The invention relates to a slide-on attachment (500) for use with an electronic smoking device (10), the slide-on attachment (500) comprising a body (100) and a plurality of end-caps (300) fitted on the body (100), the body (100) comprising a plurality of cavities, the plurality of cavities (106, 108) comprising a central cavity (106) capable of facilitating fitting the slide-on attachment (500) on the electronic smoking device (10), and at least one lateral cavity (108) comprising a material imbibed with flavored fluid.

An electronic smoking device, such as an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), typically has a housing accommodating an electric power source (e.g. a single use or rechargeable battery, electrical plug, or other power source), and an electrically operable atomizer. The atomizer vaporizes or atomizes liquid supplied from a reservoir and provides vaporized or atomized liquid as an aerosol. Control electronics control the activation of the atomizer. In some electronic cigarettes, an airflow sensor is provided within the electronic smoking device, which detects a user puffing on the device (e.g., by sensing an under-pressure or an air flow pattern through the device). The airflow sensor indicates or signals the puff to the control electronics to power up the device and generate vapor. In other e-cigarettes, a switch is used to power up the e-cigarette to generate a puff of vapor.
The vaporized or atomized liquid provides the users of electronic cigarettes, in addition to nicotine either with flavorless vapor or with a vapor that has a single flavor, while the cartomizer is still filled. As such the users that wish to change the flavor they experience mid-cartomizer are not accommodated by the electronic cigarettes currently available on the market. If the users wish to customize the flavor of the vapor they inhale, they need to sacrifice the cartomizer by exchanging it early, even if the cartomizer is still full.
If the users opt for using with their electronic cigarettes a cartomizer comprising flavored liquid, they will note that deposits of gunk on the heating coil of the electronic cigarette are accelerated, compared with the cases when they use unflavored liquid, as deposition of the volatile flavors comprised by the atomized liquid occurs on the heating coil. As such the lifespan of the heating coil of the electronic cigarettes might be compromised earlier when using flavored liquids as opposed to the case where the atomized liquid is flavorless.
Therefore, a need exists in the field of electronic cigarettes for cigarettes that allow flavor customization while at the same time exhibit long coil life.

Slide-on attachment for electronic smoking devices


A passive containment cooling system for a nuclear reactor containment vessel. Disclosed is a cooling water distribution system for introducing cooling water by gravity uniformly over the outer surface of a steel containment vessel using an interconnected series of radial guide elements, a plurality of circumferential collector elements and collector boxes to collect and feed the cooling water into distribution channels extending along the curved surface of the steel containment vessel. The cooling water is uniformly distributed over the curved surface by a plurality of weirs in the distribution channels.

This invention was made during the performance of Contract No. DE-AC03-90SF18495 with the United States Department of Energy by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.
This invention relates to nuclear reactors and more particularly to a passive cooling system for the steel containment vessel used to house the nuclear reactor, the steam generators and associated equipment. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,353 issued Sep. 17, 1991 to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, there is described a passive containment cooling system used to cool the steel containment vessel of a nuclear power plant in the event of a failure of any of the active cooling systems used in the water cooled reactor. The cooling system described in this patent can also be used as a passive heat sink to remove all core decay heat from the steel containment vessel safely and rapidly and prevent any excessive pressure build-up within the steel containment vessel.
As further described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,353, the passive containment cooling system uses a combination of natural air circulation between the steel containment vessel and the concrete shield building and gravity fed cooling water to provide the necessary cooling and heat sink. In the event of a failure of any of the primary active reactor cooling systems or an accident, the passive containment cooling system can be utilized to provide sufficient cooling to allow for a safe and orderly shutdown of the reactor.
The gravity fed cooling water used in this passive containment cooling system is derived from a large (400,000) gallon annular tank built into the roof of the concrete shield building that encloses the steel containment vessel and when needed, the water is allowed to flow by gravity all over the outside surfaces of the steel containment shell. Because the water is drained by the natural force of gravity, pumps and human operator actions are not necessary to provide the necessary cooling effect. The cooling water storage tank is designed to provide the cooling water requirement for several days after which additional water could be added to the tank or, as most likely, the air cooling provided would be sufficient to remove any residual heat from the steel containment vessel.
In order to provide the most efficient heat removal from the outside surface of the steel containment vessel, it is important that the passive cooling water flows over the entire surface in a thin uniform film to prevent any hot spots occurring on the surface and to maximize the cooling effect of the water. Even, uniform distribution of water over the surface of the steel containment vessel has been difficult due to the fact that the dome of the steel containment vessel is an ellipsoidal dome with a curved surface and the steel surface, while as smooth as steel fabrication practices permit, still contains a number of surface deviations and roughened areas that cause the cooling water to "channel" or otherwise not flow over the surface in a thin uniform film. These surface deviations and variations are large compared to the thickness of the desired water film. It has also been observed that if "channeling" occurs near the top of the steel containment vessel, the channel will continue on down the side of the vessel and thereby create a large area that will not be effectively cooled and lead to hot spots.
Prior attempts to provide for a uniform film of cooling water on the curved surface of the steel containment vessel have improved, but not completely solved the problem. As described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,353, one approach to the problem was to coat the outside surface of the steel containment vessel with a special heat conductive wettable zinc-based paint. While this paint improved the flow of the cooling water as compared to a bare steel surface, channeling and hot spots still occurred.


An electrical storage device, such as a capacitor, which includes a high surface area material such as zeolite as a substrate, a suitable dielectric layer proximate to the substrate, and necessary electrically conductive layers. The substrate is non-planar and has a rigid, sponge-like internal structure with a high surface area to volume ratio defined by nanometer scale openings connected by passageways.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the general class of electrical storage devices; more particularly, it is in the area of capacitors; still more particularly, it is in the area of capacitors having high surface area plates; most specifically, it is an electrical storage device (e.g. capacitor) which patterns at least one of its plates upon the high surface area material zeolite, so as to produce a device with high surface area plates.
b. Background of the Invention
Various attempts have been made to increase the surface area of the plates in a capacitor. For example, electrolytic capacitors have employed plates which are rolled like pastry, to increase the surface area of those plates. The present invention makes use of a class of materials, called "high surface area" materials which have an exceptionally large (relative to volume) surface area. An excellent example of this type of material is "zeolite". Although there are many different forms of zeolite, most if not all are high surface-area materials.
Zeolites are regular crystalline structures which are essentially porous. Zeolites have a structure which is similar to that of a natural sponge or hardened coral. Internally, zeolites are rigid sponge-like structures with uniform but very small openings (e.g., 0.1 to 1.2 nanometers or 0.1 to 1.2×10−9 meters). It is this sponge-like structure of the zeolite which results in many internal passageways connecting the openings. Each passageway exposes additional surface area, thereby contributing to the large surface area of the zeolite, which makes it ideal for use in the present invention.
For example, one gram of a zeolite, approximately the size of a sugar cube, may have a total surface area of 1,000 square meters. At least a portion of this large surface area is used to support one or more plates of a capacitor, thereby providing a high surface area plate useful in providing high capacitance. (Note that while zeolite is used as the example of high surface area material throughout this application, it is so used only for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that other high surface area materials could function in its place.

Method and apparatus for large scale storage of electrical potential


A switching power source device is provided which comprises a secondary MOS-FET 9 connected between a secondary winding 6 of a transformer 2, a reactor 11 connected in parallel to secondary winding 6 of transformer 2 for accumulating energy during the on-period of primary MOS-FET 4, and a secondary control circuit 12 connected to reactor 11 and a control terminal of secondary MOS-FET 9. Secondary control circuit 12 serves to turn secondary MOS-FET 9 off to accumulate energy in reactor 11, turn secondary MOS-FET 9 on to discharge energy accumulated in reactor 11, and turn secondary MOS-FET 9 off upon completion of energy release from reactor 11. As secondary control circuit 12 turns secondary MOS-FET 9 on and off in response to the periods for accumulating and discharging energy in reactor 11, the device can perform the efficient synchronous rectification operation of secondary MOS-FET 9 even under the fluctuating condition of input and output voltages E, VO and control of power loss in output voltage VO produced from secondary winding 6 of transformer 2.

