An electrical card connector (100) for insertion of an electrical card (200) includes an insulative housing (1) defining a receiving space (14) for insertion of the electrical card. The insulative housing includes a bottom wall (10) and a side wall (12) extending from a lateral side of the bottom wall. A number of terminals (3) are retained in the insulative housing and extend into the receiving space for electrical connection to the electrical card. An ejecting mechanism (4) includes a slider (41) movable along card-insertion or card-withdraw directions, a coil spring (42) for urging the slider, and a connecting rod (43) having an one-end bend portion retained in the insulative housing and an other-end bend potion movable in a heart-shaped cam groove (412) formed in the slider. The side wall of the insulative housing has a protrusion (125) extending from an upper side thereof to abut downwardly against the slider (41).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electrical card connector for receiving an electrical card and more particularly to an electrical card connector having an ejecting mechanism for ejecting the electrical card.
2. Description of Related Art
With constant development of communications and computer technology, more and more electrical cards are being designed to meet various requirements. Electrical card connectors are used to connect these electrical cards with corresponding mainframes. A conventional electrical card connector usually comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals coupled thereto, an ejecting mechanism retained in the insulative housing for ejecting the electrical card out of the insulative housing and a shell attached to the insulative housing. The ejecting mechanism includes a slider movable with the electrical card, a coil spring for giving the slider an elastic force to realize ejecting the memory card, and a connecting rod having an one-end bend portion retained in the insulative housing and an other-end bend portion movable in a heart-shaped cam groove formed in the slider. When the shell is assembled to the insulative housing, the shell can prevent Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI), furthermore, the shell abuts downwardly against the slider so as to retain the slider in the insulative housing.
However, in assembly, the slider may get away from the insulative housing under the elastic force of the coil spring before the shell assembled to the insulative housing, thereby making the assembly process unconvenient.
Hence, an improvement over the prior art is required to overcome the problems thereof.

Connector card housing with a slider restraining protrusion


A gear shift mechanism in a transmission connecting a drive source to an output via a clutch. The gear shift mechanism acts on a plurality of gear pairs to select one thereof during a speed change when the clutch is disengaged. The gear shift mechanism has a hollow shaft which can be the input or output shaft of the transmission. One of the gears of the gear pairs are idly mounted on the hollow shaft and the other of the gears of the gear pairs are secured to the output shaft or a further shaft connected thereto. Alocating tube rotates with the hollow shaft and is slidable therein. The locating tube and hollow shaft have a plurality of angularly aligned radial holes and when one of the idler gears of the gear pairs is selected for engagement, the locating tube is displaced to align the radial holes therein with holes in the selected idler gear. Each of the radial holes slidably supports an engagement pin. An axially displaceable actuator within the locating take engages inner ends of the engagement pins and displaces the pins to extended positions in driving engagement with the idle gear of the selected pair.

Gear pair shafting mechanisms in a gear box are universally utilized in the form of a hub which is displaced on a splined shaft to engage a selected gear. The shifting mechanism can have a rotation synchronizing device to provide for the engagement without clashing of the teeth. During a speed change, i.e. a change of the selected gear pair for the operation, which change is made with the machine or vehicle running or moving, a synchronization of the movements of the parts of the transmission is required.
These mechanisms have been largely utilized in mechanical industries and in automotive transmissions. Mechanisms with synchronizing rings are largely used and well known. An example of such shifting mechanisms with synchronizing rings is disclosed in a publication of the SAE (Society of Mechanical Engineers) under number 680008, published in January, 1968.

Gear-shifting mechanism controlled and commanded by a governing unit in an automatic controlled way


A spinal orthosis and method of applying extension and compression forces onto a user spine includes a lumbo-sacral compression unit conforming to a portion of a user's torso and exerting an encircling compressive force to provide a hydraulic lift. A posterior spinal frame member is secured by the lumbo-sacral compression unit to be cantilevered upward along the user's spine. A pair of adjustable shoulder strap assemblies are connected to an upper portion of the posterior spinal frame member and adjacent a lower portion of the posterior spinal frame member to enable a user to adjustably apply a thoracic force with adjustable controlled buckles and straps positioned on the user's chest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a lightweight brace or ortho praxis device and method for the treatment of patients with upper back pain, strain, osteoporosis and compression fractures and more particularly, to an easily worn and adjusted extension compression posterior spinal orthosis for applying extension and compressions forces in the treatment of spinal disorders.
2. Description of Related Art
Problems related with spinal disorders have been a bane of mankind, probably from the time that man started walking on two legs. Numerous different attempts have been made to provide an orthotic treatment to relieve pain and compensate for various types of spinal disorders such as multiple compression fractures that may occur from osteoporosis and kythotic postural changes.
Frequently, these spinal braces have employed a triangular or three point force vector system that includes an anchor point centrally located across the chest of the user which can be provided by a sternal pad supported, for example, by a metal frame and a corresponding anchor point on the lower portion of the abdomen, provided by a pubic pad supported by a frame. Thus, two forward pressure points are provided on the front of the user and a centrally located adjustable lumbar pad is provided on the user's back, again adjustably fixed to a metal frame so that three force vectors can be applied to create a condition of hyperextension on the spinal column, while permitting some mobility to the user. An example can be seen in the Jewett brace shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,996.
Basically, this orthotic modality of treatment involves an anterior spinal hyperextension orthosis to create spaced anterior anchor stabilization points across the sternum and pubic areas with an adjustable force applied at an intermediate position on the user's back. Numerous variations of this treatment can be found, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,287, U.S. Pat. No. 6,190,343, U.S. Pat. No. 6,790,191, U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,472, U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,187, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,376. Other examples and variations can also be found in the orthodesic art.
An article in the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation "Effects of a New Spinal Orthosis of Posture, Trunk Strength And Quality of Life In Women With Postmenopausal Osteoporosis," Volume 83, No. 3, Pages 177-186, March 2004, described a study on the management of vertebra fractures caused by osteoporosis. A thoracolumbar orthosis disclosed in the study included a narrow back pad centered along the spine which could be workable as cold material to adjust to the particular patient, a system of belts, and an abdominal pad to apply lower, intermediate and upper forces on the back pad to mold it to the spinal region of the user. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,063,047. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 2,828,737.
There is still a need in the orthopedic field to provide a lightweight, comfortably wearing extension compression orthosis and method to treat mid spinal pathologies that does not require cumbersome strapping arrangements. Such a brace should be easily adjusted by the user to accommodate for various daily activity demands, to provide an improved, firm, lightweight posterior support structure that permits vector forces to be adjustably applied to the body by the user and to permit adjustments in the length of the orthosis to match the size and configuration of the user.

