Systems and methods are provided for automated employee resource delivery in a variety of situations that may commonly arise in modern large company settings. Employee identification data may be identified, and a subset of such data that is required for release of a particular resource may be identified. An automatic notification may be generated for the resource owner, where the automatic notification comprises the required subset of employee identification data. This approach is combined with one or more techniques for ascertaining the resources an employee will require and updating information regarding the resources employees are using.

Most companies provide resources to employees to maximize their productive potential. For example, in a modern office environment, an employee may be provided with a workstation and a computer that is equipped with a variety of hardware and software. The employee may also have network access to additional hardware and software. The employee may be provided with access permissions as necessary to utilize resources such as email accounts, fax machines, printers, and network drive space. The employee may be further equipped with resources such as a telephone, building access badge, keys, cell phones, and so forth.
Although a variety of software products are available for assigning and scheduling "human resources," i.e. employee time and expertise that is needed to accomplish a complex project, such products neglect the tools employees may need to extend their productivity. Instead, such products simply assume that a company has provided its employees with the tools they need to be as effective as possible.
Meanwhile, the resources provided to employees are typically controlled by a diverse set of resource owners. For example, a workstation building access badge may be owned by a building maintenance department, while a computer is owned by an Information Technology (IT) department. A telephone may be owned by a human resources department, while access permissions to various computing resources may be owned by the business units that maintain and manage such resources. It may fall on a new employee, the employee's manager, or a person with appropriate knowledge of company practices to equip employees with the resources they need.
In a large company, resource owners become spread out and develop their own unique protocols for accepting and reviewing resource requests. Some require an approval from a manager or other person of appropriate authority. Some require information from the requesting employee, such as the employee's employee ID number, username and password, social security number, and so forth. Satisfying the demands of the various resource owners in order to acquire all the resources an employee needs becomes a difficult and time consuming task that presents an efficiency drag on the business.
In light of the above mentioned difficulties, systems and methods are needed for fast identification of the resources employees should have, and for providing resources from a disparate group of resource owners. This would increase efficiency as employees enter, leave, and transform within a company.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for automated employee resource delivery


A new variety of sweetpotato, Ipomoea batatas, identified as ‘Mahon Yam’ is disclosed having superior eating quality. ‘Mahon Yam’ is characterized by an orange fleshed root that when cooked is sweet, moist and not stringy or fibrous (i.e. creamy). The plant itself is distinguished by unusual leaves for an eating quality sweetpotato, they are seven (7) lobed.

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas ) is a member of the morning glory family Convolvulaceae and unlike Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are not tuber propagated plants. A "tuber" is a short thickened portion of an underground branch derived from an underground stolon and is similar in structure to an aboveground stem. Along a tuber are "eyes" each of which comprises a ridge with a scale-like leaf(like a branch leaf.) This contrasts with sweetpotatoes which produce an edible storage root that is developmentally and anatomically a true root derived from root tissue. Sweetpotatoes do not form tubers.
Historically the dominant sweetpotato variety produced in the United States is 'Beauregard' (unpatented). A new distinct sweetpotato variety named 'Covington' was developed and patented Feb. 26, 2008 and has been grown extensively as a newer variety for sweetpotato commercial food product. The key very significant difference between the plants of the 'Mahon Yam' and 'Beauregard' and 'Covington' plants is that the 'Beauregard' and 'Covington' leaves are cordate to triangular in shape with no slight lobing while the 'Mahon Yam' leaves are deep lobed. Informal tastings have shown the 'Mahon Yam' has excellent flavor, very sweet with excellent mouth feel, and not stringy as compared to many non 'Mahon Yam' commercially available sweetpotatoes.
The color of the flesh of sweetpotatoes varies from cultivar to cultivar; varying from white to orange to purple. Presently the dominant sweetpotatoes which are produced are 'Beauregard' unpatented and 'Covington' patented. This variety 'Mahon Yam' has orange flesh, which is superior for its sweetness, moistness and lack of strings (creamy) as determined by informal reviews by many individuals. This variety is also identified by unusual leaves for an eating quality sweetpotato. The leaves normally have seven (7) distinct lobes.    Lineage: Sweetpotatoes are known to mutate, sport, change readily over time. This is one reason for micropropagation; that is, cultivar stability. It is well known that any variety will run out; conversely, selection of the best mutations may result in a greatly improved sweetpotato. The 'Mahon Yam' variety resulted from continuous, rigorous selection and reselection from over 25 years for eating quality, productivity and visually appealing shape. 'Mahon Yam' originated from a discovery selection of plants grown from storage root derived sprouts from a group of storage roots received from an old farmer in Chesterfield County, S.C. The name of the parent variety is unknown. After some years, the yearly reselection sweetpotatoes were informally compared to the parent variety from the original farm and found to be a darker orange, more attractive, flesh color as well as being sweeter with a smoother mouth feel. The 'Mahon Yam' variety was continued to be cultivated to be improved by further election each and every year until being sent to the NCSU Micropropogation Unit. This particular mutation, the 'Mahon Yam' is excellent for eating with a unique leaf shape for vegetable sweetpotatoes. The best potatoes were sent to the NCSU Micropropagation Unit in order to eliminate viruses and pathogens via mericulture clean up.    Asexual reproduction: 'Mahon Yam' has been asexually propagated via storage roots derived sprouts from continually reselected plants and storage roots since its original selection over twenty-five years ago. Storage and plant selection was done at 310 Third Street, Cheraw, S.C. Each year the most productive, best tasting were selected and the storage roots were separately stored for the next years trials at this location.
The "on farm" trial was conducted at two (2) locations near Cheraw, S.C. from vegetatively, asexually reproduced storage root derived sprouts from stock used for micropropagation. The production was stable, excellent in all respects even during a time of intense drought. Asexual propagation of this new cultivar by cutting and sprouts are stable and the plant produces true to type in successive generations of asexual propagation.


A method of forming dual interconnects in a magnetoresistive memory cell includes: providing an intermediate product including: a metallization layer including metallic lines; a magnetoresistive junction element conductively connected to a first of the metallic lines by a via through a first non-conductive layer; a metallic hard mask disposed on the magnetoresistive junction element; a second non-conductive layer above the first non-conductive layer in regions over the hard mask and a second of the metallic lines; a third non-conductive layer disposed above the hard mask; and a fourth non-conductive layer disposed on the third non-conductive layer. The method further includes partially opening first and second trenches to uncover the second non-conductive layer above the hard mask and second metallic line, respectively; fully opening the first and second trenches to uncover the hard mask and second metallic line, respectively; and filling the first and second trenches with conductive material.

An MRAM cell basically includes a stacked structure of magnetic layers that are separated by a non-magnetic tunneling barrier layer to form a magnetoresistive tunnel junction (MTJ) element, or are separated by a conductive layer to form a magnetoresistive conductive junction (MCJ) element, both of which are commonly referred to as magnetoresistive junction elements. In MRAM cells, magnetization of one magnetic layer is fixed, while magnetization of another magnetic layer is free to be switched between two preferred directions along an easy axis thereof. One bit of logic information can thus be stored by selecting the orientation of the freely switchable magnetization with respect to the fixed magnetization.
Standard CMOS processing for manufacturing of MRAMs starts with preparing a silicon or other suitable semiconductor substrate that is provided with active structures such as transistors and the like. Above the semiconductor substrate, metal lines and via contacts are formed to provide interconnections for the integrated circuit and the magnetoresistive memory cell array. These interconnections typically are formed by the well-known damascene technique which starts with depositing a dielectric layer on the semiconductor substrate, followed by masking and etching thereof, and depositing metallic material which is planarized to create embedded metallic structures that can be accessed from above.
In accordance with the standard CMOS process nomenclature, metallic lines forming the first layer of interconnects are referred to as the first metallization layer (M1). Via contacts formed in a layer of dielectric material deposited on M1 are referred to as the first via layer (V1). Metal lines formed in a layer of dielectric material deposited on V1 are referred to as the second metallization layer (M2), followed in sequence by a second via layer (V2) formed thereupon, and so on, to provide as many via layers and metallization layers as are needed for the specific apparatus and application.
Reference is now made to FIGS. 1A through 1D depicting vertical sectional views of intermediate products in a standard CMOS process of manufacturing MRAM cells. Accordingly, starting with the arrangement shown in FIG. 1A, a layer of dielectric material that is not further detailed in the figures is formed on a semiconductor substrate (not shown) and is provided with metallic lines 1, e.g., made of copper (Cu), to thereby create a metallization layer, which can be identified as M2. Thereupon, a dielectric bilayer 2 which, for example, can be made of silicon nitride (SiN) or silicon carbide (SiC) is formed, through which via 3 is formed to create a via layer, which can be identified as V1. Via 3 conductively connects metal line 1′ with conductive plate 4 formed on V1. Conductive plate 4 is in electric contact with a magnetoresistive junction element 5 formed on conductive plate 4. On the magnetoresistive junction element 5 in electric contact therewith, a hard mask 6 made of metallic material is formed to have a thickness B of, for example, more than 140 nanometers (nm), followed by embedding magnetoresistive junction element 5 and hard mask 6 in a dielectric layer 7 made of, for example, silicon oxide, onto which, typically, a SiN-layer 8 is formed to thereby enhance deposition of a thick interlayer dielectric (ILD) 9, for example made of silicon oxide. Thick ILD 9 then is planarized, for example, using chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP), to reduce ILD 9, for example, to a layer thickness A of about 660 nm (see FIG. 1B).
After thinning ILD 9, first trench 10 above magnetoresistive junction element 5 uncovering the hard mask 6 and second trench 11 above the conductive line 1″ are formed using conventional etch-lithography techniques. After deepening the second opening 11 to uncover the conductive line 1″, conductive material 12, 13 for electrically contacting the magnetoresistive junction element 5 via metallic hard mask 5 from above and for electrically contacting conductive line 1″ from above, respectively, is deposited (see FIGS. 1C and 1D). Accordingly, depositing conductive materials 12, 13 results in creating dual via contacts for electrically connecting magnetoresistive junction element 5 and conductive line 1″ to metallic lines formed thereupon.
Etching of the first and second trenches 10, 11 is typically a two-step process, i.e., a first etch step of simultaneously etching first trench 10 down to hard mask 6 and second trench 11 down to the height of protrusion 20, followed by a second etch step to etch second trench 11 down to conductive line 1″.
In conventional manufacturing of MRAM cells as explained with reference to FIGS. 1A-1D, a direct interconnection between thick hard mask 6 and an upper conductive line is established to avoid inter-level shorts.
Inter-level shorts and opens typically behave like a pair of scales in M3 etch. If the M3 etch level is deeper, the yield of shorts decreases while the yield of opens increases. Conversely, if the etch level is shallower, the inter-level short yield improves in inverse proportion to the open yield's decrease. As inter-level short and open yield has been very sensitive to this trench etch amount, the M3 etch needs a very powerful endpoint system and process window. However, the M3 etch process window depends mainly on the MTJ hardmask thickness in conventional integration, which is the physical length from the upper conductive line to the MB plate.
Basically, this kind of poor processing window results from poor integration, which does not have any stopping layer though the trench pattern is designed with several different pattern densities, called the pattern loading effect.
Other effects that diminish the process margin include dielectric deposition and CMP non-uniformity as well as etch non-uniformity. However, these non-uniformities have an effect on the worse process window in the conventional structure, because non-uniformity and the pattern loading effect can be absorbed by a stop layer with a highly selective etch process.