A known switching power source device comprises a primary winding of a transformer and a switching element connected in series to a DC power source wherein switching element is turned on and off to cause electric current to flow through primary winding and switching element in order to generate DC power from output terminals connected to a secondary winding of transformer. When switching element is turned on, electric current passes through primary winding of transformer to accumulate electro-magnetic energy in transformer, and when switching element is turned off, stored electro-magnetic energy can be taken out from secondary winding in a switching power source device named "Flyback Converter". However, the converter has a drawback of lowered efficiency in power conversion because a rectifying diode connected to secondary winding of transformer incurs power loss due to voltage drop in the forward direction upon the conduction of the diode.
Then, to reduce power loss resulted from voltage drop in the forward direction of the diode connected to secondary winding, a switching power source device has been proposed in the following Patent Document 1 wherein a power MOS-FET as a switching element in a synchronous rectification circuit is connected to secondary winding to prevent passage of adverse current and reduce voltage drop in the forward direction, thereby mitigating operational burden of transformer. This switching power source comprises a pulse transformer which includes a main converter circuit such as a flyback or forward converter circuit; a power MOS-FET of synchronous rectification connected to a secondary winding of pulse transformer for rectifying output current from secondary winding; and a guard comparator for monitoring change in direction of electric current flowing between source and drain terminals of power MOS-FET of synchronous rectification to control the forward and backward currents by a gate drive signal supplied from guard comparator to a gate terminal of power MOS-FET of synchronous rectification.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 7-7928 (Page 6, FIG. 1)

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Switching power source device of the type capable of controlling power loss in generating output voltage from a secondary winding of a transformer


A speed change control device for an automatic transmission is shown which comprises first, second and third shift valves, each having two switching positions for selectively carrying out application and releasing of hydraulic pressure to and from an oil chamber of a hydraulically operated friction element. First and second solenoid valves are employed each controlling an output of hydraulic pressure in accordance with an electric signal applied thereto. The first solenoid valve outputs a hydraulic pressure for controlling the switching operation of the second shift valve, and the second solenoid valve outputs a hydraulic pressure for controlling the switching operation of the first shift valve. A passage structure is further employed which applies the hydraulic pressure from the second solenoid valve to the third shift valve to control the switching operation of the same only when the second shift valve assumes one given position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to automatic transmissions and more particularly to speed change control devices of such automatic transmissions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to clarify the task of the present invention, one conventional speed change control device disclosed in Japanese Patent Second Provisional Publication No. 58-27419 will be described.
The speed change control device is designed for an automotive automatic transmission having four forward speeds and one reverse. The speed control device has three shift valves, which are a 1-2 shift valve, a 2-3 shift valve and a 3-4 shift valve. These three shift valves are subjected to a position change due to a hydraulic pressure supplied from first and second solenoid valves. In particular, the hydraulic pressure from the first solenoid valve is applied to the 2-3 shift valve to carry out position change of that shift valve, while the hydraulic pressure from the second solenoid valve is applied to both the 1-2 and 3-4 shift valves. However, the application of hydraulic pressure to these two shift valves from the second solenoid valve does not always induce a change in the position of these two valves. More specifically, when the 2-3 shift valve assumes a second speed position, the hydraulic pressure from the second solenoid valve changes the position of only the 1-2 shift valve. In this case, the position of the 3-4 shift valve is not changed. In other words, when the 2-3 shift valve assumes the second speed position, the hydraulic pressure application to the 3-4 shift valve from the second solenoid valve is made through the 2-3 shift valve, thereby fixing or maintaining the existing position of the 3-4 shift valve. When the 2-3 shift valve assumes a third speed position, the hydraulic pressure from the second solenoid valve changes the position of only the 3-4 shift valve. In this case, the position of the 1-2 shift valve is not changed. That is, when the 2-3 shift valve assumes the third speed position, the hydraulic pressure application to the 1-2 shift valve from the second solenoid valve is made through the 2-3 shift valve thereby to fix or keep the existing position of the 1-2 shift valve. With this arrangement, the 1-2 speed change and the 3-4 speed change are controlled by the second solenoid valve.
However, due to an inevitable increase in size of the 2-3 shift valve, the above-mentioned conventional speed change control device is forced to have a complicated and bulky construction. That is, in addition to its essential function by which the hydraulic pressure application to the 2-3 shift valve is switched, the 2-3 shift valve needs an additional function by which the hydraulic pressure for suppressing the position change of the 1-2 and 3-4 shift valves is outputted at the second and third speed positions of the 2-3 shift valve, respectively. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide fluid passages for fluidly connecting the 2-3 shift valve to both the 1-2 shift valve and the 3-4 shift valve. This also contributes to the bulky construction of the speed change control device.

Speed change control device of automatic transmission


A method for modifying standard ANSI body sizing charts extrapolation sizes outside of the standard sizes if necessary. In a subsequent step, the user may incorporate different upper and lower body sizes. Correction factors are then applied if a tall/short, full/slender body type is selected. A new chart is output to the user in human readable form.

The garment making industry has historically used a number of standard body measurement charts to produce garments. Various industry and governmental (such as the charts from the American National Standards Institute or ANSI) institutions have developed these charts over time. At this time, there are several hundred such standard charts available for different body types (child, girl, misses, woman, woman over 55, etc.) But, these charts have never fully represented the broad diversity of actual body types. They all assume an average height of 5′ 8″ for all women in the world, for instance. Nor do these standard charts keep up with the changing shape of the average body as it changes with the evolving health, diet, and exercise habits of our populace. The challenge for the "average" clothing buyer to find clothes that actually fit well has become more and more difficult, resulting in trends towards poorer fit with fewer options available for the short, the tall, the skinny, and the wider clothing buyers.

Method for creation of detailed body measurement parts from extrapolation of standard chart data based on generic body attributes


A variable-frequency ultrasonic machining system for a computer numerical control milling machine including a cutting force detection unit, a temperature sensing unit and a processor. The processor receives sensing signals of the cutting force detection unit and the temperature sensing unit, processes the received sensing signals according to a set program, and sends control signals to an ultrasonic drive power supply and a corresponding servo motor, respectively. By adjusting the ultrasonic vibration frequency or the frequency of the frequency converter of the CNC milling machine in the machining process, the system ensures the continuity of ultrasonic-assisted milling of a part with a complex curved surface in case of uneven cutting allowance, and improves efficiency of ultrasonic machining.

Compared with the traditional machining process, ultrasonic-assisted cutting (UAC) has high processing efficiency for difficult-to-machine materials and workpieces, and has been widely used in aerospace, medical and other industries. In the existing ultrasonic-assisted milling (UAM), during the one-time clamping, continuous machining process, the frequency and amplitude of the ultrasonic vibration and the speed and feed of the computer numerical control (CNC) machine are constant, regardless of the complex surface of the part and the worn tool. This process has a good effect in machining a part with a flat surface, small tool wear and even cutting allowance. In the case of a complex curved surface, uneven cutting allowance and rapid tool wear, due to the non-periodical change in the cutting angle of the machining tool, the thickness of the cut metal layer and the cutting force both vary. If the speed and feed of the machine tool and the frequency and amplitude of the ultrasonic vibration remain unchanged, the cutting force in the cutting zone of the tool will gradually increase. When the energy accumulates to a value beyond the maximum set parameter of ultrasonic machining, the surface machining accuracy of the workpiece will be reduced, and the tool will be broken in severe cases. To solve this problem, sectional machining is adopted. The surface of the part is divided into different sections, and different cutting parameters and ultrasonic amplitude and frequency are set according to the desired shape of each section. This method is time-consuming and labor-intensive, resulting in low machining efficiency and high labor cost.

Variable-frequency ultrasonic machining system for computer numerical control milling machine

NANJING UNIVERSITY OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS


A method for the production of fluorinated carbon nanostructures such as carbon black is disclosed, wherein a plasma is generated in a plasma chamber and a fluorocarbon, or a fluorocarbon containing mixture, is supplied to the plasma to convert at least some of the fluorocarbon into a fluorinated carbon material. Direct pyrolysis of a fluorocarbon, or a mixture containing this, provides a one-step method for producing fluorinated carbon nanostructures with a formula CFx, where 0.06<x<0.15, the particles having a relatively narrow spread of diameters, and exhibiting excellent hydrophobicity.

