The invention relates to a video camera having a camera housing (30), a first objective (12), through which light from a scene (14) to be picked up is guidable into the camera housing 30, a semiconductor sensor field (28), on which light from the scene (14) to be picked up is able to be cumulated, wherein it further includes: a projection area (16) disposed with respect to the first objective (12) such that light introduced through the first objective (12) is imaged onto the projection area (16), a second objective (26) disposed with respect to the projection area (16) and to the semiconductor sensor field (28) such that light from the projection area (16) is imaged onto the semiconductor sensor field (28). It further relates an adapter for a video camera having an adapter housing (30′), an objective (12), through which light from a scene (14) to be picked up is guidable into the adapter housing (30′), wherein the adapter further includes: a projection area (16) disposed with respect to the objective (12) such that light introduced through the objective (12) is imaged onto the projection area (16), wherein the adapter housing (30′) has means for attaching the adapter to the video camera such that the objective (26) of the video camera is able to be directed onto the projection area (16), so that the image on the projection area (16) can be recorded by the video camera.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video camera including a camera housing, a first objective, through which light from a scene to be picked up is guidable into the camera housing, and a semiconductor sensor field, on which light from the scene to be picked up is able to be cumulated. It further relates to an adapter for a video camera, including an adapter housing and an objective, through which light from a scene to be picked up is guidable into the adapter housing.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
The invention deals with the problem of depth of focus. Since video cameras exist, attempts are made to copy the "look" of a celluloid film picture. For the following three reasons, this fails: firstly, the resolution of film is currently still much higher than that of video. Secondly, the contrast range of film is substantially higher, and thirdly, the depth of focus of a 35 mm film is distinctly lower.
The last-mentioned reason may rather seem like a disadvantage for a layman, but in effect is exactly the opposite for an expert. Low depth of focus is of extraordinary importance especially in making cinema films. However, what is felt as especially "film-like", namely a quickly decreasing depth of focus, is not typical for all of the existing film formats at all. "Super 8" or "16 mm" are—due to the small imaging area—in the worst case well-focused like a video. However, also films on these formats are not yet felt as especially "film-like". The everyday perception of what is "film-like" is characterized by the continuous consumption of materials of the field of the 35 mm film: All of the Hollywood movies, all advertising films, all of the big video clips are still formed exclusively on this format. And this consumption has characterized the perception. For example, a "Tatort" filmed on a 16 mm film, will hardly be perceived as especially "film-like" by anyone. Each layman will note that the "X files" filmed on 35 mm film look somehow otherwise.
As already indicated, the depth of focus is critically influenced by the size of the recording area. A conventional 35 mm film negative is huge compared to the recording chip of a video camera. This size makes it possible that the depth of focus decreases. On the contrary, the video film-maker fails to achieve a desired lack of depth of focus due to the small area of the chip.
With regard to the fact that the resolution and the contrast of video cameras are almost daily improved, the lack of depth of focus is currently the unsolved problem of video cameras. From the company Canon it is known to place photo optics in front of a video camera by means of an adapter. However, this results in the chip being much too small with regard to the film optics, to show only a detail of the projected image. The effect arising thereby is that the focal length of the optics seems to extend. Optics representing a normal objective with respect to cameras, becomes a teleobjective on a video camera.
In order to obtain the same image detail on the small chip of the video camera, which is achieved by a film camera having any optics, unequally much more wide-angled optics have to be used (approximately 7-times). This is possible, however, the achieved lack of depth of focus is thereby lost, since this one is inseparably associated with the actual length of the focal length. Namely, it is true: the smaller the formed image and the shorter the focal length of the optics, which is required for imaging a certain image detail thereon, the larger the depth of focus.
Therefore, the present invention is based on the object of developing a video camera of the initially mentioned type such that achieving low depths of focus is made possible.

Video camera adapter for providing decreased depth of focus


A method of fabricating a thin film transistor (TFT) including the steps of forming a gate conductor on a substrate; depositing a gate dielectric layer over the gate conductor; depositing a layer of amorphous silicon over the gate dielectric layer; treating the exposed surface of the amorphous silicon with a hydrogen plasma; depositing a layer of n+ doped silicon over the treated amorphous silicon surface such that an interface is formed between the amorphous silicon and the n+ doped layer that has relatively low contact resistance; depositing a layer of source/drain metallization over the n+ doped layer; and patterning the source/drain metallization and portions of the underlying n+ doped layer to form source and drain electrodes. The TFT material layers are preferably deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The hydrogen plasma treatment is advantageously used both when vacuum is maintained during the various deposition steps, and when vacuum is broken, for the purposes of patterning the amorphous silicon layer or the like, such that the amorphous silicon layer is passivated with the hydrogen plasma treatment prior to the deposition of the n+ doped layer.

This invention relates generally to the fabrication of semiconductor devices and in particular to field effect transistors such as amorphous silicon thin film transistors (TFTs).
Thin film transistors fabricated from, among other materials, amorphous silicon, are commonly used to control arrays of solid state devices such as photodiodes, liquid crystals, or the like, which form the active parts of displays, facsimile devices, or imagers. Performance of such an array of active devices is typically enhanced by improving response (or switching) time of the TFTs, reducing switching transients and noise, reducing RC response time, and increasing the fill factor (i.e., increasing the portion of the total pixel area taken up by the active device in imager and display devices).
One important factor affecting performance is the contact resistance between conducting and semiconducting layers in the transistor. Contact resistance is one factor which determines the efficiency with which the TFT conducts a signal once the conductive channel in the semiconductor material has been established. Typically, TFTs include a doped semiconductor layer (that is, a layer of semiconductor material doped to exhibit a particular conductivity; typically for the devices discussed herein, this layer is doped to exhibit n+conductivity) disposed between the semiconductor layer and the source and drain electrodes to enhance the electrical contact between those components. It is desirable to reduce contact resistance at the interface between the amorphous silicon semiconductor material and the n+doped silicon. High resistance at this interface can result from degraded surface conditions, such as might be caused by impurities or physical degradation of the surface such as pitting or the like. Improved contact resistance at this interface, however, has numerous beneficial effects on TFT performance, such as making possible the construction of a small device with lower capacitance noise and transients associated with switching, and higher switching speeds.
It is thus desirable to fabricate TFTs through a process that produces a transistor having desirable electrical characteristics, such as low contact resistance between conductive and semiconductive layers. The fabrication process must also produce a device having mechanical characteristics, such as structural integrity and component arrangement, that enable it to exhibit the desired electrical characteristics when put to its intended use. For example, the device must not structurally deteriorate through loss of adhesion between the component layers of the device. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is commonly used for depositing materials to form TFTs. The fabrication process necessarily involves deposition of multiple layers of material over a substrate and patterning portions of these layers to form the desired TFT island structures. The layers of materials should adhere well to one another during and after being exposed to these processing steps. It is desirable that any treatment to enhance structural stability be compatible with PECVD techniques, which require the device to be exposed to elevated temperatures, electric fields, and reduced pressure during the deposition processes.
It has been observed that treatment of portions of semiconductor devices with hydrogen can have advantageous effects. For example, Ihara and Nozaki reported in "Improvement of Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon n-i-p Diode Performance by H.sub.2 Plasma Treatment for i/p Interface", Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 29, pp. L2159-62 (December 1990), that exposing intrinsic silicon to a hydrogen plasma (during the fabrication process of a diode) prior to depositing a p+doped layer resulted in a diode having a slightly lower reverse current and a forward current of about one order of magnitude greater than the comparable currents in a similar device fabricated without the hydrogen plasma treatment. Ihara et al. postulate that the improved electrical performance results from fewer defects along the interface as a consequence of both the physical and chemical interactions of the hydrogen plasma with the intrinsic silicon in which impurities are removed from the surface and the surface is stabilized, making it difficult to oxidize.
It is thus an object of this invention to provide a method of fabricating a thin film transistor that consistently produces a TFT with low contact resistance between the amorphous silicon and n+doped silicon layer regardless of whether vacuum is broken between the deposition of these layers.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a method of fabricating a TFT that exhibits good adhesion between layers of the device.

Method of fabricating a thin film transistor using hydrogen plasma treatment of the intrinsic silicon/doped layer interface


A planetary gear of a differential gear, with a planetary carrier to which planetary wheels are rotatably connected and which are in meshing operative contact with at least one sun wheel, whereby the planetary carrier is connected to a driving wheel, further comprising a roller bearing that is provided with two bearing rings, a bearing inner ring and a bearing outer ring for axial and/or radial position determination of the planetary carrier relative to a fixed housing, wherein a cover is positioned radially between the planetary carrier and the sun wheel.

