The present invention provides an alcohol-based stable and translucent fragrance composition containing a large amount of perfume. The fragrance composition of the present invention is a composition in which the total amount of (a) silicone oil and (b) α-olefin oligomer that is a hydrogenated trimer, tetramer, pentamer, and/or hexamer of α-olefin having 4 to 12 carbon atoms is 2 to 12% by mass in the composition, and the mass ratio of (b)/(a) is 0.1 to 0.7; the amount of (c) polyether-modified silicone with respect to (b) α-olefin oligomer is 2 to 10 times in mass; the amount of (d) perfume is 3 to 30% by mass in the composition; the amount of (e) lower alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms is 50% by mass or more in the composition; the amount of (f) water is 3.5 to 15% by mass in the composition; and the L value of the composition is 70 to 95 provided the L value is a percentage (%) of strength of a transmitted light compared with a strength of an incident light.

As a fragrance composition such as parfum and eau de cologne, eau de toilette, and eau de parfum, a transparent alcohol solution in which 1 to 30% by mass of perfume is dissolved in a large amount of ethanol has been widely used.
Meanwhile, in products such as cosmetics, the appearance has become one of the important factors for consumer choice. Thus, if a luxurious and new appearance, such as a translucent appearance, is provided with a fragrance composition, the competitiveness of the product can be enhanced.
However, as a fragrance composition contains a large amount of alcohol as well as a large amount of perfume in terms of aromaticity, usability, and so on, it has been difficult to obtain a stable translucent fragrance composition.
Patent Literature 1 describes an oil-in-alcoholic water emulsion in which the oil phase is homogenously and stably dispersed in the outer phase which is mainly comprised of lower alcohol. This emulsion contains 50% by weight or more of lower alcohol such as ethanol, and it further contains, as essential components, oil, water, and as an emulsifier, a specific polyether-modified silicone emulsifier. Patent Literature 1 also describes a hair cosmetic which is an oil-in-alcoholic water emulsion containing an adequate amount of perfume. However, the amount of perfume in a conventional hair cosmetic is generally only 1% by mass or less, and typically only 0.2% by mass or less in the cosmetic.
Since a perfume is one of oil ingredients, the present inventors tried to prepare an alcohol-based fragrance composition containing a large amount of perfume by applying the technique of Patent Literature 1. However, when a perfume was used instead of oil, a composition became transparent, and thus it was very difficult to obtain a translucent stable fragrance composition.


Optically active compounds having the following formulae (1), (2) or (3) ##STR1## wherein R and R' are C.sub.1-20 alkyl groups; X and Y.sub.1 are --, O, S, or divalent groups such as COO, OOC and OCOO; m is 0 or 1; n is 0 to 5; A.sub.2 is a cyclic group, such as p,p'-biphenylene, 2,6-naphthylene, 2,5-pyrimidinylene-1,4-phenylene, A.sub.1 --Y.sub.2 -pyridylene or A.sub.4 --Y.sub.2 --A.sub.5 ; Y.sub.2 is CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 or C.tbd.C; A.sub.3 is 2,6-naphthylene, A.sub.1 --Y.sub.2 -pyridylene or A.sub.6 --CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --A.sub.7 ; and A.sub.1, A.sub.4, A.sub.5, A.sub.6 and A.sub.7 are cyclic groups, such as 1,4-phenylene and/or 4,4'-biphenylene.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optically active compounds which are useful as components for liquid crystal compositions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In addition to combinations of liquid crystal compounds which exhibit chiral smectic phases, there have been known ferroelectric liquid crystal materials, obtained by adding optically active compounds to a liquid crystal matrix, such as liquid crystal compounds or compositions showing smectic C phase or smectic H phase [Ann. Phys.,3,237 (1987)].
However, most optically active compounds, used for this purpose, produced from optically active alcohols such as optically active 2-octanol or optically active 2-butanol, of small intramolecular dipole moment, provide a long response time when added to liquid crystal compounds or compositions as a matrix, and are not feasible for practical use.


Disclosed is a motor of spring charging device in air circuit breaker wherein first and second frames are formed with glass fiber-added plastic material to facilitate the tight-fitting of a bearing and a manufacturing cost of driving motor is reduced by removing a brush holder isolator which was an essential part for isolating the brush holder, and a brush holder and a brush holder insertion hole of the first frame for inserting a brush holder are structurally improved to enable the brush holder to be easily and solidly inserted into the brush holder insertion hole of the first frame, thereby reducing the labor work of a soldering for connecting the stator winding.

Generally, an ACB (air circuit breaker) includes a stationary contactor and a movable contactor movable to a connected position for closing a conducted circuit by contacting the stationary contactor and to an interruption (trip) position for opening the conducted circuit by being separated from the stationary contactor, and allow the stationary contactor and the movable contactor to be contacted at all times for flowing the current, but when an abnormal over-current (a large current caused by i.e., short circuit and ground fault) generated at an electric circuit such as a power transmission/distribution line and private power transforming facilities occurs, the movable contactor is swiftly separated from the stationary contactor to interrupt the current from flowing to thereby protect load units such as a motor and a transformer and an electric line against an abnormal current. The ACB also exposes the stationary and movable contactors to pull in the compressed air and to distinguish the arc generated during the occurrence of abnormal current.
As noted above, the ACB is utilized for connecting a high-voltage current to or interrupting the current from a power station or distributing station, and is mounted, if necessary, with an actuator for swiftly interrupting or separating a contact point between the stationary contactor and the movable contactor. The driving method of the actuator is largely classified into a manual manipulation method, a solenoid manipulation method and an electric spring manipulation method.
In the ACB of the electric spring manipulation method, an interruption spring is elastically connected to one side of a cam axle mounted with a charging cam connected to a link connected to a movable contactor, and a manual charging device rotating the cam axle using a manual lever or an electric charging device using a motor is connected to the cam axle. The cam axle is rotated while a rotation moment-added main energy is maximally accumulated in the interruption spring using the charging device. If necessary, a lock is released to rotate the cam axle using the accumulated energy of the interruption spring and sequentially-meshed link separates the movable contactor from the stationary contactor to interrupt the current.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating configuration of a typical ACB and FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c are schematic views sequentially illustrating an operational state of an actuator mechanism.
Referring to FIGS. 1, 2a, 2b and 2c, the typical ACB includes a connection spring (11) selectively separating or connecting a contact point between a stationary contactor (3) and a movable contactor (5) for opening and closing a conducted circuit, an actuator mechanism (1) including a linkage (15), an interruption spring (21) and a cam axle (30), a motor (50) rotating the cam axle (30), and a charging device (40) including a decelerating gear assembly (60) and an output gear (70).
Now, referring to FIGS. 2a, 2b and 2c, the actuator mechanism (10) of the typical ACB will be described. FIG. 2a illustrates an initial state of the actuator mechanism (1) where the contact point between the stationary contactor (3) and the movable contactor (5) are opened.
Thereafter, the cam axle (30) is rotated by the driving motor (50) or a charging handle (not shown), and a driver lever (16) is rotated by rotation of a charging cam (12) meshed with the cam axle to compress the connection spring (11) to be in a state illustrated in FIG. 2b, i.e., in the state of being charged. The changing cam (12) accumulated by the connection spring (11) maintains an equilibrium of force due to an ON lever (14) contacting a connection latch (13). An ON coupling (17) contacting a connection solenoid (not shown) is in a position capable of rotating the ON lever (14).
Then, when a user presses a connection button, or rotates the ON lever (14) by allowing the connection solenoid to move the ON coupling (17) downward, the connection latch (13) releases the charging cam (12) to allow the accumulated force of the connection spring (11) to be transmitted to the linkage (15) via a driver lever (16). An open/close axis (10) is rotated clockwise to allow contact points of the stationary contactor (3) and the movable contactor (5) to be contacted therebetween via an open/close lever (20) rotating in conjunction with the open/close axis (10) and to elongate the interruption spring (21), the state of which is illustrated in FIG. 2c. The state of the contact points between the stationary contactor (3) and the movable contactor (5) being contacted, i.e., the equilibrium of force where the air breaker is connected, is maintained by an open lever (23) via the linkage (15) and an open latch (22).
Thereafter, when a user presses an interruption button (now shown) by detecting an occurrence of over-current caused by failure at an electric line, or the open lever (23) is rotated by operation of the interruption solenoid (now shown), the open latch (22) is rotated to release the linkage (15) toggled by the connection operation and to rotate the open/close axis (10) according to force elongated by the interruption spring (21), such that the contact point of the stationary contactor (3) and the movable contactor (5) is separated to form a state illustrated in FIG. 2a.
Meanwhile, FIG. 3 is a cut-away view of a typical driving motor of FIG. 1. Now, the motor using a connection spring charging device of a typical ACB will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the typical motor (50) includes a shaft (130) rotatably mounted inside a first frame and a second frame (110, 120) via a bearing (135) tight fitted into the first and second frame (110, 120) made of aluminum, a commutator (140) pressure-fitted into one side of the shaft (130), a stator winding (170) rotating the shaft (130), a brush holder (160) inserted into the first frame (110), a brush (150) contacting the commutator (140) by being inserted into the brush holder (160) so as to be elastically supported by a spring (not shown), and a brush holder isolator (180) isolating the brush holder (160) from the first frame (110).
However, the typical motor (50) thus constructed suffers from the following problems.
First, an electric wiring connected to the stator winging (170) at one side of the brush holder (160) is soldered for connecting the brush holder (160) and the stator winding (170). The problem is that it is very difficult to solder, and the motor (50) may not be properly driven due to improper soldering caused by erroneous work by a worker and the interruption operation of the ACB may not properly conducted.
Besides, the first and second frames (110, 120) are made of aluminum by die-casing method to cause a difficulty in insertion work of a bearing that is tightly fitted into the first and second frames (110, 120) for a smooth rotation of the shaft (130). Still another problem is that the manufacturing cost of the ACB increases, because a brush holder isolator (180) isolating the brush holder (160) from the first frame (110) has to be additionally mounted for isolation from the brush holder (160).