Fluorinated carbons or graphite fluorides have a chemical formula CFx, where, typically, O<x<1.14. Most techniques for the production of fluorinated carbons employ direct fluorination of graphites or petroleum cokes at 600-900 k, with properties dependent upon the structure and antecedents of the starting material that is used. Depending upon the fluorine content, CFx exhibits a wide range of electrical resistivities, has a low coefficient of friction, a low surface free energy and a range of colour from black (x<0.8) to white (x>0.95). Graphite fluorides consist of layers of (CF)n puckered in an infinite array of cyclohexane chairs.
The excellent lubricity and water and oil repellency properties of graphite fluorides have been utilised in various composite materials such as plastics, organic and aqueous liquids, and also as cathodic materials in high energy density lithium batteries. For such applications, the dispersability of graphite fluoride is an important factor; since dispersability is primarily dependent upon particle size, there is a requirement for nano-sized particles of fluorinated carbon.
An alternative approach to the production of fluorinated carbons, although one which has been much less extensively used, is to fluorinate carbon black. Carbon black is a well known substance formed of spheroidally-shaped particles grouped together into chains or clusters known as aggregates. Carbon black is formed by the dissociation of hydrocarbons and finds use as a filler for rubber products, in the manufacture of printing inks, tinting, and in paper and fibre colourings. Traditional methods for the production of carbon black (such as lamp black, furnace black and gas black) relied upon partial combustion of petrochemical and coal tar oils. Over recent decades, however, plasma systems have also been employed as they are typically more controllable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Moreover, unique properties and characteristics are seen in carbon blacks generated by a plasma process. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,527,518, 5,989,512, 5,997, 837 and 6,068,827 describe examples of the generation of carbon blacks with a plasma torch, using a quenching technique which allows the size of carbon black particles to be controlled and permits a 100% yield to be obtained.
Production of fluorinated carbons on an industrial scale is difficult. The conditions must be strictly controlled and for direct fluorination, long reaction times are required in order to completely fluorinate a carbon material. This results in the use of large quantities of expensive fluorine. The yield is in any event low and large quantities of gaseous by-product are formed. Plasma fluorination techniques have been employed on a limited scale, but require expensive equipment, that is time-consuming to operate. The requirements for a vacuum in the plasma generation techniques also limit such processes to small batches which in turn makes industrial production difficult.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved process for the production of fluorinated carbons and in particular for the production of fluorinated carbon black.
According to the present invention, there is provided a process for producing a fluorinated carbon material comprising the steps of generating a plasma in a plasma chamber; and supplying a fluorocarbon or fluorocarbon containing mixture to the plasma whereby at least some of the fluorocarbon transforms to a fluorinated carbon material.
Direct pyrolysis of a fluorocarbon or fluorocarbon containing mixture provides a 'one-step' process which avoids the problems of the two-step prior art processes, particularly in that the overall production time is reduced and that large amounts of fluorine gas are not now needed. A perfluorinated or partially fluorinated fluorocarbon is typically employed as a feedstock with a nitrogen or argon plasma gas supplied to form an atmospheric pressure plasma. By the term "fluorocarbon" is meant any of a number of organic compounds analogous to hydrocarbons, where either some or all of the hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine. In preference, therefore, hydrofluorocarbons having both hydrogen and fluorine atoms as well as carbon may be used as a feedstock.
The resultant product has the form (CFx), where x is ≦0.8, preferably from 0.05 and 0.30, and more preferably from 0.06 to 0.15. The fluorinated carbon is similar in appearance to carbon black; the particles have a relatively narrow spread of diameters (the mean particle diameter is in the range of from 10 to 100 nm, preferably 15 to 60 nm, and more preferably from 15 to 50 nm, and at least 90% and preferably substantially all of the particles have a diameter falling within the range of from 15 to 50 nm). The particles also exhibit excellent hydrophobicity when used as a substrate coating. In a preferred embodiment, the fluorinated nanocarbon material may be doped with other elements such as chlorine, oxygen or nitrogen. The invention accordingly extends, in a preferred embodiment, to a fluorinated carbon material thus doped.
The fluorinated carbon produced in accordance with the invention finds a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, electrodes for high energy lithium cells, an additive for a photocopy toner, an ink, a super-hydrophobic coating or a filler for a fluoropolymer.


A slide rod locking system, especially for locking the door of a switchgear cabinet, having a handle which is coupled to a control element by a control mechanism. The handle can move around a pivotal axis running perpendicular to the plane of the cabinet door. The control element can move in a parallel position relative to the plane of the cabinet door as a result of the movement of the handle. The slide rod locking system transmits powerful locking forces and at the same time can have a low-height design structure by arranging a lever on an articulated joint of the handle at a distance from the pivotal axis. The lever enables the force introduced into the handle to be transmitted to the control element and can modify its angle position with respect to the handle when moved.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sliding rod locking device for locking a cabinet door of a switchgear cabinet, having a handle, to which an actuating mechanism is connected via an actuating mechanism, wherein the handle can be adjusted in a pivot plane extending vertically with respect to the plane of the cabinet door, and by displacement of the handle, the actuating member can be displaced parallel with respect to the plane of the cabinet door.
2. Description of Related Art
A sliding rod lock used for locking emergency exit doors is known from German Patent Reference DE 77 23 134. A handle is seated, pivotal around a horizontal axis, in a housing. The handle has a manipulating device facing the user on the front of the housing. A lever is formed on the handle remote from the manipulating device. An actuating member is connected to the lever and is linearly displaceable in the housing. The actuating member has teeth, which mesh with a gear wheel. A second actuating member also has teeth, which also engage with the gear wheel.
The lever is deflected by an actuation of the manipulating device, and with it the first actuating member is displaced. During this the gear wheel is also turned, and the second actuating member is displaced in the opposite direction with respect to the first direction. In order to achieve the required closing forces with such a sliding rod locking device, the lever must be of an appropriate size. But this causes the sliding rod locking device to have a structural size which is interfering when used with a switchgear cabinet.
It is one object of the invention to provide a sliding rod locking device of the type mentioned above but with a small structural size and by which it is possible to simultaneously generate large locking forces.
Such object of this invention is attained with a lever hinged on a hinge of the handle at a distance away from the pivot shaft, by which the force introduced into the handle can be transferred to the actuating member and which changes its angular position when the handle is displaced.
An effective force transfer can occur at the lever mechanism in accordance with this invention, so that large locking forces can be generated. The lever can be designed as a toggle lever, which creates a force amplification with increasing pivoting. This makes it possible to overcome the oppositely acting sealing pressure when the cabinet door is closed. In the pivoted-in condition of the handle, the position of the movable lever can be adjusted so that it has only a slight effect on the structural size of the sliding-rod locking device.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, the handle is connected with its pivot shaft on the actuating member, and the lever is pivotally fastened by an area remote from the hinge on a housing, which can be fixed in place on the cabinet door.
Alternatively, the handle can be connected with its pivot shaft on the housing, and the lever is pivotally fastened on the actuating member at its area remote from the hinge. In one embodiment of this invention, a first sliding unit can be displaced in a first direction via the lever. A further lever is connected to the handle, which displaces a second sliding unit in a direction opposite the first sliding unit. In this case the levers are preferably hinged to the handle so that sliding forces of equal size can be generated via the two sliding units.
For easier manipulation, the handle can be maintained on the housing prestressed in a direction counter to the pivoting direction by a restoring spring. Thus the handle always is urged in the pivoted-out position.
In the pivoted-in condition the handle is preferably fixed in place in a handle recess of the housing, so that it is received in a space-saving manner. The handle can have a snap-in shoulder for locking, which is maintained in a snap-in receiver of a bolt, wherein the bolt is displaceably maintained in the housing. The bolt itself is connected via a transfer element to a lock, wherein it can be displaced via the transfer element by the lock, so that the snap-in receiver disengages with the snap-in shoulder and releases the handle. Actuation of the handle is only possible if the bolt is released via the lock. Thus the switchgear cabinet is dependably secured against unauthorized access.
In accordance with this invention, the housing can be fastened to the front of the cabinet door and receive the linearly displaceable actuating member. The actuating member is connected by one or several retainers through one or several openings of the cabinet door to a sliding rod arranged on the back of the cabinet door. Since only the sliding rod is arranged on the back of the door, the sliding rod locking device can also be used, if restricted space conditions prevail in the locking area.
In this case the sliding rod can be designed as a profiled angle section, which is guided by one profiled leg on the back of the cabinet door and which extends with its second profiled leg that runs at a right angle with respect to the first profiled leg, along a vertically extending, bent-off edge of the cabinet door. A sliding rod designed in this way requires only little space and thus takes restricted spatial conditions into consideration.


A snowplow blade mount assembly mountable on a vehicle that includes a frame mount assembly which is affixed to a frame of the vehicle and a support assembly that connects to the frame mount assembly. The support assembly is designed to connect to a lift mount assembly and a blade mount assembly. The support assembly enables the blade mount assembly and/or lift mount assembly to be conveniently connected and disconnected from the vehicle.

