the energy of the first channel, the energy of the second channel or the energy of the combined or channel.
The BCC technique is described in AES convention paper 5574, "Binaural cue coding applied to stereo and multi-channel audio compression", C. taller, F. Baumgarte, May 2002, Munich. In BCC encoding, a number of audio input channels are converted to a spectral representation using a DFT based transform with overlapping windows. The resulting uniform spectrum is divided into non-overlapping partitions each having an index. Each partition has a bandwidth proportional to the equivalent rectangular bandwidth (ERB). The inter-channel level differences (ICLD) and the inter-channel time differences (ICTD) are estimated for each partition for each frame k. The ICLD and ICTD are quantized and coded resulting in a BCC bit stream. The inter-channel level differences and inter-channel time differences are given for each channel relative to a reference channel. Then, the parameters are calculated in accordance with prescribed formulae, which depend on the certain partitions of the signal to be processed.
At a decoder-side, the decoder receives a mono signal and the BCC bit stream. The mono signal is transformed into the frequency domain and input into a spatial synthesis block, which also receives decoded ICLD and ICTD values. In the spatial synthesis block, the BCC parameters (ICLD and ICTD) values are used to perform a weighting operation of the mono signal in order to synthesize the multi-channel signals, which, after a frequency/time conversion, represent a reconstruction of the original multi-channel audio signal.
In case of BCC, the joint stereo module 60 is operative to output the channel side information such that the parametric channel data are quantized and encoded ICLD or ICTD parameters, wherein one of the original channels is used as the reference channel for coding the channel side information.
Normally, the carrier channel is formed of the sum of the participating original channels.
Naturally, the above techniques only provide a mono representation for a decoder, which can only process the carrier channel, but is not able to process the parametric data for generating one or more approximations of more than one input channel.
The audio coding technique known as binaural cue coding (BCC) is also well described in the U.S. patent application publications US 2003, 0219130 A1, 2003/0026441 A1 and 2003/0035553 A1. Additional reference is also made to "Binaural Cue Coding. Part II: Schemes and Applications", C. Faller and F. Baumgarte, IEEE Trans. On Audio and Speech Proc., Vol. 11, No. 6, November 2993. The cited U.S. patent application publications and the two cited technical publications on the BCC technique authored by Faller and Baumgarte are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
In the following, a typical generic BCC scheme for multi-channel audio coding is elaborated in more detail with reference to FIGS. 11 to 13. FIG. 11 shows such a generic binaural cue coding scheme for coding/transmission of multi-channel audio signals. The multi-channel audio input signal at an input 110 of a BCC encoder 112 is downmixed in a downmix block 114. In the present example, the original multi-channel signal at the input 110 is a 5-channel surround signal having a front left channel, a front right channel, a left surround channel, a right surround channel and a center channel. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the downmix block 114 produces a sum signal by a simple addition of these five channels into a mono signal. Other downmixing schemes are known in the art such that, using a multi-channel input signal, a downmix signal having a single channel can be obtained. This single channel is output at a sum signal line 115. A side information obtained by a BCC analysis block 116 is output at a side information line 117. In the BCC analysis block, inter-channel level differences (ICLD), and inter-channel time differences (ICTD) are calculated as has been outlined above. Recently, the BCC analysis block 116 has been enhanced to also calculate inter-channel correlation values (ICC values). The sum signal and the side information is transmitted, preferably in a quantized and encoded form, to a BCC decoder 120. The BCC decoder decomposes the transmitted sum signal into a number of subbands and applies scaling, delays and other processing to generate the subbands of the output multi-channel audio signals. This processing is performed such that ICLD, ICTD and ICC parameters (cues) of a reconstructed multi-channel signal at an output 121 are similar to the respective cues for the original multi-channel signal at the input 110 into the BCC encoder 112. To this end, the BCC decoder 120 includes a BCC synthesis block 122 and a side information processing block 123.
In the following, the internal construction of the BCC synthesis block 122 is explained with reference to FIG. 12. The sum signal on line 115 is input into a time/frequency conversion unit or filter bank FB 125. At the output of block 125, there exists a number N of sub band signals or, in an extreme case, a block of a spectral coefficients, when the audio filter bank 125 performs a 1:1 transform, i.e., a transform which produces N spectral coefficients from N time domain samples.
The BCC synthesis block 122 further comprises a delay stage 126, a level modification stage 127, a correlation processing stage 128 and an inverse filter bank stage IFB 129. At the output of stage 129, the reconstructed multi-channel audio signal having for example five channels in case of a 5-channel surround system, can be output to a set of loud-speakers 124 as illustrated in FIG. 11.
As shown in FIG. 12, the input signal s(n) is converted into the frequency domain or filter bank domain by means of element 125. The signal output by element 125 is multiplied such that several versions of the same signal are obtained as illustrated by multiplication node 130. The number of versions of the original signal is equal to the number of output channels in the output signal to be reconstructed When, in general, each version of the original signal at node 130 is subjected to a certain delay d1, d2, . . . , di, . . . , dN. The delay parameters are computed by the side information processing block 123 in FIG. 11 and are derived from the inter-channel time differences as determined by the BCC analysis block 116.
The same is true for the multiplication parameters a1, a2, . . . , ai, . . . , aN, which are also calculated by the side information processing block 123 based on the inter-channel level differences as calculated by the BCC analysis block 116.
The ICC parameters calculated by the BCC analysis block 116 are used for controlling the functionality of block 128 such that certain correlations between the delayed and level-manipulated signals are obtained at the outputs of block 128. It is to be noted here that the ordering of the stages 126, 127, 128 may be different from the case shown in FIG. 12.
It is to be noted here that, in a frame-wise processing of an audio signal, the SCC analysis is performed frame-wise, i.e. time-varying, and also frequency-wise. This means that, for each spectral band, the BCC parameters are obtained. This means that, in case the audio filter bank 125 decomposes the input signal into for example 32 band pass signals, the BCC analysis block obtains a set of BCC parameters for each of the 32 bands. Naturally the BCC synthesis block 122 from FIG. 11, which is shown in detail in FIG. 12, performs a reconstruction which is also based on the 32 bands in the example.
In the following, reference is made to FIG. 13 showing a setup to determine certain BCC parameters. Normally, ICLD, ICTD and ICC parameters can be defined between pairs of channels. However, it is preferred to determine ICLD and ICTD parameters between a reference channel and each other channel. This is illustrated in FIG. 13A. ICC parameters can be defined in different ways. Most generally, one could estimate ICC parameters in the encoder between all possible channel pairs as indicated in FIG. 13B. In this case, a decoder would synthesize ICC such that it is approximately the same as in the original multi-channel signal between all possible channel pairs. It was, however, proposed to estimate only ICC parameters between the strongest two channels at each time. This scheme is illustrated in FIG. 13C, where an example is shown, in which at one time instance, an ICC parameter is estimated between channels 1 and 2, and, at another time instance, an ICC parameter is calculated between channels 1 and 5. The decoder then synthesizes the inter-channel correlation between the strongest channels in the decoder and applies some heuristic rule for computing and synthesizing the inter-channel coherence for the remaining channel pairs.