Motor of spring charging device in air circuit breaker


Embodiments of a central scheduler and method for adaptive clustering are generally described herein. In some embodiments, a cluster of transmitter-receiver pairs is selected based on minimum singular values calculated from direct channel information and the selected pairs are instructed to perform an interference alignment technique.

One issue with wireless networks is interference between users. Some conventional interference management techniques either treat the interference as noise when the interference is weak, or attempt to decode the interference when the interference is strong. Some other conventional interference management techniques attempt to mitigate interference by orthogonalizing channel access by assigning different frequency channels or time slots to users. Some techniques use extra antennas to mitigate interference by creating nulls towards an un-intended receiver. Each of these conventional interference management techniques has drawbacks that result in reduced overall network capacity or throughput.
Thus, there is a general need for wireless networks and methods for mitigating interference that may increase overall network capacity or throughput.

Wireless network and method for adaptive opportunistic clustering for interference alignment in wireless networks


The Pyramid Learning Architecture Neurocomputer (PLAN) is a scalable stacked pyramid arrangement of processor arrays. There are six processing levels in PLAN consisting of the pyramid base, Level 6, containing N.sup.2 SYnapse Processors (SYPs), Level 5 containing multiple folded Communicating Adder Tree structures (SCATs), Level 4 made up of N completely connected Neuron Execution Processors (NEPs), Level 3 made up of multiple Programmable Communicating Alu Tree (PCATs) structures, similar to Level 5 SCATs but with programmable function capabilities in each tree node, Level 2 containing the Neuron Instruction Processor (NIP), and Level 1 comprising the Host and user interface. The simplest processors are in the base level with each layer of processors increasing in computational power up to a general purpose host computer acting as the user interface. PLAN is scalable in direct neural network emulation and in virtual processing capability. Consequently, depending upon performance and cost trade-offs, the number of physical neurons N to be implemented is chosen. A neural network model is mapped onto Level 3 PCATs, Level 4 NEPs, Level 5 SCATs, and Level 6 SYPs. The Neuron Instruction Processor, Level 2, controls the neural network model through the Level 3 programmable interconnection interface. In addition, the NIP level controls the high speed and high capacity PLAN I/O interface necessary for large N massively parallel systems. This discussion describes the PLAN processors attached to a Host computer and the overall control of the pyramid which constitutes the neurocomputer system.

A number of mathematical frameworks for neural networks, such as the Parallel Distributed Processing model of Rumelhart 86 and the Hopfield network of Hopfield 82 and Hopfield 84, require a network of fully connected neural processing elements. Multiple, if not all, neurons have the same operational specifications. In the Hopfield model all neurons are specified with the same operation, while in multilayer networks the specifications may vary by layer. The computational tasks for neural networks have been developed by the cited earlier references. However, we have now come to appreciate that the four basic neural emulation operations, learning, and neurocomputer system level requirements imply a set of requirements that can be the basis for a new architecture not found in the art.

Pyramid learning architecture neurocomputer

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention discloses a screw on lighted attachment for use with a fish wire, and which includes a conical body constructed of a durable and selectively transparent material, this further being adapted to being mounted to a remote end of the fish wire. A tip location of the body is configured with an eyelet portion formed there-through, and to which an end of a second retrieval wire is secured. An illuminating element, such as a light emitting diode, is housed within the body with a power source incorporated into the body and communicating with the LED element for activating the same to illuminate an area surrounding an inserted location associated within the body.

The prior art is well documented with examples of fish hook or tape extension/retrieval devices. One objective of such devices is in the location or a fish tape or line, such as is utilized by electrical contractors when working in tight confines or spaces and in order to ran electrical lines.
Known examples include the apparatus and method for locating a fish tape as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,249, to Walsten. The locator exhibits a first threaded end for fixing to the end of a fish tape and an opposite second end with emits light to help locate the end of the fish tape when it is being fished through a blind space. The first end is provided with a cross-bore for connecting the locator to a string, chain, hook or other line.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,333, issued to Gianturco, teaches a visual navigation device including a reel mounted within a reel housing. A flexible tape wound on the reel is adapted to be payed out of the housing and into an area to be navigated. A distal end of the flexible tape incorporates a video camera, a visual monitor being operatively connected to the camera and supported in the reel housing.
Other examples include U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,377, to Sawyer, and which discloses a glow rod assembly for guiding, feeding or routing a wire or cable in a target space of an existing structure. The elongate (typically glowing) rod includes first and second opposite end portions, an anchoring member attached to the rod first end portion. The anchoring member resides against a surface of a structural frame member to hold the first end portion outside of a target internal routing space to allow the second end portion to extend in the to the target internal routing space, thereby allowing one end of the rod to remain in a fixed location without requiring a second installer.

Screw on lighted end attachment for use with a flexible snake


This invention describes a method of making intra-field corrections to the alignment of a step and repeat projection system used to expose image fields on an integrated circuit wafer. A first pattern having first image fields and first alignment marks is formed on a wafer. A mask having a second image field and second alignment marks is projected on the wafers, having a layer of photoresist formed thereon, using light which will not expose the photoresist. The relative location of the second alignment marks to the second image field is the same as the relative location of the first alignment marks to the first image field. A detectors, comprising an interferometer, determines the displacement vector between the first alignment marks and the corresponding second alignment marks. The displacement vectors are fed to a computer which computes a translation correction, a rotation correction, and a magnification correction for the alignment of the mask to the wafer. After the corrections are made the photoresist is exposed by projecting light which will expose the photoresist.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an intra-field overlay alignment correction for a step and repeat exposure system, and more particularly to a method which provides an alignment correction prior to the exposure of each image field.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The use of Step and Repeat systems to expose patterns on integrated circuit wafers requires the use of both global or inter-field alignment and intra-field alignment. Most of the intra-field alignment schemes used make use of statistical data over a number of wafers to determine the correction parameters for a number of wafers, such as a production lot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,538 to Pellegrini describes a method of determining correction parameters using least-squares analysis techniques of a number of wafers to determine the correction parameters for a number of wafers, such as a production lot.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,7685,883 to Waldo et al. describes a method of alignment using a reticle having an alignment mark positioned at the center of the reticle used to align each wafer in the stepper system as well as to adjust the stepper software.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,402 to Kasuga describes a method of determining alignment correction parameters using a method of reference to least squares in reference to the coordinates of each of the alignment marks and the coordinates of rational grid points.

Method of in line intra-field correction of overlay alignment

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd


An apparatus and method is disclosed for minimizing in band distortion in the transmit path of an XDSL modem. The transmit path of an XDSL modem introduces various non-linearities into transmissions in both the frequency and time domains. The current invention provides a means for both determining and correcting for distortion in the time domain. In an embodiment of the invention the apparatus may include a calibrator which may be implemented using the existing analog-to-digital (ADC) conversion and demodulation capabilities on the receive path of the modem or alternately, a dedicated module. During a calibration phase a training signal is injected digitally into the digital-to-analog converter of the transmit path. The analog portion of the transmit path is coupled to a calibrator which measures the corresponding analog response. The correlation between input and response is stored in an analog model. During subsequent training and run-time phases of modem operation an oversampled digital input stream is subject to digital Delta Sigma Modulation (xcex94xcexa3M) with the analog model injected into the feedback path from the quantizer. The injection of the analog model into the feedback improves the noise transfer function (NTF) associated with the xcex94xcexa3M.

1. Field of Invention
The field of the present invention relates in general to communication systems and more particularly to digital to analog conversion systems for the transmit path of an XDSL modem.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) technology and improvements thereon including: G.Lite, ADSL, VDSL, HDSL all of which are broadly identified as X-DSL have been developed to increase the effective bandwidth of existing subscriber line connections. An X-DSL modem operates at frequencies higher than the voice band frequencies, thus an X-DSL modem may operate simultaneously with a voice band modem or a telephone conversation. Currently there are over ten discrete X-DSL standards, including: G.Lite, ADSL, VDSL, SDSL, MDSL, RADSL, HDSL, etc.
One of the factors limiting the bandwidth or channel capacity of any of the above discussed X-DSL protocols is distortion. The components on the transmit path of a modem inherently distort signals as they transmit them. Amplitude modulation causes distortion to become dependent on the input signal with a result of the amplified output signal is no longer simply an amplified replica of the input signal. Unfortunately if linear modulation with a fluctuating envelope is used in conjunction with nonlinear amplification, spectral spreading may occur thereby interfering with communications.
What is needed are approaches to reducing in band distortion for X-DSL modems.
An apparatus and method is disclosed for minimizing in band distortion in the transmit path of an XDSL modem. The transmit path of an XDSL modem introduces various non-linearities into transmissions in both the frequency and time domains. The current invention provides a means for both determining and correcting for distortion in the time domain. Distortion in the time domain may result from digital to analog conversion or analog filtering for example. The apparatus may be incorporated in an existing X-DSL architecture without additional circuitry. The apparatus may be applied with equal advantage in wired and wireless media.
In an embodiment of the invention the apparatus may include a calibrator which may be implemented using the existing analog-to-digital (ADC) conversion and demodulation capabilities on the receive path of the modem or alternately, a dedicated module. During a calibration phase a training signal is injected digitally into the digital-to-analog converter of the transmit path. The analog portion of the transmit path is coupled to a calibrator which measures the corresponding analog response. The correlation between input and response is stored in an analog model.
During subsequent training and run-time phases of modem operation an oversampled digital input stream is subject to digital Delta Sigma Modulation (xcex94xcexa3M) with the analog model injected into the feedback path from the quantizer. The injection of the analog model into the feedback improves the noise transfer function (NTF) associated with the xcex94xcexa3M.