It is common for owners of vehicles to equip the vehicle with a snowplow for the purpose of removing snow from a ground surface. These vehicles include cars, jeeps, sport utility vehicles, pick-ups and the like. Each type of vehicle has a different frame structure and a different bumper design to accommodate the frame structure. At present, the most commonly used arrangement for attaching a snowplow blade to a vehicle involves pivotally connecting an A-frame which supports the blade to a frame extension below the front of the vehicle. Vertical displacement of the snowplow blade in the A-frame is provided by a lift-mount assembly. The lift-mount assembly serves primarily to raise, lower and support the plow blade, such as by raising the plow blade above the ground during transportation of the snowplow blade as well as during a snowplow operation. The lift-mount assembly typically includes a hydraulic cylinder, lift arm and chain or cable arrangement mounted above the vehicle frame. Typically, the A-frame is aligned with the vehicle frame below the front of the vehicle to provide proper blade alignment.
The A-frame generally includes a frame assembly supporting a plow blade forwardly of the vehicle and having an inner end design to be releasably hitched to the support structure beneath the vehicle. Detachment of the snowplow blade unit from the vehicle enables use of the vehicle for personal and/or work oriented purposes other than snowplowing.
Depending on the type of the frame mount used, the frame mount typically projects out beyond or coplanar with the bumper thereby defeating the purpose of the bumper. In addition, the frame mount becomes a potentially dangerous battering ramp when extended past the bumper, and is subject to being damaged itself in a collision. Such prior art lift assemblies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,667,708; 3,214,138; 3,410,008; 3,456,369; and 3,987,562. In addition, these prior art mount assemblies include one or more of a number of structural disadvantages, such as a) excessive weight, b) exposure to adverse environmental conditions, c) potential physical damage during non-snowplowing use, d) high cost of manufacture, e) difficulty in mounting to a variety of vehicle frames, and f) undesirable aesthetics when used on a vehicle. More particularly, with regard to such disadvantages, these prior art lift mount assemblies are typically 1) mounted on the existing vehicle bumper or on a special cross member between the vehicle frame members which either replaces or is provided in addition to the bumper, or 2) are mounted on one of the vehicle's frame and bumper components and interconnected with the one another. Furthermore, due to the design of these prior art mounting systems, when the snow blade is elevated, the lift arm mounting members cause considerable stress at the point of connection between the mounting members and the vehicle as a result of the weight of the corresponding snowplow blade unit. Such forces necessitate structurally heavy mounting members and supports, and special structural interconnections there between in an effort to minimize damage and/or bending or breakage of the mounting members and/or support components. This results in undue weight to the support unit and increased complexity in the assembly and the repair of the support unit. The lift arm assemblies are also intended to remain on the vehicle when the snowplow unit is removed therefrom. This is undesirable from the stand point of the weight imposed on the front axle of the vehicle and can result in a violation of one or more governmental restrictions with respect to vehicle loading. In addition, one or more of the lift components project a considerable distance forward of the vehicle bumper thus exposing such components to damage or destruction should the vehicle impact against an object. Moreover, these components, when exposed to the elements year round, can begin to deteriorate, therefore requiring more frequent maintenance, repair and replacing, thus increasing the expense of using such an assembly. The permanent fixture of these components to the vehicle also can significantly deteriorate from the aesthetic appearance of the front of the vehicle during non-winter months.
Many efforts have been made to resolve several of these problems with respect to the use of snowplow blades. Assignees' U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,084 improves on a number of draw backs of prior art lift mount assemblies. This lift mount assembly reduces the number of modifications to the front end of the vehicle to accommodate the lift mount assembly. This lift mount assembly replaces projecting parts of the lift mount assembly with somewhat recessed exposed parts which do not bear the full impact of a collision should the vehicle impact against an object during non-snowplow use. However, the foremost part of the bracket portion of the lift mount assembly is located on the same vehicle plane as the foremost part of the bumper. Therefore, both the bumper and the lift mount bear the brunt of any collision. Potential damage to the lift mount assembly remains a likelihood on the collision. The lift mount assembly also must be positioned behind the bumper which can present installation problems. The mount assembly also requires some rigging to establish the top mounting point behind the bumper which can be troublesome for some vehicles.
Assignees' U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,608 improved on many of the remaining drawbacks of existing mount assemblies. The mount assembly is a two piece assembly wherein the housing unit is affixed to the frame of the vehicle beneath and behind the bumper of the vehicle thereby eliminating parts of the housing from being damaged on collision by the vehicle. The lift mount assembly also includes a support unit which releasably attaches to the housing and is designed to support components of the mount assembly to lift and lower the snowplow frame assembly. When the snowplow blade and A-frame are removed from the housing unit, the support unit may also be removed thereby eliminating projecting parts of the lift mount assembly from being exposed to damage. The removal of these components also enhances the authentic appearance of the vehicle during non-winter months and prevents the lift mount assembly components from being exposed to the elements throughout the year.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,608 is a significant improvement over prior art lift mount assemblies, the improved lift mount assembly does not address several problems with respect to the mounting of the lift assembly and blade mount assembly to various types of vehicles, the adjustment of the lift assembly to various types of vehicles, and the difficulty in attaching and detaching the lift assembly and/or snow blade mount assembly from the vehicle.


Automated software provisioning based upon a set of role definitions for a user of a configurable device such as a computer or personal digital assistant. The present invention may be realized as an enhancement or extension to currently available software distribution tools which are used to distribute software to remote and local machines, and to permit unattended software installation and maintenance. The invention provides role-based software provisioning which automatically distributes the appropriate software programs and updates to computers that are owned by users based on the role of each user, thereby avoiding the need for intensive manual efforts to determine which computers need what software. The invention may also be interfaced to a License Management system in order to accomplish automatic recovery of unused software licenses, and to obtain permission for installing new licenses, based on user role changes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention related to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and system for provisioning and de-provisioning software and resources assigned to a computing system based upon the organizational role of the user of the computing system.
2. Background of the Invention
Modern enterprise computing environments include a variety of networked computing devices such as servers, gateways, desktop clients, and pervasive devices including personal digital assistants ("PDA") and pocket PC's. Within a company's or organization's computing resources, there may be literally thousands of these devices at any given time, usually with one user assigned to each device.
So, for example, a particular member of an organization or company employee may have a desktop computer or PC assigned to him or her, usually located on his or her desk in his or her office. Additionally, this member or employee may also be assigned a PDA, as well as a laptop computer for use in telecommuting or during business trips.
Each of these devices will have a variety of hardware and software resources installed on it, some of which may be a part of a "standard" or "company wide" configuration, and other parts of which may be dependent on the member's or employee's function in the company or organization. For example, a company may adopt Linux as their company-wide operating system, so both the laptop and desktop PC's may be configured with a version of the Linux operating system along with some utility programs to allow them to access the company's wired or wireless networks. Additionally, the employee may have a job description which will require him or her to draft documents, and prepare budgets, so both the laptop and the desktop computers may be configured with IBM's Lotus WordPro™ word processor application program, as well as Lotus 1-2-3 ™ spreadsheet application. Further, assume that this employee or member is involved in sales, so a contact management application program may be provided on the desktop and laptop computers, as well. The PDA may also be configured with "filters" or "readers" for the word processor, spreadsheet, and contact management file types, as well.
Now consider a second employee or member of the same organization who has a different job description, such as a technical support engineer. This person's computers would receive the company-wide options, such as the Linux operating system and networking components, but would not necessarily need the contact management application or the spreadsheet program. Instead, this second employee would need a Java ™ programming suite, such as IBM's Visual Age ™ suite, and a client program to remotely access a trouble ticket database.
In some organizations and company's, there is a manual process for configuring and maintaining these types of computers. As a new employee or member is added to the group, a person within the Information Technology ("IT") group is responsible to select the appropriate computer platforms, to select the appropriate application programs, and to install each program manually. Then, as the user's job function changes (e.g. he or she moves to a different department, is promoted, etc.), someone within the IT group must manually change the software configuration of the user's computers (e.g. laptop, desktop, PDA, etc.). Additionally, each time an application program is upgraded, the IT group must manually apply the upgrades to the user's computer(s), as well as re-install all of the application programs each time a computer is replaced or repaired. Even worse, most of these installation and upgrade actions require the IT professional to be physically colocated with the computer being modified, which may require substantial travel to support a geographically distributed work force.
This manual process can be onerous even to a small group or company, and can be paralyzing to medium and large size enterprises. The record keeping requirements can be substantial in order to manage licenses (e.g. manage a company's investment in software products), proliferate new application program installations, provide upgrades, and "swap out" computers for newer or more powerful systems.
To answer this problem, several companies have developed enterprise configuration management ("CM") tools which allow an IT department to manage the software configurations of a wide variety of networked computers from a centralized and remote location. One such CM tool is IBM's Tivoli Configuration Manager. Other tools with similar objectives are provided by Computer Associates and BMC Software.
Then IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager can help a company or organization gain total control over their enterprise software and hardware using its software distribution module which allows an IT department to rapidly and efficiently deploy complex mission-critical applications to multiple locations from a central point. Following initial deployment of systems, the Tivoli CM inventory module automatically scans for and collects hardware and software configuration information from computer systems across the managed enterprise. The software deployment lifecycle has many steps, and Tivoli CM allows IT departments to manage the systems from packaging, planning and administration to delivery, installation and reporting.
Tivoli CM provides a function known as "multicasting", which can significantly reduce network bandwidth usage, and which can help in an environment where there are slow speed links between locations (e.g. reaching wirelessly networked devices or systems located through a slow bridge). Using multicasting, software distribution time is independent of the number of targets, as each software package is only sent across the network once.
Tivoli CM also supports pervasive computing devices with integrated support for Palm Computing's PalmOS™, PocketPC's, and Nokia Communicator devices. This allows an IT department to update the configuration information and software on these devices using the same tools with which desktop and server systems are managed. By gaining control over the growing number of pervasive devices being deployed for business applications across the corporate enterprise; IT administrators do not need to learn to use a separate, specialized tool for managing these pervasive computing devices.
Tivoli CM also includes Enterprise Directory Support, which allows IT administrators to leverage organizational information stored in enterprise directories in order to determine a set of targets for a software distribution or an inventory scan. This allows software distribution and inventory operations to be targeted by specific users, and administrators can store information about users in a single location.
Additionally, Tivoli CM provides secure management of systems outside a corporate firewall through supporting secure software distribution and inventory operations through firewalls. Environments that have multiple levels of firewalls are also supported, which reduces security exposures inherent in managing in an extended enterprise environment, and allows a IT department to extend their management systems to support a company's or organization's customers and business partners, as well.
All of these management functions are conveniently provided through Administrative Consoles which run under a popular operating system such as Microsoft Corporation's Windows operating systems. By providing a single administrative console for both software distribution and inventory operations, and requiring only a single log-on for access to all IBM Tivoli Configuration Manager administrative tools, improved operational efficiency and ease of use for administrators are realized.
However, there still remains a primarily manual task of determining which software application programs and modules should be provisioned onto which computing systems based upon the intended user or "owner" of each system. While these types of configuration management systems greatly simplify the distribution, updating, uninstalling, and inventorying of a list or set of application programs for each computing system within the managed enterprise, they do little to help the IT administrator identify the proper application programs which should or should not be provisioned onto a particular computer or device.