The planetary carrier can also be referred to as a cage that, in particular, can be designed as a differential cage. The outer bearing ring can also be referred to as the outer bearing shell. The bearing inner ring can also be referred to as the bearing inner shell.
Different planetary gears are already known from the prior art, for example from EP 0156067.
In principle, differential gears for motor vehicles are known from DE 10156890 C1. A differential gear is disclosed for a motor vehicle with a differential housing having a drive sprocket supported in a housing wall, in which a differential bolt is arranged with at least a rotatably mounted differential pinion that engages with a drive gear of a drive shaft mounted in the differential housing. The drive shaft is supported by at least a first bearing in the housing wall of the differential gear and/or the differential housing by means of at least one second bearing for the drive shaft, while the drive shaft has a common bearing bush for the first bearing serving as a shaft bearing of the drive shaft and the housing bearing of the differential housing.
A differential arrangement engaging with bevel gears is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,928.
Furthermore, a gear arrangement that engages with planetary wheels is known from DE 10 2009 017 397 A1. The gear arrangement introduced there relates to a differential gear with a drive-side wheel member, a first drive wheel that is rotatably fixed to a first driven axle, while a second drive wheel is rotatably fixed to a second driven axle, whereby between the said first drive wheel and the said second drive wheel, a gear assembly is provided for transmitting torque from the drive-side wheel member to the first drive wheel and second drive wheel. The first drive wheel member in this case has the form of a first drive wheel with a bulge that is radially spaced from the first drive axle. The second drive member furthermore has the form of a second drive wheel extending radially outwards from the second drive axle. Further, the bulge extends farther away from the second drive wheel. The gear assembly is disposed in a space formed by the protrusion of the first drive wheel and the opposite region of the space formed by the second drive wheel.
Such planetary gears, which are designed as differential gears, can be formed as spur wheel differential gears as they are known, for example, from WO 2010/112366 A1. The spur wheel differential gear arrangement presented there discloses the operational capability in a motor vehicle. In this case, each toothed helical sun wheel, planetary wheel and a hollow wheel are supported by a surrounding housing with bearings, so that the parallel sun wheels are each coupled with parallel drive shafts. It is provided in this publication that frictional surfaces are disposed between the parallel sun wheels and/or between the sun wheels and the surrounding housing.
However, these known planetary gears have the disadvantage that they require a lot of axial space. It is the objective of the present invention to remedy this situation and to create a space-saving, especially axial space-saving improvement, which is both long-lasting and is at least cost-neutral or in a position in the optimal case even to reduce costs. The previous bearings are usually not stable enough.


The present invention relates to a fracturing system for fracturing a formation surrounding a well tubular structure, comprising a tubular part to be mounted as a part of the well tubular structure, the tubular part being made of metal, an expandable sleeve made of metal, the sleeve having a wall thickness and surrounding the tubular part, a fastening means for connecting the sleeve with the tubular part, and an aperture in the tubular part or the fastening means. Furthermore, the invention relates to a fracturing method for fracturing a formation surrounding a well tubular structure.

In a wellbore, the formation is fractured in order to let oil pass into the wellbore and further on to the production casing. When fracturing the formation, it is desirable to obtain fractures extending substantially transversely to the extension of the borehole, and thus the casing. However, these fractures commonly extend substantially along the casing due to the natural layers in the formation.
Fractures extending perpendicularly to the casing extend longer into the formation. In this way, they uncover a larger area of the formation filled with oil containing fluid, which leads to a more optimised production than with longitudinal fractures.


The anchorable umbrella apparatus has a pole having a first section slideably and removably fitted within the second section, a receiver with cam lock disposed atop the first section, an object fitted atop the first section, a pointed tip disposed downwardly on the second section, a visual guide disposed downwardly on the second section, a collar slideably fitted around the pole second section, a plurality of equally spaced apart butterfly bolts radialy and threadably inserted through the collar, a Y end disposed outwardly on each butterfly bolt, a tarp comprising a reinforcement disposed centrally within the tarp, an opening disposed within the reinforcement, and a plurality of spaced apart grommets disposed outwardly within the tarp, each grommet selectively engaged with one of each of the Y ends of one of each of the butterfly bolts.

The need to anchor umbrellas and other such devices against unwanted movement has long been understood as is evidenced by previously presented devices for same. Some devices require carrying some form of weight to add low level mass to the umbrella in order to resist movement caused by wind for example. Other devices require anchors much like those of a tent, such as stakes, screws and other such devices, or even anchors with guy wires. Other like devices require filling and emptying of a vessel. Such vessels are inconvenient, especially in emptying, and also limit what may be used to fill the vessel. Some anchoring devices are added to an existing umbrella assembly in some way, yet device additions inherently limit superior design and function. The present apparatus provides a complete anchorable umbrella and allows easy fill and emptying without a defined vessel, and needs no transportable weight, and thereby provides a truly lightweight and portable apparatus.


A refrigerant air analyzer and purge system for detecting and purging air within a refrigerant system or supply. The analyzer includes a vented test chamber, means for controlling a flow rate of refrigerant and an oxygen sensor. The means for controlling receives refrigerant from the refrigerant supply and provides the refrigerant to the test chamber through an inlet of the test chamber. The means for controlling limits the pressure and flow rate of refrigerant provided to the test chamber. The oxygen sensor is coupled to the test chamber and produces a signal which is a function of the oxygen level within the test chamber. The means for controlling is connected to the oxygen sensor for receiving the oxygen signal and providing a display.

The invention pertains to the identification and purging of air in a refrigerant handling system. More particularly, it pertains to a refrigerant air analyzer and purge system.
Air, or oxygen, is a major contaminant when it exists within a refrigerant system at levels as low as two percent. One major problem arising from air within a refrigerant system is the creation of higher than normal pressure levels within the system. This over-pressure situation over-taxes the system resulting in premature deterioration and failure of system components. Ultimately it also may create or enlarge a leak within the system.
The presence of air within the system can also create a problem due to moisture which is contained within the air. At expansion points within the system, the moisture drops out of the air in the form of ice crystals. The ice crystals collect at the expansion points and either slow or prevent the flow of refrigerant through the system. When the expansion valve warms, it melts the ice crystals and the refrigerant is again allowed to flow through the system unimpeded. However, this process continually repeats itself which causes intermittent cooling and inefficient operation of the system.
Also, refrigerant oil readily absorbs moisture and will pull moisture from the air contained within the system. This causes corrosion or the creation of a sludge which over time plugs strainers, expansion valves and capillary tubes making the system inoperable or less efficient. A need therefore exists to identify the presence of air and purge it from the refrigerant supply.
Additionally, due to the harmful effects of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant upon the ozone layer when it is released into the atmosphere, it is becoming common practice to recover and reuse refrigerant when servicing a system rather than vent it to the atmosphere and replace it with new refrigerant. The harmful effects of refrigerant have also decreased its availability. Recovery and reuse of refrigerant creates the potential for contamination of either a refrigerant supply tank or a refrigerant system if purification means such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,005,369; 5,172,562; 5,231,842; and 5,261,249 are not used. However, these purification means are expensive, bulky, and may needlessly be performed, which increases the cost and the time to service the unit when it may not even be contaminated. Therefore, a need exists to determine whether a source of refrigerant is contaminated with air or oxygen which can then be purged from the refrigerant prior to use.
Another source of contamination can result from the mixture of different types of refrigerants. There are various types of refrigerants such as R12, R22, R134a and R502. Each system is designed to operate with a specific type of refrigerant. When a different refrigerant or combination of refrigerants is introduced into the system, the system will not operate properly. To prevent contamination from other refrigerants, various techniques have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,158,747; 5,295,360; and 5,371,019. These techniques identify the type of refrigerant contained within the system or supply tank, but they do not identify the amount or presence of air within the system or tank or purge the air from the system. Furthermore, their test chambers are enclosed, which necessitates evacuation of the test chamber for cleaning purposes prior to re-use in order to obtain accurate measurements, and makes them more difficult and less portable to use.
A significant obstacle exists in identifying or measuring the presence of air down to low levels, such as two percent, within a refrigerant system or a supply tank. This problem is created due to the excessive pressure that can exist within the system or the supply tank. The pressure, within the system or the supply tank, can reach levels of 500 pounds per square inch (psi) or greater, but a standard oxygen sensor with sufficient sensitivity to measure the destructive low levels of oxygen is only capable of operating up to a pressure level which is significantly less than 500 psi. Therefore, it is necessary to protect the oxygen sensor from excessive pressure levels.
One solution used in evacuation of a refrigerant system is to monitor the pressure level of the refrigerant system and once the pressure level of the system is sufficiently low, to open a solenoid valve. Opening the solenoid value will release refrigerant across another sensor which is more sensitive to lower pressure levels. The more sensitive pressure sensor monitors the pressure level until it meets a minimal threshold level identifying the completion of the evacuation process. This technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,441,330; 4,470,265 and 5,172,562 ('562 patent). These known devices describe a refrigerant recovery or recharging system but do not expose their respective pressure sensors to the refrigerant supply until the pressure level is sufficiently low, around 40 psi as disclosed in the '562 patent. However, attaining a pressure level this low before measuring for oxygen would necessitate nearly emptying the system prior to taking an oxygen measurement. Such a procedure would not only defeat the purpose of analyzing the entire supply, but would create inaccurate measurements that are taken in an inefficient manner to assess the air contamination of the entire system.
A second solution to creating a robust, sensitive sensor, would be to use an advanced oxygen sensor capable of accurate measurements in environments ranging from around 20 psi to over 500 psi. However, this technique would significantly increase the production costs, making the sensor not cost effective. Thus, there exists no known device to accurately detect and purge the presence of air from within a refrigerant system or supply that is self-contained, portable, robust and economically priced.