Method and apparatus for digital to analog conversion with distortion calibration


A method for reducing the resistance of a programming path through a programmable antifuse from a programming voltage to ground. A previously programmed helper antifuse connected somewhere along a two branch programming path is connected to either the programming voltage or to ground. As a result, a three branch programming path is established from the programming voltage to the antifuse to be programmed and from the antifuse to be programmed to ground. By adding the third branch to the programming path, the resistance of the programming path is reduced, thereby allowing a higher voltage to be dropped across the antifuse to be programmed during programming and thereby allowing increased current flow through the antifuse to be programmed during programming. In another embodiment, two or more helper antifuses are used to establish a four or more branch programming path having a still lower resistance from the programming voltage to ground. In yet another embodiment, the programming of antifuses occurs in two steps. First, multiple antifuses are partially programmed separately. Second, these partially programmed antifuses are connected together in series so that a programming current can flow through all of the partially programmed antifuses at once to complete programming of the multiple antifuses.

A field programmable device (or a so-called "field programmable gate array") is a versatile integrated circuit chip, the internal circuitry of which may be configured by an individual user to realize a user-specific circuit. To configure a field programmable device, the user configures an on-chip interconnect structure of the field programmable device so that selected inputs and selected outputs of selected on-chip logic components are connected together in such a way that the resulting circuit is the user-specific circuit desired by the user.
FIG. 1A-1B is a top down simplified diagram illustrating a corner portion of a field programmable device. Three vertical routing channels A-C and three horizontal routing channels D-F separate nine universal logic modules M1-M9. These nine logic modules are arranged in a three-by-three matrix. Each logic module may, for example, comprise logic components such as digital logic gates, digital sequential logic circuitry, and other circuitry.
In the vertical dimension, routing channel A, for example, comprises two tracks T1 and T2. Track T1, for example, comprises wires W1, W2, W3, and W4. A transistor P1, called a pass transistor, is connected between wires W1 and W2. A second pass transistor P2 is connected between wires W2 and W3. A third pass transistor P3 is connected between wires W3 and W4. The other illustrated wires W5-W24 and the other illustrated pass transistors P4-P18 of the vertical tracks of FIG. 1A-1B are similarly numbered.
In the horizontal dimension, routing channel F, for example, comprises two tracks T3 an T4. Track T3, for example, comprises wires W25, W26, and W27. A pass transistor P19 is connected between wires W25 and W26. A pass transistor P20 is connected between wires W26 and W27. The other illustrated wires W28-W42 and the other illustrated pass transistors P21-P30 of the horizontal tracks of FIG. 1A-1B are similarly numbered.
Each of the small circles in FIG. 1A-1B represents an unprogrammed connection element referred to as a programmable "antifuse". In contrast to typical fuses used in programmable read-only memory (PROM) devices which are normally conductive and are "blown" to be nonconductive, antifuses are normally nonconductive and can be "programmed" to be conductive.
Due to the large number of antifuses in the structure represented by FIG. 1A-1B, only certain of the antifuses are supplied with reference numerals. Some of the antifuses, called "cross antifuses", are located substantially at the cross points of horizontal and vertical wires. These cross antifuses can be programmed to connect a horizontal wire with a vertical wire.
FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of one possible embodiment of a cross antifuse. Cross antifuse 20 comprises a thin dielectric body layer 21 and a layer of diffusible conductive material 22 sandwiched between horizontal wire 23 and vertical wire 25 so that a first surface portion 26 of the antifuse contacts vertical wire 25 and so that a second surface portion contacts horizontal wire 23. The horizontal wire 23 may, for example, be located on a first metallization layer of the programmable device whereas the vertical wire 25 may be located on a second metallization layer of the programmable device. An insulating layer 28 may be disposed between the first metallization layer and the second metallization layer so that the cross antifuse forms a via-like structure from the vertical wire 25 down to the horizontal wire 23. In its unprogrammed state, horizontal wire 23 is insulated from vertical wire 25 by dielectric body layer 21. In its programmed state, a conductive path 29 is formed through body layer 21 so that horizontal wire 23 and vertical wire 25 are substantially electrically connected. One such cross antifuse L1 is disposed between and vertical wire W1 and a horizontal wire W27 in the circuit of FIG. 1A-1B.
Other of the antifuses, called "pass antifuses", may be programmed to electrically connect the source and drain of a pass transistor together so that two adjacent wires in a single track are connected together in series independent of the state of the pass transistor. One such pass antifuse which may be programmed to connect horizontal wire W26 to horizontal wire W27 is pass antifuse L2.
The field programmable device of FIG. 1A-1B also has input/output circuitry for interfacing the user-defined circuit of the interconnected logic modules to other circuitry off-chip. A signal originating from off-chip may, for example, be input onto vertical wire W8 via I/O pad A1 and input I/O buffer A2. A signal on vertical wire W4 generated on-chip may, for example, be output to circuitry off-chip via output I/O buffer A3 and output I/O pad A4.
Each of the modules M1-M9 has digital signal input wires and digital signal output wires. Module M1, for example, has a single digital signal input wire W43 entering module M1 from the left and a single digital signal output wire W44 exiting module M1 to the left. Module M4 has an input wire W45 and an output wire W46. Although the modules in the device of FIGS. 1A-1B each have only one input wire and one output wire, each module of an actual device may have a great number of digital signal wires. To connect these digital signal input and output wires to the rest of the interconnect circuitry, cross antifuses are provided on each digital signal input wire and each digital signal output wire where the input or output wire crosses a vertical wire. Input wire W43, for example, has two cross antifuses L18 and L19. Input wire W45 has two cross antifuses L20 and L21. Transistors, such as transistor T1, are provided to connect adjacent ones of these digital signal wires together during programming of cross antifuses.
Although FIG. 1A-1B shows wires W1, W5, W9, W13, W17 and W21 as single wires connected between I/O buffers and cross antifuses, additional rows of logic modules and associated horizontal routing channels are disposed between the bottom row of cross antifuses and the bottom row of I/O buffers and I/O pads. Similarly, additional columns of logic modules and associated vertical routing channels are disposed between the leftmost column of cross antifuses and the leftmost column of I/O buffers and I/O pads. The structure of FIG. 1A-1B is therefore a simplified representation of an upper right corner portion of a larger field programmable device.
To realize a desired circuit from the unprogrammed structure of FIG. 1A-1B, selected antifuses in the structure are programmed so that various of the wires W1-W60 are connected together to form an interconnect net from one specific output of a specific digital logic component in a module to one or more specific inputs of other specific digital logic components in another module. The antifuses in FIG. 1A-1B are programmed when a high programming voltage (Vpp) having a magnitude greater that the normal operating voltage supply of the programmable device is placed across the antifuse. If, for example, the normal operating voltage is approximately 5 volts plus or minus 10 percent, placing a programming voltage Vpp of having a magnitude greater than approximately 11 volts across an antifuse will cause the antifuse to become to become conductive. Unprogrammed antifuses may have a conductivity of approximately 1-50 gigaohms or more whereas programmed antifuses may have a conductivity of approximately 50 ohms or less.
FIG. 3 shows the programming of a pass antifuse L3 in the field programmable device of FIG. 1A-1B. In the circuit shown in FIG. 1A-1B, each end of track T6 has a programming driver. Programming driver PD1 is connected to vertical wire W13 and programming driver PD2 is connected to vertical wire W16. These programming drivers have tri-state outputs so that they can be disconnected from wires W13 and W16 during normal circuit operation. During the programming of antifuses, however, these programming drivers may be controlled to output a programming voltage (Vpp), or may be controlled to output a ground voltage.
In the example shown in FIG. 3, pass antifuse L3 is to be programmed. Pass transistors P12 and P11 are turned on whereas pass transistor P10 is not turned on. Programming driver PD2 is controlled to drive vertical wire W16 with the programming voltage Vpp and programming driver PD1 is controlled to drive wire W13 with a ground voltage. Because pass transistors P12 and P11 are turned on and pass transistor P10 is turned off, programming voltage Vpp propagates to wire W15 and then to wire W14. A significant portion of programming voltage Vpp is therefore dropped between wire W14 and wire W13 across pass antifuse L3. Consequently, antifuse L3 is programmed. Antifuses L4 and L5 are not programmed because conductive pass transistors Pll and P12 prevent a large voltage from developing across antifuses L4 and L5 respectively. Antifuse L3, on the other hand, is programmed because pass transistor P10 is not conductive and does not prevent the programming voltage from developing across antifuse L3. The path from Vpp to antifuse L3 to be programmed and from antifuse L3 to ground is called a programming path. This programming path only comprises two branches. One branch extends from programming driver PD2 to a first surface portion of the antifuse to be programmed L3. A second branch extends from a second portion of the antifuse to be programmed L3 to programming driver PD1. Programming of antifuse L3 causes the first surface portion of antifuse L3 to be permanently electrically connected to the second surface portion of antifuse L3.
FIG. 4 shows the programming of cross antifuse L6 in the field programmable device of FIG. 1A-1B. In this case, both programming drivers PD1 and PD2 may be set to output the programming voltage Vpp. Because pass transistors P10-P12 are turned on, vertical wire W14 is driven with the programming voltage Vpp. To create a voltage drop across cross antifuse L6, horizontal wire W32 is driven to the ground voltage. Accordingly, programming driver PD4 is set to drive horizontal wire W33 to ground and programming driver PD3 is set to drive horizontal wire W31 to ground. By turning pass transistors P24 and P23 on, horizontal wire W32 is driven with the ground voltage, thereby placing a significant portion of programming voltage Vpp across cross antifuse L6 and thereby programming cross antifuse L6.
The programming path shown in FIG. 4 comprises four programming branches. A first programming branch extends from programming driver PD2, through wire W16, through conductive transistor P12, through wire W15, through conductive transistor Pll, through wire W14, and to a first surface portion of the antifuse L6 to be programmed. A second programming branch extends from programming driver PD1, through wire W13, through conductive transistor P10, through wire W14 and to the first surface portion of antifuse L6 to be programmed. A third programming branch extends from programming driver PD3, through wire W31, through pass transistor P23, through wire W3,2 and to a second surface portion of antifuse L6 to be programmed. A fourth programming branch extends from programming driver PD4, through wire W33, through pass transistor P24, through wire W32, and to the second surface portion of antifuse L6 to be programmed. Before antifuse L6 is programmed, the first surface portion of antifuse L6 is insulated from the second surface portion of antifuse L6. After programming the first surface portion of antifuse L6 is substantially electrically connected to the second surface portion of antifuse L6.
Although the above described programming of cross antifuses and pass antifuses may be satisfactory in certain applications, the resistances of the resulting programmed antifuses may often be higher than desired. In the design of large high speed circuits, for example, the resistance of a net determines in part the speed at which a given driver circuit can drive the net from one digital logic voltage level to the other digital logic voltage level. The resistance of the net therefore in part determines the switching speed of the circuit. When long nets are made by connecting multiple wires together using multiple connecting antifuses, the series resistances of the multiple antifuses of the net add together to result in a significant total net resistance. Accordingly, the switching speed of the net is degraded.
In some types of recently developed programmable antifuses, the resistance of a resulting programmed antifuse is a function of the magnitude of the programming current which flows through the antifuse from the first surface portion of the antifuse to the second surface portion of the antifuse during programming and also the time that this programming current flows through the antifuse during programming. In general, an antifuse programmed by dropping the full programming voltage Vpp between the first and second surface portions of the antifuse will have a lower resultant programmed resistance than that same antifuse programmed by dropping a smaller voltage between the first and second surface portions.
In the circuit of FIG. 3, the full programming voltage Vpp is not dropped across antifuse L3 to be programmed. A resistance exists in the two branch programming path from Vpp to antifuse L3 and from antifuse L3 to ground. This resistance causes a voltage drop which reduces the voltage dropped across antifuse L3 and reduces the current flowing through antifuse L3 during programming. The bulk of this programming path resistance is due to the on-resistance of pass transistors Pll and P12. Similarly in the circuit of FIG. 4, although a larger portion of programming voltage Vpp is dropped across cross antifuse L6 during programming, the voltage drop across cross antifuse L6 is still less than Vpp. A resistance does exists in the four branch programming path from Vpp to antifuse L6 and from antifuse L6 to ground. This programming path resistance therefore serves to reduce the magnitude of the voltage dropped across the antifuse L6 during programming.