Method of forming dual interconnects in manufacturing MRAM cells


In a method and system for 3D comb synchronization and alignment of standard and non-standard video signals, a coarse synchronization is performed on a bottom frame, a current frame, and a top frame based on a bottom frame field count. The current frame is assigned the frame transferred immediately prior to a bottom frame whereas the top frame is assigned the frame transferred two frames. A current frame window signal and a top frame window signal may be used to lock the current frame and the top frame to a bottom frame vertical sync signal. After coarse synchronization, the video frames are finely aligned by correlating a phase difference between the subcarrier signals in each frame and modifying the phase difference until the correlation results in a specified phase locked value range. This method and system may facilitate the handling of video stream switching and non-standard data streams.

In video system applications, a picture is displayed on a television or computer screen by scanning an electrical signal horizontally across the screen one line at a time. The amplitude of the signal at any one point on the line represents the brightness level at that point on the screen. A video frame contains the necessary information from the lines that make up the picture and from the associated synchronization (sync) signals to allow a scanning circuit to trace the lines from left to right and from top to bottom in order to recreate the picture on the screen. This information includes the luma (Y), or brightness, and the chroma (C), or color, components of the picture. There may be two different types of picture scanning in a video system. The scanning may be interlaced or it may be non-interlaced or progressive. Interlaced scanning occurs when each frame is divided into two separate sub-pictures or fields. The interlaced picture may be produced by first scanning the horizontal lines that correspond to the first field and then retracing to the top of the screen and scanning the horizontal lines that correspond to the second field. The progressive or non-interlaced picture may be produced by scanning all of the horizontal lines of a frame in one pass from the top to the bottom of the screen.
The luma (Y) and chroma (C) signal components that represent a picture are modulated together in order to generate a composite video signal. Integrating the luma and chroma video elements into a composite video stream facilitates video signal processing since only a single composite video stream is transmitted. Once a composite signal is received, the luma and chroma signal components must be separated in order for the video signal to be processed and displayed as a picture on the screen. A comb filter may be utilized for separating the luma and chroma video signal components. For example, a television may be adapted to receive a composite video input but the chroma and luma video components have to be separated before the television can display the received video signal.
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating the generation of a conventional composite video signal. Referring to FIG. 1A, adding the chroma signal component 102 and the luma signal component 104 produces a composite video signal 106. The luma signal component 104 may or may not increase in amplitude in a stair step fashion. The chroma signal component 102 may comprise a color difference component U that is modulated by, for example, a sine signal with a 3.58 MHz frequency, and a color difference component V that is modulated by, for example, a cosine signal with a 3.58 MHz frequency. The modulation scheme may be selected so that it provides quadrature modulation between the U and V color difference components. An exemplary composite video signal 106 may be a composite video signal with burst and syncs (CVBS).
FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating the position of color burst and active video in a conventional composite video signal. Referring to FIG. 1B, a portion of the composite video signal 108 may be a color burst 110 and a different portion may be the active video signal 112. The color burst 110 may comprise a brief sample of, for example, eight to ten cycles of unmodulated color subcarrier which have been inserted by an NTSC or PAL encoder onto the back porch of the composite video signal to enable a decoder to regenerate the color subcarrier from it. The active video portion 112 of the composite video signal 108 contains the luma and chroma signal components of the picture or image.
FIG. 1C is a graphical diagram illustrating the phase relationship of modulated chroma signals in contiguous composite video signal frames. The chroma signal component in the active video portion of an NTSC composite video signal may modulated at such a frequency that every line of video in a video frame is phase-shifted by 180 degrees from the previous line. Referring to FIG. 1C, the bottom frame, the current frame, and the top frame are contiguous composite video frames and the (M−1) video line, the M video line, and the (M+1) video lines are contiguous video lines within the video frame, where M corresponds to any current line which may have a previous line and a next line adjacent to it. The "bottom frame" may correspond to the frame that is currently being received while the "current frame" and the "top frame" may correspond to frames that have been delayed by one and two frames respectively. The M video line in the "current frame" is phase-shifted by 180 degrees from the (M−1) video line in the "current frame" as well as from the (M+1) video line in the "current frame." Similarly, the M video line in the "bottom frame" is phase-shifted by 180 degrees from the (M−1) video line in the "bottom frame" as well as from the (M+1) video line in the "bottom frame." In addition, since the fields are at a frequency rate of 59.94 Hz, there is a 180-degree phase shift between two adjacent frames, for example, the "current frame" and the "top frame." Correspondingly, the M video line in the "current frame" is 180 degrees phase-shifted from the M video line in the "top frame." In a PAL composite video signal, adjacent video lines and adjacent frames may have a 90-degree phase shift, requiring a two line or two frame delay in order to obtain video lines or frames with a 180-degree phase shift.
In conventional video processing, there are three ways to separate the luma and chroma video components received in a composite video signal—by utilizing a notch filter, by combing vertically or by combing temporally. During separation of the luma and chroma signal components, there are three bandwidth directions that may incur losses in the separation process and in the separated signal. Depending on the combing method that is utilized, the separated signal may have reduced vertical bandwidth, horizontal bandwidth, and/or temporal bandwidth.
The first way to separate the luma and chroma video components is by utilizing a notch filter. Since the components in a chroma signal are modulated at 3.58 MHz, a notch filter that is set at 3.58 MHz may be utilized. The notch filter, however, reduces the horizontal bandwidth in the output video signal and as a result the luma video component is increased. A comb filter delays a prior horizontally scanned line in order it compare it with a currently scanned horizontal line. Combing vertically may also be utilized to separate the luma and chroma video components. Combing vertically may be achieved in three different ways—the current line may be combed with the previous and the next line, the current line may be combed with the line just before it, or the current line may be combed with the line just after it. The vertical combing is performed spatially, i.e., only within two fields at a time and without any temporal combing. During combing in the "current frame," for example, if the current line is added to the previous line, the chroma content cancels out and two times the luma content is obtained. On the other hand, if the previous line is subtracted from the current line, the luma content cancels out and two times the chroma content is obtained. In this way, luma and chroma content may be separated from the composite video signal for further processing. In addition, the vertical combing results in a reduced vertical bandwidth.
A third way to comb a composite signal is to comb temporally. Combing temporally comprises combing between two adjacent or contiguous frames, for example, the "current frame" and the "bottom frame" or the "current frame" and the "top frame." Further, temporal combing is characterized by a reduced temporal bandwidth. The luma and chroma components may be separated by utilizing the same addition and subtraction methodology between a current line and a previous line, which is employed by vertical combing.
While 2-D comb filters may be adapted to process successive scan lines for a single field of a video frame, 3-D comb filters may be adapted to process scan lines that are taken from successive video frames. In general, for 3-D comb filtering, if there is motion between the successive video frames, a 3-D comb filter must revert to 2-D comb filtering. Motion includes color changes and image movement between frames. Accordingly, the 3-D comb filter may be required to buffer at least one frame in order to determine whether there is motion between the buffered frames. In an instance where there are color changes or image movements between the buffered frames, the corresponding Y/C components for the buffered frames will be different and the results of combing would be incorrect.
Since the 3-D comb filter may be required to buffer at least one frame of video data, several complete frames of video data must be stored in buffers as opposed to just 2 or 3 lines which are required by 2-D comb filters. Accordingly, 3-D comb filters require a large or significant amount of video memory and excessive memory processing bandwidth requirements. This large memory and excessive memory processing bandwidth requirements, along with the necessary motion detection processing, increases the cost associated with 3-D comb filter solutions.
Three-dimensional (3D) combing algorithms typically operate on video samples that are temporally separated by a video frame, for example, the bottom frame, the current frame, and the top frame in FIG. 1C. These temporally separated video samples or video frames must be exactly aligned in order to prevent the formation of artifacts in the displayed picture due to misalignment. Alignment of the temporally separated video frames is generally achieved by delaying the frames. The amount of the delay required to align these frames generally varies depending on the video processing standard and/or processing scheme employed. For example, the amount of delay system required for NTSC and PAL standards and for progressive scan input video may vary between the standards. Furthermore, although some signals may conform in some respects to a particular standard, these signals may vary outside the specified ranges permitted by the particular standard. These signals that vary outside the specified ranges permitted by the standard may be referred to as non-standard signals. For example, a non-standard signal, which may be part of a data stream, may have frame lengths that vary outside the ranges permitted by a specific standard or these signals in the data stream may violate the relationship between a specified line length and the subcarrier frequency.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for 3D comb synchronization and alignment of standard and non-standard video signals