Regarding the calculation of, for example, the multiplication parameters a1, aN based on transmitted ICLD parameters, reference is made to AES convention paper 5574 cited above. The ICLD parameters represent an energy distribution in an original multi-channel signal. Without loss of generality, it is shown in FIG. 13A that there are four ICLD parameters showing the energy difference between all other channels and the front left channel. In the side information processing block 123, the multiplication parameters a1, . . . , aN are derived from the ICLD parameters such chat the total energy of all reconstructed output channels is the same as (or proportional to) the energy of the transmitted sum signal. A simple way for determining these parameters is a 2-stage process, in which, in a first stage, the multiplication factor for the left front channel is set to unity, while multiplication factors for the other channels in FIG. 13A are set to the transmitted ICLD values. Then, in a second stage, the energy of all five channels is calculated and compared to the energy of the transmitted sum signal. Then, all channels are downscaled using a downscaling factor which is equal for all channels, wherein the downscaling factor is selected such that the total energy of all reconstructed output channels is, after downscaling, equal to the total energy of the transmitted sum signal.
Naturally, there are other methods for calculating the multiplication factors, which do not rely on the 2-stage process but which only need a 1-stage process.
Regarding the delay parameters, it is to be noted that the delay parameters ICTD, which are transmitted from a BCC encoder can be used directly, when the delay parameter d, for the left front channel is set to zero. No resealing has to be done here, since a delay does not alter the energy of the signal.
Regarding the inter-channel coherence measure ICC transmitted from the BCC encoder to the BCC decoder, it is to be noted here that a coherence manipulation can be done by modifying the multiplication factors a1, . . . , an such as by multiplying the weighting factors of all subbands with random numbers with values between 20 log 10(−6) and 20 log 10(6). The pseudo-random sequence is preferably chosen such that the variance is approximately constant for all critical bands, and the average is zero within each critical band. The same sequence is applied to the spectral coefficients for each different frame. Thus, the auditory image width is controlled by modifying the variance of the pseudo-random sequence. A larger variance creates a larger image width.
The variance modification can be performed in individual bands that are critical-band wide. This enables the simultaneous existence of multiple objects in an auditory scene, each object having a different image width. A suitable amplitude distribution for the pseudo-random sequence is a uniform distribution on a logarithmic scale as it is outlined in the U.S. patent application publication 2003/0219130 A1. Nevertheless, all BCC synthesis processing is related to a single input channel transmitted as the sum signal from the BCC encoder to the BCC decoder as shown in FIG.
To transmit the five channels in a compatible way, i.e., in a bitstream format, which is also understandable for a normal stereo decoder, the so-called matrixing technique has been used as described in "MUSICAM surround: a universal multi-channel coding system compatible with ISO 11172-3", G. Theile and G. Stoll, AES preprint 3403, October 1992, San Francisco. The five input channels L, R, C, Ls, and Rs are fed into a matrixing device performing a matrixing operation to calculate the basic or compatible stereo channels Lo, Ro, from the five input channels. In particular, these basic stereo channels Lo/Ro are calculated as set out below:Lo=L+xC+yLsRo=R+xC+yRsx and y are constants. The other three channels C, Ls, Rs are transmitted as they are in an extension layer, in addition to a basic stereo layer, which includes an encoded version of the basic stereo signals Lo/Ro. With respect to the bitstream, this Lo/Ro basic stereo layer includes a header, information such as scale factors and subband samples. The multi-channel extension layer, i.e., the central channel and the two surround channels are included in the multi-channel extension field, which is also called ancillary data field.
At a decoder-side, an inverse matrixing operation is performed in order to form reconstructions of the left and right channels in the five-channel representation using the basic stereo channels Lo, Ro and the three additional channels. Additionally, the three additional channels are decoded from the ancillary information in order to obtain a decoded five-channel or surround representation of the original multi-channel audio signal.
Another approach for multi-channel encoding is described in the publication "Improved MPEG-2 audio multi-channel encoding", B. Grill, J. Herre, K. H. Brandenburg, E. Eberlein, J. Koller, J. Mueller, AES preprint 3865, February 1994, Amsterdam, in which, in order to obtain backward compatibility, backward compatible modes are considered. To this end, a compatibility matrix is used to obtain two so-called downmix channels Lc, Rc from the original five input channels. Furthermore, it is possible to dynamically select the three auxiliary channels transmitted as ancillary data.
In order to exploit stereo irrelevancy, a joint stereo technique is applied to groups of channels, e. g. the three front channels, i.e., for the left channel, the right channel and the center channel. To this end, these three channels are combined to obtain a combined channel. This combined channel is quantized and packed into the bitstream.
Then, this combined channel together with the corresponding joint stereo information is input into a joint stereo decoding module to obtain joint stereo decoded channels, i.e., a joint stereo decoded left channel, a joint stereo decoded right channel and a joint stereo decoded center channel. These joint stereo decoded channels are, together with the left surround channel and the right surround channel input into a compatibility matrix block to form the first and the second downmix channels Lc, Rc. Then, quantized versions of both downmix channels and a quantized version of the combined channel are packed into the bitstream together with joint stereo coding parameters.
Using intensity stereo coding, therefore, a group of independent original channel signals is transmitted within a single portion of "carrier" data. The decoder then reconstructs the involved signals as identical data, which are rescaled according to their original energy-time envelopes. Consequently, a linear combination of the transmitted channels will lead to results, which are quite different from the original downmix. This applies to any kind of joint stereo coding based on the intensity stereo concept. For a coding system providing compatible downmix channels, there is a direct consequence: The reconstruction by dematrixing, as described in the previous publication, suffers from artifacts caused by the imperfect reconstruction. Using a so-called joint stereo predistortion scheme, in which a joint stereo coding of the left, the right and the center channels is performed before matrixing in the encoder, alleviates this problem. In this way, the dematrixing scheme for reconstruction introduces fewer artifacts, since, on the encoder-side, the joint stereo decoded signals have been used for generating the downmix channels. Thus, the imperfect reconstruction process is shifted into the compatible downmix channels Lc and Pc, where it is much more likely to be masked by the audio signal itself.
Although such a system has resulted in fewer artifacts because of dematrixing on the decoder-side, it nevertheless has some drawbacks. A drawback is that the stereo-compatible downmix channels Lc and Rc are derived not from the original channels but from intensity stereo coded/decoded versions of the original channels. Therefore, data losses because of the intensity stereo coding system are included in the compatible downmix channels. Astereo-only decoder, which only decodes the compatible channels rather than the enhancement intensity stereo encoded channels, therefore, provides an output signal, which is affected by intensity stereo induced data losses.
Additionally, a full additional channel has to be transmitted besides the two downmix channels. This channel is the combined channel, which is formed by means of joint stereo coding of the left channel, the right channel and the center channel. Additionally, the intensity stereo information to reconstruct the original channels L, R, C from the combined channel also has to be transmitted to the decoder. At the decoder, an inverse matrixing, i.e., a dematrixing operation is performed to derive the surround channels from the two downmix channels. Additionally, the original left, right and center channels are approximated by joint stereo decoding using the transmitted combined channel and the transmitted joint stereo parameters. It is to be noted that the original left, right and center channels are derived by joint stereo decoding of the combined channel.
It has been found out that in case of intensity stereo techniques, when used in combination with multi-channel signals, only fully coherent output signals which are based on the same base channel can be produced.
In BCC techniques, it is quite expensive to reduce the inter-channel coherence in a reconstructed multi-channel output signal, since a pseudo-random number generator for influencing the weighting sectors is required. Additionally, it has been shown that this kind of processing is problematic in that artifacts because of randomly manipulating multiplication factors or time delay factors can be introduced which can become audible under certain circumstances and, therefore, deteriorate the quality of the reconstructed multi-channel output signal.