Field programmable antifuse device and programming method therefor


The present invention is a loudspeaker. The loudspeaker includes a frame, a cone having an outer edge in a shape of a reverse angle flange, and a reinforcing ring bonded to a back side of the flange.

A loudspeaker for audio signals converts electrical energy into mechanical energy by vibrating a diaphragm. The vibrating diaphragm causes motion of the surrounding air, thus producing acoustic energy.
The most common form of diaphragm for low frequency and midrange loudspeakers is a cone. A voice coil immersed in a magnetic field is attached to the neck of the cone, and the cone is attached to a rigid frame by means of flexible members at both the neck and the outer edge of the cone. These flexible members (i.e. a "spider" at the neck, and a "surround" at the outer edge) allow the cone to move fore and aft within the frame while maintaining axial alignment (i.e. preventing the cone from tilting or rocking).
In order to maximize the efficiency of the loudspeaker, and also extend its frequency range upward, the cone should have as little mass as possible. In order to reduce distortion, the cone should be as rigid as possible. In order to achieve high output capacity, the cone should have high mechanical strength. In order to move a high volume of air, the cone should be as large as possible within the given frame size. In order to achieve high output at low frequencies the cone assembly needs to be capable of long excursions.
Conventional loudspeakers are limited in the amount of acoustic energy that can be produced with acceptably audio low distortion. The limit arises primarily from the structure of the surround, which limits the excursions of the cone, and the stiffness of the cone, which distorts under large excursions.
The prior art offers different solutions to stiffening the cone. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,513,171 issued to J. A. Hassan, Jun. 27, 1950 discloses methods of stiffening a loudspeaker cone using struts extending from the voice to the outer edge of the cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,329, issued to S. Levy & A. Cohen, Jun. 9, 1953 deals with methods of stiffening a loudspeaker cone by attaching "transversely arched perforated plates bridging the central area of the diaphragm member" or by attaching a "horn shaped member secured at its smaller end to the junction of the dome cap and the diaphragm or directly to the dome cap, and secured at its larger end to the side of the diaphragm at a substantial distance from the smaller end.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,115,667, issued to B. Babb Sep. 19, 1978 discloses a method of stiffening a loudspeaker cone by means of a plurality of ribs extending along the surface of the dust cap and the surface of the cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,609 issued to C. D. Miller, February 1983, deals with a method of cone stiffening employing "a plurality of stiffener columns positioned in a plane to form a polygon essentially perpendicular to a central axis of the diaphragm with the ends of the columns being attached to the diaphragm intermediate the small end and the large end of the diaphragm.
Each of the aforementioned patents discloses a method of stiffening a cone which adds considerable mass to the cone, thus lowering the efficiency of the loudspeaker and reducing it's high frequency response. Accordingly, there is a need for a loudspeaker design which provides for delivering high volumes of air while simultaneously providing high electrical to acoustic efficiency, high frequency response and low distortion within a specified frame size.

Loudspeaker including a cone circumscribed by a stiffener


A method for facilitating a data session in a communications environment is provided that includes initiating, by a first endpoint, a call that is intended for a second endpoint. The method also includes invoking, by the first endpoint, an eCamp-On™ feature in response to the second endpoint being unavailable. The eCamp-On™ feature initiates a new call between the first and second endpoints once the second endpoint is available. Presence data associated with the first endpoint may be leveraged in order to make the new call.

The field of communications has become increasingly important in today's society. In particular, the ability to quickly and effectively interact with an individual (through any suitable communications media) presents a significant obstacle for component manufacturers, system designers, and network operators. This obstacle is made even more difficult due to the plethora of diverse communication technologies (e.g. Instant Messaging, cellular communications, simple voice sessions, etc.) that exist in the current marketplace.
As new communication platforms (such as session initiation protocol (SIP), for example) become available to the consumer, new protocols need to be developed in order to optimize this emerging technology. For example, one problem often encountered by a caller in any communications environment is being unable to reach a callee because the callee is not available. The called party may be unavailable for the call for any number of reasons. For example, the called party may be out of the office, on another line, e-mailing another party, preparing a document, talking on their cellular telephone, etc. The calling party is generally oblivious to this information, as he has no idea how to effectively contact this person. In some situations where the callee is busy, the caller can leave a simple voicemail or send them an e-mail (i.e. facilitate the phone-tag scenario). However, in some instances, a live discussion is necessary, whereby an interactive session should be accommodated.
This lack of knowledge and lack of interaction wastes valuable time, frustrates both parties, causes delays in communications, and inhibits productivity. Accordingly, this problem is a burden for any employee, employer, individual, or endpoint that seeks to execute a successful and productive communication session.
eCamp-On™ is generally a private branch exchange (PBX) feature. In an eCamp-On™ scenario, a calling party calls the called party whose phone is busy. The calling party then camps on the called party's phone and is called back when the (busy) called party phone becomes available. Cellular and Internet Protocol (IP) phones provide the user with a means of obtaining the number of callers whose calls have been missed. The called party can search the directory, select a number, and place a call. Thus, existing eCamp-On™ mechanisms use a rudimentary "phone" paradigm, whereby the phone of the calling party is camped-on the phone of the called party. Lacking in such an environment is a feature that allows the calling party to eCamp-On™ the generic persona of the called party (i.e. an individual himself, as opposed to the eCamp-On™ functionality being device-centric).

System and method for providing a presence based Camp-On feature in a communications environment


Methods and composition for the treatment of ocular disease with a cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor are provided.