Adjustable extension compression posterior spinal orthosis and method


New drilling fluids have been invented which are invert emulsion fluids comprising an oleaginous liquid, a non-oleaginous liquid, and a protonated amine. Such fluids are acidic and thus useful in drilling wells in which acidic gases such as CO.sub.2 or H.sub.2 S are likely to be encountered and break, i.e. de-emulsify, the drilling fluid.

Invert emulsion fluids, i.e. emulsions in which the non-oleaginous fluid is the dispersed phase and the oleaginous fluid is the continuous phase, are employed in drilling processes for the development of oil or gas sources, as well as, in geothermal drilling, water drilling, geoscientific drilling and mine drilling. Specifically, the invert emulsion fluids are conventionally utilized for such purposes as providing stability to the drilled hole, forming a thin filter cake, lubricating the drilling bore and downhole, and penetrating salt beds without sloughing or enlargement of the drilled hole.
Invert emulsion fluids generally consist of a three-component system, namely an oleaginous liquid such as oil which serves as a continuous phase, a non-oleaginous liquid such as water which serves as a discontinuous phase, and an emulsifying agent. The emulsifying agent serves to lower the interfacial tension of the liquids so that the non-oleaginous liquid may form a stable dispersion of fine droplets in the oleaginous liquid. A full description of such invert emulsions may be found in Composition and Properties of Drilling and Completion Fluids, 5th Edition, H. C. H. Darley, George R. Gray, Gulf Publishing Company, 1988, pp. 328-332, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Usually, lime or other alkaline materials are added to conventional invert emulsion fluids to maintain a reserve alkalinity when the invert emulsion fluid is to be used in drilling. See, for example, API Bulletin RP 13B-2, 1990, p. 22 which describes a standard test for determining excess lime in drilling mud. See also, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,531 which employs lime along with an ester oil, a fatty acid, and an amine and EP 271943 which employs lime along with oil, water, and an ethoxylated amine. In some areas acidic gases such as CO.sub.2 or H.sub.2 S are encountered during drilling. The acidic gases often weaken conventional invert emulsion fluids to the point of failure and render the invert emulsion fluids useless.
Thus, it would be desirable if an invert emulsion could be invented which did not fail or weaken when subjected to acidic gases such as CO.sub.2 or H.sub.2 S. In this manner, the invert emulsion could be employed as a drilling fluid in potentially acidic environments without apprehension of adverse affects before, during or after drilling.

Invert emulsion fluids suitable for drilling


An organic electroluminescent device and its method of manufacturing are provided. The organic electroluminescent device may include a rear substrate, an organic electroluminescent unit including a first electrode, an organic film, and a second electrode stacked on a surface of the rear substrate. It may also include a front substrate joined to the rear substrate to seal an internal space in which the organic electroluminescent unit is disposed. It may also include a porous oxide layer composed of a porous silica and a metal compound on a lower surface thereof. A device constructed according to the present invention may have excellent adsorption of moisture and oxygen, thereby increasing the life span of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device including a porous oxide layer, with an extended life span due to an improvement in moisture and oxygen adsorption, and to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Invention
Organic electroluminescent (EL) devices are self emission displays that emit light by recombination of electrons and holes in a thin layer made of a fluorescent or phosphorescent organic compound when current is applied to the thin layer. Organic EL devices have advantages such as lightweight, simple constitutional elements, ease of fabrication, superior image quality, and wide viewing angle. In addition, organic EL devices have electrical properties suitable for portable electronic equipment such as high quality dynamic images, high color purity, low power consumption, and low driving voltage.
However, organic EL devices are easily deteriorated by the entry of moisture. Therefore an encapsulation structure for preventing the entry of moisture is required.
Conventionally, a metal can or a glass substrate etched in the form of a cap with a groove is used for encapsulation. In such a case, for moisture adsorption, a desiccant of a powder type is mounted in the groove or a desiccant of a film type is adhered in the groove by means of a double-sided tape. However, the process of manufacturing with a powder-type desiccant is complicated, and material and process costs are high. In addition, the thickness of the substrate increases and substrates intended for encapsulation are not transparent, which renders front emission difficult. On the other hand, the film-type desiccant insufficiently prevents the entry of moisture and the desiccant may be easily broken during fabrication or use, thereby lowering durability and reliability, and rendering mass production difficult. In addition to the above problems, even though use of a metal can may ensure structural firmness, the etched glass is structural weak and may be easily damaged by external impact.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 9-148066 discusses an organic EL device including a laminate having a pair of electrodes opposite to each other and an organic light-emitting material layer made of an organic compound interposed between the electrodes, an airtight container for preventing exposure of the laminate to the air, and drying means made of, for example, alkaline metal oxide, disposed in the airtight container. However, the bulky shape of the airtight container increases the total thickness of the organic EL device. Also, opaqueness of the drying means renders the fabrication of a front emission type organic EL device difficult, even though the drying means is maintained in a solid state after adsorbing moisture. In addition, the fabrication process is complicated, increasing material and process costs.