On-demand active role-based software provisioning

International Business Machines Corporation


An image sensing apparatus which can increase the image information amount by performing a pixel displacement by rotating a deflector for changing the optical path of image light incident on an image sensing element about two orthogonal axes (axes A and B) using two cams. The two cams are arranged on one side with respect to the axis B, and are driven by a single motor. Cam surfaces for canceling an interference are formed in advance on the two cams.

The present invention relates to an image sensing apparatus and, more particularly, to an image sensing apparatus which obtains a high-resolution computer video signal by performing a so-called pixel displacement using optical path deflection means such as a parallel glass plate.
In recent years, video cameras are widely used as image input apparatuses or image sensing apparatuses for computers. In particular, a system as a combination of a video camera and a computer (e.g., a personal computer or workstation) is used as a DTP (Desktop publishing) system, a video electronic mailing system, a video meeting system, and the like.
Of these apparatuses, high-resolution image input apparatuses have been recently developed for use with an HDTV (High-definition television). Using such apparatuses, character and image data are edited and information is exchanged using high-definition images.
As an image input apparatus or an image sensing apparatus which can be used for such a system, an image sensing element having a large number of pixels is required to obtain a high resolution.
However, the number of pixels of the image sensing element of most existing video cameras is as small as about 250,000 to 400,000 pixels (although some elements have 580,000 pixels), and it is difficult to obtain a high-definition image. Such video cameras cannot be applied to the HDTV. Although high-resolution video cameras for a special purpose have been commercially available, they are not suitable for domestic equipment due to very expensive image sensing elements.
However, in recent years, a system which uses an image sensing element having about 400,000 pixels, and increases optical image information incident on the image sensing element by shifting the optical path by displacing the image sensing element or some lenses in the lens system so as to attain a high resolution has become commercially available. Owing to such a system, the price of an image input apparatus or an image sensing apparatus which can be applied to the HDTV is lowering.
The high-resolution system obtains a high resolution by a so-called pixel displacement using a parallel glass plate. The system will be briefly described below with reference to FIG. 1A.
Referring to FIG. 1A, reference numeral 201 denotes lenses for guiding an optical image from an object toward an image sensing element 202; 202, an image sensing element for converting the optical image into an electrical signal; 203, a holding frame which has rotation shafts 205 and 206 serving as the fulcrums of rotation at its two end portions in the horizontal direction, and holds a deflector 204; and 204, a parallel glass plate (deflector) which is fixed at the central portion of the holding frame 203. When the holding frame 203 rotates about the rotation shafts 205 and 206 as the center of rotation using a driving source (not shown), the parallel glass plate 204 disposed at the central portion of the holding frame 203 rotates (in the directions of an arrow a) in correspondence with the driving operation, thereby displacing incident light rays in the vertical direction.
A mechanism for a pixel displacement in the horizontal direction has a similar arrangement. More specifically, reference numeral 207 denotes a holding frame which has rotation shafts 209 and 210 serving as the fulcrums of rotation at its two end portions in the horizontal direction, and holds a deflector 208; and 208, a parallel glass plate (deflector) fixed at the central portion of the holding frame 207. When the holding frame 207 rotates about the rotation shafts 209 and 210 as the center of rotation using a driving source (not shown), the parallel glass plate 208 disposed at the central portion of the holding frame 207 rotates (in the directions of an arrow b) in correspondence with the driving operation, thereby displacing incident light rays in the horizontal direction.
FIG. 1B shows the relationship between the horizontal and vertical directions (X- and Y-directions) of the image sensing element 202, and a "Y-direction displacement effect" brought about by the rotation direction (the direction a) of the glass plate 203 and an "X-direction displacement effect brought about by the rotation direction (the direction b) of the glass plate 208. More specifically, when the glass plate 203 is rotated in the direction b, a pixel displacement is attained in the X-direction of the image pickup element 202; when the glass plate 208 is rotated in the direction a, a pixel displacement is attained in the Y-direction of the image pickup element 202.
Reference numeral 211 denotes an optical low-pass filter which changes the frequency characteristic of optical image information by utilizing the double refraction effect of a quartz. The low-pass filter 211 is normally constituted by at least two quartz plates. Of the frequencies of transmission light, one quartz plate of the low-pass filter 211 changes the frequency in the horizontal direction, and the other quartz plate in the vertical direction. The filter 211 is arranged in front of the image sensing element 202. Furthermore, the separation width of ordinary and extraordinary light rays generated by the double refraction effect of the quartz plates is appropriately set in advance in correspondence with the number of pixels and the arrangement of pixels of the image sensing element 202, a signal processing circuit, and the like.
A mechanism for displacing the optical path using the parallel glass plates 203 and 208 will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 2A and 2B. FIG. 2A shows a state wherein a parallel glass plate 221 is located parallel to the optical axis principal plane (in the plane), and FIG. 2B shows a state wherein the parallel glass plate 221 is displaced through an angle .theta. from the state shown in FIG. 2A.
Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the glass plate 221 has a thickness d in the optical axis direction. Reference numeral 222 denotes incident light which becomes incident on the parallel glass plate 221; and 223, exit light which emerges from the parallel glass plate 221. The displacement amount, .delta., of the optical path by the parallel glass plate 221 is given by: ##EQU1## where N: the refractive index of the parallel glass plate
.phi.: the angle (incident angle) defined between the incident light and the plane normal PA1 .phi.': the angle defined between the incident light and the plane normal in the parallel glass plate PA1 cos .phi.=cos .phi.' PA1 sin .phi..apprxeq..phi.
If the incident angle .phi. is very small, since we have:
equation (1) above can be expressed by a simple approximation as follows: ##EQU2##
Thus, if the displacement amount of the optical path in FIG. 2A is .delta.=.delta..sub.1, and the displacement amount of the optical path in FIG. 2B is .delta.=.delta..sub.2, the following relationships are established: ##EQU3## When the parallel glass plate is inclined through .theta. from the state shown in FIG. 2A (i.e., the state shown in FIG. 2B), the optical path change amount .delta..sub.s is: ##EQU4## More specifically, when the parallel glass plate 221 is rotated through .theta., the optical path changes by .delta..sub.s in the principal plane. The above-mentioned principle of changing the optical path shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B applies to the glass plates 203 and 208 shown in FIG. 1A although their rotation directions are perpendicular to each other.
An example of the pixel arrangement and aperture of the image sensing element 202 will be briefly described below with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B.
Referring to FIG. 3A, reference symbol H denotes a horizontal scanning direction for the image sensing element 202; and V, a vertical scanning direction. On one of two adjacent horizontal lines, yellow filters Y and magenta filters M are alternately disposed at a pixel interval p.sub.h in the horizontal scanning direction, and on the next line, cyan filters C and green filters G are also alternately disposed at the pixel interval p.sub.h. These lines are alternately disposed at a pixel interval p.sub.v in the vertical scanning direction.
If the thickness d of each parallel glass plate is set so that the displacement amount of the optical path becomes 1/2 the pixel size, i.e., 1/2.multidot.p.sub.h and 1/2.multidot.p.sub.v when the above-mentioned parallel glass plates 203 and 208 are inclined through the angle .theta., a x16 image information amount can be obtained by changing the optical path four times in the horizontal direction and four times in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 3B, thus attaining a high resolution using a conventional image sensing element with a small number of pixels.
In the image sensing apparatus shown in FIG. 1A, the mechanism for the pixel displacement in the horizontal direction is completely separated from that for the pixel displacement in the vertical direction, and the two parallel glass plates 203 and 208 can be operated independently.
However, in the conventional arrangement shown in FIG. 1A, since the two independent parallel glass plates are juxtaposed in the optical axis direction, the total lens length increases due to an increase in thickness in the optical axis direction. Also, the distance from the lens rear end portion to the image sensing element, i.e., the back focus is prolonged, and it is difficult to obtain a desired optical characteristic. Furthermore, since the parallel glass plates 203 and 208 must be independently arranged in the horizontal and vertical directions, the number of parts and cost increase.
FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of a conventional image sensing apparatus which reduces the number of parallel glass plates to one so as to solve the problem of FIG. 1A.
The image sensing apparatus system shown in FIG. 4 comprises lenses 201, a filter 211, and an image sensing element 202 as in the image sensing apparatus shown in FIG. 1A. Note that FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing horizontal and vertical driving portions of a parallel glass plate of the image sensing apparatus when the optical axis principal plane is viewed from the lens side.
Referring to FIG. 4, reference numeral 231 denotes a parallel glass plate; and 232, a frame for holding the parallel glass plate 231. Reference numerals 233 and 234 denote rotation shafts arranged at the two end portions, in the horizontal direction, of the frame 232. These rotation shafts 233 and 234 support the frame 232 (i.e., the glass plate 231) to be rotatable about an axis A (consequently, in the vertical direction of the image sensing element 202) with respect to a frame 237 (to be described below). Reference numeral 235 denotes a cam pin arranged on the lower end of the frame 232. A portion of the cam pin 235 contacts the cam surface of a cam 236. When the pin 235 moves vertically, the frame 232 is rotated about the axis A. The cam 236 is rotated by a stepping motor 247, and has a substantially spiral shape so that its radius changes in correspondence with the rotation angle. The cam 236 vertically moves the cam pin 235 by its rotation, thereby rotating the frame 237 about the axis A.
FIG. 5 is a view showing the cam 236 when viewed from the front side of the rotation shaft of the stepping motor 247. As shown in FIG. 5, the cam 236 has a plurality of segments. Since these segments have different radii by a predetermined amount, the cam pin 235, which is in a contact with the outer circumferential surface of the cam 236, is displaced in the vertical direction in FIG. 5 upon rotation of the stepping motor 247.
Reference numeral 237 denotes a frame which supports the frame 232 via the rotation shafts 233 and 234 to be rotatable about the axis A. The frame 237 has an opening, and hence, has a substantially rectangular shape. Bearing portions 238 and 239 which rotatably engage with the rotation shafts 233 and 234 are arranged at the two end portions, in the horizontal direction, of the opening. Rotation shafts 241 and 242 (the shaft 242 is not seen since it is located below the cam pin 235 in FIG. 4) are arranged on the two end portions, in the vertical direction, of the outer portion of the frame 237, and the frame 237 is held by bearing portions 243 and 244 (which is located below the cam pin 235 in FIG. 4) arranged on the two end portions, in the vertical direction of a base 250 so as to be rotatable about an axis B in the horizontal direction with respect to the base 250.
Reference numeral 240 denotes a cam pin arranged on one end of the frame 237. A portion of the cam pin 240 contacts the cam surface of a cam 249. When the pin 240 vertically moves in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing of FIG. 4, the frame 237 is rotated about the axis B. The cam 249 is rotated by a stepping motor 248, and has a substantially spiral shape, so that its radius changes in correspondence with the rotation angle. The shape of the cam 249 is substantially the same as that of the cam 236 shown in FIG. 5. When the cam pin 240 is vertically moved upon rotation of the cam 249, the frame 237 is rotated about the axis B.
Reference numeral 245 denotes a coil spring wound around the rotation shaft 241 of the frame 237; and 246, a coil spring wound around the rotation shaft 234 of the frame 232. The springs 245 and 246 normally bias the cam pins 250 and 235 against the cams 249 and 236, respectively. Note that the stepping motors 247 and 248 are fixed to the base 250.
In the above arrangement, when the stepping motors 248 and 247 are driven, the cams 249 and 236 rotate, and the cam pins 240 and 235 which are in a contact with the cams move in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in FIG. 4, thereby displacing the parallel glass plate 231 by a very small amount in the horizontal and vertical directions. The pixel displacement can be attained by this displacement, and substantially the same effect as that obtained when an image sensing element with a large number of pixels is used can be obtained.
According to the above-mentioned arrangement shown in FIG. 4, since the axis B extending through the rotation shafts 241 and 242 used for rotating the frame 237, and the axis, in the longitudinal direction, of the cam pin 235 for moving the frame 232 vertically in the plane of the drawing of FIG. 4 are located on a single line, the operation for rotating the frame 232 about the axis A, and the operation for rotating the frame 237 about the axis B are completely independent from each other. More specifically, although the frame 237 for supporting the rotation shafts 238 and 239 of the holding frame 232 is not fixed but rotates about the rotation shaft 241, the cam pin 235 for giving a rotation moment to the frame 232 matches the axis B, and the rotation of the frame 237 will not influence the frame 232.
However, according to the prior art shown in FIG. 4, since a driving portion for rotating the frame 237 about the axis B (i.e., a horizontal pixel displacement driving portion) and a driving portion for rotating the frame 232 about the axis A (i.e., a vertical pixel displacement driving portion) are arranged in orthogonal directions, driving motors cannot be appropriately arranged, and hence, the thickness of a lens unit portion must be increased. As a result, the entire apparatus becomes large in size.