A jointing clamp for pressing pipe connections, particularly for pipes of composite materials, includes two pressure clamps, each of which carries a form part of a form insert and which are connected with one another by connecting plates that are disposed on either side, and which are supported at the connecting plates so that they can be pivoted in opposite directions about parallel pivoting axes and can be moved into the closed position by means of a clamp driving device which can be connected to the jointing clamp by means of a crossbolt reaching through aligned boreholes in the connecting plates. In order to achieve a pressed pipe connection of high form accuracy, the form insert is constructed in three parts and the third form part is supported in a stationary manner between the connecting plates of the jointing clamp.

Known jointing clamps of this type (German patent 27 25 280) have a two-part form insert in which the parts of the form insert extend over a central angle of 180.degree.. The parting line between the two parts of the mold coincides with the longitudinal center plane of the joining clamp, about which the two pivoting axes of the pressure clamps are disposed in mirror image fashion.

Jointing clamp for pressing pipe connections


This invention comprises a torso 2 for putting on a shirt 1 thereon and press irons 3 to depress the front part and rear part of the torso 2 to press finish the shirt 1. The torso 2 is formed by plates 2a, 2b oppositely arranged at the front part and rear part. The present invention is made such that the steam flowing pipe 4 for use in heating the front side plate 2a is arranged at a position corresponding to the front part 1a of the shirt 1 at the rear side of the front side plate 2a. When the product of the present invention is used, it is possible to finish the front bodice of the shirt having the cloth overlapped portions rapidly and thus it is possible to increase an efficiency of the pressing operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shirt finishing machine and more particularly a shirt finishing machine for press finishing the shirt under a state in which the shirt such as a washed white shirt and the like is put on a torso.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this type of prior art shirt finishing machine, there has been provided the machine described in the gazette of U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,837, for example. This type of prior art shirt finishing machine comprises a torso for putting on a shirt, and a press iron for depressing the front part and rear part of the torso to press finish the shirt. The aforesaid torso is formed by plates oppositely arranged at the front part and the rear part.
In view of the foregoing, the shirt such as a white shirt is provided with a front bodice having cloth overlapped portions. More practically, these overlapped portions correspond to a front part (a part where front buttons and button holes are formed and the part extending from the throat to the lower end of the front bodice) or a position of pocket. The front part is set such that each of the front button side and the button hole side has a cloth folded back inside the shirt. Accordingly, when the shirt is put on the torso, the cloth becomes overlapped in four plies and becomes thick. In addition, when a pocket is sawn at the front bodice, the pocket cloth and the cloth at the front bodice corresponding to the pocket portion become overlapped to each other in two plies. In addition, since the location of port of the pocket has normally the cloth folded back inside the shirt, they are gathered together with the cloth at the front bodice and become three plies.
Thus, this type of finishing machine has a structure in which the torso is pressed with the press iron (hot iron), some wrinkles at the front bodice of the shirt put on the torso are extended with pressure and heat of the press iron to finish the shirt. Accordingly, this type of finishing machine required that the press iron should be continued to be pressed against the torso until the front bodice location was completely dried even if the front bodice was completely dried. As a result, inn accordance with the prior art machine, it had a problem that it took much time for finishing the front bodice of the shirt and its working efficiency was not improved.
This invention has been provided in view of the prior art problems.
Accordingly, the technical theme of the present invention to be solved is to provide a shirt finishing machine constructed such that the front bodice of a shirt having overlapped cloth portions can be rapidly press finished and the efficiency of the shirt pressing operation can be increased.


A hand actuated pick-up tool including an elongated hollow shaft having distal and proximal ends; first and second flexible grip members at the distal end of the hollow shaft for grasping an object; a center strap extending from the grip members interiorly within the shaft; and a handle located on the proximal end of the shaft. The handle includes a trigger mechanism for drawing the center strap rearward in order to actuate the grip members, where the trigger device includes a channel for receiving and releasably retaining the center strap. The center strap is detachable from the trigger mechanism, and the handle includes an aperture allowing access to the trigger device channel and the center strap, and enabling the center strap to be inserted and withdrawn through the aperture, permitting replacement of the center strap.

A hand-actuated pick-up tool that includes certain features of the present invention was first described and patented in U.S. Pat. No. 3,527,492. Similar tools remain in production, and are popularly known by the name "EZ Reacher." Because of its yieldable grip, the tool is sufficiently sensitive to enable the user to pick up a needle, yet it is strong enough to allow the user to lift a five-pound weight. The pick-up tool, therefore, has a wide range of applications and enjoys great commercial success in diverse markets.
A subsequent but similar pick-up tool is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,785, which teaches that the center stalk of the tool is made of lightweight aluminum; its handle is formed from strong injection molded plastic and the fingers, center straps, referred to in prior art as ribbons, and fittings are made of first class stainless steel. In the medical market, the later pick-up tool serves the needs of those requiring aid in reaching and gathering objects of all types. The greatest commercial success of the patented pick-up tool is in the industrial market place, which includes grounds maintenance, the removal of trash, litter and unsanitary debris from restrooms, parks and roadways.
However, when used in such heavy-duty applications, the center straps or ribbons of the prior art pick-up tool often become bent, mangled and broken. With bent or mangled center straps, the usefulness of the pick-up tool is seriously diminished. With even one broken strap, the pick-up tool of the prior art is rendered useless. No other component of this tool is particularly prone to failure.
The present handle design and methods of assembly of such prior art pick-up tools make it virtually impossible to replace the center straps and restore the function of the tool. Regarding assembly of the prior art tool, U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,785 teaches, in part, that many screws and rivets are used to hold the components together. Each component must be drilled for these fasteners and each fastener must be driven into its base to obtain assembly of the requisite parts. The center straps are bolted to the trigger requiring a separate assembly operation. Practical experience teaches that any attempt to disassemble the tool for the purpose of replacing the center straps is likely to cause irreparable damage to the injection molded handle. Consequently, tens of thousands of such tools are discarded annually. This economic waste could be avoided if the damaged center straps could be easily replaced.
Therefore, it is the principal object of this invention to provide a yieldable-grip pick-up tool with center straps that can be replaced in a convenient manner without requiring the use of tools or a separate assembly operation.

Pick-up tool with replaceable center strap


The present invention relates to a method of treating ileus in a patient, which includes administering a pharmaceutical composition that includes carbon monoxide to the patient.

Carbon monoxide (CO) gas is poisonous in high concentrations. However, it is now recognized as an important signaling molecule (Verma et al., Science 259:381-384, 1993). It has also been suggested that carbon monoxide acts as a neuronal messenger molecule in the brain (Id.) and as a neuro-endocrine modulator in the hypothalamus (Pozzoli et al., Endocrinology 735:2314-2317, 1994). Like nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide is a smooth muscle relaxant (Utz et al., Biochem Pharmacol. 47:195-201, 1991; Christodoulides et al., Circulation 97:2306-9, 1995) and inhibits platelet aggregation (Mansouri et al, Thromb Haemost. 48:286-8, 1982). Inhalation of low levels of carbon monoxide has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in some models.
Ileus is a condition characterized by a lack of bowel motility, and is one of the more common forms of intestinal obstruction (see, e.g., Oxford Textbook of Surgery, Morris and Malt, Eds., Oxford University Press (1994)). Often, ileus occurs throughout the intestinal tract (e.g., both large and small bowel), but it can sometimes involve only one or several segments thereof. Intestinal manipulation during abdominal surgery frequently leads to ileus.
Various pharmaceutical approaches to treating ileus have been proposed (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,756 (fedotozine); U.S. Pat. No. 5,929,035 (neuropeptides); U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,843 (pyrazolopyridine); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,407 (e.g., antagonizing proteinase-activated receptor-2)).

University of Pittsburgh of the Commonwealth System of Higher Education Yale University


The present invention relates to the discovery in eukaryotic cells of a ubiquitin ligases. These proteins are referred to herein collectively as "pub" proteins for Protein UBiquitin ligase, and individually as h-pub1, h-pub2 and s-pub1 for the human pub1 and pub2 and Schizosaccharomyces pombe pub1 clones, respectively. Pub1 proteins apparently play a role in the ubiquitination of the mitotic activating tyrosine phosphatase cdc25, and thus they may regulate the progression of proliferation in eukaryotic cells by activating the cyclin dependent kinase complexes. In S. pombe, disruption of s-pub1 elevates the level of cdc25 protein in vivo increasing the activity of the tyrosine kinases, wee1 and mik1, required to arrest the cell-cycle. Loss of wee1 function in an S. pombe cell carrying a disruption in the s-pub1 gene results in a lethal premature entry into mitosis; such lethal phenotype can be rescued by the loss of cdc25 function. An ubiquitin thioester adduct of s-pub1 can be isolated from S. pombe and disruption of s-pub1 dramatically reduces ubiquitination of cdc25.