Apparatus and method for constructing a multi-channel output signal or for generating a downmix signal

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V.


Glyphosate formulations which are effective even when employed at dosages below the dosage currently recommended for post-emergent herbicidal or plant growth regulant use are described. They are formulated as water solutions or powders or granules of (a) one or more agriculturally acceptable salts of glyphosate, e.g., amine, ammonium, alkali metal, alkylsulfonium, alkylphosphonium, sulfonylamine, and/or aminoguanidine salts of glyphosate; (b) at least one water-soluble long chain aliphatic hydrocarbyl dimethyl amine oxide in which the hydrocarbyl group is a linear or substantially linear saturated or olefinically unsaturated aliphatic group having in the range of about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms; and (c) at least one water-soluble quaternary ammonium halide having in the range of about 8 to about 40 carbon atoms in the molecule.

Glyphosate, N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, is a well-known widely used herbicide. It is generally employed in the form of an agriculturally acceptable salt.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,401 to D. C. Young it is pointed out that although glyphosate is a very active, broad spectrum, systemic, relatively environmentally safe herbicide, its solubility in water at 25.degree. C. is only 1.2 weight percent and many of its homologs and salts are only slightly soluble or are essentially insoluble in water and organic solvents. Thus in practice, formulations of glyphosate salts with other components to enhance its solubility and its effectiveness are typically used.
Over the years a wide variety of substances, including surfactants, have been studied or proposed as adjuvants to enhance the effectiveness of glyphosate. For example, J. W. Kassebaum and H. C. Berk indicate in U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,003, that surfactants are usually employed to enhance the effectiveness of glyphosate when it is applied to the foliage of various plants, and that the most widely used surfactant in commercial compositions is an ethoxylated fatty amine. In addition, they refer to knowledge in the art that a particular surfactant used in an aqueous composition with a herbicide can enhance the effectiveness of the herbicide, whereas other surfactants have very little, if any, beneficial effect. They also note that some surfactants may exhibit antagonistic effects. As an example they cite the work of Wyrill and Burnside, Weed Science, Volume 25, (1977), pages 275-287 wherein, among other things, it was found that the surfactant ETHOQUAD 18/12 was relatively ineffective in enhancing phytotoxicity of glyphosate to hemp dogbane whereas in a separate experiment an analogous compound, ETHOQUAD 18/25, was one of the most effective surfactants tested.
Despite the extensive studies and efforts devoted to improving the performance of glyphosate, a need exists for a way of potentiating the effectiveness of glyphosate salts such as the amine, ammonium, sodium, alkylsulfonium, alkylphosphonium, sulfonylamine, and aminoguanidine salts thereof by means of an environmentally friendly aqueous formulation made from a small number of ingredients, wherein the amounts of each of the components, including the glyphosate, can be kept very small, and wherein the resulting composition provides clearly observable herbicidal action, especially against broadleaf vegetation, in a short period of time after application. It would be particularly desirable if this need could be fulfilled by use of readily available, cost-effective materials while at the same time avoiding the inclusion of polyvalent metal-containing and metalloid-containing components in the formulation.
This invention is deemed to fulfill the foregoing need in an effective and highly efficient manner.

Glyphosate herbicidal and plant growth regulant compositions and their use


A media guidance system for substantially reducing media jamming as the leading (head) end of a web of recording media is directed over the drum surface of an internal drum type laser imagesetter during a media loading procedure. The media guidance system includes a hollow shield, at least one outrigger extending laterally away from the hollow shield, and at least one retractable plate assembly for selectively applying a pressure load against the leading end of the recording media as it approaches the exit aperture of the internal drum.

In a typical internal drum type laser imagesetter, a section of a web of recording media is drawn from a supply roll and subsequently positioned on the surface of a drum shaped media support surface. During an initial loading procedure, the leading end of the recording media is pulled off the supply roll and directed onto the surface of the internal drum, ultimately passing out of the internal drum through an exit aperture. Thereafter, an image scanning system directs a focused, modulated, exposure beam (e.g. scanning laser beam) across the recording media, producing a series of exposed scan lines representing an image to be recorded.
Under optimal conditions, where surface to surface contact is maintained as the recording media is directed over the surface of the internal drum during the initial loading procedure, the leading end of the recording media will usually pass out of the internal drum through the exit aperture without jamming. In practice, however, the leading end of web-fed recording media will commonly lift or curl away from the surface of the internal drum, oftentimes jamming within the drum before successfully passing through the exit aperture. The problem of media curl is even more prevalent when the section of the recording media to be loaded onto the surface of the internal drum is drawn off the end of the supply roll, where the relative curvature of the recording media is the greatest.
Accordingly, it is a specific object of the present invention to significantly reduce media jamming during an initial media loading procedure by maintaining and maximizing surface to surface contact between the recording media and the surface of the internal drum as the leading end of the recording media is passed over the drum surface toward and/or into the exit aperture of the drum.
It is a further object of the present invention to significantly reduce media jamming, lifting and buckling during subsequent media feeding procedures by maintaining surface to surface contact between the recording media and the surface of the internal drum.

Media guidance system for a scanning system


A net tailgate for providing a flexible ventilated tailgate which allows a fifth-wheel trailer to connected to a pickup without having to remove the tailgate. The inventive device includes a foldable frame having a V-shaped cutout, a netting attached to and enclosing the frame, and four securing straps which are attachable to a box of a pickup. A cutout cover is removably attachable about the V-shaped cutout by a plurality of fasteners. The foldable frame provides structural support around the V-shaped cutout thereby preventing the netting from flapping around when the pickup is traveling at high speeds.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ventilated tailgate devices and more specifically it relates to a net tailgate for providing a flexible ventilated tailgate which allows a fifth-wheel trailer to connected to a pickup without having to remove the tailgate.
Conventional net tailgates are constructed from nylon, vinyl or similar fabric. The fabric chosen for the convention net tailgates preferably has flaccid characteristics thereby allowing them to be easily stored when not needed. Further, the flaccid characteristics reduce the chance that the cargo will be damaged if it should come into contact with the tailgate. However, since the conventional net tailgates are flaccid, an central opening for receiving the hitch portion of a fifth-wheeler trailer has not been utilized for obvious reasons. Therefore, there has become a need for a net tailgate which has the desired flaccid characteristics of prior net tailgates and which has a central opening for receiving the hitch portion of the fifth-wheeler trailer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous ventilated tailgate devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,195; U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,367; U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,367; U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,115; U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,312; Design U.S. Pat. No. 344,259; Design U.S. Pat. No. 353,126 to all are illustrative of such prior art.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for providing a flexible ventilated tailgate which allows a fifth-wheel trailer to connected to a pickup without having to remove the tailgate. None of the prior art teaches a ventilated net tailgate which has an opening for receiving a hitch of a fifth-wheeler trailer.
In these respects, the net tailgate according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a flexible ventilated tailgate which allows a fifth-wheel trailer to connected to a pickup without having to remove the tailgate.