Gene therapy has been proposed as an approach to the treatment of ocular diseases by a number of investigators. Hermens et al. (J. Neurosci. Methods 71:85-98 (1997)) disclosed the injection of an adenoviral vector containing a lacZ gene as a reporter gene into the central and peripheral nervous system of the rat. In that system areas with a laminar structure such as the eye demonstrated more widespread transgene expression. Ali et al. (Hum. Mol. Genet. 5:591-5949 (1996)) disclosed the use of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a vector carrying lacZ to transduce all layers of the neuroretina as well as the retinal epithelium following subretinal injection. Mashhour (Gene Ther. 1:122-126 (1994)) disclosed that injection of an adenovirus vector carrying lacZ into the vitreous body, the anterior chamber, or the peribulbar body of mice did not result in any detectable cytopathic effect and was associated with endocytosis of viral particles in corneal, photoreceptor, bipolar, ganglionic, and oculomotor muscle cells, depending on the administration route.
The use of gene therapy to treat heritable diseases of the eye in particular has been proposed by several researchers. For example, Li et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92:7700-7704 (1995)) disclosed the use of adenovirus-mediated transfer of human beta-glucuronidase cDNA expressed under the control of a non-tissue specific promoter injected intravitreally or subretinally to reverse the pathological changes of lysosomal storage disease in the eyes of mice with mucopolysaccharidosis VII.
Rescue of photoreceptors by gene therapy has been demonstrated in several experimental systems. Cayouette and Gravel (Hum. Gene Ther. 8:423-430 (1997)) disclosed adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of ciliary neurotropic factor prevented photoreceptor degeneration in the retinal degeneration (rd) mouse, an animal model of retinitis. pigmentosa Bennett et al. (Hum. Gene Ther. 7:1763-1769 (1996)) disclosed the rescue of photoreceptor cells in rd mice using a recombinant replication defective adenovirus containing murine cDNA for beta phosphodiesterase. Dunaeif et al. (Hum. Gene Ther. 6:1225-1229 (1995)) disclosed retroviral gene transfer into retinal pigment epithelial cells followed by transplantation into rat retina in an experimental rat model to preserve photoreceptors.
The use of suicide genes delivered by recombinant viral vectors to kill ocular cells has focused mainly on the use of the herpes thymidine kinase gene. For example, Sakamoto, et al. (Ophthalmology 102:1417-1424 (1995) described the inhibition of experimental proliferative vitreoretinopathy by retroviral vector-mediated transfer of the herpes simplex thymidine kinase gene. Murata et al. (Ophthalmic Res. 29:242-251 (1997) described the use of retroviral vectors to transfer the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene in a rabbit model of proliferative vitreoretinopathy.
The role of tumor suppressor genes such as p16, p21, p53, or RB in hyperproliferative diseases of the eye has been challenging to elucidate. Studies of cell cycle regulation in the ocular lens using transgenic mice have shown that inactivation of RB can cause postmitotic lens fiber cells to enter the cell cycle. However, when p53 is present, inactivation of RB in this cell type results in cell death rather than continued proliferation. Although p53 is known to upregulate expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, overexpression of p21 in transgenic lens is not sufficient to cause apoptosis in transgenic mouse lens (Fromm et al. Dev. Genet. 20:276-287 (1997)). In vascular tissue, Chang et al. (J. Clin. Invest. 96:2260-2268 (1995)) discloses that adenovirus mediated overexpression of p21 inhibits vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation in vitro by arresting VSMCs in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. In addition, Chang, et al. demonstrated that localized adenoviral delivery of p21 in conjunction with balloon angioplasty significantly reduced neointima hyperplasia in the rat carotid artery model of restenosis.
The present invention discloses methods and compositions for the treatment of ocular diseases. In particular, the present invention provides a method for the treatment of ocular hyperproliferative diseases by the administration of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors. The present invention further provides pharmaceutical formulations for the intracellular delivery of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors.

Methods and compositions for the treatment of ocular diseases


A method of automatically administering servers is disclosed. The method includes automatically transmitting commands to at least one of the servers. Administrator level access is non-invasively obtained on the at least one of the servers utilizing the automatically transmitted commands. The at least one of the servers is administered using the administrator level access and the automatically transmitted commands.

In the software industry, centralized computer servers are the systems of choice for a great number of service providers, including application providers, web hosting services, database vendors, internet and firewall proxies, and 24.times.7 production environments. Some service providers maintain large data centers containing hundreds or thousands of server computers to host the data and/or application offered in their services. Within the maintenance of such data centers, security of data is a concern.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Non-invasive method and system for automated administration of diverse security constrained servers

HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT LP


In accordance with this method, air bled from the engine is compressed in a turbocompressor (4) and the air compressed in this way is cooled in an exchanger (3) through which is passed air outside the aircraft, a turbine (5) of the turbocompressor (4) is fed with the air cooled in this way, and the cool air inlet (10) of the cabin is fed with the air leaving the turbine (5). In accordance with the invention, mechanical energy is extracted from the air leaving the cabin (11) of the aircraft and that mechanical energy is injected into the turbocompressor (4). Cooling energy is also extracted from the air leaving the cabin (11) and that cooling energy is injected into the air which is fed to the turbine (5).

The present invention relates to a method of feeding a cool air inlet of the cabin of an aircraft propelled by at least one jet engine and more particularly to a method in which air bled from the engine is compressed in a turbocompressor, the air compressed in this way is cooled in a heat exchanger through which air outside the aircraft is passed, the air cooled in this way is fed to a turbine stage of the turbocompressor, and the cool air inlet is fed with air leaving the turbine stage.
FIG. 1 of the accompany drawings is a diagram showing a system for feeding the cabin of an aircraft with cool air. The system is of a type known in the art. As shown here, the system 1 essentially comprises a heat pre-exchanger 2, a heat exchanger 3 and a turbocompressor 4 comprising a turbine stage 5 and a compressor 6.
The pre-exchanger 2 is connected to an inlet 7 for air bled from a compression stage of a jet engine propelling the aircraft when the latter is flying at cruising speed. This air is routinely at a temperature of several hundred degrees and is cooled in the pre-exchanger 2 by a stream of air which is taken from outside the aircraft via an air intake 8 feeding a chamber of the exchanger and evacuated via an outlet 9 of that chamber.
The air bled from the engine leaving the pre-exchanger 2 is sufficiently cooled to enter the compressor 6, which is routinely made of light alloy. The compressed, and therefore heated, air which leaves the compressor 6 is cooled again in the exchanger 3, by the same flow of outside air between the intake 8 and the outlet 9, so that its temperature is substantially reduced to that of the flow of outside air.
The air leaving the exchanger 3 then enters the turbine stage 5 which drives the compressor 6. As the air expands in the turbine stage its temperature falls to a relatively low value, of the order of 3xc2x0 C., for example, suitable for feeding it to the cool air inlet 10 of the cabin 11 of the aircraft (part of which is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1) with no risk of the pipes through which it flows icing up.
The cool air at 3xc2x0 C. delivered to the cabin is mixed with the air in the cabin to cool it. The cabin air pressure is regulated by one or more valves 12 which are part of a system for pressurizing the cabin 11 and allow some of the air in the cabin to escape from it.
Part of the fuel consumption of the jet engine from which the air is bled to feed the system described above is obviously associated with bleeding the air in this way. The difference xcex94T between the temperature of the air entering the cabin (approximately 3xc2x0 C.) and the temperature of the air in the cabin (approximately 20xc2x0 C.) is relatively small (approximately 17xc2x0) and makes it necessary to choose the dimensions of the system so that it can supply a relatively high flow of cooled air to the cabin, which adds to the overall size, weight and consequently manufacturing cost of the system.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method of feeding a cool air inlet of the cabin of an aircraft adapted to be used with a system for reducing the fuel consumption of the engine from which the system bleeds compressed air, the system also being lighter, more compact and less costly to manufacture than the prior art system described in the preamble of this description.
The above object of the present invention is achieved with a method of feeding a cool air inlet of the cabin of an aircraft propelled by at least one jet engine, of the type described in the preamble of this description, and in which mechanical energy is extracted from the air leaving said cabin of the aircraft, said mechanical energy is injected into said turbocompressor by means of a second turbine stage coupled to the first turbine stage, and cooling energy is additionally extracted from said air leaving the cabin of the aircraft, which method is noteworthy in that the cooling energy extracted in this way is injected into the cooled air leaving the exchanger downstream of the compressor with the aid of a second heat exchanger and a third heat exchanger located respectively upstream and downstream of said second turbine stage.
As described in detail later, the above method delivers to the cabin air which is at a lower temperature, and which can therefore have a lower flowrate, than that delivered by the FIG. 1 system, which is beneficial in terms of the fuel consumption of the jet engine from which the air is bled and from the point of view of the weight, overall size and therefore cost of manufacture of the system for implementing the method according to the invention.
That system, which includes an inlet for air bled from the engine, a turbocompressor including a turbine stage and a compressor fed with the air bled from the engine, an exchanger fed with the air leaving said compressor to cool said air with the air of a flow of air outside the aircraft, the cooled air outlet of the exchanger feeding said turbine stage, a second turbine stage coupled to the first turbine stage and fed with air extracted from the cabin of the aircraft, means fed with the air extracted from the cabin for cooling the air bled from the engine and leaving the exchanger, being noteworthy in that said means include a) a second heat exchanger for heating the air coming from the cabin and delivered to the second turbine stage and for cooling the air bled from the engine and leaving the first heat exchanger and b) a third heat exchanger for heating the air leaving the second turbine stage and for cooling the air bled from the engine.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent on reading the following description and examining the accompanying drawings.