Organic electroluminescent device and method of manufacturing the same


A hydrodynamic coupling device is provided including a housing, a lock up clutch, a friction surface mechanism, a fluid duct and three connecting ducts. The lock up clutch has a clutch element arranged in the housing and may be pressed against the housing. The friction surface mechanism is arranged between the clutch element and the housing. The clutch element and the friction surface mechanism separate an interior of the hydrodynamic coupling device into a first fluid space and a second fluid space. The fluid duct means is in the friction surface mechanism and permits the working fluid to flow into and out of the first fluid space while preventing the working fluid from flowing out of the first fluid space into the second fluid space. The connecting ducts are in the fluid duct, with the first connecting duct is capable of permitting flow of the working fluid to the first fluid space, the second connecting duct is capable of permitting flow of the working fluid into and out of the second fluid space. The third connecting duct is capable of circulating the working fluid within the first fluid space before permitting the working fluid to flow out of the first fluid space, at least when the clutch element is pressed up to the housing with the friction surface arrangement interposed between them.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydrodynamic coupling device, in particular a torque converter. The interior of the hydrodynamic coupling device may be separated into a first fluid space and a second fluid space by means of a clutch element comprising a lockup clutch and a friction surface arrangement. The clutch element is capable of being pressed up to a housing or a component connected to the housing, with the friction surface arrangement interposed. In the friction surface arrangement is a fluid duct arrangement, into which working fluid can flow from the first fluid space and out of which working fluid can flow only toward the first fluid space. Working fluid is supplied to the first fluid space by means of a first connecting duct arrangement and working fluid is led into and/or out of the second fluid space by means of a second connecting duct arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hydrodynamic coupling device is known from EP 0 428 248 A1. The lockup clutch of this coupling device, designed as a hydrodynamic torque converter has, a clutch piston which is capable of being pressed in the radially outer region against a housing cover. A ring-like friction lining is interposed as a friction surface arrangement. Provided in the ring-like friction lining are axially continuous fluid flow ducts which extend radially outward at an angle. Working fluid can flow out of a fluid space of the torque converter into the axially continuous fluid flow ducts through a passage orifice in the piston and is then discharged radially outward again into a region of the same fluid space. Cooling of the friction lining in the traction slip mode is thereby ensured by means of a flow generated by interaction of centrifugal force effects and shear fluid effects. At the same time, care is taken to ensure that no working fluid cooling the friction lining can flow into a fluid space formed between the piston and the housing cover, so that the coupling efficiency of the lockup clutch is not impaired.
An embodiment of this type has proved advantageous in terms of maintaining a high degree of coupling efficiency of the lockup clutch. However, the problem with this arrangement is that the working fluid flowing into the same fluid space again does not participate in an overall fluid exchange. Therefore, various structural measures, for example external cooling by means of cooling ribs or the like, must be taken to ensure that the entire torque converter does not gradually heat up.
The object of the present invention is to develop a generic hydrodynamic coupling device in such a way that, along with a high degree of coupling efficiency, good cooling of the entire system is ensured.
The present invention is a hydrodynamic coupling device including a housing, a lock up clutch, a friction surface mechanism, a fluid duct means and three connecting duct means. The lock up clutch has a clutch element arranged in the housing and may be pressed toward the housing. The friction surface mechanism is arranged between the clutch element and the housing. The clutch element and the friction surface mechanism separate an interior of the hydrodynamic coupling device into a first fluid space and a second fluid space. The fluid duct means is in the friction surface mechanism and permits the working fluid to flow into and out of the first fluid space while preventing the working fluid from flowing out of the first fluid space into the second fluid space. The connecting duct means are in the fluid duct means, with the first connecting duct means being capable of permitting flow of the working fluid to the first fluid space, and the second connecting duct means being capable of permitting flow of the working fluid into and out of the second fluid space. The third connecting duct means is capable of circulating the working fluid within the first fluid space before permitting the working fluid to flow out of the first fluid space, at least when the clutch element is pressed up toward the housing with the friction surface arrangement interposed between them.
The present invention ensures that, even though the cooling flow over the friction surface arrangement is generated solely as a result of the inclusion of the first fluid space, the heated working fluid can flow out of the interior at least partially and can be replaced by colder working fluid. Even in a lengthy traction slip mode, in which fluid exchange is otherwise not ensured due to the fluid pressure being maintained in the interior of the coupling device, cooling is achieved.
For example, a turbine wheel may be arranged rotatably about an axis of rotation in the first fluid space. The first connecting duct arrangement and the third connecting duct arrangement may be connected to the first fluid space on axial sides of the turbine wheel, in particular of a turbine wheel shell. The axial sides of the turbine wheel are opposite one another with respect to the axis of rotation. Preferably, the third connecting duct arrangement is connected to the first fluid space in a region between the turbine wheel (in particular a turbine wheel shell) and the clutch element (or clutch piston). As a result, working fluid that has flowed into the first fluid space cannot immediately flow out of the first fluid space again through the third connecting duct arrangement, without having participated at least partially in a circulating action.
The third connecting duct arrangement in a turbine wheel hub may comprise at least one first fluid passage orifice extending essentially radially. An output shaft may be provided so that fluid can be supplied in a simple way to the second fluid space and fluid can be discharged from the latter. The output shaft has a second fluid passage orifice which extends essentially in the direction of an axis of rotation and which forms at least part of the second connecting duct arrangement.