(a) Cell-cycle Regulatory Proteins
Cell-cycle events are thought to be regulated by a series of interdependent biochemical steps. In eukaryotic cells mitosis does not normally take place until the G1, S and G2 phases of the cell-cycle are completed. In all eukaryotic cells examined to date, the cell cycle appears to be regulated by the sequential activation of a series of the CDK's or Cyclin Dependent Kinases (reviewed in Morgan, (1995) Nature 374:131-134; King et al., (1994) Cell 79:563-571; Norbury and Nurse, (1992) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 61:441-470). Yeast cells contain a single CDK known as cdc2 in S. pombe (Beach et al., (1982) Nature 300:706-709; Booher and Beach, (1986) Gene 31:129-134; Hindley and Phear, (1984) Gene 21:129-134; Nurse and Bissett, (1981) Nature 292:558-560; Simanis and Nurse, (1986) Cell 45:261-268; and for review see Forsburg and Nurse, (1991b) Annu. Rev. Cell Biol. 7:227-256) and cdc28 in S. cerevisae. The similarities between the progression of proliferation in mammalian cells and yeast have suggested similar roles for cdc protein kinases across species. In support of this hypothesis, a human cdc2 gene has been found to be able to substitute for the activity of an S. pombe cdc2 gene in both its G1/S and G2/M roles (Lee et al., (1987) Nature 327:31). Likewise, the fact that the cdc2 homolog of S. cerevisae (cdc28) can be replaced by the human cdc2 also emphasizes the extent to which the basic cell-cycle machinery has been conserved in evolution.
The activation of cdc2 kinase activity occurs during the M phase and is controlled at multiple levels involving, among other events, the association with various cyclin subunits and the phosphorylation on threonine 167 by cdc2 activating kinase (CAK) (Booher and Beach, (1987) EMBO J. 6:3441-3447; Booher et al., (1989) Cell 58:485-497; Bueno et al., (1991) Cell 66:149-159; Bueno and Russell, (1993) Mol. Cell Biol. 13:2286-2297; Connolly and Beach, (1994) Mol. Cell Biol. 14:768-776; Fesquet et al., (1993) EMBO J. 12:3111-3121; Forsburg and Nurse, (1991a) Nature 351:245-247; Gould et al., (1991) EMBO J. 3297-3309; Hagan et al., (1988) J. Cell Sci. 91:587-595; Solomon et al., (1992) Mol. Biol. Cell 3:13-27; Solomon et al., (1993) EMBO J. 12:3133-3142). Another well-characterized mechanism of regulating the activity of cdc2 involves its inhibition by phosphorylation of a tyrosine and threonine residues (Tyr-15 and Thr-14) within its ATP binding site (Gould and Nurse, (1989) supra). The inhibitory phosphorylation of cdc2 is mediated at least impart by the wee1 and mik1 tyrosine kinases (Russel et al., (1987) Cell 49:559-567; Lundgren et al., (1991) Cell 64:1111-1122; Featherstone et al., (1991) Nature 349:808-811; and Parker et al., (1992) PNAS 89:2917-2921). These kinases act as mitotic inhibitors, over-expression of them causes cells to arrest in the G2 phase of the cell-cycle. By contrast, loss of function of wee1 causes a modest advancement of mitosis, whereas loss of both wee1 and mik1 function causes grossly premature mitosis, uncoupled from all checkpoints that normally restrain cell division (Lundgren et al., (1991) Cell 64:1111-1122).
As the cell is about to reach the end of G2, dephosphorylation of the cdc2-inactivating Thr-14 and Tyr-15 residues occurs leading to activation of the cdc2 complex as a kinase. With the exception of budding yeast and the early embryonic cell divisions of some organisms, the dephosphorylation of tyrosine 15 is a key regulatory step of cdc2 activation (Morla et al., (1989) Cell 58:193-203; Heald et al., (1993) Cell 74:463-474; and for reviews see King et al., (1994) Cell 79:563-571; and Morgan (1995) Nature 374:131-134). A stimulatory phosphatase, known as cdc25, is responsible for Tyr-15 and Thr-14 dephosphorylation and serves as a rate-limiting mitotic activator. (Dunphy et al., (1991) Cell 67:189-196; Lee et al., (1992) Mol Biol Cell 3:73-84; Millar et al., (1991) EMBO J 10:4301-4309; and Russell et al., (1986) Cell 45:145-153). Cdc25 has been shown to be required for entry into mitosis in a number of different organisms (King et al., 1994). Evidence indicates that both the cdc25 phosphatase and the cdc2-specific tyrosine kinases are detectably active during interphase, suggesting that there is an ongoing competition between these two activities prior to mitosis (Kumagai et al., (1992) Cell 70:139-151; Smythe et al., (1992) Cell 68:787-797; and Solomon et al., (1990) Cell 63:1013-1024. This situation implies that the initial decision to enter mitosis involves a modulation of the equilibrium of the phosphorylation state of cdc2 which is likely controlled by variation of the rate of tyrosine dephosphorylation of cdc2 and/or a decrease in the rate of its tyrosine phosphorylation.
In S. pombe, the level of cdc25 oscillates in a cell cycle dependent fashion (Ducommum et al., (1990) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 167:301-309; Moreno et al., (1990) Nature 344:549-552). Cdc25 accumulates through the cell cycle until mitosis when its level rapidly decreases. The pattern of cdc25 accumulation during the cell cycle is reminiscent of mitotic cyclins which are degraded by the ubiquitin system (Glotzer et al., (1991) Nature 349:132-138; Seufert et al., (1995) Nature 373:78-81).
(b) Ubiquitination Pathways
The ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis system is the major pathway for the selective, controlled degradation of intracellular proteins in eukaryotic cells. Ubiquitin modification of a variety of protein targets within the cell appears to be important in a number of basic cellular functions such as regulation of gene expression, regulation of the cell-cycle, modification of cell surface receptors, biogenesis of ribosomes, and DNA repair. One major function of the ubiquitin-mediated system is to control the half-lives of cellular proteins. The half-life of different proteins can range from a few minutes to several days, and can vary considerably depending on the cell-type, nutritional and environmental conditions, as well as the stage of the cell-cycle.
Targeted proteins undergoing selective degradation, presumably through the actions of a ubiquitin-dependent proteosome, are covalently tagged with ubiquitin through the formation of an isopeptide bond between the C-terminal glycyl residue of ubiquitin and a specific lysyl residue in the substrate protein. This process is catalyzed by a ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1) and a ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2), and in some instances may also require auxiliary substrate recognition proteins (E3s). Following the linkage of the first ubiquitin chain, additional molecules of ubiquitin may be attached to lysine side chains of the previously conjugated moiety to form branched multi-ubiquitin chains.
The conjugation of ubiquitin to protein substrates is a multi-step process. In an initial ATP requiring step, a thioester is formed between the C-terminus of ubiquitin and an internal cysteine residue of an E1 enzyme. Activated ubiquitin is then transferred to a specific cysteine on one of several E2 enzymes. Finally, these E2 enzymes donate ubiquitin to protein substrates. Substrates are recognized either directly by ubiquitin-conjugated enzymes or by associated substrate recognition proteins, the E3 proteins, also known as ubiquitin ligases.
Many proteins that control cell-cycle progression are short-lived. For example, regulation of oncoproteins and anti-oncoproteins clearly plays an important role in determining steady-state levels of protein expression, and alterations in protein degradation are as likely as changes in transcription and/or translation to cause either the proliferative arrest of cells, or alternatively, the transformation of cells.

Ubiquitin ligases, and uses related thereto


An electronic device includes a case, a switch, a connecting tray and a moving member. The case has an opening. The switch is disposed in the case and near the opening. The connecting tray is disposed in the case and near the opening. The moving member is disposed on the opening in a movable manner. The moving member includes a pressing portion and a carrying portion. The pressing portion is movably connected to the carrying portion, the carrying portion is for carrying a function card and is plugged in the connecting tray in a detachable manner, and the pressing portion is for moving relative to the carrying portion, thereby triggering the switch.

Nowadays electronic devices are light and compact for better portability and for reducing material costs. Moreover, consumers want the electronic devices to have a lot of functions. To satisfy the consumers, the related industries have designed expansion elements which enable the electronic devices to have more functions.
Furthermore, when operating the electronic device, users need buttons for operation. These buttons and expansion elements take up large space in the electronic device and this makes the electronic device difficult to be light and slim.