Refrigerant air analyzer and purge system


A method and system for combining SIP requests with SIP responses is provided. When a server receives a request from a client, a message combining system of the server sends a response to the request that includes the content of a request that the server would normally send to the client in a separate request. The message combining system of the server composes a response as it would normally and adds the content of the subsequent request to the response. The server then sends the combined response and request to the client. When the client receives the response, it retrieves and processes the combined request.

Real-time conversations between conversation participants via their computer systems are becoming increasingly common. Such real-time conversations require that the participants be present at their computer systems (e.g., personal digital assistants) and able to respond when a communication is received. A common form of real-time conversation is provided by instant messaging services. An instant messaging service allows participants to send messages and have them received within a second or two by the other participants in the conversation. The receiving participants can then send responsive messages to the other participants in a similar manner. To be effective, a real-time conversation relies on the participants' becoming aware of, reviewing, and responding to received messages very quickly. This quick response is in contrast to conventional electronic mail systems in which the recipients of electronic mail messages respond to messages at their convenience.
Instant messaging services require a networking protocol to establish and manage communications between participants. These services may use various mechanisms to establish sessions, such as a "session initiation protocol" ("SIP"). SIP is an application-layer control protocol that computer systems can use to discover one another and to establish, modify, and terminate sessions. SIP is an Internet proposed standard. Its specification, "RFC 3261," is available at <http://www.ieff.org/rfc/rfc3261.txt>. A specification for extensions to SIP relating to event notifications, "RFC 3265," is available at <http://www.ieff.org/rfclrfc3265.txt>. Both of these specifications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
A SIP network comprises entities that can participate in a dialog as a client, server, or both. SIP supports four types of entities: user agent, proxy server, redirect server, and registrar. User agents initiate and terminate sessions by exchanging messages with other SIP entities. A user agent can be a user agent client ("UAC"), which is a device that initiates SIP requests, or a user agent server ("UAS"), which is a device that receives SIP requests and responds to such requests. As examples, "IP-telephones," personal digital assistants, and any other type of computing device may be user agents. A device can be a UAC in one dialog and a UAS in another, or may change roles during the dialog. A proxy server is an entity that acts as a server to clients and a client to servers. In so doing, proxy servers intercept, interpret, or forward messages between UACs and UASs. A redirect server accepts a SIP request and generates a response directing the UAC that sent the request to contact an alternate network resource. A registrar is a server that accepts registration information from user agents and informs a location service of the received registration information.
SIP supports two message types: requests, which are sent from a UAC to a UAS, and responses, which are sent from a UAS to a UAC when responding to a request. A SIP message is composed of three parts. The first part of a SIP message is a "request line," which includes fields to indicate a message method (e.g., INVITE) and a request URI that identifies the user or service to which the request is being directed. The second part of a SIP message comprises headers whose values are represented as name-value pairs. The third part of a SIP message is the message's body, which is used to describe the session to be initiated or contain data that relates to the session. Message bodies may appear in requests or responses.
Typical instant messaging services provide a presence service, which can be a SIP registrar, which maintains status information about each user of the instant messaging service. The presence service may also maintain a list of contacts with whom a user frequently communicates. The status information for each user may be represented in the form of a document, called the presence document. An instant messaging user begins using the instant messaging service by registering an endpoint with the presence service. As part of the registration process, the presence service provides the user's contact list to the endpoint. After registration, the endpoint sends periodic updates to the presence service specifying the user's current status, typically by uploading the latest presence document for the user. The endpoint also subscribes to the presence information of each of the user's contacts so that at any time the status of a contact is readily available.
An endpoint typically subscribes to a contact's presence information by sending a SIP SUBSCRIBE request. The SUBSCRIBE request contains headers specifying the contact to subscribe to, the type of event of interest, and the duration of the subscription. For example, an endpoint may subscribe to the presence information of a user's contact by sending a subscribe request to a presence server indicating the contact, an event type of "presence," and a duration of four hours. The presence server will provide the presence information of that contact initially and whenever it changes, but will stop providing the presence information after the duration ends. The server determines the actual duration using the duration specified by the endpoint as a recommendation. A duration value of zero is reserved for unsubscribing to a particular event, while a missing duration header indicates that the server should use a default value. The server includes the actual duration value that it chooses in the "Expires" header of the response to the SUBSCRIBE request. If the subscription was successful, the response sent from the server contains "200 OK." When a subscription's duration has nearly ended, the endpoint may send a new SUBSCRIBE request in order to refresh the subscription and ensure that the server does not terminate the subscription. Until the subscription terminates, the presence server sends to the endpoint NOTIFY requests that contain event-specific data whenever an event of the subscribed type occurs. The endpoint will typically respond to the NOTIFY request with "200 OK." Each NOTIFY request contains a sequence number so that older requests can be distinguished from newer requests and discarded.
In a typical scenario, an endpoint registers with the presence service. The endpoint then sends SUBSCRIBE requests to the presence service for each of the contacts on the user's contact list specifying a non-zero subscription expiration and an event type of "presence." The presence service sends a response to each request indicating success or failure of the subscription. After a successful subscription, the presence service sends to the endpoint a NOTIFY request containing the current presence document of the subscribed-to contact. The endpoint sends a response to each NOTIFY request indicating success or failure of the notification. Therefore, an endpoint and server exchange four messages for each contact to which a user subscribes: a SUBSCRIBE request, SUBSCRIBE response, NOTIFY request, and NOTIFY response.
It is not uncommon for a user to have many contacts, even 100 or more, or for many endpoints to attempt to register with the instant messaging service at the same time. For example, in one system it is common to see a peak in the number of registration requests around 8 a.m. when many people are arriving at work. A server can quickly become overwhelmed by the quantity of messages and bandwidth consumed by many endpoints registering at the same time. For example, if the endpoints of 1,000 users each having 100 contacts attempt to register at about the same time, the server would have to handle 400,000 messages just to support the initial subscriptions. In addition, as later endpoints register, the presence service needs to provide their updated presence information to the subscribing endpoints. Thus, if 99 endpoints have already subscribed to a user's presence information and an endpoint of the user then registers, the presence information system may send a NOTIFY request to each of the 99 subscribing endpoints, resulting in 198 total messages being exchanged. The high volume of messages limits the number of users that an instant messaging service can support.

Combining SIP requests with SIP responses


A method for delivering liquids is disclosed wherein a quantity of the liquid is provided within a cell within a cassette. The cassette is received within a sleeve having an open end. A flap at the open end of the sleeve extends inwardly through the open end between the sleeve and cassette to abut a lip on the cassette and hold the cassette therein. Impingement of the flap pushes the flap away from the lip to allow the cassette to move out of the sleeve. A label mounted within the sleeve rotates between a viewable position where it is visible through a window in the sleeve and a retracted position away from the window. Extraction and reinsertion of the cassette into the sleeve moves the label from the viewable to the nonviewable position.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,876, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a sterilization system in which an agent such a hydrogen peroxide is introduced into a evacuated sterilizing chamber where it is vaporized and allowed to disperse onto the items to be sterilized. After a desired period of time, electrical energy is applied to the chamber to ionize the gas and form a plasma field at a power level sufficient to achieve sterilization.
This system has been successfully commercialized as the STERRAD.RTM. Sterilization system and is available from Advance Sterilization Products, Division of Ethicon, Inc., Irvine, Calif. The system is used in hospitals and other environments where it is operated repeatedly throughout the day by personnel having a widely varying range of understanding of the apparatus. To ensure simple and automatic operation with adequate safeguards with respect to human error, the system employs an automated delivery system for delivering the liquid sterility to the sterilization chamber. Measured portions of the sterility, in this case hydrogen peroxide but many other sterilizing agents could be substituted therefor, are provided in rupturable cells within a rigid cassette housing. A transport system maneuvers the cassette within the Sterrad.RTM. sterilizer and releases the given quantity of hydrogen peroxide into the sterilin chamber automatically. The cassette and operation of the deliver system are more fully described in the Williams et al, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,817,800 issued Apr. 4, 1989; 4,913,196 issued Apr. 3, 1990; 4,938,262 issued Jul. 3, 1990; and 4,941,518 issued Jul. 17, 1990, all of which are incorporated herein by reference In this system, the operator manually grasps the cassette housing and inserts it into the sterilizer. When spent, the cassette is ejected and manually handled by the operator.
This sterilization device with the cassette system offers many advantages. The hydrogen peroxide and plasma kill a wide spectrum of bacteria, viruses, and spores at low temperatures which leave delicate temperature sensitive instruments undamaged. Hydrogen peroxide plasma sterilization meets several environmental and operator safety challenges. After the electromagnetic field producing the plasma is removed, the ionized plasma components recombine to form harmless water and oxygen, avoiding toxic disposal of the sterility used in the sterilization process. Also, the cassette effectively isolates the operator from the hydrogen peroxide contained therein.
One potential hazard arises from small drops of residual hydrogen peroxide which may be left on the exterior of a spent cassette. A sharp hollow needle pierces the cell which is then pressurized to extract the hydrogen peroxide solution through the needle. In some instances, it is possible for a drop of the solution to escape around the needle and thus remain on the cassette exterior after the extraction process. If an operator's skin or clothing were to contact this droplet, damage could result thereto. Also, operators have been known to accidentally insert a spent cassette into the sterilizer in the mistaken belief that it was actually a new cassette filled with sterility. Safety mechanisms in the process such as methods for detecting the presence of sterility during the sterilization cycle and biological indicators assessing the sterilization cycle efficiency. warn operators of potential cycle failures to prevent inadvertent use of non-sterile instruments thereafter. However, failure of a cycle due to use of a spent cassette entails delays and concomitant expenses.
The present cassette and delivery system encase the cassette within a protective sleeve which isolates the cassette from the operator's hands during all aspects of the cassette handling, thus protecting the operator from contact with any of the sterility contained therein. Further, an indicator on the sleeve, preferably a moveable label, indicates when the cassette has been used to prevent inadvertent re-use of a spent cassette.