The invention is directed to an accumulator device which has an outer housing having an inlet and an outlet, and a U tube contained within the housing. The device also includes a filter which is positioned inside the housing adjacent the inlet. Dryer means in the form of a desiccant are also contained inside the housing. The device is positioned upstream of a compressor and functions to filter unwanted debris which would otherwise enter the compressor and cause potential damage.

The invention relates generally to air conditioning and heat pump systems, and more specifically to an improved accumulator device which is designed to also carry out a filtering and drying function.
A suction accumulator is usually positioned between an evaporator and the compressor in a heat pump or air conditioner. During operation, the suction accumulator receives the combined liquid and vapor from the evaporator via an inlet baffle. Vapor passes on to the compressor via an outlet tube and a metered amount of oil and liquid refrigerant mixture is passed through an orifice to the compressor. When the heat pump or air conditioner is off for an extended period, the refrigerant tends to liquefy within the low side of the system. When the system is turned on, or at low ambient operating conditions, large amounts of liquid refrigerant can return to the compressor. Liquid surges can damage the compressor if the accumulator is not present. The accumulator prevents such liquid surges.
In normal operation, the filter dryer in an air conditioning system is positioned in the liquid line which does not insure that the compressor is protected by debris which enters the system from the line set or door coil. It is only in high risk situations, such as where a compressor has failed, is the filter dryer placed in the suction line of the compressor.
The debris which can pass into the system and through the compressor is from the result of lubricant breakdown, and from slag from solder, oxidized copper from brazing and debris left over from the manufacturing processes and field fabricated tubing. It can therefore be seen that there is a need for a system which can effectively filter out debris prior to it entering the compressor.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved accumulator design which overcomes the problems of the prior art described above.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a more efficient accumulator which accomplishes a plurality of functions.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an accumulator design which eliminates the need for a separate filter dryer in air conditioning, heat pump or refrigeration systems using rotary compressors.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an accumulator which exhibits improved filtering.
The present invention is directed to an improved accumulator which includes a filter component and a dryer component. The combination of a filter member and a dryer member eliminates the requirement for a separate filter and dryer in the system. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the filter component is positioned immediately below the accumulator inlet, and functions to catch all debris entering the system. The dryer component contains a desiccant contained in a porous outer covering or bag, and functions to remove moisture from the refrigerant thus preventing detrimental reactions. This design reduces the system components by combining various functions into one component-the accumulator.


An on-load tap changer of a resistor type includes a selector base plate; a selector mounted on the selector base plate; a diverter switch base plate; a diverter switch mounted on the diverter switch base plate and having a transition resistor; and a common drive shaft which is configured to actuate the selector and the diverter switch.

On-load tap changers of the resistor type are generally constructed in accordance with two alternative basic principles, either as a so-called load selector or as a diverter switch with a selector. DE 10 2013 107 545 A1 describes a load selector which performs selection of the desired new step contact and switching over from the instantaneous current-conducting old step contact to the new step contact in a slide movement under load. In that case, the diverter switch insert, which carries out the transfer and on which the vacuum interrupters, the movable contacts and the resistors are mounted, is rotatably arranged in a sealed oil vessel.
DE 25 29 381 C3 describes an on-load tap changer in which initially the selection is carried out, without load, relatively slowly by a selector and subsequently switching-over as quickly as possible, under load, by a diverter switch. Selector and diverter switch are two physically separate subassemblies. In that case, the diverter switch together with its switch-over resistances and switching contacts is accommodated in a separate and sealed oil vessel. The selector, which consists of a construction of insulating rods held by two cage rings, is arranged below the diverter switch in the transformer housing.
Both the load selector and the diverter switch with selector function according to the resistance fast-switching principle, in accordance with which the circuit current—which flows at the time of switching-over during the intermediate simultaneous contact with the old and new step contacts—is limited by the fact that it is conducted through resistive impedances. The longer the circuit current flows through the impedances, the more these heat up. For this reason, in the case of on-load tap changers of the prior art, the switching over is carried out as quickly as possible with the help of spring energy stores which have been stressed beforehand by a motor drive.


A clock frequency is controlled by determining a cumulative duty cycle according to a ratio of a cumulative time, during an interval, that the clock frequency has a frequency greater than or equal to a design frequency threshold value to a duration of the interval. A frequency of the clock frequency is controlled to be a first frequency value when the cumulative duty cycle is less than a first duty cycle threshold; and controlled to be a second frequency value substantially less than the first frequency value when the cumulative duty cycle is greater than a second duty cycle threshold. The second duty cycle threshold is greater than or equal to the first duty cycle threshold.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Integrated circuits (chips), including Systems-On-a-Chip (SoCs), are operated at high clock speeds to provide increased performance. In an application, a chip may not be controlled to provide maximum performance at all times, and therefore may not operate at the highest achievable clock speed at all times.
Operating at higher clock speeds can have substantial drawbacks. A chip's power consumption when operating at higher frequencies may be higher than when operating at lower frequencies even when the operating voltage is the same. Furthermore, operating at the higher frequency may require operating the chip at a higher operating voltage, which may further increase the chip's power consumption.
Higher power consumption produces higher temperatures on the chip. To prevent the chip temperatures from exceeding a design maximum, better packages and/or better heat sinks may be required, which increases the costs for a device including the chip.
Because of the increased power consumption and heat generated by operating at higher speeds, chips designed to operate at a high design frequency may not continue to operate reliably when the chips is continuously operated at the design frequency for an extended period of time.