Guangming District of Shenzhen, Shenzhen, Guangdong

Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Provided are a nitride semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same. In the method, semiconductor nanorods are vertically grown on a substrate, and then a nitride semiconductor thin film is deposited on the substrate having the semiconductor nanorods. Accordingly, a high-quality nitride semiconductor thin film can be deposited on a variety of inexpensive, large-sized substrates. Also, because the nitride semiconductor thin film containing the semiconductor nanorods can easily emit light through openings between the nanorods, internal scattering can be greatly reduced. Thus, the nitride semiconductor thin film can be usefully employed in optical devices such as light emitting diodes and electronic devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a nitride semiconductor device having high optical efficiency and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, owing to increased demand for blue-wavelength light emitting diodes, GaN thin films have become strongly relied upon. As is well known to those skilled in the art, a nitride semiconductor thin film, such as the GaN film, is typically deposited on a sapphire (Al2O3) substrate.
However, when a light emitting diode is manufactured using the nitride semiconductor thin film grown on the sapphire substrate, it has high internal quantum efficiency (QE), but low optical efficiency (OE) due to optical emission restrictions caused by internal scattering. Also, in the conventional manufacturing process of nitride semiconductor thin films, since an expensive and small-sized sapphire substrate is used, the resulting nitride semiconductor thin film has a small size of 2 inches or less, the cost of production is high, and yield is low. These problems should be solved in order to popularize white light emitting diodes for indoor illumination.

Nitride semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


Optical elements for semiconductor light emitting devices include a body that is configured to attach to a semiconductor light emitting device. The body includes an integral lens. A mirror is provided in and/or on the body. The body, the lens and the mirror are positioned such that, in operation, light that is emitted from the semiconductor light emitting device enters the body, is reflected from the mirror and passes through the lens to emerge from the body.

Semiconductor light emitting devices, such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) or laser diodes, are widely used for many applications. As is well known to those having skill in the art, a semiconductor light emitting device includes one or more semiconductor layers that are configured to emit coherent and/or incoherent light upon energization thereof. It is also known that a semiconductor light emitting device generally is packaged to provide external electrical connections, heat sinking, lenses or waveguides, environmental protection and/or other functions.
For example, it may be desirable to redirect the light that is emitted by a semiconductor light emitting device from one direction to another. In some applications it may be desirable to redirect light that is generally emitted in a direction perpendicular to the emitting surface of the semiconductor light emitting device (generally referred to herein as "vertical") to a direction that is generally parallel to the emitting surface of the semiconductor light emitting device (generally referred to as "horizontal"). It also may be desirable to reorient the light over 360° in the horizontal direction. Such redirected light may be useful in backlighting applications, such as backlighting for Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) or "glowing wall" types of lighting applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,607,286 to West et al., entitled "Lens and Lens Cap with Sawtooth Portion for Light Emitting Diode" describes in the Abstract thereof, that a lens mounted to a light emitting diode package internally redirects light within the lens so that a majority of light is emitted from the lens approximately perpendicular to a package axis of the light emitting diode package. In one embodiment, the light emitted by the light emitting diode package is refracted by a sawtooth portion of the lens and reflected by a total internal reflection portion of the lens.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,469 to Feldman, et al., entitled "Microelectronic Module Having Optical and Electrical Interconnects", describes various techniques for redirecting optical beams using holograms and/or mirrors, and solder bumps for alignment and/or electrical connections.

Reflective optical elements for semiconductor light emitting devices


A deoiler 26 for separating oil from air contaminated with the oil has at least one separator for separating the oil from the air and also has a source of suction for reducing air pressure at the source of the air. In an exemplary embodiment, the deoiler 26 creates the suction at a first operating condition, but acts as a restrictor at a second operating condition. A deoiling method according to the invention creates suction at a first operating condition to reduce the air pressure at the source of the oil-contaminated air, establishes a flow restriction at a second operating condition to pressurize the air source, and encourages oil to separate from the air at both operating conditions. When used as a component of a turbine engine lubrication system 22, the source of contaminated air may be a buffered bearing compartment 16. The inventive deoiler ensures a positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals 20 at the engine's idle power setting without requiring the idle setting to be undesirably high, and without requiring the use of buffer air whose pressure at higher engine power is high enough to be detrimental. In an exemplary embodiment, the deoiler pressurizes the bearing compartment at higher power settings to resist excessive buffer air infiltration into the bearing compartment.

A typical, conventional gas turbine engine includes one or more multi-stage compressors, a combustor, and one or more turbines. An annular working medium flowpath extends through the compressors, combustor and turbines. A drive shaft connects each turbine to an associated compressor. At least one of the drive shafts is supported from the nonrotatable structure of the engine by bearings, which are enclosed in a bearing compartment. A lubrication system introduces oil or other lubricant into the bearing compartment to lubricate and cool the bearings, and also reconditions the oil for re-use. Bearing compartment seals help prevent oil leakage out of the compartment by segregating the interior of the compartment from its local environment.
It is common practice to buffer the bearing compartment seals to enhance their ability to resist oil leakage. Buffering refers to directing pressurized air to the vicinity of the seals, outside the bearing compartment. The buffer air is usually pressurized air extracted from the working medium flowpath, specifically from the compressor flowpath. The pressure of the buffer air exceeds the prevailing pressure inside the bearing compartment. This results in a favorable, positive pressure difference across the compartment seals. Because of the positive pressure difference, buffer air flows into the compartment, helping to confine the oil.
The designer of the lubrication system must select a satisfactory location (i.e. stage) in the compressor from which to extract the buffer air. Air extracted from a higher pressure stage of the compressor has the advantage of establishing a sizeable positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals. This allows a large quantity of buffer air to flow into the compartment, which forms a highly effective barrier against oil leakage. However the large quantity of pressurized air can also cause the oil in the bearing compartment to foam, which compromises its lubricating and heat transfer properties. In addition, the high pressure air has a correspondingly high temperature. Introducing a large quantity of high temperature air into the bearing compartment could ignite and sustain a fire inside the compartment.
The designer can guard against oil foaming and mitigate the risk of fire by choosing to extract the buffer air from a lower pressure stage of the compressor. When the engine operates at high power, this lower stage buffer air will have enough pressure to maintain a positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals. However when the engine operates at lower power settings, including idle, the pressure throughout the compressor, and therefore the pressure of the lower stage buffer air, will be significantly reduced. In order to guarantee that the lower stage buffer air doesn't compromise the positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals at low engine power, it may be necessary to operate the engine at an undesirably high idle setting. In other words, the need to always maintain a positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals (in order to prevent oil leakage), in combination with the use of low stage buffer air, may demand an undesirably high idle power setting. A high idle setting is undesirable because it promotes excessive engine fuel consumption. Moreover, if the engine is used as an aircraft powerplant, a high idle setting can make the aircraft more difficult to handle during descent and taxiing maneuvers. Of course, the designer can overcome these problems by choosing to extract the buffer air from a higher pressure stage of the compressor, but doing so re-introduces the foaming and fire risk sought to be avoided by selecting a lower pressure air source in the first place.
The task of selecting an appropriate buffer air source without requiring an undesirably high idle power setting is further complicated by the presence of a deoiler in the lubrication system. The buffer air and the lubricating oil cross-contaminate each other in the bearing compartment. The deoiler receives the oil-contaminated air, now referred to as breather air, and separates the oil from the air so that the oil can be re-used. The lubrication system then vents the decontaminated breather air into the atmosphere. The deoiler is a desirable component because the contaminated air would contribute to air pollution if it were discharged, untreated, directly into the atmosphere. Moreover, if the oil were vented overboard with the breather air, it would be necessary to carry a larger supply of oil on the aircraft thereby increasing aircraft weight and consuming precious space.
Unfortunately, a conventional lubrication system deoiler also pressurizes the bearing compartment by restricting the flow of breather air out of the compartment. In other words, the presence of a conventional deoiler causes the bearing compartment pressure to be higher than it would be if the bearing compartment were vented directly to the atmosphere. This elevated compartment pressure requires that the buffer air pressure also be correspondingly elevated in order to ensure a positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals at all ambient conditions and engine power settings, including idle. This elevated compartment pressure can be beneficial at high engine power settings because it helps prevent excessive infiltration of hot, high pressure buffer air into the compartment. But at lower power settings, the elevated compartment pressure, in combination with the use of lower stage buffer air, can require an unsatisfactorily high idle power setting to ensure a positive pressure difference across the bearing compartment seals.


Embodiments of an improved Galois multiplication route are described. In some embodiments, the Galois multiplication routine looks up and retrieves a first value corresponding to an address in the Galois table, exclusive ORs the retrieved value with a data value from a data set to generate an intermediate address for the Galois table, wherein the data value is at a location associated with an index, and looks up and retrieves a second value in the Galois table by the intermediate address.

The Reed-Solomon code. This code requires special mathematical operations using Galois math (additions and multiplications) operating on a binary extension field. These special multiply operations are not built into standard processors (even if standard multiplication is built in), and to implement these multiplies can require too many processor cycles to be feasible given the desire to minimize coding delays in the system.

Method and system of improved reed-solomon decoding


A roller chain is provided, which is composed of more than one roller and a carrier belt. The roller chain helps make sure of keeping the rollers against moving on the skew even under carrying high loads while the carrier belt is made to have a large space to reserve lubricant sufficient to ensure good lubrication. The carrier belt is comprised of a pair of continuous bands lying to carry or bear axially opposite ends of the roller across an area set off-center from an axis of the roller, and more than one U-type separator to join the continuous bands together with one another. The U-type separators 6 are each composed of a pair of legs joined together with their associated continuous bands, and a horizontal bridge interconnecting the sidewise spaced leg with each other.