Liquid sterilant cassette and indicia system

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The present invention provides a novel human polypeptide having phospholipase A.sub.2 activity, referred to as PLA.sub.2 (Ca.sup.-). The invention also provides nucleic acid sequences coding for the novel polypeptide, expression vectors comprising the nucleic acid sequences coding for the novel polypeptide, host cells and cell cultures capable of expressing the novel polypeptide. The present invention further provides antisense oligonucleotides for modulation of expression of the gene coding for the novel polypeptide. Assays for screening test compounds for their ability to inhibit phospholipase A.sub.2 activity are also provided.

Many lipids or lipid-derived products generated by phospholipases acting on phospholipids in membranes have been implicated as mediators and second messengers in signal transduction. Lipid-derived second messengers of signal transduction are typically short-lived lipid metabolites that are synthesized from membrane-derived lipid precursors in response to cell stimulation (e.g., ligand-receptor coupling, electrical stimulation, and elevation in intracellular calcium). The production of lipid-derived second messengers is initiated by the activation of intracellular phospholipases, which liberate metabolites capable of propagating a cell-specific cascade of biochemical events that collectively results in cell activation.
One such lipid second messenger is arachidonic acid which is found esterified in the sn-2 position of membrane phospholipids and can potentially be released by a number of phospholipases, although recent research points to phospholipase A.sub.2 as the major mediator of arachidonic acid release, at least for prostaglandin and leukotriene biosynthesis. The other product of phospholipase A.sub.2 action is lysophospholipid, a class of amphiphilic molecules that contribute to membrane regulation by virtue of their ability to alter membrane physical properties and also serve either as direct precursors of lipid second messengers (e.g., platelet activating factor) or are second messengers in their unmodified form. When the phospholipid is an alkyl ethercontaining phosphatidylcholine, the lysophospholipid upon acetylation forms platelet-activating factor (PAF), another lipid that is a potent cellular mediator.
Arachidonic acid mobilized from intracellular phospholipid storage depots in cellular membranes thus has multiple metabolic fates including: 1) internal oxidation, resulting in the generation of biologically active eicosanoids; 2) transacylation, resulting in the redistribution of arachidonic acid in phospholipid molecular species; 3) thioesterification, resulting in the subsequent reincorporation of released arachidonic acid into lipid metabolic pathways; or 4) secretion into the extracellular space, facilitating cell to cell communication.
Davidson and Dennis (1990) J. Mol. Evol. 31, 228-238 recently compared and aligned all of the known sequences of phospholipase A.sub.2. Low molecular weight phospholipases A.sub.2 sequenced to date are all considered to be secreted and are composed of a single polypeptide chain, about 120 amino acids long, containing 10-14 cysteines, all in disulfide pairs. These cysteines constitute the bulk of the sequence conservation between the mammalian, reptile and insect secreted enzymes. In addition, these phospholipases A.sub.2 require Ca.sup.+2 for activity and contain a conserved Ca.sup.+2 binding loop, whereas the nearby catalytic site contains a histidine/aspartic acid pair conserved throughout. Two human low molecular weight phospholipases A.sub.2 have been sequenced. One is from the pancreas and is similar to the venom phospholipases A.sub.2 of the old-world cobras and kraits, except for the addition of an internal loop of five amino acids and the fact that it is produced as a proenzyme. The other sequenced human low molecular weight phospholipase A.sub.2, originally isolated from platelets and synovial fluid, is similar to the venom phospholipases A.sub.2 of old- and new-world snakes such as the diamondback rattlesnake. These sequences have an extended COOH terminus and a related but distinct disulfide bond pattern. Bee venom phospholipase A.sub.2 shows a highly divergent sequence that is missing an NH.sub.2 -terminal section, but is homologous in other regions.
In order to fully appreciate the activity of phospholipase A.sub.2 and its role in cellular communication and disease, much research has been done on extracellular secreted phospholipases A.sub.2. Although these studies have provided valuable information, the contribution of intracellular phospholipase A.sub.2 has not been well-studied. The single human non-low molecular weight phospholipase A.sub.2 sequenced to date is an 85kD polypeptide which shares limited structural homology with protein kinase C, GAP, and phospholipase C, Clark et al. (1991) Cell 65, 1043-1051 and Sharp et al. (1991) J. Biol. chem. 266, 14850-14853. Other forms of intracellular phospholipase A.sub.2 remain poorly characterized. Thus there continues to be a need for identification and characterization of new phospholipase A.sub.2 enzymes.

cDNA encoding human phospholipase A.sub.2 polypeptide


An image sensor pixel includes a semiconductor layer, a photosensitive region to accumulate photo-generated charge, a floating node, a trench, and an entrenched transfer gate. The photosensitive region and the trench are disposed within the semiconductor layer. The trench extends into the semiconductor layer between the photosensitive region and the floating node and the entrenched transfer gate is disposed within the trench to control transfer of the photo-generated charge from the photosensitive region to the floating node.

Image sensors have become ubiquitous. They are widely used in digital still cameras, cellular phones, security cameras, medical, automobile, and other applications. The technology used to manufacture image sensors, and in particular CMOS image sensors ("CIS"), has continued to advance at great pace. For example, the demands of higher resolution and lower power consumption have encouraged the further miniaturization and integration of the image sensor. Thus, the number of pixels in the pixel array of the image sensor has increased, while the size of each pixel cell has decreased.
Typically each pixel of an image sensor includes a photosensitive element such as a photodiode, and one or more transistors for reading out the signal from the photosensitive element. As pixel cell size decreases, transistors sizes decrease as well. A transfer transistor is commonly used in a pixel with a four-transistor design. The transfer transistor separates the photosensitive element from the rest of the pixel circuitry with the transfer transistor formed between the photosensitive element and a floating node.
In some applications, it is desirable to scale the transfer transistor to have a short gate length in order to achieve greater integration and enhanced pixel fill factor. A short transfer gate length may increase the likelihood of punch-through between the photosensitive element and the floating node. Punch-through occurs when the channel beneath the transfer transistor is depleted and the depletion region surrounding the drain extends through the channel to the source forming a single contiguous depletion region—a detrimental occurrence. On the other hand, a longer transfer gate length may reduce the occurrence of punch-through in conventional pixels, which use an N+ polysilicon transfer gate formed on a flat oxide/silicon substrate. However, a longer transfer gate length may cause problems such as image lag, low sensitivity, and low full well capacity.


Flow multiplier systems for aircraft are described herein. A flow multiplier system includes a turbo-compressor having a compressor, a turbine, and a drive shaft coupled between the compressor and the turbine. A compressor outlet of the compressor is fluidly coupled to an ejector in a gas turbine engine. The system also includes a supply line fluidly coupling a compressed air tank and a turbine inlet and a valve coupled to the supply line. The system includes a controller configured to, based on an input signal requesting to increase output power of the gas turbine engine, send a command signal to open the valve to enable a flow of pressurized air from the compressed air tank to the turbine inlet. The turbine drives the compressor to create high pressure air at the compressor outlet, which is provided into the gas turbine engine to increase the output power.

Aircraft typically include one or more engines to produce thrust. There are many different types or arrangements of engines, such as turbofan engines, turboprop engines, etc. These engines include a propulsor, such as a fan or propeller, for producing thrust and an engine core, such as a gas turbine engine, that drives the propulsor. While effective for certain flight conditions, these engines are typically limited in the altitude at which they can operate. In particular, because of the reduced air pressure at higher altitudes, the engines are only capable of climbing to certain altitudes.
Further, known aircraft generally include one or more system(s) that utilize high pressure air. The high pressure air is bled from the engines of the aircraft. This reduces the efficiency of the engines and also requires larger, heavier engines to support the demands of the aircraft system(s).