Dynamic clock regulation based on duty cycle thresholds


A medical device that includes a plurality of strut members forming a plurality of generally diamond-shaped openings, the plurality of strut member being configured to form an annular shaped structure with the generally diamond-shaped openings extending generally longitudinally relative to a longitudinal axis of the medical device. A plurality of tissue engaging portions are associated with the plurality of struts, with each tissue engaging portion extending towards the longitudinal axis in a deployed configuration.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for engaging tissue and/or closing openings through tissue, and more particularly to devices for closing a puncture in a blood vessel or other body lumen formed during a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure, and to methods for making and using such devices.
2. The Relevant Technology
Catheterization and interventional procedures, such as angioplasty or stenting, generally are performed by inserting a hollow needle through a patient's skin and intervening tissue into the vascular system. A guide wire may then be passed through the needle lumen into the patient's blood vessel accessed by the needle. The needle may be removed, and an introducer sheath may be advanced over the guide wire into the vessel, e.g., in conjunction with or subsequent to a dilator. A catheter or other device may then be advanced through a lumen of the introducer sheath and over the guide wire into a position for performing a medical procedure. Thus, the introducer sheath may facilitate introduction of various devices into the vessel, while minimizing trauma to the vessel wall and/or minimizing blood loss during a procedure.
Upon completion of the procedure, the devices and introducer sheath may be removed, leaving a puncture site in the vessel wall. External pressure may be applied to the puncture site until clotting and wound sealing occur. This procedure, however, may be time consuming and expensive, requiring as much as an hour of a physician's or nurse's time. It is also uncomfortable for the patient, and requires that the patient remain immobilized in the operating room, catheter lab, or holding area. In addition, a risk of hematoma exists from bleeding before hemostasis occurs.
Various apparatus have been suggested for percutaneously sealing a vascular puncture by occluding the puncture site. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,302 and 5,222,974, issued to Kensey et al., describe the use of a biodegradable plug that may be delivered through an introducer sheath into a puncture site. When deployed, the plug may seal the vessel and provide hemostasis. Such devices, however, may be difficult to position properly with respect to the vessel, which may be particularly significant since it is generally undesirable to expose the plug material, e.g., collagen, within the bloodstream, where it may float downstream and risk causing an embolism.
Another technique has been suggested that involves percutaneously suturing the puncture site, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,184, issued to Hathaway et al. Percutaneous suturing devices, however, may require significant skill by the user, and may be mechanically complex and expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,354, issued to Tovey et al., discloses a surgical fastener including an annular base having legs that, in a relaxed state, extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane defined by the base and slightly inwards toward one another. During use, the fastener is fit around the outside of a cannula, thereby deflecting the legs outward. The cannula is placed in an incision, and the fastener is slid along the cannula until the legs pierce into skin tissue. When the cannula is withdrawn, the legs move towards one another back to the relaxed state to close the incision.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,007,921 and 5,026,390, issued to Brown, disclose staples that may be used to close a wound or incision. In one embodiment, an "S" shaped staple is disclosed that includes barbs that may be engaged into tissue on either side of the wound. In another embodiment, a ring-shaped staple is disclosed that includes barbs that project from the ring. Sides of the ring may be squeezed to separate the barbs further, and the barbs may be engaged into tissue on either side of a wound. The sides may then be released, causing the barbs to return closer together, and thereby pulling the tissue closed over the wound. These staples, however, have a large cross-sectional profile and therefore may not be easy to deliver through a percutaneous site to close an opening in a vessel wall.
Accordingly, devices for engaging tissue, e.g., to close a vascular puncture site, would be considered useful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Closure device and methods for making and using them


A power conversion system that has two power conversion apparatuses each including a converter that can control a DC voltage and an inverter and that drives the AC motor by connecting the outputs of the two inverters in parallel is provided. The output voltage of one of the converters is controlled according to the difference between the detection currents detected by the two current detectors for detecting the output currents of the two inverters so that a cross current flowing through the two inverters is suppressed.

As a means for increasing the capacity of a power conversion apparatus, a method of connecting outputs of a plurality of power conversion apparatuses in parallel is known. For example, in a power conversion system in which an AC motor is driven by two power conversion apparatuses, AC outputs of the two power conversion apparatuses are connected via a coupling reactor. In such a parallel multiplexed power conversion system, an output current of each apparatus becomes unbalanced due to the difference in output voltages of the two power conversion apparatuses and the difference in impedance of the coupling reactor and wiring cable. Then, a circulating current called cross flow is generated between two apparatuses. The following method is known as a countermeasure for suppressing this cross current. First, a cross current between two PWM inverters of the power conversion apparatus is detected. Then, a cross current compensation value in the same unit as the common voltage command value of each PWM inverter is obtained. A cross current control unit is provided that adds the cross current compensation value to the voltage command value of one PWM inverter according to the value of the cross current, and subtracts it from the voltage command value of the other PWM inverter. (For example, see Patent Document 1).

Supression of cross current in a plural converter system

Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corporation


A compound represented by formula (IA) or (IIA):

The promising uses of organic electroluminescence (EL) devices as solid light-emission type, low-priced, large-area, full color display devices result in many developments. In general, a light emitting device is composed of a light emitting layer and a pair of counter electrodes between which the light emitting layer intervenes. When an electric field is applied to between both electrodes, electrons are injected from a cathode, and holes are injected from an anode. Further, the electrons and the positive holes are recombined with each other at the light emitting layer to produce an excited state. When this excited state returns to a ground state, energy is released as light, thereby obtaining luminescence.
The conventional light emitting devices have been high in driving voltage, and low in light emitting luminance and light emitting efficiency. Further, they have also been significantly deteriorated in characteristics, so that they have not come in practice. In recent years, a light emitting device in which thin films containing an organic compound having high quantum efficiency and emitting light at a low voltage of 10 V or less are laminated with each other has been reported (Applied Physics Letters, 51, 913 (1987)), and an interest is centered around it. In this device, a metal chelate complex is used as an electron transfer and light emitting material, and laminated with a hole transfer material (amine compound), thereby obtaining green luminescence of high luminance. The luminance reaches thousands of candelas per centimeter square at a voltage of 6–7 V in d.c. However, when considering a practical device, the development of a light emitting device having higher luminance and efficiency has been desired. Further, when considering the utilization thereof as a full color display or a light source, it is practically necessary to give the three primary colors or white. In the above-mentioned device, an aluminum complex of 8-quinolinol (Alq) is used as the light emitting material, so that the light emitting color is green. Accordingly, the development of light emitting materials giving other light emitting colors has been desired. Various light emitting materials emitting colors other than green have hitherto been developed. However, they have the problems of low light emitting luminance and efficiency, and poor durability.
Further, the conventional devices good in color purity and high in light emitting efficiency are ones in which charge transfer materials are doped with fluorescent dyes in slight amounts, and have the problems with regard to the reproducibility of device characteristics from the production point of view, and that the long-term use thereof causes a reduction in luminance and changes in color because of low durability of the dyes. As means for solving the problems, the development of materials having both the charge transfer function and the luminescent function has been desired. However, the materials that have hitherto been developed have the problem that the use of fluorescent dyes at high concentrations leads to a reduction in luminance by association.
On the other hand, organic light emitting devices realizing luminescence of high luminance are devices laminated with organic materials by vapor deposition. The fabrication of the devices by coating is preferred from the viewpoints of simplification of manufacturing processes, processability and enlargement of area. However, the devices fabricated by the conventional coating systems are inferior in light emitting luminance and light emitting efficiency to the devices fabricated by vapor deposition. It has been therefore a great problem to make it possible to emit light of high luminance at high efficiency.
Further, recently, various substances having fluorescence have been used for dyes for filters, color conversion filters, photographic material dyes, sensitizing dyes, dyes for dying pulp, laser dyes, fluorescent drugs for medical diagnoses and materials for light emitting devices have been used, and the demand has increased for them. However, there are not so many compounds high in color purity of blue and strong in fluorescent intensity, so that the development of new materials has been desired.

Materials for light emitting devices consisting of novel compounds and light emitting devices using the same

Abstract: wherein R11, R12 and R13 each represents a hydrogen atom, an aliphatic hydrocarbon group, an aryl group or a heterocyclic group; L1 represents a connecting group; R11 and R12, R11 and L1 and R12 and L1 may each combine with each other to form a ring when possible; R14, R15, R16 and R17 each represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent; and R13 to R17 may each combine with each of R11 to R17 or L1 to form a ring when possible;

Abstract: wherein R13 to R17 and L1 have the same meaning as in formula (IA); Q represents an atomic group necessary for forming a 5-, 6- or 7-membered ring with N; and R13, R14, R15, R16 and R17 may each combine with each of R13 to R17, the connecting group L1 or the atomic group Q to form a ring.