Image sensing apparatus for obtaining high resolution computer video signals by performing pixel displacement using optical path deflection


There are methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for defining a policy including a set of rules for a packet forwarding device by receiving information sufficient to enable a first rule related to one of security or traffic management to be defined, and based on the received information, enabling a corresponding second rule related to the other one of security or traffic management to be defined.

This description relates to a network interface device integrating security and traffic management functions.
The present invention is directed to the method for creating security rules and traffic management rules for operating the network interface device.
No new matter is introduced in this divisional application.
Two critical concerns of Internet Protocol (IP) networks are security and traffic management. To secure an IP network, for example, a local area network, a device such as a firewall can be deployed at the boundary between the local area network and a wide area network (e.g., the Internet) to prevent unauthorized access from sources external to the network. Firewalls serve as a point of network access where incoming traffic from remote sources and outgoing traffic to the Internet can be analyzed and controlled.
Due to the development of new services, IP networks today carry multiple types of traffic, such as voice, video, email, and web traffic to name a few. The convergence of multiple types of traffic requires adequate traffic management to ensure that the quality of service (QoS) requirements of each of these services can be met. Maintaining the requisite level of quality of service generates specific constraints as services have different characteristics. For example, voice services are sensitive to both delay and delay variations as distortions of the voice may drastically impact the quality and/or interactivity of the communication, but are generally tolerant to some loss. Video services, on the other hand, are insensitive to delay as compared to voice services, but may be more sensitive to delay variations and loss. Data services in general are largely immune to delay and delay variations, but are sensitive to loss. Uncontrolled traffic in data services have the tendency to consume the entire available pipe simply by the nature of the transport protocol used to transfer the data.
Security and traffic management functions are typically implemented by two separate network devices or two separate logical components of a single physical package that are coupled in series and configured independently of each other by different personnel. Miscommunication between the personnel can lead to conflict during operation of the security and traffic management functions. Further, as the two functions behave independently of each other, packet classification is performed twice (once by each function), which adds to processor load and increases latency.

Method for defining a set of rules for a packet forwarding device


A method for preparing metal compound nanoparticles, comprising treating a uniform dispersion of at least one metal precursor in an organic solvent with a supercritical carbon dioxide fluid to attain a homogeneous mixture, which is subjected to a solvothermal reaction under a supercritical CO2 condition, makes it easy to prepare nanoparticles of a metal oxide, a doped metal compound, or a metal complex having various shapes.

Nanoparticles of a metal compound, e.g., a metal oxide, a doped metal compound, and a metal complex, are widely used in the fields of chemical catalysts, optoelectronic materials, optical materials, sensor materials, flame retardant materials, electrode materials and others. Such nanoparticles are provided in various shapes which include, e.g., spherical particles, nanofibers, and nanosheets having enhanced surface activity.
A method of preparing such nanoparticles comprises placing a metal salt solution in an autoclave, heating to a pre-determined reaction temperature, and performing hydrothermal synthesis or solvothermal synthesis. However, this method produces coarse metal compound particles having a large particle size and a low specific surface area.
There have recently been developed various methods of preparing such nanoparticles, examples of which include a sol-gel method (US Patent Publication No. 2007/0092423A1), a co-precipitation method (US Patent Publication No. 2006/0150526A1), a hydrothermal synthesis method (US Patent Publication No. 2005/0003744A1), and a spray pyrolysis method (Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-0069404).
US Patent Publication No. 2007/0092423A1 discloses a method of preparing spherical or fibrous oxide nanoparticles by conducting a hydrolytic or non-hydrolytic sol-gel reaction, which comprises heating a mixture of a metal precursor and a surfactant in an organic solvent to produce a metal-surfactant complex, which is then combined with an ester and heated, to obtain nanoparticles. However, this method is problematic in that the use of expensive materials is required, the process is complicated, and the formation of the metal-surfactant complex is sluggish.
US Patent Publication No. 2006/0150526A1 discloses a method of producing oxide particles via precipitating a metal ammonium carbonate salt, which is then heat-treated. This patent discloses the production of particles having a very high specific surface area. However, the particles thus formed are of the form of a large aggregate, and it is difficult to obtain particles having good dispersibility and a uniform particle size.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0003744A1 discloses a method of preparing composite particles by treating a cerium-titanium-mixed precursor with potassium hydroxide, and subjecting the reaction mixture to hydrothermal synthesis at a high temperature of about 300° C. over a long period of time. Although this method is useful for doping a titanium oxide with cerium oxide, it is disadvantageous because the synthesis requiring a long period of reaction under a high temperature and high pressure condition, leading to increased energy cost and generation of impurities.
Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-0069404 discloses a spray pyrolysis method, which comprises spraying a metal precursor through a nozzle, to obtain spherical granules which are subsequently heat-treated, to obtain an oxide. This method is advantageous because the process is simple and chemically uniform oxide particles may be obtained, but suffers from the problem that the particle size is non-uniform and a large aggregate is formed.
In addition, there is reported a supercritical hydrothermal reaction method for preparing metal oxide particles by treating an aqueous metal salt solution with aqueous alkali under a supercritical condition of water. This method may be performed using a continuous process, but the synthesis performed under a high-temperature and high-pressure condition of 380° C. and 500 bar or more, requires the use of expensive equipments and a high process energy cost.
As mentioned above, the conventional techniques each has problems, and thus, there is a need for an improved, economical method of preparing metal compound nanoparticles having a desired shape.