Method and system for feeding a cool air inlet of the cabin of an aircraft propelled by at least one jet engine


Drill for making a pole in the ground, whereby this drill (9) is provided with a passage (15) and whereby this drill has at the bottom a screw-shaped displacement part (11) of which the outside increases in radius upwardly, up to a diameter larger than that of the drill tube (8), characterized in that the displacement part (11) passes with its upper extremity into a cylindrical part (12) which is provided on its mantle with at least a screw blade (13) which runs in the shape of a screw in the same direction as the displacement part (11), but of which the pitch (S2) is larger than the pitch (S1) of the displacement part (11).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a drill and a method for making a pole in the ground.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most building constructions which are built on ground with compressible upper layers are erected on foundation poles. The foundation poles penetrate through the compressible upper ground layers until deep enough into a sufficiently thick hard ground layer.
The resistance of the ground against the sinking of a pole with a certain diameter rapidly increases with the depth to which the pole has penetrated the good ground. The maximal resistance is reached at a depth in good ground of approximately four times the diameter of the pole.
On the basis of results of ground research and the load which must be supported by a pole, the most economic pole length and pole diameter can be determined.
However, this calculation is only reliable if the resistance of the fixed bearing-power in the ground layer is not reduced during the making of the pole.
This requirement is met in case of ram piles because the ground is displaced where the pole enters. However, the ramming causes vibrations in the ground and knocking sounds, both of which are a problem for the surroundings.
The problems increase as the poles' diameters increase and the poles have to be driven deeper into the hard ground. As a result, the maximal diameter of a pile is limited.
Especially for making poles with a relatively large diameter, first a hole is made in the ground by means of a drill and then during the removal of this drill a hardening material such as concrete is poured in the liberated space in the drill hole.
Especially two kinds of drills are used: screw drills and displacement drills.
A screw drill or auger consists of a thin drill tube which is provided along its entire length with a screw blade having constant pitch and diameter. The drill tube is closed at the bottom by a lost tip.
This screw drill is screwed in the ground while under a downward pressure. When the desired depth is reached, concrete is pumped in the drill tube while the screw drill is retracted from the ground, mostly without rotation. The lost tip remains in the ground. The concrete fills the hole under the screw drill.
During the drilling in of the screw drill, the surface of the screw blade which is in the ground increases. Since ground pressure also increases, the friction resistance against the drilling in by a penetration per revolution equal to the pitch increases by the square of the depth. The continuous screw blade rapidly becomes unable to penetrate the ground by the pitch per revolution. As a result, a crevice develops between the top of the ground above a winding of the screw blade and the bottom of the winding above it.
This crevice, which extends in the shape of a screw along the entire drilling depth, is filled with air under atmospheric pressure. This causes the surrounding ground to be eased during the drilling in, thus decreasing the resistance against the penetration of the screw drill in the ground. However, this is very detrimental to the bearing-power of the pole.
After the screw drill is removed from the ground, the ground material which remains between the windings of the screw blade is removed. This material needs to be carried off, which is also a problem.
Displacement drills allow making the drill hole without removing ground material. Such drills contain a hollow tube which is closed at the bottom by a lost tip. The hollow tube is surrounded by a drill head which thickens in the shape of a spiral upwardly and subsequently narrows in the shape of a spiral. The drill head is moreover provided on the broadest part with a screw blade.
During the drilling into the ground, the drilling machine exerts a downward pressure on the drill tube. The drill blade also exerts a downward pressure on the drill if the penetration per revolution is smaller than the pitch of the drill blade.
The bottom of the drill head then assures a sideways displacement of the ground and, at least in compressible ground, the drill sinks per revolution by little less or even more than the pitch of the screw blade. The compressed ground then forms a casing which temporarily protects the drill hole from collapse.
In solid, difficult to compress ground, however, an empty space can develop at the bottom of the screw blade, since the sinking per revolution is considerably smaller than the pitch of the screw blade. At this empty space the ground is eased and the bearing-power of the pole is decreased.
During the screwing out, the lost tip remains in the ground and concrete is poured through the drill tube and the drill into the space being liberated under the drill. The ground which has fallen around the drill tube and the ground which has been brought by the screw blade from under the drill to this place around the drill head is again displaced by the upper part of the drill head.
Thereby it is possible that in solid ground the drill only moves up much less than the pitch of the screw blade per revolution so that a volume of ground is transported down.
This ground is then pushed in the poured concrete so that the effective diameter of the pole decreases and hence its bearing-power decreases.
This last disadvantage is even more dangerous since it occurs imperceptibly and no inspection is possible in this respect.

Drill for making a pole in the ground and a method for applying such a drill


A vehicle includes an internal combustion engine that drives a first set of wheels, a generator, wherein the generator is powered by the internal combustion engine, a inverter connected to an output of the generator, an AC motor connected to an output of the inverter, and a controller, wherein the controller controls the generator, the inverter and the AC motor. The AC motor drives a second set of wheels. Power output by the generator is controlled according to a desired torque output for the second set of wheels. The controller calculates a potential power based upon the current status of the generator and controls the AC motor by the inverter based on the smaller of the desired torque and the potential power output of the generator.

Hybrid vehicles may include a first set of drive wheels powered directly by an internal combustion engine and a secondary set of drive wheels powered by a direct current motor. The direct current motor may be powered by a battery or directly by a generator running off the internal combustion engine. When the generator is used to directly power the direct current motor, the torque of the direct current motor, and thus the secondary drive wheels, may be controlled by controlling the voltage output from the generator.


A video providing server that provides a time slice video includes a receiving unit that receives a first time slice video that is generated from images captured by multiple cameras having a focus on a first object; an input unit that receives, from a user device, a selection of a second object among multiple objects displayed in the first time slice video; a feature point extraction unit that extracts feature points of the selected second object; a generation unit that generates a second time slice video having a focus on the second object based on the extracted feature points of the second object; and a transmitting unit that transmits, to the user device, the second time slice video having the focus on the second object.

Time slice techniques refer to imaging technologies by which respective cameras face an object from various angles and simultaneously take photos of the object, and the photos are digitally connected, thereby producing a standstill image of the object that appears to have been captured with a movie camera. A time slice shows the object in 3D that appears to transcend time and space.
Time slice techniques may be applied only to an object at a fixed focal position. Further, if an event occurs out of the fixed focal position, it cannot be captured using the time slice techniques.