A first pair of single-ended drivers, each having a respective output connected to a first line of a differential channel, are defined to work against each other with respect to driving a first signal on the first line of the differential channel. A second pair of single-ended drivers, each having a respective output connected to a second line of the differential channel, are defined to work against each other with respect to driving a second signal on the second line of the differential channel. Each of the first pair of single-ended drivers and each of the second pair of single-ended drivers is connected to receive a common input signal. A difference between the first signal on the first line of the differential channel and the second signal on the second line of the differential channel defines a differential signal that is representative of the common input signal.

TTL (transistor-transistor logic) signaling is commonly used to communicate data between devices present on a printed circuit board (PCB). For example, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) present on a PCB may use TTL signaling to communicate data to another device present on the PCB. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that TTL signaling has traditionally provided a reliable mechanism for communicating digital data between devices. However, as data transfer requirements continue to increase, limitations associated with TTL signaling become more problematic.
Because rather large amplitude signals are used in TTL signaling, it takes a relatively long time to swing between rail voltages. Also, a high capacitance associated with TTL signals, when combined with a bus structure, causes edges of the TTL signals to be attenuated. Consequently, a maximum frequency of TTL signals traveling through a PCB is limited to less than 200 MHz. Additionally, TTL signals tend to consume large amounts of power at higher frequencies due to the wide signal swing and high capacitance. Therefore, in applications requiring higher bandwidth/higher speed data transmission, the TTL signaling approach can be less than optimal.
When higher bandwidth/higher speed data transmission is needed, a LVDS (low voltage differential signaling) method can be used instead of the TTL signaling method. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, relative to the TTL signaling method, the LVDS method provides faster bit rates, lower power consumption, and better noise performance. Because data transmitted using the LVDS method is represented by a differential voltage between two transmission lines carrying equal and opposite currents, the transmitted data represented by the differential voltage is immune to common-mode noise. Additionally, LVDS lowers voltage swings to about 300 mV. Thus, LVDS differential signals can change state very fast. Furthermore, the low voltage swing of LVDS provides reduced power consumption.
Even though LVDS has certain advantages over TTL signaling, both LVDS and TTL signaling continue to be used for data communication, depending on the particular application. When designing an FPGA to be used in a wide variety of applications, it is necessary to provide both TTL signaling and LVDS capability. Thus, the available FPGA output buffers need to provide a sufficient number of single-ended TTL drivers for TTL signaling and a sufficient number of differential drivers for LVDS. Consequently, to support the wide variety of potential applications, the cost of the FPGA includes the cost of both the TTL drivers and the differential drivers. For FPGA end-users that do not require the full LVDS capability of the FPGA, the included cost of the unused differential drivers is wasted. Similarly, for FPGA end-users that do not require the full TTL signaling capability of the FPGA, the included cost of the unused TTL drivers is wasted.
In view of the foregoing, a solution is needed for providing an FPGA that includes both TTL signaling capability and LVDS capability in a more economical manner.

Apparatus and method for generating differential signal using single-ended drivers


A method and apparatus for testing semiconductor wafers in which certain contact areas of dies not used in the testing and required to be at a predetermined voltage during testing are connected to the predetermined voltage via an integrated circuit in the die.

In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, a semiconductor wafer is divided by scribe lines into a plurality of dies. The dies comprise integrated circuits of identical type and, after appropriate testing to verify operability and reparability of the individual dies, they are sawed from the wafer and are thereafter referred to as chips. Each chip is appropriately packaged to result in the completed semiconductor device.
Each die has a plurality of contact areas, which are typically referred to as pads. In the completed semiconductor device, such pads are connected to leads which are accessible via the device packaging. During electrical testing of the wafer, individual contact areas are contacted by respective testing probes of a probe card. Such probes are typically needle-like elements mounted on a probe card structure, which are aligned with the contact areas before actual contact is made. The needle-like devices penetrate slightly into the contact areas to make electrical contact. There are probe types other than needle-like devices which may be used with various types of pad structures, but the present invention is not dependent on the particular type of contact area or probe which is utilized.
For functional testing, dedicated automated test equipment (henceforth referred to as "IC test system") is connected to the probe card and voltages are applied through the probes to various contact areas of the wafer. Basic chip operation usually requires a minimum of three types of pads: (1) pads through which a global supply voltage VS is applied, (2) pads that are used to control the command logic of the integrated circuit, and (3) pads that are used to supply data bits to and receive data bits from the chip. Those return signals from the wafer also pass through designated probes and are fed back to the electrical tester. The location of test failures is stored in a fail memory so that repairs can be kept track of, and the testing sequence is controlled automatically.
A probe card may be designed so that its probes cover multiple dies in order to maximize the number of dies can be tested at the same time. The degree to which multiple dies can be tested simultaneously is referred to as parallelism. Each probe is ultimately connected to the electrical tester, and corresponds to a channel of the testing system. Since the factors limiting parallelism are the capacity of the fail memory and the number of available testing channels per device under test, it is desirable to maximize the number of channels which are available for testing.
Typically, less than all of the contact areas on the dies are utilized for testing, and it may be a requirement of the test that one or more of the contact areas which is not tested be held at a predetermined voltage value during the test. In accordance with a prior mode of accomplishing this, the predetermined voltage value was obtained through the probe card, and since any probe(s) used for obtaining such value could not be used for testing, a limitation on the number of testing channels resulted.

Method and apparatus for semiconductor testing utilizing dies with integrated circuit


According to one exemplary embodiment, a structure in a semiconductor die comprises a metal pad situated in an interconnect metal layer, where the metal pad comprises copper. The structure further comprises an interlayer dielectric layer situated over the metal pad. The structure further comprises a terminal via defined in the interlayer dielectric layer, where the terminal via is situated on the metal pad. The terminal via extends along only one side of the metal pad. The structure further comprises a terminal metal layer situated on the interlayer dielectric layer and in the terminal via. The structure further comprises a dielectric liner situated on the terminal metal layer, where a bond pad opening is defined in the dielectric liner, and where the bond pad opening exposes a portion of the terminal metal layer. The interlayer dielectric layer is situated between the exposed portion of the terminal metal layer and metal pad.

Semiconductor devices, such as flash memory devices as well as other types of memory devices, continue to increase in device density and speed while decreasing in size and power consumption. However, semiconductor devices, such as flash memory devices, having increased density and speed and decreased size and power consumption also require highly conductive and reliable interconnect lines. Consequently, copper ("Cu") metallization has become more desirable as a replacement for ("Al") based metallizations, since copper has a lower resistance, i.e. it is more conductive, as compared with aluminum. The lower resistance of copper enables signals in the semiconductor device to move faster by decreasing the RC time delay in the device's interconnect lines. Furthermore, since copper has a higher electromigration resistance compare to aluminum, copper interconnect lines can reliably handle higher current densities with thinner lines. However, copper is difficult to use in semiconductor manufacturing, since it, i.e. copper, diffuses very quickly in silicon and can damage active devices if it reaches the active area of the semiconductor die. As a result, copper interconnect lines must be surrounded by a diffusion barrier layer to block undesirable copper diffusion. Also, the particular characteristics of copper, such as copper's ability to readily oxidize, makes bonding to copper much more difficult than bonding to aluminum or gold. As a result, semiconductor manufacturers are challenged to provide effective copper bond pad structures for semiconductor devices, such as flash memory devices, which utilize copper metallization.
In a conventional bond pad structure utilized in copper metallization, a terminal metal structure comprising a layer of aluminum is situated over a diffusion barrier layer, which typically comprises tantalum ("Ta"), is formed over a copper metal pad. The layer of aluminum provides a reliable surface that readily accepts wire bonds, while the diffusion barrier layer effectively prevents copper from migrating to the layer of aluminum. However, during the stress of wire bonding, the diffusion barrier layer may develop cracks, which can allow copper to migrate to the aluminum layer and cause a bonding failure.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a more reliable bond pad structure for semiconductor devices, such as flash memory devices, utilizing copper metallization.