The recently remarkable advance in robotization technology in many industrial machines extensively requires any guide unit that is high in sliding performance as well as operational speed. To cope with the requirements stated earlier, the roller chain has been developed in which more than one rolling element of cylindrical roller is held in the retainer to keep any adjacent rolling elements from coming into direct engagement with one another, and also there have been practically developed the linear motion guide units having therein the roller chain constructed as stated earlier.
A roller chain of the type as recited earlier is known as disclosed in, for example Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1998-110728. The prior roller chain is comprised of more than one cylindrical roller adapted to roll through a recirculation circuit in close succession, a separator adapted to space any two adjacent rollers away from one another, and a flexible belt adapted to connect the successive separators to each other. Any two adjacent separators come into sliding contact with the circular outside surface of the roller rolling between the leading and trailing separators, thereby keeping the successive rollers in spaced parallel relation to make certain of the smooth rolling of the roller throughout the recirculation circuit. With the prior roller chain constructed as stated earlier, the separators come into the circular outside surface of the associated roller across an axial overall length of the roller to keep the roller against moving on the skews, especially serving to keep the roller in the direction normal to the traveling direction in the recirculation circuit.
Another example of the conventional chain of rolling elements is disclosed in, for example Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-165169 in which a plurality of rolling elements is received in recesses formed in an elongated carrier belt for free rotation, one to each recess. The carrier belt is made up of spar elements extending in the longitudinal direction and a plurality of rung bars extending in the transverse direction, which are combined together in the form of a ladder to define successive recesses where the rollers are accommodated for free rotation, one to each recess. The rung bars are made concaved midway between their lateral edge regions, just which come into sliding contact with the associated roller.
Meanwhile, the prior linear motion guide unit using rolling elements of cylindrical roller enables to carry larger load compared with the linear motion guide unit of another type having balls, but vulnerable to an adverse happening where the rolling axis of the roller would be tilted when the load varies, that is to say, the roller might be likely to experience any skew movement. Moreover, the conventional linear motion guide units of the sort as stated earlier, as undergoing a large thrust load in the axial direction thereof after the roller has moves on the skew, is much tough in posture control of the roller.
Compared with the linear motion guide unit of the sort having the balls, the linear motion guide unit using the cylindrical rollers is less in space to reserve lubricant therein for lubrication of the rollers rolling through the recirculation circuit. In addition, the roller, unlike the ball, is apt to have any danger of the stripping of lubricant from the rolling surface of the roller. Thus, the linear motion guide unit using the cylindrical rollers needs more frequent replenishment of lubricant.
With the roller chain constructed as recited earlier, any interval between any leading and trailing rollers is made up for the associated separator and, therefore, it is tough to make certain of the provision of space enough to reserve lubricant therein. With the linear motion guide unit of the sort constructed to use the roller chain, moreover, inside guide walls making sliding contact with axially opposite circular ends of the roller are made of other members, which are prepared separately from the slider carriage. This construction is unsuitable for carrying large thrust loads against the axially opposite circular ends of the roller. Instead, an alternative construction is developed in which the roller is sandwiched between any leading and trailing separators to be prevented from moving on the skew.
The roller chain constructed as stated just earlier is needed to make a clearance between the roller and any one of the leading and trailing separators as small as possible to keep the roller against movement on the skew while allowing the roller to make free rotation. To cope with this, the roller chain had to make it by any specific production process including, for example integral molding. With the roller chain constructed as stated just earlier, the spar elements of the carrier belt experience repeatedly partial flexure midway any two adjacent separators jointed to the spar elements because the separators are made resistant against flexure. Thus, the prior carrier belts are easy to suffer bending fatigue.
With the roller chain made as stated earlier in the form of the ladder in which a pair of lengthwise spar elements is connected together with successive separators or lung elements that are spaced away from one another at a fixed interval, the separators are each made of a rectangular plate that is jointed to the spar elements at only middle areas in height on the lateral edge regions thereof. As a result, the separators of rectangular plates jointed to the spar elements at only middle areas in height on the lateral edge regions thereof, since easily coming into engagement at their contours with any other member, may suffer any unwilling accidental loads, so that they are tough to continue keeping their proper posture with steady. Moreover, the separators, as made concaved midway between their lateral edge regions, are rendered less in thickness and eventually blamed for the reduction in mechanical strength of the roller chain. Besides, as the separators are made resistant against flexure, the spar elements experience repeatedly partial flexure and thus are easy to suffer bending fatigue.

Roller chain and guide unit having the same therein


A signal processing device includes: a speaker amplifier for amplifying a reception voice; a reception voice attenuator for attenuating the reception voice inputted to the speaker amplifier during a voice transmission mode; a reception voice detection circuit for detecting the reception voice outputted from the speaker amplifier; a microphone amplifier for amplifying a transmission voice inputted to a microphone; a transmission voice attenuator for attenuating the transmission voice outputted by the microphone amplifier during a voice reception mode; a transmission voice detection circuit for detecting the transmission voice outputted by the microphone amplifier; and a discriminator for discriminating the mode to be operated among the voice transmission mode and the voice reception mode on the basis of detection outputs from the reception voice detection circuit and the transmission voice detection circuit.

The present invention relates to a signal processing device and to a hands-free call device including the signal processing device.
In a hands-free call device provided with a function for carrying out voice-amplified calls using a speaker and a microphone instead of a handset, communication may be perturbed when the speaker and the microphone are used simultaneously, as a result of which there forms a closed loop through acoustic coupling such that howling occurs when the gain of the closed loop exceeds 1. In order to ensure stable communication in such a hands-free call device provided with a voice-amplified call function, therefore, some scheme must be resorted to for constantly keeping the closed loop gain at or below 1.
A voice switch is one such known scheme. In a voice switch, the closed loop gain is kept at or below 1 by monitoring the transmission voice signal level and the reception voice signal level and by increasing the signal attenuation of the smaller signal level. Voice switches, in which computations are simpler than in echo suppressors, are advantageous in that they can be built easily, since they not require a large memory capacity for storing adaptive filter coefficients, status variables and the like. Documents describing voice switches include, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Laid-open No. H10-93681.
In a conventional voice switch, however, the mode that is to be operated is discriminated between a voice transmission mode and a voice reception mode, by comparing the transmission voice signal level and reception voice signal level, and hence the echo of the reception voice outputted by the speaker enters the microphone and becomes superposed with the transmission voice, which makes it difficult to tell apart the echo of reception voice from the transmission voice. This means that it is difficult to judge the call direction in environments where echo is likely to occur. When a switch is switched, upon mistaking of the above echo with audio from a near-end speaker included in the transmission voice, the audio of the far-end speaker included in the reception voice is interrupted while being generated, which impairs the quality of the call.
The circuit constitution of a conventional voice switch, moreover, is extremely complex, and hence installing a voice switch in a handset was difficult. In some hands-free call devices, signal processing relating to the hands-free operation is carried out with a handset and a base set working together via wireless communication. Such devices are problematic in that the hands-free call can be perturbed should wireless communication fail.

Signal processing device and hands-free call device


A decorative bathroom furnishing to be placed in a bathroom provides concealed, sanitary storage of bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies, such as a toilet plunger, a toilet cleaning brush, a pair of rubber gloves and a roll of toilet tissue. The bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies are located in a hollow chamber defined by the bathroom furnishing. Access to the bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies is provided through a door section. A hook is provided for hanging the toilet cleaning brush. An upwardly depending post on a cantilevered shelf, or alternatively, an inwardly depending post, is provided to hold the paper core of the roll of toilet tissue. The base assembly of the bathroom furnishing is provided with an angled drainage grate having a plurality of holes therethrough positioned over a cavity which serves as a catch basin. The toilet plunger rests on the grate such that the catch basin collects moisture from the bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies, and in particular, residual toilet water from the toilet plunger and the toilet cleaning brush. An absorbent, deodorizing and disinfecting sponge may also be placed on the floor of the catch basin to collect, deodorize and disinfect moisture from the bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies. A clip is provided on the door section to hold the pair of rubber gloves. The exterior design of the bathroom furnishing can be adapted to take on the aesthetic appearance of, for example, a Corinthian or Roman column, a castle, a fish tank, a tree stump, a golf bag or the like. In addition, the top surface of the bathroom furnishing can be used as a pedestal for books, a flowerpot, a basket or the like.

In today's society entry hall bathrooms, commonly referred to as "powder rooms," are increasing in popularity. Because they are used primarily by visitors to the home, powder rooms are generally smaller in square footage than a conventional bathroom and are typically furnished with only a toilet, sink and mirror. Despite their smaller size, powder rooms require the same number and kind of bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies as a conventional bathroom. At the same time, there is a resurgence in the use of "pedestal" style sinks that do not include an underneath cabinet, particularly in powder rooms. This may be due partly to their aesthetic attributes and partly to the fact that the openness of the pedestal sink creates the illusion that the powder room is larger than it really is. Regardless, the use of a pedestal sink further compounds the problem of storing the necessary number and kind of bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies in a bathroom that is already diminutive in size. As a result, homeowners have devised ingenious bathroom furnishings for storing unsightly bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies, including decorative chests, baskets, planters and footstools.
Although such furnishings often provide a space-saving and aesthetic solution, they are unsanitary. Toilet bowl plungers and toilet bowl brushes can harbor bacteria and can foster the growth of mold and mildew. After use, these accessories remain moist with residual water from the toilet. Accordingly, they are typically placed on a paper or cloth mat or in the sink until dry before they are placed in the bathroom furnishing for storage. This solution, however, is not only unsightly but is unsanitary as well, particularly in the small confines of the modem day powder room.
The present invention provides an aesthetically pleasing and covert means of storing bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies immediately after use. The residual water runs off the accessories and is collected, absorbed and disinfected in a catch basin. The prior art describes means by which to deodorize runoff toilet water from a toilet brush. There is no prior art, however, that addresses collecting the runoff toilet water, containing the runoff toilet water and disinfecting the inherent bacteria in the runoff toilet water. Nor does the prior art disclose a bathroom furnishing for storing a toilet plunger, toilet cleaning brush, rubber gloves, one or more rolls of toilet tissue and the like that covertly houses these bathroom accessories in a compact, concealed and sanitary manner.
Accordingly, it is a principle object of the present invention to provide a bathroom furnishing for storing bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies in a compact, concealed and sanitary manner.
It is a further, and more particular, object of the present invention to provide a decorative pedestal for compact, concealed and sanitary storage of a toilet plunger, toilet cleaning brush, rubber gloves, one or more rolls of toilet tissue and the like.
It is another, and still more particular, object of the invention to provide a decorative pedestal for storing bathroom accessories and cleaning supplies that includes a means for collecting the residual toilet water, containing the residual toilet water and disinfecting the inherent bacteria in the residual toilet water.