The invention relates to a removal system for a portable container and comprises an immersion pipe that is mounted in a bung unit that is held in an opening of the container. Furthermore, the removal system includes an extraction head that can be fastened to the immersion pipe. A switch that generates a switching signal whose switching states indicate whether the extraction head is fastened in a target position on the immersion pipe or not is provided in or on the extraction head.

The invention relates to a removal system in accordance with the preamble of claim 1.
A removal system of that type is known from EP 0 977 702 B1. This removal system serves to fill and empty containers, especially barrels, that are filled with liquid chemicals. The removal system is comprised of a container closure. This container closure is generally inserted into a container opening seating a bung head. The container closure itself has an immersion pipe, capable of being connected to the bung head, via which liquids stored in the container can be removed and via which liquids can be fed into the container. Furthermore, the container closure has an extraction connector element that is typically designed in the form of an extraction head and that can be connected to the bung head.
A fluid is then removed from the container via the extraction connector element or, if applicable, a fluid is also fed in. A pump is connected via the extraction connector element here to carry out the removal or supply of a fluid.
The liquids stored in the containers typically involve special liquid chemicals.
A high level of purity is required, for one thing, for these special chemicals, meaning that contaminants have to be kept away from these chemicals. Moreover, these special chemicals could involve hazardous substances, so an uncontrolled leak of a fluid has to be avoided for that reason alone.


Disclosed is an aggregate recycling apparatus having an air circulation type foreign substance and fine particle separation means which directs a blast of air, circulated in a dry state, toward waste having passed through a crushing process immediately after the crushing of the waste and removes fine particles and foreign substances using a cyclone, thereby removing dust generated in the course of separating and screening the waste, and a method thereof. The aggregate recycling apparatus includes a crushing device for crushing waste, an air circulation type fine particle and foreign substance separation device for directing re-circulated air to crushed products received from the crushing device, scattering fine particles and foreign substances and collecting dust in a cyclone, an air conveyor for conveying crushed products deprived of the fine particles and foreign substances, and a double vibration screen for screening the crushed products received from the air conveyor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aggregate recycling apparatus having an air circulation type foreign substance and fine particle separation means which separates foreign substances and fine particles immediately after crushing construction waste to decrease the amount of dust raised during the screening and separation of crushed products and to allow aggregate to be continuously recovered from construction waste, and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional art for recycling construction waste, an aggregate recycling apparatus comprises a primary crusher (a jaw crusher), a secondary crusher (a double jaw or cone crusher), a tertiary crusher (a cone or vertical impact crusher), a screen for screening crushed construction waste by size, a dry or wet type separation device for separating foreign substances from the crushed construction waste, a steel separator, and so forth. The gravel and sand obtained by processing the construction waste are washed with water to produce recycled gravel and sand.
However, serious ill effects result from noise and dust generated in the course of producing recycled aggregate. Also, in order to purify turbid water and use it as clean water, a turbid water treatment facility having a predetermined size is needed.
The turbid water treatment facility comprises various devices such as a filter press, a classifier, a rock washer, a water tank, various pumps, and so forth. In order to allow the purification of a large amount of turbid water using a water tank having a small size, a flocculant is required. This flocculant is a kind of chemical and essentially consists of an acid constituent. Therefore, when the flocculant is released in the form of being included in slurry and is buried so as to be mixed with the earth, it pollutes the earth. In this case, the degree of pollution may be more serious than the case in which construction waste is directly buried in the earth.
In order to produce gravel by recycling the construction waste through a series of processes, an initial investment of several billions is required, and a substantial maintenance and repair cost is also incurred.
Also, in the case of various dry type construction waste processing facilities, recycled gravel is produced by obtaining gravel through a crushing process, a screening process and a foreign substance separation process, which are similar to those adopted in the above-described facility, and then by removing fine particles using an air type (dry type) cyclone.
In this dry type method, a huge amount of dust is generated in the course of processing the construction waste (in several tens of processes).
If a water spraying device is installed to prevent dust from being raised, it is difficult to remove fine particles in the course of removing fine particles using the dry type cyclone.

Aggregate recycling apparatus having air circulation type foreign substance and fine particle separation means, and method thereof


The present invention relates to a hormonal contraceptive including 21 to 25 hormone-containing daily units, which contain a combination of ethinyloestradiol in an amount of ≧25 μg and chlormadinone acetate in an amount of ≧5 mg, and optionally 7 to 3 hormone-free daily units for oral administration to women.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hormonal contraceptive consisting of 21 to 25 hormone-containing daily units containing a combination of ethinyloestradiol in amount less than or equal to 25 μg and chlormadinone acetate in amounts of less than or equal to 5 mg, and optionally 7 to 3 daily units for oral administration to women.
In contraceptives, a combination of an oestrogen and a gestagen is conventionally administered per daily unit, wherein the amount of oestrogen should be kept as low as possible.
For all women, but in particular for women over 35 and in particular for women in the pre- and perimenopause, a hormonal contraceptive with the lowest possible amount of oestrogen is desirable, since from the age of 35 women have a greater risk of suffering complications caused by oestrogen-containing contraceptives, such as heart attack, stroke and lower limb thrombosis, followed by pulmonary embolisms.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
It is already known from the prior art to use a combination of 30 μg of ethinyloestradiol and 2 mg of chlormadinone acetate for contraception and optionally for simultaneous treatment of acne. There is additionally a need to reduce still further the amount of ethinyloestradiol, which is combined with chlormadinone acetate, provided that reliable contraceptive action is nevertheless still guaranteed.
Furthermore, the contraceptive action of combined preparations of 15 μg of ethinyloestradiol and 60 μg of gestodene, which are administered for 24 days per cycle, is already known (Sullivan et al, Fertility and Sterility 72 (1999) 115-120; Gestodene Study Group 322, The European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care 4 (Suppl. 2) (1999) 9-15). However, gestodene does not ensure the advantageous properties of chlormadinone acetate.
Further combined preparations for hormonal contraception and for simultaneous treatment of complaints in the pre- and perimenopause are known from EP 0 398 460 and EP 0 253 607; these do not contain any chlormadinone acetate as the gestagen, however.

Hormonal contraceptive containing a combination of ethinyloestradiol and chlormadinone acetate


A projection x-ray imaging system that possibly utilizes a laboratory-based micro-focused x-ray source is disclosed. Techniques for optimizing the system for high quality, three dimensional image formation with tomographic imaging with the potential for high resolution and high throughput are described. It also concerns ways to optimize the system design to obtain improved image quality.

The ability of x rays to penetrate through material has been exploited extensively, such as in non-invasive and non-destructive imaging in medical and industrial applications.
For example, a number of manufacturers have developed imaging tools for failure analysis of integrated circuit (IC) packaging that take advantage of the penetrating power of hard x rays with tens to hundreds of kilo electron-Volts (keV) energy. These x-ray inspection tools typically provide resolutions on the order of tens of micrometers. This is sufficient for inspecting most large features in IC packages. They provide sample mounting mechanisms and multi-axis motion control to allow the operator to translate, zoom, and tilt the sample with a joystick while observing the image in real time are widely deployed in packaging failure analysis (FA) labs.
Often, these tools are arranged in a relatively simple projection geometry, in which the radiation produced by an x-ray source is allowed to penetrate the sample, and the transmitted radiation is collected by the detector. With this setup, the geometrical magnification of the system is:
                              M          =                                                    L                s                            +                              L                d                                                    L              s                                      ,                            (        1        )
where, Ls is the source to sample distance and the Ld is the sample to detector distance. As a result, the achievable resolution of these systems can be derived, being roughly:
                              δ          ≥                                                    M                -                1                            M                                    s                          ,                            (        2        )
where s is the size of the x-ray source spot.
From this relationship, in order to achieve high resolution, one should make M as close to 1 as possible. In the limit where M=1, the sample plane overlaps the detector plane, which is the geometry for a contact printing mode.
Contact printing, however, requires a detector with high enough resolution to sample the contact, non-magnified image. Thus, the detector resolution must be on par with the sample features. Such high resolution detectors, however, tend to have low efficiencies, usually around 10% for x-ray energies above 100 keV.
In alternative imaging mode is to increase the geometric magnification so that the features in the sample are magnified sufficiently such that they can then be sampled with a detector with a more coarse resolution. The advantage is that these detectors tend to have much higher efficiencies.
In this projection mode, M>1, the resolution is often constrained to about the source size. Thus, high resolution requires a source with very small spot size, which tends to produce weaker x ray beams.