To obtain a very simple design, in which three completely separately activatable connecting duct arrangements do not have to be provided, i.e. in a 3-line system, the second connecting duct arrangement and the third connecting duct arrangement are connected to one another in a radially inner region. For example, this may be achieved by opening the third connecting duct arrangement into the second fluid passage orifice.
At least one passage orifice for leading working fluid into the fluid duct arrangement may be provided in the clutch element. Preferably, at least one outflow orifice for leading working fluid out of the fluid duct arrangement into the first fluid space is provided in the clutch element. Thus, the working fluid also flows into the first fluid space again in the region, or at the side of the clutch element, out of which it previously flowed into the fluid duct arrangement. This is advantageous, in particular, when this region of the first fluid space is also in fluid exchange connection with the third connecting duct arrangement.
In order to use the shear effects or frictional effects occurring during the flow through the fluid duct arrangement, an inflow orifice and an outflow orifice, which are assigned to the same fluid duct portion of the fluid duct arrangement, are offset relative to one another in the circumferential direction. Preferably, the friction surface arrangement is movable in the circumferential direction with respect to at least one subassembly of clutch element and housing or to a component connected to it, while the fluid duct arrangement comprises a groove-like duct arrangement which is open on a friction surface of the friction surface arrangement, the friction surface interacting with the at least one subassembly.
The shear or friction action may be utilized with the greatest possible efficiency if the fluid duct arrangement comprises at least one fluid duct region which extends essentially only in the circumferential direction.
The present invention further relates to a friction surface arrangement for a hydrodynamic coupling device, in which the friction surface arrangement is provided with a fluid duct arrangement, in which working fluid can flow in or out of a fluid space and can flow out only to the same fluid space.
According to the present invention, in this friction surface arrangement, the fluid duct arrangement is designed, at least in regions, to extend essentially only in the circumferential direction, and/or for the fluid duct arrangement to be closed off against the passage of fluid in an outer circumferential surface region and an inner circumferential surface region of the friction surface arrangement.
Furthermore, the friction surface arrangement may be designed so that the fluid duct arrangement has at least one inflow region, in which working fluid can flow in through a clutch element of a lockup clutch of the hydrodynamic coupling device and has at least one outflow region. Working fluid can flow out of the out flow region through the clutch element. As stated previously, the advantage of an arrangement of this type is that the working fluid leaving the fluid duct arrangement can then flow very quickly to a connecting duct arrangement leading this working fluid having relatively high temperature out of the interior of the coupling device.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, a friction surface arrangement, has a fluid duct arrangement, into which working fluid can flow out of a fluid space and can flow out only to the same fluid space. At the same time, according to the invention, the fluid duct arrangement has at least one fluid duct with a first end region and with a second end region. The fluid duct is open at both regions to a radial end region, preferably a radially outer region, of the friction surface arrangement. In this embodiment both end regions of a fluid duct are open toward the same radial end region, so that fluid exchange with the same fluid space can take place in a simple way.
At the same time, at least one fluid duct may be designed essentially symmetrically with respect to a radial line. For example, it is possible for the at least one fluid duct to extend essentially rectilinearly. To enable as large a surface or volume region of the friction surface arrangement as possible to be cooled by cooling medium, the at least one fluid duct may have a region of curvature between its end regions. At the same time, it is also possible for the at least one fluid duct to run essentially rectilinearly in its end regions.
Along with a relatively high stability of the friction surface arrangement, it is possible to ensure uniform cooling over the entire surface, by the fluid duct arrangement having at least two fluid ducts arranged so as to be radially staggered. The end regions of one of the at least two fluid ducts being open to the radial end region of the friction surface arrangement in the circumferential direction between the end regions of the other of the at least two fluid ducts. Preferably, the end regions of one of the at least two fluid ducts form an opening angle in the range of 60xc2x0-70xc2x0, more preferably approximately 65xc2x0. Preferably, the end regions of another of the at least two fluid ducts form an opening angle in the range of 65xc2x0-75xc2x0, preferably approximately 70xc2x0. In order to avoid an accumulation of fluid in the region of curvature, i.e. to make the flow resistance as low as possible, one of the at least two fluid ducts may have in its region of curvature a radius of curvature in the range of 6-8 cm, preferably approximately 6.8 cm. Preferably, another of the at least two fluid ducts may have in its region of curvature a radius of curvature in the range of 12-14 cm, preferably approximately 12.8 cm.
According to an alternative, highly advantageous embodiment, at least one fluid duct may have a central region extending essentially in the circumferential direction and, adjoining the central region, respective regions of curvature. The result of providing an essentially circumferentially extending central region of the at least one fluid duct is that, highly effective forward transport of the fluid located in the duct occurs due to shear action. In an embodiment of this type, at least one of the regions of curvature has adjoining it a duct portion extending essentially rectilinearly and forming one of the first and second end regions. Alternatively or additionally, it is possible for at least one of the regions of curvature to form one of the first and second end regions.
In order to obtain a stable configuration in an embodiment of this type, too, or to eliminate, as far as possible, the risk of various material regions breaking away the first and/or the second end region of the at least one fluid duct form an angle in the range of 40xc2x0-60xc2x0, preferably approximately 50xc2x0, with respect to a tangential line and/or have a radius of curvature in the range of 12-23 cm, preferably approximately 17.5 cm in at least one region of curvature.
According to a preferred embodiment, the at least one fluid duct is curved radially outward near one of its end regions. The result of this is that, the fluid arranged in the radially outwardly curved end region is drawn outward by virtue of the centrifugal forces occurring during rotational operation, ensuring a throughflow in a defined way.