Bond pad structure for copper metallization having increased reliability and method for fabricating same


An implant for placement between vertebrae, with two sidepieces joined together at one end, each of which can be placed against one of the vertebrae, and with a device for vertical distraction of the sidepieces. In the initial position for the distraction, the outside surfaces of the sidepieces that face the vertebrae converge towards the free ends of the sidepieces. This wedge shape of the implant facilitates the insertion of the implant into the intervertebral space.

The invention relates to an implant for placement between vertebrae, with two sidepieces joined together at one end, each of which can be placed against one of the vertebrae, and with a device for vertical distraction of the sidepieces.
Implants of this type are used after diskectomies to join the affected vertebrae. The implant serves primarily as a spacer to fill the intervertebral space previously filled by the disk. Since the implant, which is preferably provided with openings, is subsequently infiltrated by bony tissue, in which it becomes embedded, it also has a joining function. The implant promotes the formation of the bony tissue joining the vertebral bodies.
Implants of the aforementioned type are used principally in regions of the spine in which the facing end surfaces of the vertebral bodies are inclined towards each other. The implant inserted in the intervertebral space is spread, which causes the implant to adapt to the end surfaces of the vertebral bodies that are inclined towards each other.

Spreader implant for placement between vertebrae


A method and system for moving a plant growing container, wherein the method makes use of a system that includes a cultivation track, a conveying track, a lift and a guide assembly. The method includes the initially moving the plant growing container at the first level along a first direction from a first end of the cultivation track onto the lift next to the first end of the cultivation track. From there, the plant growing container is lowered from the first level to the second level onto the conveying track. To reduce blocking of the system, the guide is movable to a third level higher than the first level. Furthermore, the method further includes guiding the plant growing container by means of moving said guide to said third level once the container has been moved onto the lift.

A method according to the preamble is known from NL1036753. A problem of the method using said system is that when a plant growing container is incorrectly positioned on the lift support surface that during lowering towards the conveying position said plant growing container may still tilt and/or rotate such that the plant growing container cannot be conveyed by the conveyor track rendering the transport system blocked by the container in a blocking position. The blocking plant growing container needs to be positioned from the blocking position into the conveying position manually before the transport system can be used again. This requires time in which subsequent work cannot be executed, hence causes substantial damage.

Method and system for moving a plant growing container


A baitcasting reel comprises a handle shaft including a handle, a spool shaft including a spool, a transmission mechanism for transmitting drive between the handle and spool, a clutch mounted in the transmission mechanism, and a clutch control mechanism for operating the clutch. The clutch control mechanism includes a swing arm and a clutch controller. The swing arm has one end thereof supported for pivotal movement about an axis of the handle shaft, and the other end extending beyond the spool shaft. The clutch controller is connected to the other end of the swing arm to be linearly movable between clutch engaging and disengaging positions.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a baitcasting reel having a swing arm type clutch controller.
2. Description of the Related Art
In this type of clutch control structure for a baitcasting reel, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication Kokai No. 1990-29270 for example, the clutch controller is mounted slidably through a slot defined in a peripheral surface of a reel body.
The above prior structure includes a crank device having one end thereof pinned to the clutch controller through the slot and the other end connected to a clutch. The clutch controller is slidable along the peripheral surface of the reel body to swing the crank device for engaging and disengaging the clutch. The clutch controller has a non-circular locus of movement or, even if the locus of movement is circular, its center is displaced from a pivotal axis of the crank device. Consequently, when the clutch controller is in a position to maintain engagement of the clutch, excessive play is present between the clutch controller and reel body. This renders the clutch controller unstable in right and left directions, often with chattering. Conversely, when moving to a position to disengage the clutch, the clutch controller is pressed against the reel body. The prior clutch control structure is far from satisfactory, with the excessive play in the clutch engaging position and the unsmooth movement toward the declutching position or vice versa.

Baitcasting reel having a swing arm type clutch controller


Apparatus and method for optimizing a gain of a disc drive servo circuit, the gain used to control the magnitude of current applied by the servo circuit to a voice coil motor to position a head adjacent tracks of a disc. The servo circuit includes a servo processor which selects an initial value of the gain, and then proceeds to perform a gain convergence operation wherein the head is repeatedly moved across the disc over a number of passes and position error is accumulated during each pass. The accumulated position error is used along with a scale factor to converge the gain from an initial gain value to a final, optimal gain value. The scale factor is variable and is also converged over the successive number of passes from an initial value to a final, nominal value, in order to decrease the time required to obtain the final, optimal gain value.