Method for preparing metal compound nanoparticles

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Processing return feeder link signals at a satellite gateway including a first and second receive antennas includes receiving first and second return feeder link signals at the first and second receive antennas, respectively, modulating a phase of the first return feeder link signal to form an adjusted first feeder link signal, combining the adjusted first feeder link signal with the second return feeder link signal to form a combined feeder link signal, detecting periodic amplitude variation in the combined feeder link signal, and shifting a phase of the first return feeder link signal to reduce periodic amplitude variation in the combined feeder link signal.

Satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods are widely used for radioterminal communications. Satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods generally employ at least one space-based component, such as one or more satellites, that is/are configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of satellite radioterminals.
A satellite radioterminal communications system or method may utilize a single satellite antenna pattern (beam or cell) covering an entire service region served by the system. Alternatively or in combination with the above, in cellular satellite radioterminal communications systems and methods, multiple satellite antenna patterns (beams or cells) are provided, each of which can serve a substantially distinct service region in an overall service region, to collectively provide service to the overall service region. Thus, a cellular architecture that is similar to that used in conventional terrestrial cellular radioterminal systems and methods can be implemented in cellular satellite-based systems and methods. The satellite typically communicates with radioterminals over a bidirectional communications pathway, with radioterminal communications signals being communicated from the satellite to the radioterminal over a downlink or forward link (also referred to as forward service link), and from the radioterminal to the satellite over an uplink or return link (also referred to as return service link). In some cases, such as, for example, in broadcasting, the satellite may communicate information to one or more radioterminals unidirectionally.
The overall design and operation of cellular satellite radioterminal systems and methods are well known to those having skill in the art, and need not be described further herein. Moreover, as used herein, the term "radioterminal" includes cellular and/or satellite radiotelephones with or without a multi-line display; Personal Communications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radioterminal with data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities; Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a radio frequency transceiver and/or a pager, Internet/Intranet access, Web browser, organizer, calendar and/or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver; and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtop computers or other appliances, which include a radio frequency transceiver. A radioterminal also may be referred to herein as a "radiotelephone," a "mobile terminal," a "user device," a "wireless transmitter," a "wireless receiver," a "transceiver" or simply as a "terminal". As used herein, the term(s) "radioterminal," "radiotelephone," "mobile terminal," "user device," "wireless transmitter," "wireless receiver," "transceiver" and/or "terminal" also include(s) any other radiating user device, equipment and/or source that may have time-varying or fixed geographic coordinates and/or may be portable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, maritime, or land-based) and/or situated and/or configured to operate locally and/or in a distributed fashion over one or more terrestrial and/or extra-terrestrial location(s). Furthermore, as used herein, the term "space-based component" or "space-based system" includes one or more satellites at any orbit (geostationary, substantially geostationary, medium earth orbit, low earth orbit, etc.) and/or one or more other objects and/or platforms (e.g., airplanes, balloons, unmanned vehicles, space crafts, missiles, etc.) that has/have a trajectory above the earth at any altitude.
The above description has focused on communications between the satellite and the radioterminals. However, cellular satellite communications systems and methods also generally employ a bidirectional feeder link for communications between one or more satellite gateway(s) and the satellite(s). The bidirectional feeder link includes a forward feeder link from the gateway(s) to the satellite(s) and a return feeder link from the satellite(s) to the gateway(s). The forward feeder link and the return feeder link each uses one or more carriers.
A satellite generally includes at least one feeder link amplifier that is used to amplify a return feeder link signal prior to transmitting the return feeder link signal from the satellite to the satellite gateway(s). The satellite may also inadvertently receive a level of interference, over its return service links, from emissions of one or more terrestrial networks and/or satellite terminals of other operators (e.g., Inmarsat), and the satellite may not be configured to separate and/or discard the level of interference. Thus, the satellite may inadvertently form a return feeder link signal that includes at least some of the level of interference as well as one or more desired signals.
The feeder link amplifier may be operatively configured to not exceed a maximum level of output power in order to, for example, maintain a desired level of linearity. As such, as the level of interference increases, an amount of amplification applied to a desired signal may be reduced. This reduction is referred to as "power robbing."
Power robbing may be reduced by increasing a capability (e.g., size) of the feeder link amplifier to accommodate a desired level of amplification of one or more desired signals along with the level of interference while maintaining a desired level of linearity. Unfortunately, an increased capability amplifier (e.g., a larger amplifier) may undesirably increase cost, power consumption and/or weight of a satellite. Power robbing also may be decreased by increasing an aperture of the satellite's feeder link antenna(s). However, increasing the aperture of the satellite's feeder link antenna(s) may also undesirably increase the size, cost and/or weight of the satellite.

Systems and methods for reducing power robbing impact of interference to a satellite


Applicants have developed a continuous process for synthesizing various molecular sieves. The process enables one to control both the particle size and particle size distribution. Any of the molecular sieves represented by the empirical formula on an anhydrous basis: rR.sub.2 O:(Si.sub.x Al.sub.y P.sub.z)O.sub.2, where R is at least one templating agent, "r" "x" "y" and "z" are the mole fractions of R, Si, Al and P respectively, can be prepared using this process. The process involves continuously adding reactive sources of the desired components along with a structure directing agent into a continuous crystallization reactor. Either interstage backmixing is introduced or the number of stages is adjusted in order to control particle size. Finally, one way to control particle size distribution is to split the product stream into at least two streams and flowing each stream to a wet miller operated at different severity and then reblending to obtain at least a bimodal distribution.

Zeolites are crystalline aluminosilicate microporous compositions that are well known in the art. There are over 150 species of both naturally occurring and synthetic zeolites. In general, the crystalline zeolites are formed from corner-sharing AlO.sub.2 and SiO.sub.2 tetrahedra and are characterized by having pore openings of uniform dimensions, having a significant ion-exchange capacity and being capable of reversibly desorbing an adsorbed phase which is dispersed throughout the internal voids of the crystal without significantly displacing any atoms which make up the permanent crystal structure.
Other crystalline microporous compositions are known which are not zeolitic (non-zeolitic molecular sieves or NZMS), but which exhibit the ion-exchange and/or adsorption characteristics of the zeolites. These include: 1) crystalline aluminophosphate compositions disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,440; 2) silicon substituted aluminophosphates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,871; 3) metal substituted aluminophosphates as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,197; 4) metal sulfide molecular sieves disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,761 and 5) metallo zinc-phosphate compositions disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,362.
Molecular sieves (both zeolitic and NZMS) are usually hydrothermally synthesized from a reaction mixture in a batch reactor. A continuous process would have the advantage of reduced capital investment, space requirement, operating costs, consistent quality, greater efficiency and waste handling. There are several references which teach continuous processes for the synthesis of zeolites. For example, EP 021675-B1 teaches using a continuous-stream process to prepare zeolites. The process involves preparing a reaction mixture and passing the mixture through a heated reaction zone.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,800 discloses a process for the continuous preparation of zeolites comprising forming a zeolitic gel and then supplying the gel to a stratified zone where the zeolite crystals form and settle downward into a lower stratum where they are collected.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,094 discloses a continuous process for preparing a hydrocarbon conversion catalyst which involves as one step continuously preparing a zeolite from a reaction mixture containing seed particles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,765 discloses preparing zeolite beta by first continuously forming granular amorphous aluminosilicate and then crystallizing the zeolite beta. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,636 discloses preparing zeolites by sending a reaction mixture through a pipe segment for an initial crystallization and then to an open vessel for a second crystallization.
In contrast to this art, applicants have developed a process to not only continuously prepare molecular sieves with high efficiency, but to also control the particle size and the particle size distribution. For example in the case of aluminosilicate zeolites, the process involves continuously adding reactive sources of aluminum, silicon, and at least one structure directing agent into a continuous crystallization reactor having at least two stages. The mixture thus formed is flowed through the reactor in order to crystallize the zeolite. Finally, an effective amount of interstage backmixing is introduced in order to control the particle size and particle size distribution. The greater the amount of backmixing (deviation from plug flow), the larger the particle size and the wider the particle size distribution. Alternatively, the approach to plug flow can be controlled by the number of stages in the reactor. The greater the number of stages, the closer the approach to 100% plug flow, i.e., batch performance.
In a specific embodiment of the invention, the molecular sieve product stream from the continuous reactor is split into at least two streams, each stream is continuously wet milled (in parallel) with different severity and then reblended. In this manner, one obtains at least a bimodal distribution. To applicants' knowledge, there is no mention in the art of ways to both continuously synthesize molecular sieves, control particle size and control particle size distribution.

Process for synthesizing and controlling the particle size and particle size distribution of a molecular sieve


A probe comprises a small “consumable” probe substrate permanently mounted to a circuit-under-test. The probe substrate includes a high-fidelity signal pathway, which is inserted into a conductor of the circuit-under-test, and a high-bandwidth sensing circuit which senses the signal-under-test as it propagates along the signal pathway. The probe substrate further includes a probe socket for receiving a detachable interconnect to a measurement instrument. Power is alternatively supplied to the probe by the circuit-under-test or the interconnect. When the interconnect is attached, control signals from the measurement instrument are supplied to the sensing circuit and the output of the sensing circuit is supplied to the measurement instrument. In one embodiment, the sensing circuit uses high-breakdown transistors in order to avoid the use of passive attenuation. In a further embodiment, the sensing circuit includes broadband directional sensing circuitry.