It is also advantageous, to have as uniform a heat discharge as possible, if at least two fluid ducts are connected to one another by means of a connecting duct arrangement.
In order to obtain a uniform cooling action over the entire surface region, the fluid duct arrangement has a plurality of fluid ducts succeeding one another in the circumferential direction.
Furthermore, in the friction surface arrangement according to the present invention, preferably the plurality of fluid ducts comprise a plurality of fluid duct groups where spacing between the fluid ducts in a fluid duct group is smaller than spacing between individual fluid duct groups. Division into individual fluid duct groups has the advantage of producing, between the individual groups, larger free regions through which ducts do not pass and in which so-called lining locks of individual lining segments may be placed. As a result, a complete annular friction lining can, for example, be assembled from a plurality of identically shaped lining segments.
For manufacturing purposes, it is also advantageous if at least one fluid duct is open, in its first and second end region, to a radially inner end region of the friction surface arrangement. In an arrangement of this kind, at least one radially inwardly open fluid duct can be produced by the stamping method and extend through the entire material thickness of a friction lining. A friction ring portion may be provided to adjoin the inner end region of the duct radially on the inside. When a friction lining of this type is being glued to a friction lining carrier, it initially also holds together various portions of the friction lining and, after gluing, is then stamped off, to produce material regions completely separate from one another.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, a friction surface arrangement has a fluid duct arrangement, into which working fluid can flow from a fluid space and can flow out only to the same fluid space.
At the same time, the friction surface arrangement has a friction surface carrier and a friction surface clement on each side of the carrier. A first fluid duct arrangement region is arranged in a first of the friction surface elements and a second fluid duct arrangement region is arranged in a second of the friction surface elements. A connecting orifice arrangement is provided in the friction surface carrier via which the first fluid duct arrangement region and the second fluid duct arrangement region are in fluid exchange connection.
An arrangement is thus produced in which at least two friction surface pairings rub against one another so that, while the pressing force remains the same, the entire friction surface can be increased and therefore the torque transmission capacity can be increased.
In this embodiment, too, preferably the first fluid duct arrangement region and the second fluid duct arrangement region are open to a radial end region, preferably a radially outer region, of the first friction surface element and of the second friction surface element respectively. The first fluid duct arrangement region and the second fluid duct arrangement region each have at least one fluid duct which, in one end region, is open to the radial end region of the respective friction surface element and is connected to the other fluid duct arrangement at another end region.
To simplify assembly in the embodiment in which the friction surface arrangement has two friction surface elements or to minimize the work necessary for aligning specific orifices serving for the passage of fluid, at least one of the fluid duct arrangement regions has at least one ring-like connecting orifice arrangement, into which the connecting orifice arrangement opens. Preferably, the at least one fluid duct opens with its other end region into the connecting duct arrangement.
In order to provide an arrangement in which pressure conditions prevailing in different radial regions can be utilized, one of the fluid duct arrangement regions is open on a radial end region, preferably a radially outer region, of the associated friction surface element. The other fluid duct arrangement region is in or capable of being brought into fluid exchange connection with the fluid space via a further connecting orifice arrangement in a clutch element of a lockup clutch arrangement. In this case, the clutch arrangement is capable of being brought into frictional engagement with the friction surface element.
In this embodiment, too, preferably one fluid duct arrangement region has at least one fluid duct which, in one end region, is open to the radially outer end region of the associated friction surface element and, via its other end region, is connected to the other fluid duct arrangement region. The other fluid duct arrangement region then has a ring-like connecting duct arrangement, into which the connecting orifice arrangement and/or the further connecting orifice arrangement opens.
To ensure that cooling fluid flows through the fluid duct arrangement regions before it flows out through the further connecting orifice arrangement, in an embodiment of the present invention, the connecting orifice arrangement and the further connecting orifice arrangement each have at least one fluid passage connecting orifice. The number of fluid passage connecting orifices of the connecting orifice arrangement differs from the number of fluid passage connecting orifices of the further connecting arrangement. Therefore, in any relative rotary position, the fluid passage connecting orifices of the connecting orifice arrangement will not be aligned with the fluid passage orifices of the further connecting orifice arrangement so that the fluid will not be fed into the fluid space again directly without flowing into further duct regions.
In the friction surface arrangement according to the present invention, preferably the fluid duct arrangement has a cross-sectional profile narrowing toward a duct bottom in at least one length region. The result of an arrangement of this type is to reduce drag torque. For example, when the lockup clutch is disengaged, the drag torque with which a friction lining bearing against a rotating component is taken up, is reduced, since, due to a narrowing duct geometry, fluid is forced in the manner of a nozzle or wedge between the lining and the rotating component and thus contributes to lifting off the lining. At the same time, it is possible for the narrowing cross-sectional profile to be formed by duct walls extending essentially rectilinearly toward the duct bottom. In addition, at least one duct wall delimiting the fluid duct wall can merge, in a region of curvature, into a friction surface region of the friction surface arrangement.
The present invention relates, furthermore, to a hydrodynamic coupling device, in particular a hydrodynamic torque converter or fluid clutch, with a friction surface arrangement or friction element having a friction lining carrier of approximately ring-like shape with a friction surface arrangement on at least one side of the friction lining carrier.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages, and specific objects attained by its use, reference should be had to the drawing and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated and described preferred embodiments of the invention.