Generation of time slice video having focus on selected object


In a method and an apparatus for removing an image forming substance such as toner from an image holding member such as a transfer paper sheet, the toner on the transfer paper sheet is heated to be melted or softened. An offset belt having adhesive force stronger than that between the transfer paper sheet and the toner comes in contact with the toner. The toner is separated and removed from the transfer paper sheet when the offset belt and the transfer paper sheet are separated from each other. Heating of the toner is maintained until the transfer paper sheet is separated from the offset belt. The transfer paper sheet is separated from the offset belt before the toner is cooled and solidified. A toner heating maintaining device is constructed by using a heating-supporting member having a heater therein and arranged such that the transfer paper sheet and the offset belt are supported between the heating-supporting member and a heating roller. The heating-supporting member has a bent portion on a downstream side in a conveying direction of the transfer paper sheet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from the surface of an image holding member on which an image constructed by the image forming substance is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile telegraph, a printer, etc. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for removing an image forming substance from an image holding member in which the image forming substance on the image holding member is heated to be melted or softened, and a separating member having adhesive force stronger than that between the image holding member and the image forming substance comes in contact with the image forming substance, and the image forming substance is separated and removed from the image holding member when the separating member and the image holding member are separated from each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are generally various kinds of known methods and apparatuses for removing an image forming substance such as toner from a recorded image holding member such as a sheet of paper. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 1-101576 shows an image forming substance removing method using a solvent. In this image forming substance removing method, a sheet of paper attaching toner thereto is dipped into a soluble solvent of toner resin and a supersonic wave is vibrated to separate the toner dissolved into the solvent from a paper face. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 4-300395 shows another image forming substance removing method in which a solvent is attached to a printed portion of used paper by an attaching method using dipping, spraying or coating, etc., to dissolve toner so that the dissolved toner is removed from the printed portion by a removing method such as cleaning, air suction, adsorbent contact, mechanical separation, electrostatic adsorption, etc.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 2-55195 shows another image forming substance removing method in which no solvent is used. In this image forming substance removing method, thermally melted ink or toner is attached by an electrophotographic system or a thermal transfer system onto a printed member in which a supporting member is coated with a mold-releasing agent. An ink separating member is overlapped with the printed member and is moved between a heating roller and a pressure roller. After the ink separating member is cooled, the ink is attached to the ink separating member by separating the ink separating member from the printed member so that the ink is removed from the printed member. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 4-64472 shows an eraser having at least an endless sheet, heating and cooling rollers, a pressing roller and a driving section. The endless sheet has thermally melted resin on a surface thereof. The heating and cooling rollers support and rotate the endless sheet. The pressing roller presses a sheet of erasable paper having a mold-released surface against softened or thermally melted resin. The driving section operates these rollers in association with each other. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 4-82983 shows an image forming substance removing apparatus having two parallel rollers, a heater, a scraper and a separator. The two parallel rollers are arranged in parallel with each other and come in press contact with each other and are rotated such that a sheet of paper passes through a press contact portion of these two parallel rollers. The heater heats at least one of the two parallel rollers. The scraper separates the paper sheet passing through the press contact portion from these two parallel rollers. The separator removes an image forming substance attached onto each of the two parallel rollers therefrom.
The above removing method and apparatus using no solvent can be used to remove the image forming substance from the recorded image holding member recording an image on a sheet of normal paper having exposed paper fibers on a surface thereof. In this case, for example, the image forming substance having thermally melted resin as a principal component is melted and attached onto the image holding member in a fixing process of the electrophotographic system. Accordingly, the image forming substance is strongly fixed onto paper fibers on the image holding member surface. Therefore, when the image forming substance is removed from the paper fibers, paper fibers on this image holding member surface are separated therefrom together with the image forming substance so that the paper sheet is damaged and a paper quality is reduced. In particular, when the above ink separating member, the endless sheet or each of the above rollers is heated or pressurized to improve a removing property of the image forming substance, fixing force between the image forming substance and the image holding member is reversely increased in various kinds of conditions so that it is difficult to remove the image forming substance from the image holding member.
Therefore, inventors of this patent application proposed another image forming substance removing method in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-255916. In this image forming substance removing method, at least one kind of water or aqueous solution is selected from a group of water as an unstabilizing agent, an aqueous solution including a surfactant, an aqueous solution including a water-soluble polymer, and an aqueous solution including a surfactant and a water-soluble polymer. This selected water or aqueous solution is held in a recorded image holding member. An image forming substance on the image holding member is heated to be melted or softened. A separating member having adhesive force stronger than that between the image holding member and the image forming substance then comes in contact with the image forming substance. When the separating member is separated from the image holding member, the image forming substance is separated and removed from the image holding member. In accordance with this image forming substance removing method, only the image forming substance can be removed from the image holding member without relatively reducing a paper quality of the image holding member.
FIG. 1 shows one constructional example of a toner separating unit of a toner removing apparatus capable of realizing this removing method. The toner separating unit separates toner as the image forming substance from a sheet of transfer paper 10 as the image holding member. This toner separating unit has a plurality of supporting rollers 41, 42, a belt 44 for a toner offset, upper and lower heating rollers 45, 46, a tension roller 49 and a rotating brush roller 50. The belt 44 for a toner offset is arranged as a separating member having a belt shape and wound around a separating roller 43. The upper and lower heating rollers 45 and 46 respectively have heating lamps 45a and 46a therein and are arranged such that these heating rollers 45 and 46 come in press contact with each other by a biasing means 45b such as a spring through the belt 44. The tension roller 49 is biased by a biasing means 49a such as a spring such that a belt portion between the supporting rollers 41 and 42 is pressed inside. The rotating brush roller 50 removes toner from a surface of the belt 44. At least a surface of this belt 44 is formed by a material having adhesive force stronger than that between a surface of the transfer paper sheet 10 and softened or melted toner. In this toner removing apparatus, after a belt portion passes through a pressurizing portion between the upper and lower heating rollers 45 and 46, a moving direction of the belt 44 is rapidly changed around the separating roller 43 winding this belt portion therearound. Thus, the transfer paper sheet 10 is separated from the belt 44 by using curvature. In this separation, the toner is separated and removed from the surface of the transfer paper sheet 10.
In the image forming substance removing apparatus for removing the image forming substance from the image holding member and proposed in the above Japanese Patent Application No. 4-255916, etc., there is a case in which the image holding member is cooled and solidified until the image holding member is separated from a surface of the separating member after the separating member comes in contact with the image forming substance softened or melted on the image holding member. For example, in the constructional example of the toner removing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, there is a case in which toner heated by the upper and lower heating rollers 45 and 46 and softened or melted on the transfer paper sheet 10 is cooled and solidified until a separating position of the transfer paper sheet 10 separated by the separating roller 43. When the image forming substance such as toner, etc. is cooled and solidified, no image forming substance can be reliably separated and removed from the image holding member even when the separating member is separated from the image holding member in this cooled and solidified state. This is because no adhesive force between the image forming substance and the image holding member is smaller than adhesive force between the image forming substance and the separating member surface in many cases. The image forming substance is also insufficiently separated from the image holding member when the above unstabilizing agent is not provided to the image holding member.

Method and apparatus for removing image forming substance from image holding member


A rotational speed sensor system which uses the sensor and a sensor electronic circuit to test the air slot between the speed sensor and an encoder to determine if the air slot falls within acceptable limits.

Sensor devices for determining the rotational speeds of wheels are known. Normally, the devices include an incremental encoder which is mechanically coupled to the rotating part, and a sensor which scans the encoder in a non-contact manner. Ferromagnetic toothed wheels or ferromagnetic discs are used as encoders. When sensors are used in wheel bearings, it is customary to employ magnetized structures, for example, an annular or circular arrangement of adjacent north and south poles, embedded in a mechanical carrier.
It is most common to use so-called "passive" sensors according to the reluctance principle. The sensors include a combination of a copper coil with a permanent magnet which is magnetically coupled to the encoder. The encoder modulates the magnetic coupling reluctance synchronously with movement. An alternating voltage, synchronous with movement, is induced in the copper coil in the way of a dynamo, and the frequency of the alternating voltage is evaluated as a measured quantity. The induced signal voltage fades away during standstill and will possibly adopt undesirably high values at high speeds.
To avoid such high voltages, so-called "active" sensors, have been developed. Sensors of this type are described in German patent application No. 41 35 789, for example. The sensors are a combination of a magnetostatically sensitive element and a permanent magnet which is magnetically coupled to the encoder. In this arrangement also, the encoder modulates the magnetic coupling reluctance or, in the case of the magnetized encoder, the field direction, synchronously with movement. The sensor element responds to the variations of the flux density or to the movement of a field vector. Examples in the art of such basic elements are Hall probes or magneto-resistive permalloy structures. The signal amplitude of active sensors of this type is independent of the speed of the encoder. Active sensors require for operation an electric energy which is supplied by an electronic controller. Technical methods involving a three-conductor feed-in or a two-conductor feed-in are known in the art. The three-conductor version supplies a signal voltage to the input of the electronic controller, while the two-conductor version furnishes a signal current.
Active sensors of the current type limit the sensor information available to them to one single parameter, the signal frequency. An internal amplifier trigger circuit generates a binary output signal with two constant amplitude values in the area of a defined, permissible air slot between the sensor and encoder, irrespective of the size of the air slot. The change in flanks of the amplitude values is evaluated, but the signal itself does not indicate the changed values. However, the signal discontinues abruptly when the permissible air slot size is exceeded because in this event the induced sinusoidal input signal falls short of a sensor-inherent hysteresis threshold, and the sensor stops responding.
A device for the adjustment of the air slot size, as disclosed in German patent application No. 40 33 064, ensures a proper mounting position of the sensor and maintains the permissible air slot size. The sensor is fitted in a sleeve-shaped mounting support and is urged by a compression spring with a flange against a corresponding flange of the mounting support in the direction of the encoder. The flange of the sensor includes a plurality of similar, axial teeth, while the flange of the mounting support includes two groups of axial indentations, the number of which corresponds to the number of teeth. When the sensor is installed, its teeth are placed in the group of the deep indentations, and the assembly of the mounting support is so that the sensor is initially in contact with the encoder. Subsequently, the teeth are locked in the group of the flat indentations so that a defined size of the air slot between the sensor and encoder is adjusted. The correct mounting position cannot be verified after the assembly is completed.
When an active sensor, due to misassembly, is inadvertently operated at the limits of its maximum permissible air slot, an appropriately great dynamic deformation of the kinematics between the sensor and encoder will possibly increase the air slot so that the permissible air slot size is exceeded and the output signal is interrupted.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to render testing of the size of the air slot possible even after the assembly of the sensor.
This object is achieved by providing an integrated electronic circuit which varies the output signals which are transmitted from the sensor to the electronic controller as a function of the existing air slot size. Evaluation of these output signals by the electronic controller will permit testing the air slot size during the entire operating time of the sensor even after the assembly of the sensor, without using mechanical means.
If, for example, the magnetic field-responsive input signal is amplified by the integrated circuit so that the peaks of the signals are clipped when the air slot size is smaller than the permissible air slot size by a certain amount, the air slot size may be concluded from the width of the resulting plateau, i.e. in the event of sinusoidal output signals, or upon the attaining of a constant amplitude in the event of square-wave or other angular output signals.
Another practical possibility involves generating a second output signal which may be superimposed on the speed-responsive output signal in order to reduce the total number of electrical lines. The second output signal, which is responsive to the air slot size, will be influenced by the air slot size either in terms of its amplitude, frequency, or the shape of its curve. When superimposed on the speed-responsive output signal, the second output signal may be filtered out in a known fashion in the electronic controller.
The idea of the present invention will be explained in detail in the following by way of three embodiments, making reference to four Figures of the accompanying drawing.

Active motion sensor having post-assembly air slot signal adjustment


The present invention relates to a new process for making metal fulleride compositions having the formula A.sub.n (C.sub.x).sub.m, wherein A is a metal cation and C.sub.x is a fullerene anion, preferably C.sub.x is C.sub.60 or C.sub.70, wherein n is a number equal to the absolute value of the valence of the fullerene anion, wherein m is equal to the absolute value of the valence of A, wherein the values of n and m are divided by their greatest common factor, if any, and wherein the metal fulleride composition is neutral in charge. This process comprises reacting a metal with a fullerene in a solvent or mixture of solvents in which the fullerene is at least partly soluble at a temperature from greater than the freezing point to equal to or less than the boiling point of the solvent, for a time sufficient to form the metal fulleride composition. The process has utility in making metal fulleride compositions which may be used as electrode material in reversible electrochemical cells, superconductors, spin labels, magnetic thermometers, organic and polymer precursors.