This invention relates generally to the field of disc drive storage devices, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to improving the operational response of a disc drive servo system by reducing the time required to converge to an optimal gain for use by the servo system to control magnitude of current applied to a voice coil motor of the disc drive to effect head positional control, the rate of convergence of the gain controlled by a variable convergence factor.
Hard disc drives are commonly used as the primary data storage and retrieval devices in modern computer systems. In a typical disc drive, the data are magnetically stored on one or more discs that are rotated at a constant high speed and accessed by a rotary actuator assembly having a plurality of read/write heads that fly adjacent the surfaces of the discs. A read channel and interface circuit are provided to recover previously stored data from the discs to the host computer.
A closed loop digital servo system such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,907 issued Nov. 16, 1993 to Duffy et al., assigned to the assignee of the present invention, is typically used to control the position of the heads relative to tracks on the discs. The tracks are defined from servo information that is written to the surfaces of the discs during manufacturing. The servo system of a disc drive thus utilizes the servo information in the performance of two primary operations: seeking and track following.
Seeking entails the movement of a selected head from an initial track to a destination track. For seeks of a sufficient length, a velocity-control approach is typically employed wherein the velocity of the head is repetitively determined and compared to a velocity profile which defines an optimum velocity trajectory for the head as it moves to the target track. The amount of current applied to an actuator coil varies in proportion to the velocity error, the actuator coil being part of a voice coil motor used to control the position of the head.
Track following entails the continued positioning of a selected head over a corresponding, selected track. A position-control approach is typically employed wherein the relative position of the head with respect to the center of the track is determined and compared to a desired position for the head. The resulting position error is used to control the amount of current that is applied to the actuator coil in order to maintain the head at the desired position relative to the track.
As will be recognized, modern disc drives typically employ an embedded servo scheme wherein the servo information is angularly spaced and interspersed among user data fields (or xe2x80x9csectorsxe2x80x9d) on the surfaces of the discs. However, the sampling rate of the servo information is typically insufficient to provide the gain necessary to maintain the heads within predetermined off track boundaries. Accordingly, a multi-rate observer is deployed to provide estimates of head position, velocity and bias at times when the heads are disposed over the user data fields. Thus, the servo system utilizes position information obtained from the discs to provide the observer with the input required to give estimates for controlling the movement of the heads during seeking and track following. Such observers (or xe2x80x9cestimatorsxe2x80x9d) are well known in the art and are discussed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,976 issued Dec. 17, 1996 to Pham, assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
A continuing trend in the disc drive industry is to provide disc drives with ever increasing data storage and transfer rate capacities. Some disc drives of the current generation have track densities greater than about 7,000 tracks per centimeter (about 18,000 tracks per inch). As track densities continue to increase, it becomes increasingly important to provide servo systems that are capable of accurately positioning the heads during seeks and track following modes of operation. Various gains of the servo system are typically selected to achieve a certain control response for the servo system; however, changes in environmental conditions and other factors tend to affect the characteristics of the servo system during operation.
While efforts in the prior art to adapt the operational characteristics of disc drive servo systems in view of changing environmental conditions have been successful, there is a continual need for improvements whereby servo system performance can be enhanced in view of further advancements in the art, such as continued increases in disc drive track densities.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for optimizing servo gain in a disc drive.
In accordance with preferred embodiments, a disc drive includes a head adjacent a recording surface of a rotatable disc and a voice coil motor which is coupled to the head. A servo circuit applies current to the voice coil motor to controllably position the head with respect to the recording surface, the servo circuit comprising a servo processor which utilizes an internal gain to control a magnitude of the current.
The servo processor optimizes the internal gain by selecting an initial value of gain for the internal gain. Next, a gain convergence operation is performed which comprises repeatedly positioning the head and accumulating position error over a successive number of passes to iteratively converge the internal gain from the initial value of gain to a final value of gain which provides optimal performance by the servo circuit. The gain convergence operation utilizes a scale factor during each of the successive number of passes, with the scale factor also being iteratively converged over the successive number of passes from an initial value to a final, nominal value.
Significantly, by using a large initial value for the scale factor, the gain can be moved quickly from the initial value to near the final value; thereafter, using smaller values for the scale factor allows the gain to quickly and smoothly transition to the final value.
A new value for the scale factor is determined during each successive pass during the gain convergence operation in relation to a combination of a previous value for the scale factor during a previous pass, and a product of a convergence constant and a difference between the nominal value for the scale factor and the previous value for the scale factor. The magnitude of the convergence constant controls the rate of convergence of the scale factor from the initial value to the nominal value, and hence the rate of convergence of the gain from the initial value of gain to the final value of gain.
The final value of gain is a base gain which is further adapted to account for variations in torque capability of the voice coil motor. Preferably, the disc recording surface is divided into a number of concentric zones with each zone comprising a plurality of tracks. The servo processor proceeds to determine a torque capability factor for each zone which is inversely proportional to torque capability of the voice coil motor in each zone.
Next, the servo processor obtains a zone servo gain which is used for each zone in relation to a combination of the base servo gain and the associated torque capability factor, the zone servo gain used to control the magnitude of the current applied to the voice coil motor. Because magnetic flux density of the voice coil motor is typically lower near edges of permanent magnets of the motor and higher near intermediate portions of the magnets, the zone servo gain for zones disposed near innermost and outermost diameters of the recording surface are greater than the zone servo gain for zones disposed near intermediate portions of the recording surface.
Further, the gain convergence operation wherein the head is repetitively moved across the recording surface is preferably characterized as comprising a number of successively performed model reference seeks, which comprise short seeks (typically 100 tracks or less). Each model reference seek utilizes a reference current signal indicative of the current to be applied to the voice coil motor having a shape characterized as a modified one minus cosine waveform.
These and various other features as well as advantages which characterize the present invention will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings.

Servo gain optimization using a variable convergence factor


A packing system for a plurality of articles comprising:                first and second packages;        wherein each of the first and second packages comprises:        a housing comprising a front wall and a rear wall, wherein the rear wall comprises a recessed portion;        an article disposed within the housing, at least a part of the article protruding from the front wall of the housing;        wherein the rear wall comprises a recessed portion, a shape of the recessed portion corresponding to a profile of the at least a part of the article protruding from the front wall,        wherein the front wall of the second package is adjacent to the rear wall of the first package.

Packages for displaying products are well known in the art. Generally, the package comprises a cardboard card attached to a plastic blister into which a product is placed. When the product has an irregular shape, it is difficult for efficient bulk packing of the packages for shipment.
In particular, stacking such irregularly shaped packages one after another in a standing position in a box generally results in unused airspace between adjacent packages. This leads to an increase in transportation costs as more boxes are required to pack a predetermined number of packages. Further the packages are typically not secured and may move freely within the carton and this might potentially damage the cardboard card as well as the product within the package. Filler materials may be used to protect the packages from movement but this increases the amount of packaging material used in making packages.
Published application GB 2 169 585A describe packaging of irregularly shaped articles which are packed in a staggered reverse orientation to reduce the total packaging volume occupied by such articles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,311,845 B1 describe packages which include a retainer for retaining upper packaged articles supported on lower packaged articles.
However, there remains a need to provide a packing system for a plurality of packages which minimizes the amount of packing space and a display package that is cost effective, and easy to manufacture.


The present invention relates to stable water-containing cosmetic or pharmaceutical compositions which comprise a biologically active agent and an enzyme-based oxygen-scavenging antioxidant system. The composition preferably comprises an antioxidant system comprising effective amounts of an oxidase, a substrate for the oxidase, and a peroxidase, and at least one species oxidizable by hydrogen peroxide, such as iodide and/or thiocyanate anions.

In recent times, cosmetics have become developed beyond the concept of mere ornamentation for the face. Consumers now demand more from their makeup than simple color, coverage or moisturizing: it is now preferred that cosmetics provide some benefit to the skin, rather than just decorating it or making it feel softer. This consumer preference has resulted in the frequent use of biologically active ingredients in many cosmetic products. In view of the now well-recognized damaging effects of sun exposure on the skin, particularly favored active components are those which can counteract or prevent those effects. These components include, for example, sunscreens, antioxidants, and anti-wrinkle agents.
One of the primary difficulties in employing actives in a formulation is the potential instability of the active once incorporated. The very reason for their use in the formulation, i.e., their biological activity, means that they are not inert, and are therefore potentially subject to reduction or complete loss of potency if not combined with the proper vehicle. A number of routinely encountered factors can readily inactivate a biologically active compound in a formulation before it even reaches the consumer. Such factors include, for example, oxygen, extreme temperatures, UV light, water, and lipid peroxidases. It is particularly difficult to avoid the effects of oxygen and UV light, which are of course virtually ubiquitous in nature. Although degradation due to water can technically be avoided by anhydrous formulation, a water-containing formula is generally a preferred delivery system, as it provides hydration to the skin. Thus, there continues to be a need for development of a cosmetically acceptable vehicle which can deliver the hydrating benefits of water, yet will protect the actives contained in the vehicle from the degrading effects of environmental factors, including water, which rob them of their biological activity. The present invention provides a solution to this continuing problem.

Stable compositions containing biologically active components