An internal combustion engine knock controlling apparatus is obtained that improves knock detection performance by making a correction period appropriate without performing matching, when calculating a transition correction factor for correcting a filter coefficient used for calculating a mean value and a standard deviation of a knock signal in a transitional operation state. A previous value of a filter coefficient for calculating a knock determination threshold value that has been corrected by a transition correction factor is used for a filter coefficient for calculating the transition correction factor so that the response characteristics are made equal between a filtering process used for calculating a transition correction factor for correcting a knock determination threshold value and a filtering process used for calculating the knock determination threshold value in a transition operation period.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an internal combustion engine knock controlling apparatus for controlling a knock phenomenon that occurs in an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a method of detecting a knock phenomenon that occurs in an internal combustion engine by a sensor fitted directly to a block of the internal combustion engine, i.e., a vibration sensor (hereinafter referred to as a "knock sensor") has been known, as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2006-22648 (Patent Document 1). It is known that when knock occurs during the operation of the internal combustion engine, vibration in a specific frequency band occurs according to the bore diameter of the internal combustion engine or the vibration mode of knock. By measuring the vibration intensity in the specific frequency (hereinafter referred to as a "knock signal"), knock detection is performed.
A knock controlling apparatus that suppresses knock by correcting ignition timing toward the retard side when knock is detected and minimizes torque reduction by reverting ignition timing to an advance side when knock is not detected is also known, as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-56-115861 (Patent Document 2). It is known that an internal combustion engine has the following characteristic. When ignition timing is advanced, the output torque of the internal combustion engine improves but knock occurs more easily. On the other hand, when ignition timing is retarded, the output torque of the internal combustion engine decreases but knock does not easily occur. The above-mentioned knock controlling apparatus is such that, when knock is detected, ignition timing is corrected to the retard side, while when knock is not detected, ignition timing is reverted to the advance side, whereby the internal combustion engine is controlled to operate at the knock limit ignition timing at which the maximum torque is generated while the occurrence of knock is suppressed. However, when, for example, the internal combustion engine is operated with a low load, there are cases in which knock does not occur even if the ignition timing is advanced to the timing at which the torque becomes maximum. In such an operation region, the above-described knock controlling is unnecessary.
In these kinds of knock controlling apparatuses, the knock determination threshold value for determining knock is generally set based on standard statistics such as the mean value and the standard deviation of the knock signal calculated by filtering a knock signal. For example, various methods of setting the knock determination threshold value are known, as disclosed in JP-A-4-140454 (Patent Document 3). In one method, the threshold value is set using the mean value of knock signals calculated by filtering the knock signal, and the gain and offset that have been matched in advance. In another method, the threshold value is set using the mean value of the knock signal and the standard deviation of knock signal calculated by filtering the mean value of knock signal and the deviation of knock signal.
In these methods, when the internal combustion engine is in a steady operating state, in which the revolution speed of the internal combustion engine and the output of the internal combustion engine is almost constant, variations in the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal are lowered to suppress variations in knock determination threshold value, by setting the filter coefficient of the filtering process to be large, that is, by setting the cut-off frequency to be low. Thereby, a stable operating condition in which torque fluctuation is small can be obtained.
In addition, when the internal combustion engine is in a transitional operation state, in which the revolution speed of the internal combustion engine or the output of the internal combustion engine is increasing or decreasing, the response characteristics of the standard statistics of the knock signal such as the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal is raised to control the knock determination threshold value to have good tracking capability by setting the filter coefficient of the filtering process to be small, that is, by setting a high cut-off frequency. Thereby, erroneous detection of knock can be suppressed.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/290437, filed by the present applicant et al., has proposed a method of switching over the filter coefficients used in the filtering process for calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signals between in a steady operating state and in a transitional operation state. The purposes thereof are to detect the transitional operation state without delay and to match the transition correction amount, including the degree of accelerating/decelerating, the transition correction duration, and the transition correction amount decrease speed, with a smaller number of steps. A filtering process is carried out for each of plural operating state values, and a transition correction factor is calculated based on a value obtained by normalizing a deviation between the operating state value and the filtered operating state value by a representative value. The filter coefficient used for the filtering process for calculating the mean value and the standard deviation of knock signal is corrected using the obtained transition correction factor, so that the knock determination threshold value in the transitional operation state can be appropriately set to suppress erroneous detection of knock.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2006-22648
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-56-115861
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-4-140454
However, the method proposed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/290437 uses a predetermined value that has been matched in advance, as the filter coefficient used for the filtering process corresponding to the operating state value. Consequently, since the filter coefficient used in the filtering process for calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal is corrected by the transition correction factor, the response characteristics of the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal are improved. On the other hand, a problem is that the transition correction factor is kept calculated after tracking of the mean value and the standard deviation of the knock signal has been completed, that is, the correction period of the filter coefficient used for the filtering process for calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal is inappropriate, so knock detection cannot be performed appropriately.
Another problem is as follows. When the calculation process period for the transition correction factor is different from the calculation process period for the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal, the response characteristics of the filtering process for calculating the transition correction factor and the response characteristics of the filtering process for calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the knock signal become different from each other. Consequently, the correction period becomes inappropriate, and knock detection cannot be performed appropriately.
The just-mentioned problem will be explained with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6A shows the first operating state value and the filtered value thereof in a transitional operation state. FIG. 6B shows the first post-normalization operating state value deviation calculated based on the first operating state value. FIG. 6C shows the second operating state value and the filter value thereof. FIG. 6D shows the second post-normalization operating state value deviation calculated based on the second operating state value. FIG. 6E shows the transition correction factor calculated by summing the first post-normalization operating state value deviation and the second post-normalization operating state value deviation. FIG. 6F shows an operation example of the knock signal in a transitional operation state, the mean value of the knock signal in a state in which its response characteristics are raised by a transition correction factor, and the knock determination threshold value that is set according to the mean value of the knock signal, and as seen at point A in FIG. 6F, it shows the state in which knock has occurred immediately after the transitional operation state.
According to the method proposed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/290437, the filter coefficients used in the filtering process for calculating the operating state values are predetermined values. Therefore, even after tracking of the mean value of the knock signal has been completed by raising the response characteristics by a transition correction factor, the transition correction factor is kept calculated. Consequently, the response characteristics of the mean value of the knock signal remains quick, so the knock determination threshold value is not stabilized. Therefore, knock detection cannot be performed appropriately, or knock detection failure occurs.