Diamond and graphite are two well known allotropic forms of carbon. A new allotropic form, the fullerenes, has been prepared by graphite volatilization (see W. Kratschmer et al., Nature, 347, 354 (1990)).
Typically, fullerenes each have 12 pentagons, but differing numbers of hexagons. The pentagons are required in order to allow the curvature and eventual closure of the surface upon itself. The most abundant species of fullerenes identified to date is the C.sub.60 molecule or Buckminsterfullerene. C.sub.60 is a hollow molecule that consists of carbon atoms located at the vertices of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons arranged to form an icosahedron. The inner hollow space of the fullerene (about 3.8 Angstroms in diameter) can accommodate any metal ion of the periodic table, thus suggesting that at least two isomers of any given fullerene-metal composition can exist: the metal may be inside (endohedral) or outside (exohedral) the fullerene cage. The second most abundant species classified to date is C.sub.70 and contains 12 pentagons and 25 hexagons. Fullerenes containing from 30 to many hundreds carbon atoms have detected by mass spectrometry. For further information concerning fullerenes, see, e.g., H. W. Kroto et al., Chemical Reviews, 91, 1213-1235 (1991).
As used in this application, the term "fullerenes" means hollow, all carbon-containing molecules having carbon atoms only in even numbers and located at the vertices of 12 pentagons (five membered carbon rings), but having differing numbers of hexagons (six membered carbon rings), and having the formula C.sub.2n where n is 10 or greater.
Ions of metal complexes of fullerenes have been observed in the gas phase by mass spectrometry (see J. R. Heath, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 107, 7779 (1985), and D. M. Cox et al., J. Chem. Phys., 88( 3), 588 ( 988)).
Bausch et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 113, 3205-3206 (1991) discloses the synthesis of Li.sub.x C.sub.60 and Li.sub.x C.sub.70 salts in tetrahydrofuran ("THF"), but requires the use of ultrasound to effect the synthesis. Applicant's process is different from the foregoing in that it does not use ultrasound. Finally, Wang, et al., Inorg. Chem., 30, 2838-2839 (1991) discloses a process for making K.sub.x C.sub.60 by reacting potassium with a solution of C.sub.60 in toluene. The process of applicant's invention was made before the foregoing two publication dates.
The portion of the disclosure herein that relates to C.sub.60 fulleride salts having the formula A.sub.n (C.sub.x).sub.m wherein A is a monovalent metal cation, n is from +1 to +3 depending on the valence of C.sub.x and C.sub.x is a C.sub.60 fulleride anion (where m equals 1) having a valence of from -1 to -3 is the subject of copending application U.S. Ser. No. 798,390 filed Nov. 26, 1991.


A cartridge for a magnetic disk drive has a clamping mechanism which is actuated as the door to the cartridge is closed when the cartridge is removed from the drive. The door covers the opening through which the cartridge is accessed by read/write heads. When the cartridge is removed from the drive, the mechanism of the present invention clamps the recording disk against the cartridge shell to prevent rattle, which might otherwise damage the recording disk.

This invention relates to data storage drives and more particularly, to a removable cartridge for magnetic disk drives.
Magnetic disk drives which write and read digital data from flexible magnetic disks have been extensively used. "Floppy disk drives" have been extensively used for small, so-called microcomputer systems, for word-processing applications and the like. The flexible disk cartridge includes a relatively thin, flexible jacket which is inserted into the floppy disk drive.
Rigid disk drives, such as the IBM 3350, usually have a fixed rigid magnetic media. The magnetic heads do not contact the magnetic surface, but ride on a thin film of air. Because of this, and other features, these disk drives are capable of extremely precise and high speed operation. This type of disk drive is commonly referred to as a "Winchester" drive. Rigid disks enclosed in a rigid, removable cartridge, or shell have also been used. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,452-Thompson et al is an example of such a drive.
"Bernoulli" disk drives having performance characteristics similar to that of Winchester drives, but with removable cartridges, have been developed. A flexible magnetic disk is enclosed in a rigid box which is normally completely closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,748-Bauck, et al and related patents to the common assignee show such drives using Bernoulli stabilized flexible disks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,173-Jones et al and related patents to the common assignee, show improvements which relate to so-called "half height" drives.
The cartridges for these drives have a door which closes the cartridge when it is removed from the drive. This prevents debris from contaminating the magnetic recording medium when the cartridge is not in the drive. When the cartridge is inserted into the drive, this door slides to an open position to provide access for the magnetic recording heads to engage the recording medium.
When the cartridge is removed from the drive, it is often subject to rough handling. During handling, physical contact of the disk with the shell may damage the disk, particularly if the disk and cartridge shell are subject to excessive "rattling".
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device which clamps the disk to the cartridge shell when the cartridge is removed from the drive to prevent rattling of the cartridge.

Cam mechanism to clamp magnetic disk against cartridge shell


Plastic casings are simultaneously molded onto several PCBAs attached to a carrier in a closely-spaced arrangement. All edges of each PCBA have integral connecting segments that extend through grooves formed in the associated mold assembly, and are pinched when the molds assembly is closed to precisely and reliably position the PCBA inside of an associated cavity during the molding process. In one embodiment, the PCB substrate is positioned in a bent arrangement to accommodate the use of inexpensive memory devices. Write-protect switches are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of electronic devices, and in particular, to a method and structure for accurately and neatly assembling a memory card-type electronic apparatus.
2. Related Art
Memory cards are widely used, for example, for storing digital pictures captured by digital cameras. One useful format is the Secure-Digital (SD) format, which is an extension of the earlier MultiMediaCard (MMC) format. These and other similar card-like structures are collectively referred to herein as "memory cards". Such memory cards are also useful as add-on memory cards for other devices, such as portable music players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and even notebook computers. SD cards are hot-swappable, allowing the user to easily insert and remove SD cards without rebooting or cycling power. Since the SD cards are small, durable, and removable, data files can easily be transported among electronic devices by being copied to an SD card. SD cards are not limited to flash-memory cards, but other applications such as communications transceivers can be implemented as SD cards.
An important aspect of most memory card structures is that they meet size specifications for a given memory card type. In particular, the size of the casing or housing, and more particularly the width and thickness (height) of the casing/housing, must be precisely formed so that the memory card can be received within a corresponding slot (or other docking structure) formed on an associated card-hosting device. For example, using the SD card specifications mentioned above, each SD card must meet the specified 24 mm width and 2.1 mm thickness specifications in order to be usable in devices that support this SD card type. That is, if the width/thickness specifications of a memory card are too small or too large, then the card can either fail to make the necessary contact pad-to-card-hosting device connections, or fail to fit within the corresponding slot of the associated card-hosting device.
One conventional method for manufacturing memory cards that meet required size specifications includes using a cover or housing that is typically adhesively attached to the PCBA substrate over the semiconductor components. One shortcoming of this approach is that the thickness of such covers is necessarily relatively thick, and therefore takes up a significant amount of the specified memory card thickness (e.g., the 2.1 mm thickness of standard SD cards). As a result, the choice of memory device and other components mounted used in these memory cards is limited to devices that are relatively thin. In addition, because such covers are fabricated separately and then attached to the substrate using an adhesive, the use of such separate covers increases production and assembly costs, and the covers can become detached from the substrate. Another conventional method for manufacturing memory cards is to ultrasonically bond the upper and lower portions of the card assembly. However, tiny bond structures must be precisely made on adjoining portions and thus increases manufacturing cost. In either method mentioned above, there is always a concern about the quality of the bonding, and the joining seam between the two portions is typically the weakest area of the final assembly and is subject to premature separation, resulting in damages to the memory cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,462,273 discloses a second conventional memory card fabrication process that avoids the thickness problems associated with separate cover structures by forming a molded casing over the PCBA components. First, the PCBA is assembled using normal practices by forming individual module substrates that are connected to a common carrier by connecting segments, with the material used for the carrier and connecting segments being the same as that of the module substrate. Each module substrate is attached along its side to the carrier substrate by way of the connecting segments, with wide carrier segments of the carrier substrate between located between each adjacent pair of module substrates. During a subsequent plastic molding process, round shaped rods are utilized for forming notches on the card body at locations where the card body remains connected to the carrier by way of the connecting segments. Later, round shape cutters are used for cutting the connecting segments through the notched areas, thereby separating the molded memory cards from the carrier.
A problem with the manufacturing method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,462,273 is that the disclosed carrier impedes the efficient molding of several memory cards during a single molding cycle (i.e., simultaneously injecting plastic into several cavities of a multi-cavity mold) due to the large support sections separating adjacent card bodies. That is, each molding cavity of a multi-cavity mold assembly must be spaced apart by a distance corresponding to the wide carrier segments located between adjacent module substrates. This intervening space both increases tooling costs by requiring a larger mold, and decreases production efficiency by limiting the number of cavities that a given molding apparatus can support. Furthermore, handling of the small substrate wherein electronic components are mounted adds to the complication of manufacturing and substantially lowers the yield rate.
What is needed is a secured card-type electronic apparatus housing and assembly method that enables high production throughput by way of cost-efficient molding techniques that avoid the problems associated with conventional production methods.

Molded memory card production using carrier strip