Probes are used to make contact with circuits-under-test. For example, if an electrical engineer wants to observe the signal activity on a circuit board trace, the engineer may select an active, high-impedance probe such as a P7260 from Tektronix, Inc. of Beaverton, Oreg. When the engineer touches the probe's fine tip to the trace, a high input-impedance probe amplifier in the probe tip senses the signal and sends a buffered replica to an oscilloscope for display.
Designing a probe for high-speed microelectronic circuits is very challenging. The ideal probe is easy to connect to the circuit-under-test and has high input-impedance (high resistance, low inductance, and low capacitance). Unfortunately, most common techniques used to make probes easy to connect to the circuit-under-test result in excess inductance and capacitance, thereby spoiling the measurement bandwidth and fidelity of the probe. Furthermore, each time a user touches the probe tip to the trace, the user may approach it from a slightly different angle or exert a slightly different force, resulting in slightly different contact resistance, inductance and capacitance and therefore unrepeatable measurements. Soldering the probe tip to the trace or using a mechanical probing arm may alleviate these problems somewhat, but not entirely. These challenges only get worse as microelectronic circuits get smaller and faster.
Other challenges to probing a signal are that the probe amplifier input voltage range may be smaller than the voltage of the signal-under-test and that the input capacitance of the probe amplifier may be undesirably high. To alleviate these problems, probes use passive attenuators to attenuate the signal-under-test before it is amplified, thereby reducing the voltage applied to the probe amplifier and making the input capacitance seen from the probe tip smaller by a factor equal to the attenuation ratio. Unfortunately, these passive attenuators result in increased expense, complexity, and equivalent noise at the input.
A further challenge is that in some cases the user does not see a true representation of the transmitted signal unless the trace is probed at particular locations. For example, if the trace is a source terminated transmission line, the probed signal appears distorted unless the trace is probed at the very end of the transmission line, or at the immediate input to the receiver. This is due to the fact that on a source terminated transmission line the transmitted signal (the "forward" or "incident" wave) reflects from the far end of the line and propagates back toward the transmitter (the "reverse" or "reflected" wave); however, the sum of the forward and reverse waves (what the probe actually observes) appears distorted everywhere except at the very end of the transmission line. Unfortunately, the input to the receiver is not generally accessible for probing; it may be, for example, contained within a packaged integrated circuit. A related challenge is in verifying the termination quality of a load-terminated transmission line. Here, the object is to verify that all of the data transmitted to a receiver is absorbed, or equivalently that no data is reflected. As such, the user wants to measure the reflected wave without the incident wave, and for the same reason as was discussed above, a conventional probe is insufficient. Similarly, in the case of a bidirectional communications link, if the user wants to measure only signals traveling in a particular direction across the link, a conventional probe is again insufficient because it measures the summation of signals traveling in both directions.
One way to separate forward and reverse waves is to use a directional coupler. A typical directional coupler is a 4-port passive microwave circuit such as the BDCA1-7-33 from Mini-Circuits of Brooklyn, N.Y. If the BDCA1-7-33's port 1 and port 2 are inserted into the conductor of a circuit-under-test, a portion of the forward wave traveling from port 1 to port 2 appears at port 3, and a portion of the reverse wave traveling from port 2 to port 1 appears at port 4. Unfortunately, these types of directional couplers are narrowband and are therefore not suitable for measuring broadband data signals. For example, the BDCA1-7-33 is only suitable for signals between 1.6 GHz and 3.3 GHz. This is insufficient to measure modern broadband serial data signals such as 3.125 Gb/s XAUI (Extended Attachment Unit Interface) which typically has frequency content from DC to well beyond 3.125 GHz.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,213 describes other types of directional couplers that use amplifiers to measure and algebraically combine the currents and voltages on a transmission line in order to form representations of the forward and reverse waves. This approach takes advantage of the fact that the voltages and currents in forward waves are in-phase while the voltages and currents in reverse waves are 180 degrees out-of-phase. These directional couplers are broadband in that they operate from DC up to the bandwidth of the technology used. Unfortunately, they require measurements from several points on a transmission line and in some cases even cutting the transmission line to make a series measurement. Thus, these types of directional couplers are not naturally suited to conventional hand-held probing techniques.
What is desired is a high-bandwidth, high-fidelity probe that is easy to connect to microelectronic traces and provides repeatable measurements. It is further desired that the probe have a reasonable input range and low input capacitance while avoiding the expense, complexity, and input noise penalty associated with passive attenuators. It is further desired that the probe have broadband directional sensing capability.


Systems and/or methods are disclosed for aligning multiple layers of a multi-layer semiconductor device fabrication process and/or system utilizing a composite alignment mark. A component is provided to form the composite alignment mark, such that a first portion of the composite alignment mark is associated with a layer of the wafer and a second portion of the composite alignment mark is associated with a disparate layer of the wafer. An alignment component is utilized to align a reticle for a layer to be patterned to the composite alignment mark.

In the semiconductor industry, there is a continuing trend toward higher device densities. To achieve these high densities, there has been and continues to be efforts towards scaling down device dimensions (e.g., at submicron levels) on semiconductor wafers. In order to accomplish such high device packing densities, smaller and smaller feature sizes are required in integrated circuits (ICs) fabricated on small rectangular portions of the wafer, commonly known as dies. These smaller features can include width and spacing of interconnecting lines, spacing and diameter of contact holes, surface geometry such as corners and edges of various features as well as surface geometry of other features. To scale down device dimensions, more precise control of fabrication processes is required. The dimensions of and between features can be referred to as critical dimensions (CDs). Reducing CDs and reproducing more accurate CDs facilitates achieving higher device densities through scaled down device dimensions and increased packing densities.
Semiconductor integrated circuits undergo a variety of processing steps during manufacture, such as masking, resist coating, etching, deposition, etc. In many of these steps, material is overlayed or removed from the existing layer(s) at specific locations in order to form desired elements of the integrated circuit. Proper alignment of the various process layers is important, as the shrinking dimensions of modern integrated circuits require increasingly stringent overlay alignment accuracy. If proper alignment tolerances are not achieved, device defects can result.
Some types of alignment systems and/or methods employ large global alignment marks to align the wafer. For such systems and/or methods, a reticle includes a design pattern and an alignment mark. The alignment mark is typically located outside of the design pattern, although the alignment mark could be located within the design region, but at the expense of sacrificing design area real estate. The design pattern and alignment mark can be printed at several predetermined fields of a wafer. These printed alignment marks are found by a stepper system and are employed in wafer alignment, for example, for subsequent processing. The alignment marks typically resemble grating patterns with structures extending in orthogonal x and y directions, thus enabling alignment in the x and y directions between the wafer and the reticle with respect to adjacent layers. In some instances, alignment marks are printed within each exposure field to facilitate more precise alignment between the reticle and the wafer. For instance, the global alignment marks can be utilized to coarsely align exposure fields with the reticle, and the smaller alignment marks can be employed to more precisely align the exposure fields and the reticle.
Conventionally, alignment marks are created on a wafer substrate prior to placing one or more layers on the wafer. Thus, if a wafer comprises twenty layers of circuit components, a reticle associated with the twentieth layer will be aligned to the wafer with the same alignment marks utilized by a reticle associated with the second layer. According to another commonly employed technique, alignment marks are created with each layer formed upon the semiconductor wafer, and a subsequently formed layer is aligned to the alignment mark on the layer formed immediately prior. If errors in alignment are repeated over a plurality of layers, a wafer will be scrapped and throughput efficiency will be negatively affected.

Composite alignment mark scheme for multi-layers in lithography


A golf club case comprises an elongate hollow housing with an access aperture in a wall thereof, the aperture being openable and closable by a lid. A support is located within the housing adjacent the access aperture and has a wall defining a plurality of holes adapted to receive therethrough the shafts of respective golf clubs. The holes may be extended by means of respective tubes lying in register therewith and extending at least partially within the interior of the case housing. For security purposes, the lid may be lockable to the housing.

Conventional golf bags for storing, carrying or otherwise transporting golf clubs generally comprise an elongate bag or other suitable container which has a closed base and an open top and in which a plurality of inverted golf clubs can be stored, usually with the major lengths of their shafts accommodated within the bag and with their playing heads protruding from the open top thereof. The golf clubs are so-stored in the golf bag in a random manner, which means that a golfer can experience some difficulty in readily locating a particular club during play.
Also, the material, such as a fabric, plastics, leather or synthetic leather material, from which known golf bags are made, is generally flimsy and can be easily torn or otherwise damaged and, when made of certain fabric materials, tends not to be sufficiently waterproof, such that during adverse weather conditions, the material tends to become waterlogged and, hence, the golf clubs stored within the bag becomes damp or even wet.
Some known types of golf bag are provided with covers for location over the heads of the golf clubs stored within the bags, thereby closing the otherwise open tops of the bags, to provide some protection for the clubs. However, such covers are usually detachably secured to the golf club bags by means of press studs or are hingedly connected to the bags and retained in their closed positions by means of a zip arrangement. However, security against unauthorised removal of the golf clubs from such covered bags is minimal, in that the covers can be readily removed, to permit access to the clubs stored therein.