Decorative pedestal for storing bathroom accessories


An image capture device includes a first memory, a second memory and an icon changing unit. The first memory stores a plurality of icons. The second memory stores an icon representing the image capture device of which the second memory is a part. The icon is read by an external electronic device through an address space. The address space is accessed by the external electronic device though a serial bus. The icon changing unit changes the icon stored in the second memory to a selected icon that is selected from the plurality of icons stored in the first memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to icons of electronic devices such as digital video cameras, digital cameras and the like.
2. Related Background Art
A remote control system for remotely controlling a conventional 1394 device 800 will be explained with reference to FIG. 8. The 1394 device 800 is an apparatus having a digital interface 801 conforming to IEEE Std 1394-1995, and a memory 802 for storing information within a register space 803 stipulated by ISO/IEC 13213:1994.
The register space 803 is divided into a CSR architecture register 8031, a bus-dependent register 8032, a configuration ROM 8033 and a unit space 8034. These areas can be accessed by other 1394 devices so long as the areas are not limited by the 1394 device 800. Further, the information existing in each area can be read out by other 1394 devices so long as the information is not limited by the 1394 device 800.
An icon X, which serves as an icon representing the 1394 device 800, is stored in a predetermined area of the unit space 8034. A controller 820 for remotely controlling the 1394 device 800 can read out the icon X from the unit space 8034 and display it as an icon representing the 1394 device 800.
However, in the conventional 1394 device 800, the icon X in the unit space 8034 cannot be changed to another icon. Thus, if the controller 820 displays icons of two 1394 devices 800, two icons having the same design are displayed, and, thus, a problem will occur in that it is hard for an observer to see the relationship between the icons and the respective 1394 devices.

Electronic device and icon changing method


A waveguide element 21 including a photonic crystal waveguide including a core 4 that is constituted by a photonic crystal having a refractive index periodicity at least in one direction, and that propagates an electromagnetic wave in a direction in which the photonic crystal does not have the refractive index periodicity. At least one of materials forming the core 4 constituted by the photonic crystal, and at least a portion of a cladding in contact with a side face of the core 4 are constituted by a fluid 6. Thus, it is possible to provide a waveguide element that can be used as a light control element, can be produced easily and also can be applied to an optical sensor.

Recently, various optometric devices and optical sensors for detecting the characteristics of substances using light have been proposed and also put into practical use. Examples of such optometric devices and optical sensors include a spectroscopic analysis apparatus for analyzing absorption spectra, a surface plasmon resonance (hereinafter, referred to as "SPR") sensor, an optical sensor using a nonlinear emission phenomenon, and an optical sensor using a waveguide. These will be described in the following.
First, the spectroscopic analysis apparatus for absorption spectra will be described, which is used as a common spectrophotometer. The principle of this apparatus is that a spectrum generated by causing a monochromatic light beam to be transmitted through a given gas sample, liquid sample, or transparent solid sample is measured, and this spectrum is compared with the spectrum of a reference cell to detect an absorption peak unique to such a sample.
Next, the SPR sensor will be described. Recently, extensive research and development have been carried out on SPR sensors. SPR sensors utilize a surface plasmon excited at the interface between a metal film and a test substance to detect the characteristics of the test substance. SPR sensors have the characteristics that alteration of the test substance due to light will not occur, since the interaction between light and the test substance (for example, an aqueous solution) is limited to the vicinity of the surface of the metal film.
Next, the optical sensor using a nonlinear emission phenomenon will be described. When a substance is irradiated with incident light, light emission (nonlinear emission) having a frequency different from that of the irradiation light sometimes may be generated due to a nonlinear effect. This optical sensor uses this nonlinear emission to analyze a test substance. Analyses using a nonlinear emission phenomenon include fluorescence analysis, Raman scattering analysis, analysis using two-photon absorption fluorescence reaction, and analyses using second harmonic generation (hereinafter, referred to as "SHG") and third harmonic generation (hereinafter, referred to as "THG"). The intensities of Raman scattering, two-photon absorption fluorescence reaction, SHG and THG, and so on are proportional to the square or cube of the electric field intensity. Accordingly, in order to efficiently cause the effects of these types of emission, it is necessary to increase the energy density of the incident light. Therefore, a method is also adopted in which nonlinear emission is caused by forming a focal point of incident light in a test substance using a lens, and the thus generated nonlinear emission is condensed for analysis.
Next, the optical sensor using a waveguide will be described. When a focal point of incident light is formed in a test substance using a lens, the region having a high light energy density is limited to near the focal point. Therefore, by producing a waveguide including a test substance as a core, and propagating light through that waveguide, it is possible to increase the energy density of light in the test substance over a long distance. By analyzing the light propagating through this waveguide, for example, it is possible to detect the characteristics of the test substance. In this case, the energy density of light is high, so that it is possible to perform highly accurate measurement. Furthermore, the measurement accuracy of the optical sensor using a waveguide is improved by increasing the length of the waveguide. The reason is that this allows an increase of the volume of a portion of the test substance that interacts with light. Thus, the measurement accuracy of the optical sensor using a waveguide can be improved easily. However, it is difficult to use air and an aqueous solution as the core of the waveguide, since they have a lower refractive index than a glass material, which is a typical component of a waveguide. Therefore, the optical sensor using a waveguide has a problem in that it is difficult to use air or an aqueous solution as the test substance.
Examples of the optical sensor using a nonlinear luminous phenomenon and the optical sensor using a waveguide are described in Non-patent Document 1 and Non-patent Document 2, for example.
The optical sensor described in Non-patent Document 1 includes a pair of adjacent slab waveguides. This optical sensor is configured such that the gap between the pair of slab waveguides is filled with a liquid test substance, light is propagated through the pair of slab waveguides to generate Raman scattering light, and this light is utilized to detect the characteristics of the test substance. The gap portion between the pair of slab waveguides that is filled with the test substance is an area in which the intensity of the propagation light becomes the highest, so that it is possible to perform highly accurate measurement. Furthermore, increasing the length of the slab waveguides can expand the region in which the interaction between light and the test substance occurs, making it possible to increase the intensity of Raman scattering light even further.
The optical sensor described in Non-patent Document 2 includes a hollow waveguide surrounded by a dielectric multilayer film. In this optical sensor, the hollow part of the hollow waveguide is filled with a liquid test substance to form a waveguide including the test substance as the core. Propagation light is confined within the core by the Bragg reflection effect of the surrounding multilayer film, and this propagation light is used to measure the test substance. Furthermore, it is also possible to confine fluorescence generated by supplying excitation light to the core portion within the core, and collect this from the end face of the waveguide. It is also possible to use this fluorescence to detect the characteristics of the test substance.
Non-patent Document 1: G Stanev, N Goutev, Zh S Nickolov, "Coupled waveguides for Raman studies of thin liquid films", Appl. Phys. 31 (1998), p. 1782-1786
Non-patent Document 2: Dongliang Yin, David W. Deamer, Holger Schmidt, John P. Barber, Aaron R. Hawkins, "Integrated biophotonic sensor with single-molecule resolution", CLEO/IQEC/PhAST, 2004, CThI4

Waveguide element, method for producing the waveguide element, and optical sensor


The present invention is directed to a one piece, integrally molded, bumper-bellows subassembly for use in vehicles, for example, for use in suspension systems, rack and pinion steering systems and airsprings. The present subassembly prevents the elements from entering the bottom of the subassembly and thus eliminates the possibility of damage to the piston rod and seals of the damper. The present subassembly is cost-effective to produce and can be installed quickly and easily. During operation, the present subassembly is stable and is not affected by a severe drop in the suspension.