X-ray micro-tomography system optimized for high resolution, throughput, image quality


Devices and methods for lessening a thermal dependence of gain profile of an optical amplifier are disclosed. An optical beam is split in two sub-beams with a thermally variable power splitting ratio. One sub-beam travels a longer optical path length than the other. When the two sub-beams are recombined, they interfere with each other, causing the throughput to be wavelength dependent. An amplitude of this wavelength dependence is thermally variable due to the thermally variable power splitting ratio. The thermally variable power splitting ratio and the optical path length difference are selected so as to offset a thermal variation of a spectral gain profile of an optical amplifier.

In a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical transmission system, optical signals at different wavelengths are encoded with digital streams of information. These "wavelength channels" are combined together and transmitted through a series of spans of optical fiber. At a receiver end of a transmission link, the wavelength channels are separated, and each wavelength channel is individually detected.
While propagating through an optical fiber, light becomes attenuated. Yet some minimal level of optical power is required at the receiver end to decode information that has been encoded at the transmitter end. To boost optical signals propagating in an optical fiber, optical amplifiers are deployed throughout the transmission link. Optical amplifiers extend a maximum length of the link, in some instances, from a few hundred kilometers to several thousand kilometers, by amplifying optical signals to power levels close to the original levels of optical power.
A spectral gain profile is an important characteristic of an optical amplifier. It is desired to have a flat spectral gain profile, so that all wavelength channels are amplified similarly. Since an inherent gain profile of most optical amplifiers is not flat, gain flattening optical filters (GFFs) are often employed which attenuate gain peak or peaks of an optical amplifier, typically achieving a spectral flatness of approximately ±0.5 dB. However, the gain profile of many amplifiers, particularly an erbium doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), is dependent on temperature, so a good spectral flatness is only achievable in a narrow temperature range. To keep the gain profile flat at a wide range of ambient temperatures, the thermal dependence of an optical amplifier gain needs to be reduced or externally compensated.
One method to reduce thermally induced EDFA gain variations is to thermally stabilize the active optical fiber of EDFA, that is, the erbium doped fiber (EDF). By way of example, Pelard et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,535,329 disclose stabilizing a spool of EDF by heating the EDF spool to an elevated temperature and providing an optical feedback loop by measuring optical spectrum of optical signal amplified by the EDFA. Referring to FIG. 1, a Pelard apparatus 10 includes an EDF spool 33 in a package 30, an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) 35, a computer 37, and a heating element 39. In operation, a portion of an output optical signal amplified in the EDF spool 33 is coupled to the OSA 35, which measures a spectrum of the amplified optical signal to obtain a "gain shape". The computer 37 evaluates the spectral flatness of the gain shape, and provides a feedback control signal for the heating element 39 to heat the package 30, so as to preserve the spectral flatness.
Similarly, Flintham et al. in European Patent Application EP 1,246,322 disclose heating an EDF spool to reduce a gain deviation of an EDFA. Detrimentally, heating EDF to elevated temperatures may consume large amounts of energy and requires an extra space for thermal insulation of the EDF spool.
Chen et al. in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0109907 disclose a dynamic compensator of thermally induced EDF gain variation including a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) having a thermally sensitive overcladding. When temperature of the FBG is tuned, an amplitude of the Bragg grating reflection peak changes. By properly selecting a spectral shape of the transmission peak in relation to the EDF gain profile, a certain degree of thermal stabilization of EDFA gain profile may be achieved. Unfortunately, FBG-based gain stabilizers are rather expensive, and require sophisticated active control.

Reducing thermal dependence of amplifier gain


A semiconductor device for detecting radiation includes a plurality of quantum well layers, each of which has bound ground and excited states, interleaved with a plurality of superlattice barrier layers, each of which has a miniband of energy states. By selection of the thicknesses and compositions of the layers, the excited states of the quantum wells have energies that are approximately equal to energies of states in the minibands. Thus, the excited states and minibands form a band of energy states that is substantially continuous across the pluralities of layers. Carriers are excited from the quantum wells' ground states to the excited states by photon absorption and are swept into and through the minibands by an externally applied electric field. The carriers are collected as photocurrent. The excited states may be selectively positioned in the minibands to tailor the properties of the devices, which can have both n-type and p-type dopants. Devices that respond to more than one wavelength band are also disclosed.

The present invention is directed to a semiconductor electromagnetic detector and a method of detecting electromagnetic radiation, and is directed particularly to a semiconductor infrared detector having doped quantum wells separated by finite-period superlattices.
Detection of electromagnetic radiation in the medium wavelength infrared (MWIR) band (wavelengths from 3-5 micrometers (.mu.m)) can be accomplished with several materials, e.g., indium antimonide (InSb). On the other hand, there is only one common detector for the long wavelength infrared (LWIR) band (wavelengths from 8-12 .mu.m): the narrow-band-gap semiconductor mercury cadmium telluride (HgCdTe).
Many problems with respect to the uniformity of optical and electrical properties and mechanical stability are associated with HgCdTe. As a result, routine fabrication of large HgCdTe detector arrays is not possible. In addition, detectors that are sensitive to more than one band of wavelengths at the same time (sometimes called "two-color" detectors) are not readily available.
Recently, semiconductor structures that have dimensions small enough to make quantum mechanical effects important have been described in the literature, e.g., M. Sundaram et al., "New Quantum Structures", Science vol. 254, pp. 1326-1335 (Nov. 29, 1991). Conventional quantum well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs) respond to thermal radiation with an increase in electrical conductivity that results from internal photoemission of charged carriers from energy states confined in quantum wells. Typical materials used for conventional QWIPs are III-V compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide and aluminum gallium arsenide. A typical QWIP is a stack of layers in which the layers' materials and widths are carefully selected to achieve a desired distribution of energy states for the device's electrons. See, e.g., B. Levine et al., "New 10 .mu.m Infrared Detector Using Intersubband Absorption in Resonant Tunneling GaAlAs Superlattices", Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 50, pp. 1092-1094 (Apr. 20, 1987).
An example of the energy states in a conventional, unbiased QWIP such as that described in the Levine et al. paper is illustrated in FIG. 1(a). Such a conventional QWIP is described in. General aspects of superlattices, which typically are structures of thin alternating layers of two materials having different electronic properties, are described in G. Dohler, "Solid-State Superlattices", Scientific American vol. 249, pp. 144-151 (November 1983). It will be understood that superlattices, as well as the other structures described in this application, can be fabricated by a wide variety of methods, e.g., vapor deposition methods such as molecular-beam epitaxy and electrochemical deposition methods. See, e.g., J. Switzer et al., "Electrodeposited Ceramic Superlattices", Science vol. 247, pp. 444-445 (Jan. 26, 1990).
Three of the QWIP's quantum wells QW are seen in FIG. 1(a), and the wells have widths and energy depths that are chosen to provide two confirmed states, the ground state and the excited state. The energy separation between the ground state and the excited state is set equal to the energy of the photon to be detected by the QWIP, and generally increases as the width of the layers corresponding to the quantum wells QW decreases. The well layers are doped with electron donor impurities, e.g., silicon, thereby partially filling the lowest energy state with electrons (as indicated in the figure by the dashed lines). Barriers having thicknesses of typically one hundred Angstroms (100 .ANG.) separate the quantum wells QW. In a QWIP consisting of a stack of GaAs wells and Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As barriers, the depth of the wells can be varied over a range of about 500 mili-electron-volts (meV). As noted in the above-cited Sundaram et al. paper, the well depth is proportional to the difference between the bandgaps of the barrier and well layers, and varies almost linearly for 0.0<.times.<0.45.
When a bias is applied to the QWIP as illustrated in FIG. 1(b), the shape of the distribution of energy states changes. Electrons can jump into the excited states upon absorption of photons having the proper energy, and can tunnel through the barriers separating the wells; these electrons are collected as a current. Conventional QWIPs operate at biases corresponding to internal electric fields of 10-30 kV/cm, which are required for efficient extraction of the photogenerated carriers before recombination. Due to the electrons' tunneling from the ground state through the thin barriers, however, the current that flows in the absence of photons (the "dark current") is unacceptably large in the conventional QWIP.
Another type of QWIP is described in B. Levine et al., "High-Detectivity D*=1.0.times.10.sup.10 cm.sqroot.Hz/W GaAs/AlGaAs Multiquantum Well .lambda.=8.3 .mu.m Infrared Detector", Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 53, pp. 296-298 (Jul. 25, 1988). An example of the energy states in such an unbiased QWIP is illustrated in FIG. 2(a). In this QWIP, the widths of the quantum wells QW are chosen so that only the ground state is bound in each well and the excited state is slightly above the barrier in the continuum. In such a QWIP, the barriers between the quantum wells are fairly thick, e.g., approximately 500 .ANG., thereby yielding lower dark current when a bias is applied as illustrated in FIG. 2(b). The carriers can still be collected because photon absorption raises the electrons into the continuum where they can be swept to the QWIP's contacts by the applied electric field before recombination occurs.
Although the QWIP illustrated in FIGS. 2(a)-2(b) has lower dark current than the QWIP illustrated in FIGS. 1(a)-1(b), it has only one bound state in each quantum well. Also, the energies of the first (virtual) excited states must be close to the tops of the barriers because the photon absorption strength (i.e., the probability of photoexcited transitions between states) decreases rapidly as the excited states move further above the barrier. For a given operating wavelength, these requirements can be satisfied by only one combination of well width and barrier height, eliminating any possibility of selecting detector performance by choosing different well widths and barrier compositions.
In addition, the carriers' effective mass must be low if only one bound state is allowed, thereby limiting such a QWIP to n-type dopants; this is disadvantageous because p-type dopants can lead to devices having lower dark currents. Furthermore, the conventional QWIP's spectral bandwidth can be changed over only a very small range due to fundamental properties of optical excitation of confined carriers to continuum states. As a result of these properties, changing the spectral bandwidth requires pushing the excited states deeper into the continuum, but as described above this dramatically reduces the photon absorption strength, or quantum efficiency.
A QWIP theoretically analyzed in D. Coon et al., "Narrow Band Infrared Detection in Multiquantum Well Structures", Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 47, pp. 289-291 (Aug. 1, 1985) has a single quantum well and a barrier consisting of a superlattice. Aspects of the Coon et al. paper are described below, but it is important to note the paper admits that practical multiple-quantum-well detectors are beyond the scope of the model it describes. The superlattice barrier thicknesses and compositions described in the Coon et al. paper (superlattice periods, i.e., the distances between same-material layers, ranging from 114-94 .ANG.) provide a very narrow miniband of states (widths ranging from 6-18 meV, respectively). In addition, the paper describes thicknesses and compositions that position the first excited state of the quantum well in the lowest energy miniband of the superlattice in order to obtain a narrow bandwidth infrared detector that would have low dark current.
The Coon et al. paper suggests that electron transport normal to the plane of the quantum well should occur fairly easily. Nevertheless as described above, a bias is necessary to transport the photoexcited carriers for collection before recombination occurs. Applying even the lowest typical bias to a detector such as that described in the Coon et al. paper would render extraction of the photogenerated carriers extremely difficult and inefficient.
As described in E. Mendez et al., "Stark Localization in GaAs-GaAlAs Superlattices under an Electric Field", Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 60, pp. 2426-2429 (Jun. 6, 1988) and R. Leavitt et al., "Stark Ladders in Strongly Coupled Superlattices and Their Interactions with Embedded Quantum Wells", Phys. Rev. B vol. 41, pp. 5174-5177 (Mar. 15, 1990), for example, miniband states become strongly localized when the potential drop across one superlattice period is comparable to the width of the miniband. The condition for localization of the miniband states to a single superlattice well is the potential drop across one period should be equal to one-half of the miniband width. Even the lowest bias typically necessary to transport carriers out of a QWIP before recombination would completely localize the miniband states of the superlattices in the detector described in the Coon et al. paper.
As a result of such localization, transport of photoexcited carriers in the detector described in the Coon et al. paper could occur only by tunneling between the localized miniband and quantum well states. It will be appreciated that a tunneling transport process cannot be characterized as easy. Moreover, although the paper suggests that remarkably high quantum efficiencies might be achieved, in fact a detector such as that described in the paper would have a very low quantum efficiency because the probability of the carriers' transport through the detector by tunneling is significantly less than the probability of their recombination.
In addition, the Coon et al. paper describes a theoretical treatment that is valid only for miniband widths that are much smaller than the depths of the superlattice potential wells. Thus, much of the latter portion of the paper and even its title are directed to considerations arising out of the narrowband limitation. Such a narrow miniband would result in a detector having an advantageously low dark current, but would introduce other problems. The minibands described in the paper are so narrow that, as the paper acknowledges, it would be a challenge even to position the quantum wells' excited states in resonance with the minibands.
The paper's approximate solutions of Schroedinger's equation are suitable for detectors having minibands that are narrow to reduce dark current, but do not permit accurate performance prediction, i.e., selection of predetermined properties, of biased MBT detectors having wide minibands. In fact, the paper inaccurately suggests that the QWIP's absorption spectrum would have the same width as the miniband and that the absorption strength would be almost constant throughout this width. Thus, it is not surprising that the paper is silent on selectively positioning the excited states within the minibands and the consequent advantageous effects on the absorption spectrum.