Internal combustion engine knock controlling apparatus


Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to dynamically adjusting control plane policing throughput of low (or lower) priority control plane traffic to permit higher throughput. The drop rate for low or lower priority control plane traffic can be determined to be above a threshold value. The processor utilization can be determined to be operating under normal utilization (or at a utilization within a threshold utilization value). The control plane policing for control plane traffic for the low or lower class of service can be increased (or decreased) to permit lower class of service control traffic to be transmitted using higher class of service resources without adjusting the priority levels for the lower class of service control traffic.

Control plane policing (CoPP) is used in routers and switches to protect control plane. Routers and switches can provide default CoPP functionality and an option to tune CoPP parameters. However such configuration is prone to user error and still be static in nature. Tuning of CoPP parameters relies on an understanding of the deployment scenario and the control traffic patterns. Fundamental purpose of CoPP is to provide Control plane protection. However a static CoPP can lead to inefficient usage of Control Plane Capacity and penalizing on convergence and overall system performance for certain requirements.

Adapting control plane policing parameters dynamically


A method and apparatus for recording flight information of aircraft, such as position, mass, or type, in order to record the position of a wake turbulence of the aircraft. Weather information can be recorded as affecting the wake turbulence. Such information can be provided into a model or algorithm to determine a path of a wake turbulence. An aircraft on a flight path to encounter the wake turbulence can determine a vortex magnitude of the wake turbulence and determine if an advisory alert needs to be provided if the vortex magnitude satisfies a predetermined threshold.

Aircraft, when flying, generate wake turbulence from the wings. The wake turbulence can form vortical airflows that remain behind or in the wake of the aircraft. The wake turbulence is generally subject to environmental conditions, such as weather, wind, other local air turbulence, pressure, the Coriolis Effect, temperature, or other environmental conditions, which can affect dissipation rates of the turbulence vortices.
The wake turbulence generated by the aircraft can be dangerous to other aircraft in the area or trailing behind. The magnitude of the wake turbulence can be function of aircraft speed, size, and generated lift. Particularly, larger aircraft create larger wake turbulences. Therefore, wake turbulences from larger aircraft have a larger magnitude, which can be problematic to small aircraft.

Flight management system and method of updating flight calculations


An interface comprises a switch supported in relation to a motor vehicle interior trim component. The switch is operable to actuate and de-actuate an electrically operated device of the motor vehicle. A sensory feedback component is operatively connected to the switch for producing a sensory feedback when the switch is operated.

This invention relates in general to motor vehicles and more particularly to an interface for controlling operations of a motor vehicle. Most particularly, the invention relates to audio and tactile switch feedback for motor vehicles.
A conventional interface for a motor vehicle typically includes a switch and/or a switch array, which generally comprises a large number of switches, that is mounted in and around the armrests, console, and/or dashboard of the motor vehicle. By convention, motor vehicles employ mechanical switches, which have physically moving (e.g., sliding) parts that create contact between conductors. Openings are provided in the interior trim components of the motor vehicle for receiving the switches. The openings commonly attract dust and dirt. This dust and dirt are difficult to reach. Consequently, the interior trim component is difficult to clean.
The physical characteristics of the switches usually occupy space (i.e., usually about 0.5 to 5 mm) for the mechanical movement of the switches. This limits the ability to style and craft the interior trim component. The switches are also subject to wear and mechanical breakdown due to the moving parts of the switches and thus may become unreliable.
The requirement for the switch openings in the interior trim components requires increased cut lines during the production of the interior trim components and the unique character of each of the switches requires an increased parts count.
What is needed is a highly-reliable interface with non-movable switches that is easy to use and that increases the ability to style and craft an attractive, easy-to-clean, environmentally protected interior component while reducing cut lines and total parts count.

Audio and tactile switch feedback for motor vehicle


An illustrative example embodiment of a protective cap assembly includes a plurality of protective caps each including a stem and a top plate. The top plates each have a plurality of edges. One of the edges of a first one of the protective caps is connected to an adjacent edge of a second one of the caps in a manner that allows for manually separating the first or second one of the protective caps from the assembly.

Concrete has proven to be a useful building material. Many concrete structures include reinforcing bars or rebar to add strength and stability to the structure. For example, concrete roads typically include a mesh of rebar. Vertically extending structures, such as walls, often include vertically oriented reinforcing bars. There are times during the construction process when such bars are exposed. For example, rebar may extend upward from a footing prior to the placement or construction of a wall that is eventually supported on the footing.
Protective caps for reinforcing bars are known. The caps provide a wider surface at the top of the exposed bars to protect an individual from injury that otherwise might result from accidental contact with the top or edge of the bar. Placing protective caps on a significant number of exposed bars at a jobsite can be a lengthy process because it is awkward or difficult to carry more than one or two caps in each hand.


In one embodiment, a fuser roll for fusing toner images onto a substrate includes a substantially rigid core member, a deformable, heat conductive base layer overlaying the surface of said core member, and an outer layer supported on the base layer. The outer layer is formed of a heat conductive, conformable amorphous metal.