Dampers (shock absorbers and struts) are used in automobile suspension systems. The telescopic piston rod and seals of a damper must be protected from the elements. Further, the mount assembly, bearing, and damper must be protected from coming in contact with one another during suspension travel.
A jounce bumper is a tubular member that is slipped over the piston rod of the damper. The jounce bumper protects the mount assembly from coming into contact with the striker plate of the damper. The jounce bumper is compressed as a damper bottoms out on a compression or jounce stroke to dissipate jounce energy, thus, protecting the mount assembly.
A bellows (dust shield or sheath) is used to protect the piston rod and seals from the elements. It has a hollow cylindrical body that is slipped over an upper end of the piston rod on the damper. The bellows includes a portion of inner and outer convolutions on the outer surface of the body. Such convolutions provide a spring-like effect by permitting the bellows to be compressed when the damper is in a compression stroke and by causing the bellows to expand to its approximate original length during rebound of the damper.
Prior art products are disadvantageous in that each model of automobile contains a different damper that requires a different bumper/bellows design. As there are well over a 100 different models on the market today, and it is not cost-effective to make 100 separate bumpers and 100 separate bellows to cover each applicable damper.
The most common bellows is an elastic sheath. One end of the sheath is connected to the jounce bumper by way of a metallic strap or interlocking groves, while the other end is open. The connected bumper and bellows is slipped over the piston rod of the damper, where the open end of the sheath allows it to pass over the reservoir tube of the damper during suspension travel.
This two-piece system is disadvantageous in that the open-ended sheath does not prevent the elements from entering the bottom of the unit and damaging the piston rod and seals of the damper. Further, the attachment method for connecting the jounce bumper and dust shield is a mechanical method that uses additional parts (mechanical strap) or interlocking groves to hold the two individual parts together. Time must be taken, and alternate methods must be used to accomplish connecting the two items. Lastly, the multiple part assembly is expensive to manufacture and takes a longer time to produce.
Other systems use a bellows connected to a jounce bumper, through either an interlocking grove or a third part (interlocking ring), on one end, and mechanically attached to the reservoir tube on the other end with a fourth part, i.e., via a tie-strap or clamp.
This system is disadvantageous in that there are three to four separate parts, that require assembly. The connection is also very unstable, for example, a severe drop in the suspension (i.e., driving over a pot-hole) can cause the bumper and bellows to separate, thereby causing the top of the bellows to fall. This in turn causes the exposure of the piston rod and seals to the elements. Further, this multiple part assembly requires the use of a mechanical tie-strap or clamp that may become unattached from the damper, thus causing exposure of the piston rod and seals. There are still two openings on either side of the bellows that allow contamination of the interior. When installing the unit, it is difficult to fit the jounce bumper over the major diameter of the piston rod. Lastly, the multiple part system is more expensive to manufacture and takes a longer time to produce.
In another design, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,389, the jounce bumper uses a collar that "traps" the bellows between the jounce bumper and an upper metal washer. The bellows design in this patent is a combination of a sheath and a bellows. This system is disadvantageous in that the lower end of the bellows that slips over the reservoir tube is open, which exposes the piston rod and seals of the damper to the elements. Further, this multiple part system is more expensive and time-consuming to manufacture.


A composition of matter comprising:. a) an aloyl urea represented by the formula ##STR1## where R.sub.1 is hydrogen or a (C.sub.1 -C.sub.50) linear or branched aliphatic, alkenyl, alkynyl, or aryl hydrocarbon; and PA0 b) an aroyl urea represented by the formula ##STR2## where R.sub.1 is a (C.sub.1 -C.sub.50) linear or branched aliphatic, alkenyl, alkynyl or aryl hydrocarbon; and Z is a heteroatom selected from the group consisting of Group IVa, Group Va and Group VIa materials of the periodic table.

This invention relates to a composition of matter used in a chemical method of decreasing nitric oxide, NOx, levels. The chemicals utilized by this composition of matter patent are reducing agents. When these reducing agents come in contact with NOx, the latter is reduced to non-toxic or environmentally friendly substances. The chemical method utilized in this composition of matter is designed to both enhance the overall thermal stability of the reducing agent and to foster its dissolution in diesel fuel.
Nitrogen oxides are the oxidation products of elemental nitrogen, organic, or inorganic nitrogen and oxygen at elevated temperatures. Nitrogen oxides include nitric oxide, NO; nitrogen dioxide, NO.sub.2 ; nitrogen trioxide, NO.sub.3 ; dinitrogen trioxide, N.sub.2 O.sub.3 ; tetranitrogen pentaoxide, N.sub.4 O.sub.5 ; tetranitrogenhexaoxide, N.sub.4 O.sub.6 ; nitrous oxide, N.sub.2 O; and the like. Elevated temperatures required to prepare these oxidation products are routinely obtained in internal combustion engines utilizing gasoline, diesel, or aviation fuel.
There are cogent ecological and environmental reasons to reduce or ideally eliminate NOx as an internal combustion oxidation product. Once produced, NOx is directly responsible for acid rain and photochemical smog. Moreover, chronic exposure to NOx has been directly linked with restricted pulmonary compliance in non-smoking healthy males; acute respiratory disease among children living in "high exposure" towns in Czechoslovakia; and a key irritant cited for the high incidence of chronic bronchitis among Japanese postal workers servicing urban centers as outlined in Medical and Biologic Effects of Environmental Pollutants by the National Academy of Sciences, 1977.

Composition of matter for aloyl and aroyl ureas as nitric oxide reducing agents in diesel emissions


A disk drive head stack assembly (66) of a configuration that facilitates the assembly thereof is disclosed. One or more head/arm assemblies (74) are mounted on a pivot bearing (118). This pivot bearing (118) includes a tapered section (126). Each head/arm assembly (74) may be mounted on the pivot bearing (118). Thereafter, a retainer ring (102) may be advanced relative to the pivot bearing (118). Advancement of the retainer ring (102) along the tapered section (126) expands the retainer ring (102) so that the same may be disposed within a retainer ring slot (130) of the pivot bearing (118). Each head/arm assembly (74) is maintained between this retainer ring (102) and a flange (134) of the pivot bearing (118).

Disk drive systems have undergone significant evolution in a relatively short time. Current designs often have a plurality of disks maintained in a common stack, along with a head stack assembly that may include a unitary, rigid actuator arm body (e.g., "E" block) having a plurality of rigid, non-deflectable, vertically spaced actuator arms or tips on which a plurality of flexible suspensions or load beams are fixedly mounted (e.g., via staking). Heads are mounted on the individual load beams and read/write information from the plurality of disks, with two load beams extending into the space between adjacent disks.
Each disk includes a plurality of tracks which are concentrically disposed about an axis about which the plurality of disks rotate. Information may be stored in each of these tracks. Access to other tracks, and thereby other data storage areas on a disk, is provided by moving (e.g., pivoting) the actuator body via a voice coil motor or the like to simultaneously move all load beams and their corresponding heads to a different radial position relative to their corresponding disk. There is at least one known disk drive design which is admitted to be prior art which mounts a plurality of individual actuator arms on a bearing hub, and which clamps these individual actuator arms together and maintains the same in a certain fixed positional relation by a threaded interconnection. Specifically, an external portion of the bearing hub is threaded and a nut is engaged therewith to clamp the actuator arms "down" onto the bearing hub.
Both of the above-noted designs suffer from a number of disadvantages in at least some respect. Solid actuator bodies with load beams separately attached thereto can be relatively costly to fabricate, assemble, test, and rework. Threaded interconnections increase the potential for the generation of particulates within the disk drive encasement which can adversely affect one or more aspects of its operation. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a more cost effective approach for assembling a head stack assembly which avoided particulate generation, particularly for the "low end" disk drive market.
Retainer rings have been used to mount a head/arm assembly on a pivot bearing. In this regard, the head/arm assembly is mounted on the pivot bearing so as to be located between a flange of the pivot bearing and a retainer ring slot that is formed on an outer wall of the pivot bearing. A frustumly-shaped arbor is disposed against the end of the pivot bearing to allow a retainer ring to be mounted on the outer wall of the pivot bearing. Advancing the retainer ring relative to the arbor expands the same to a sufficient diameter so as to be able to be disposed on the outer wall of the pivot bearing. Once on the outer wall of the pivot bearing, the retainer ring is advanced along a constant diameter portion of the pivot bearing until it "snaps" into the retainer ring slot. This approach provides at least certain advantages in the assembly of a head stack assembly. However, it still requires additional tooling.

Method for making a disk drive head stack assembly having a tapered pivot bearing


A hydraulic fan coupling comprises a hermetically sealed case that is driven by the engine. The case is made of metal. Fan blades made of resin are molded onto elongated outer portions of the case.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in a fan coupling apparatus for supplying to an engine an amount of cooled air that is always automatically adjusted according to the running state of a vehicle, and for controlling according to changes in revolution or in the temperature of the surrounding external environment the rotation of a fan for cooling an engine in a common automobile or other vehicle, relates to a hydraulic fan coupling apparatus comprising especially a fan member entity that is directly united with a hermetically sealed case.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, conventional fan coupling apparatuses of this type, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, are comprised of a fan member F--either formed from metallic fan blades 20' that are riveted to a star-shaped, steel-plate spider 20 (FIG. 4), or from plastic fan blades 21' that are molded onto the external portions of a round plate-shaped, steel-plate insert 21--that is separately attached by bolts via the spider portion or the insert portion into a hermetically sealed case that is the driven side of the fan coupling apparatus.
However, with these types of prior art fan coupling apparatuses, there are many problems, including the fact that the above-described separately formed fan member F requires press molding of the spider 20 or of the insert 21; moreover, the work of attaching this fan member to the hermetically sealed case increases the amount of labor required. At the same time, the increased load on the bearing portion--due to the cantilevered bearing support--that accompanies the increased weight on the driven side is a cause of early abrasion, and can easily result in unwanted shaking (rattling) of the apparatus. In addition, productivity is undesirably lowered due to the fact that a dynamic balance adjustment must be performed not only for the fan member unit itself, but, following the attachment of the fan member to the hermetically sealed case, another dynamic balance adjustment must be performed for the finished product.