Miniband transport quantum well detector


A hybrid actuation device that includes a first plate coupled to a second plate, a shape memory alloy wire coupled to the first plate, and an artificial muscle positioned between the first plate and the second plate. The artificial muscle includes a housing having an electrode region and an expandable fluid region, a first electrode and a second electrode each disposed in the electrode region of the housing and a dielectric fluid disposed within the housing. The expandable fluid region of the housing is positioned apart from a perimeter of the first plate and the second plate.

Current robotic technologies rely on rigid components, such as servomotors to perform tasks, often in a structured environment. This rigidity presents limitations in many robotic applications, caused, at least in part, by the weight-to-power ratio of servomotors and other rigid robotics devices. The field of soft robotics improves on these limitations by using artificial muscles and other soft actuators. Artificial muscles attempt to mimic the versatility, performance, and reliability of a biological muscle. Some artificial muscles rely on fluid-based actuators. For example, certain artificial muscles may introduce fluid into and out of a volume to expand or contract the artificial muscles to perform mechanical work on a load. However, these amount of force that current artificial muscles can exert is limited.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved actuation devices that include artificial muscles is desired.

TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.


Among other things, we describe techniques for implementing a vehicle response to sensor failure. In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods that include receiving information from a plurality of sensors coupled to a vehicle, determining that a level of confidence of the received information from at least one sensor of a first subset of sensors of the plurality of sensors is less than a first threshold, comparing a number of sensors in the first subset of sensors to a second threshold, and adjusting the driving capability of the vehicle to rely on information received from a second subset of sensors of the plurality of sensors, wherein the second subset of sensors excludes the at least one sensor of the first subset of sensors.

Autonomous vehicles have benefits over human-drive vehicles, e.g., reducing road fatalities, traffic congestion, parking congestion, and fuel efficiency. In making driving decisions, typical autonomous vehicle systems take account of objects—such as other vehicles and obstacles—of the surrounding environment that the autonomous vehicle system knows are in the environment of the vehicle by utilizing sensors. These sensors may fail from time-to-time due a wide variety of factors, for example manufacturing defects, end of operational life, tampering, cascading system failure, physical damage, and the like. The loss of one or more sensors may impede the vehicle's ability to operate properly.

Systems and methods for implementing an autonomous vehicle response to sensor failure


A surveillance method, a surveillance apparatus, and a marking module are applied to an active burglarproof system. The surveillance method includes the following steps. Determine whether a first wireless signal related to a marking module is received in a first sensing region, to produce a first determination result. Determine whether the first wireless signal is received in a second sensing region, to produce a second determination result. Selectively generate a warning signal according to the first determination result and the second determination result.

A burglarproof system generally includes a network video recorder (NVR), an alarm bell, and/or an alarm light emitter. Image data is transmitted to video recording equipment after being captured by the network video recorder. The image capturing can performed by full time recording or time scheduling. The object detection can be performed by image moving detection and can be triggered by wired sensors.
However, burglarproof systems nowadays have the following problems. Monitored devices now can not actively notify the burglarproof systems. Alternately, the burglarproof systems cannot determine whether a moving device is a monitored device. As a result, alarms may falsely be triggered, and the occurrence of burglaries can not be forecasted. If a burglary has happened, people could only use video files to check suspects and when the burglary happened. Moreover, the application of active burglarproof systems in the art is limited by a narrow detection space (e.g. a housing space or a business space) such that the active burglarproof systems cannot be applied to wider detection space (e.g. a school or a square).
Therefore, it is required in the art to have an active burglarproof system capable of being applied to a wider detection space, determining objects to be monitored, and supporting an early-warning function and an active alarm function.

Surveillance method, surveillance apparatus, and marking module


An electric service crane has a vertical swivel, a horizontal swivel, a bracket, a service cabinet, a boom and a boom retraction device mounted on a mounting pedestal. The vertical swivel permits the horizontal swivel, bracket, service cabinet, boom and boom retraction device to rotate about the pedestal within an arc to provide electrical service to idle equipment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric service for idle equipment such as locomotives, automobiles, trucks, airplanes, ships and construction equipment. Specifically, an electric service crane is described to provide power to the idle equipment for onboard equipment.
2. Prior Art Statement
When equipment is temporarily idled, onboard electric service is required to keep batteries charged, fuel from gelling and communication equipment active and/or readied for service. Typically, an electric cable is available lying on a base surface such as the ground, wood or steel decking, concrete driveways, docks or gravel paths that must be dragged to the idle equipment and connected to a service port on the idle equipment. Damage to the outer sheathing of the electric cable often occurs from movement across the base surface producing safety related handling hazards as well as frequent replacement of the cable. Therefore, there is a great need for an electric crane that elevates the mating cable connector and the cable above the base surface wherein the crane can easily be moved to position the mating cable connector at the service port on the idle equipment and remain at that position until released. The crane is capable of nearly complete rotation on a pedestal, movement from a vertical position to a near horizontal position and means to return the crane to the vertical position. The crane mount has an electric control cabinet mounted to connect and disconnect the electric service. The mating cable connector is held above the average head height of an individual when the crane is in a vertical position.
An improvement over cables lying upon a base surface is described in U.S. Design Pat. D 676,376 S issued on 19 Feb. 2013 to Yamada, et al. This design copies the typical gasoline pump model. A storage port connected to a looped cable in turn connected to a power providing device. The looped cable is stored on a pair of brackets alongside the power device. Though this improvement ostensibly keeps the cable from being dragged along the base surface, it is well known that many users are not careful in replacing the cable on the brackets and thus damage still occurs. Ergo, there is a great need for an electric service crane that maintains the electric cable above a base surface to protect the cable from damage and that also can provide electric service to many locations within a forty foot radius.
It is known to provide electric service to an airplane wherein the electric cable is located alongside the jetway and moves in concert with the jetway. The cable is reeved on the arms of the scissors extension of the jetway. Though it is convenient that the service connection for airplanes is proximate the nose of the aircraft and thus also proximate the jetway door of the aircraft, the connector and cable move only where the jetway moves and thus is not useable for other idle equipment that is not exactly positioned. It is obvious that the arm does not move with the cable connector when coupling to the airplane. Accordingly, the still exists a great need for an electric service crane that is rotatable about a pedestal and positioned by merely pulling on the connector.
It is also known to provide an automated electric vehicle storage and renting facility that has an automatic induction charging station comprising a robot to couple a charging probe to the vehicle charging port. The robot has a first arm horizontally rotatable on its upper surface, a second arm horizontally rotatably attached to one end of the first arm and the charging probe horizontally rotatably attached to the free end of the second arm. The robot arms may also be moved vertically thus giving with X, Y, Z axis motions. Finding the positioning of the vehicle is accomplished radio frequency communication with the vehicle. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 6,157,162 issued on 5 Dec. 2000 to Hayashi, et al. No manual effort is needed to position the charging probe of the charging operation but the charging mechanism is costly to install, maintain and operate. Additionally, the reach of the probe is limited by the short arms and longer arms would be difficult to position easily. Therefore, the great need for a simple manually positionable electric crane still exists wherein the crane is rotatably mounted on a pedestal and is manually lowered into position by grasping and pulling on the electric connector, the electric connector attached to an elongated cable pending from the crane.
It is further known to provide an indoor automatic induction charging station comprising a probe coupled to a charging port on a vehicle by translating the probe vertically and horizontally along a vertical plane to position the probe in alignment with the charging port on the vehicle. The probe is then axially moved perpendicular to the plane into the charging port. Locating the probe in position is accomplished by photo electric detectors receiving a signal from the vehicle. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,500 issued on 8 Jul. 1997 to David T. Wilson. As with Hayashi, et al., no manual effort is needed to position the charging probe of the charging operation but this charging mechanism is also costly to install, maintain and operate. To make the device large enough to service locomotives, large off road equipment or ships would require great capital outlay and require significant maintenance in these harsher environments. Therefore, the great need for a simple manually positionable electric crane still exists wherein the crane is rotatably mounted on a pedestal and is manually lowered into position by grasping and pulling on the electric connector thus tipping the crane toward the operator, wherein a proof circuit is included to ensure that proper electric connection is made between the service port on the idle equipment and the mating cable connector.
Likewise, it is known to provide a system of providing power to electric vehicles has a plurality of docking stations controlled by an electronic coordinator through the internet. The docking stations have a jointed probe for X, Y, Z motions that is terminated with a coupling device. The coupling may be physical, magnetic or optic, the latter two transmitting power by induction. Power to the system comes from the grid but the controller may provide power from connected EV's to the grid if needed. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 8,473,131 B2 issued on 25 Jun. 2013 to Kevin Walter Leary. The device is similar to Hayashi, et al., except that the articulated arms move in vertical planes as opposed to horizontal planes and thus has the same limitations of reach of the probe because of the necessarily short arms. It is therefore obvious that the need for a simple manually operated electric service crane with significant reach is still needed. Specifically, the electric service crane is located in limited space yet still has a long reach to be able to service idle equipment within a forty foot radius.
Further known is a system wherein a capacitor is charged at each vehicle station by local power. When a vehicle such as a bus stops at the station, power is transferred to the vehicle by induction or physical contact and stored in a second capacitor on the vehicle. A battery is also kept charged as excess power as the on board capacitor flows through to the battery. The on board battery and/or capacitor of the vehicle may also charge by regenerative braking Transfer of power is completed in 5 to 25 seconds at 400-800 volts and 500 amps. The vehicle usually charges at each station and receives enough power to get to the next station. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 8,400,106 B2 issued on 19 Mar. 2013 to Midrouillet, et al. Though useful for short term usage such as getting to the next charging station, this device would not work well for auxiliary power for idle equipment as a continuous source of energy is needed. Accordingly, the need for a simple, manually operated electric service crane is still present. More specifically, an electric crane capable of reaching idle equipment within forty feet with a manually connected connector is greatly needed.
A charging shelter is provided with a plurality of cable reels for providing charging power to vehicles. Solar power is the primary source for the charging shelter. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 8,143,841 issued on 27 Mar. 2012 to David J. Gochenaur. The vehicle requiring power must be at the position of the cable reel as the cable on the reel is relatively short. Furthermore, the cable on the cable reel is limited by the small cable reels as the cable must be small in diameter to reel easily. Consequently, there is a significant need for a simple electric service crane that can be tipped from a vertical position to a desired angle, held in that position by an arresting device, rotated about a pedestal to position an electric service connector proximate a service port on an idle vehicle.
It is now known to charge an electric vehicle by wheeled probes extending from a ceiling of a garage or the like. The top of the vehicle has contacts on the roof surface to receive the wheeled probes. A switch may be provided in the vehicle for stopping the charging operation. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,802 issued on 19 Jun. 1979 to William R. Rose II. Alignment of the vehicle to the charging station is critical and thus the process of charging is limited to a single location so a substantial need exists for a charging location that can provide electric service to any one of multiple idle vehicles within a forty foot radius of a charging pedestal wherein the pedestal carries a long arm crane with a long electric cable pending from the tip of the crane arm.
Applicants are aware of methods to provide electric service to electric vehicles with a design similar to a typical gasoline pump. A storage port is connected to a looped cable in turn connected to a power providing device. The looped cable is stored on a pair of brackets alongside the power device. For instance see the U.S. Design Pat. D 676,376 S issued on 19 Feb. 2013 to Yamada, et al. Dragging the cable over the base surface is still present with this apparatus as nothing supports the cable above the base surface. Accordingly, there is still a great need for an electric service boom that supports the connector above a base surface while still providing sufficient reach to service any one of many vehicles from a single port disposed between two vehicle paths wherein the electrical service boom is returned to an upright vertical position upon actuation of a release mechanism.
Finally, it is known to provide a fueling crane for fueling locomotives at a fueling station alongside an active track. For instance, see the U.S. Pat. No. 6,732,770 issued on 11 May 2004 and 6,948,538 B1 issued on 27 Sep. 2005 issued to Nusbaumer, et al. Fuel is pumped through an upright attached to a base, through a rotary coupling to permit the fuel crane to rotate relative to the base, through a second rotary coupling allowing the articulated boom of the fueling crane to pivot downwardly, through the articulated boom to a nozzle disposed at the end of the articulated boom. Multiple seals are required to prevent fuel from escaping at every moving joint. The articulated boom has means to return the boom to the upright position but retains a tension on the boom while the nozzle is locked to a locomotive fuel tank. Therefore, there is a need for an electric service crane that retains a given position once deployed without putting a tension on the electric service cable or its connector. Additionally, the need for an electric service crane that elevates the electric service cable above the ground surface is still present.

Electric service crane for idle equipment


Within a memory 2 comprising an array 4 of bit cells 6 write driver circuitry 14 uses a boosted write signal which is boosted to a lower than normal level during a write operation. Column select transistors 16 are driven by column select circuitry 12. The column select signal is boosted to a lower than normal level when a column is unselected and to higher than a normal level when a column is selected. Voltage boost circuitry, such as charge pumps 20, 22 are employed within the column select circuitry 12 to achieve these boosted levels for the columns select signal.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of memory circuitry. More particularly, this invention relates to memory circuitry using write assist boost to facilitate write operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide memory circuitry including write driver circuitry for generating a write signal used to perform a write operation to a selected column of bit cells within an array of bit cells. The column to be written is selected using a column select transistor controlled by a column select signal. The array of bits cells may be supplied with power via power supply rails at a ground level (Vss) and a higher Vddc level. In order to facilitate write operations, the write signal may be driven to a voltage level below the ground level during the write operation so as to discharge the appropriate bit line running through the array more rapidly and to a lower voltage level.

Memory circuitry using write assist voltage boost