The present disclosure relates generally to components for reproduction and reprographic machines, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, bookmaking machines and any apparatus which performs a print outputting function. More particularly, the disclosure concerns improvements that extend the wear or fatigue life of certain components of these types of machines.
In one type of toner image reproduction machine, for example an electrostatic printing process machine, a photoconductive member is charged to a substantially uniform potential so as to sensitize the surface thereof. The charged portion of the photoconductive member is exposed to a light image of an original document being reproduced. Exposure of the charged photoconductive member selectively dissipates the charges thereon in the irradiated areas to record an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive member corresponding to the informational areas contained within the original document.
At the imaging station, a document handling unit is positioned over a platen of the printing machine. The document handling unit sequentially feeds documents from a stack of documents to be copied. After imaging, the original document is returned to a document tray or through a duplex path.
After the electrostatic latent image is recorded on the photoconductive member, the latent image is developed by bringing a developer material into contact therewith. Generally, the developer material comprises toner particles adhering triboelectrically to carrier granules. The toner particles are attracted from the carrier granules to the latent image forming a toner powder image on the photoconductive member. The toner powder image is then transferred from the photoconductive member to a copy sheet. The toner particles are heated to permanently affix the powder image to the copy sheet.
The foregoing generally describes a typical black and white electrostatic printing machine. With the advent of multicolor electrophotography, it is desirable to use an architecture which comprises a plurality of image forming stations. One example of the plural image forming station architecture utilizes an image-on-image (IOI) system in which the photoreceptive member is recharged, re-imaged and developed for each color separation. This charging, imaging, developing and recharging, re-imaging and developing, all followed by transfer to paper, is done in a single revolution of the photoreceptor in so-called single pass machines, while multi-pass architectures form each color separation with a single charge, image and develop, with separate transfer operations for each color.
In either case, the toner image ordinarily is transferred unfused onto a copy sheet of paper, which is then picked up by a transport mechanism (a prefuser transport) for delivery to a fuser assembly where the toner is heated and fused to make a finished copy. Conventional pre-fuser transport mechanisms typically use rotating belts stretched between a drive shaft and an idler shaft with perforations in the belts that allow vacuum pressure from a blower to be drawn through holes in a plate below the belts, and through the belts to the sheet. The vacuum pressure assists each sheet of paper that has an image on it via electrically charged toner particles, to be pulled off the photoreceptor and acquired on the pre-fuser transport, without disturbing the unfused image on the sheet, especially in the transfer zone.
A conveyer then typically advances the copy sheet to a fusing station that includes a fuser assembly which permanently affixes the transferred toner powder image to the copy sheet. The fuser assembly often includes a heated fuser roller and a pressure roller with the powder image on the copy sheet contacting the fuser roller. The fuser roller may be internally heated by a quartz lamp. Release agent, stored in a reservoir, is pumped to a metering roll. A trim blade trims off the excess release agent. The release agent transfers to a donor roll and then to the fuser roll. The release agent helps release the copy paper from the fuser roll after the image has been fused.
After fusing, the copy sheets may be fed through a decurler that bends the copy sheet in such a way that the sheet curl produced during the fusing operation is substantially reduced. The sheet is then advanced to a duplex solenoid gate that guides the sheet to a finishing station or to a duplex tray. The duplex tray provides an intermediate storage for those sheets that have been printed on one side and on which an image will be subsequently printed on the second, opposed side thereof—i.e., the sheets being duplexed. In order to complete duplex copying, the simplex sheets in tray are fed back to the transfer station for transfer of the toner powder image to the opposed sides of the copy sheets. The duplex sheet is then fed through the same path as the simplex sheet to be advanced to the finishing station. Copy sheets are fed to the transfer station from a high speed feeder tray as well as from secondary trays. In many machines, a vacuum feed belt feeds successive uppermost sheets from the trays to the transfer station.
Further details of this typical reproduction machine can be garnered from U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,268, which issued to the assignee of the present application on Nov. 6, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, particularly the disclosure related to FIG. 1 of that patent.
In many reproduction machines, a photoreceptor cleaning apparatus is provided to remove residual image forming toner from the surface of the photoreceptor. A typical cleaning apparatus includes a flexible element that rides on the photoreceptor surface as the surface passes by the element. The flexible element may be a brush or a blade, such as the blade disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,970,560, which issued to the assignee of the present application on Nov. 13, 1990, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
In most reproduction machines, the fusing station is the critical element that fixes the reproduced image on the transfer or copy sheet. Most fusing stations include the heated fuser roll and the pressure roller described above. Roll-type fusers fall into two general categories: low gloss, typically found in black and white reproduction engines; and high gloss, typically used in color engines. Low gloss fusers produce images with a limited dynamic range, while high gloss fusers can usually achieve a dynamic range of 75-90 to give the reproduced image "depth". Dynamic range is especially important for color reproduction, where the emphasis is often on creating photographic quality prints.
High gloss reproduction is complicated by consumer desire for high copy rates. With higher sheet feed and copy rates, the sheet or substrate necessarily spends less time at any one station of the reproduction machine, including the fusing station where the toner image is fixed on the sheet. This reduced processing time frequently leads to non-uniform gloss on the sheet, which is an undesirable phenomenon. In order to maintain as uniform a gloss as possible, the fuser roll must conform to the surface of the substrate or sheet. Low spots on the sheet make poor contact with the fuser roll and therefore acquire little gloss.
On the other hand, a fuser material that is soft enough to conform to the substrate surface is susceptible to high wear rates. To provide a "soft" roll with a harder wear resistant characteristic, many color fusers overcoat a silicone layer with a thin VITON™ rubber layer. This material is a fluoroelastomer produced by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. One example of a fuser roll of this design is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,631 (the '631 Patent), which issued to the assignee of the present application on Sep. 16, 1998. The entire disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein by reference. In particular, them '631 Patent discloses a multi-layered nip forming fuser roll (NFFR) in which the heated roll includes a substantially rigid core member having a radiant quartz heater disposed therein. The heating element radiates heat to the cylinder which is conducted to the outer layers of the roll. The first layer of the roll is a heat conductive silicone rubber layer. This layer is followed by two layers of VITON™, in which the innermost layer is thermally conductive and the outer layer is relatively non-conductive. The relatively conductive layers (i.e., the silicone and innermost VITON™ layers) are rendered conductive by the use of appropriate metallic and/or non-metallic fillers. The fillers are integrated into the layers in a manner that does not disturb the deformability or "softness" of the layers.
Since VITON™ is much harder than the underlying silicone, the addition of the VITON™ material helps extend the life of the fuser roll. However, the VITON™ material is typically more expensive than traditional coating materials used in reproduction machines. Moreover, use of the VITON™ material can make color fusers much more expensive to operate than the typical low gloss black and white fuser. There is consequently a need for a fuser roll construction that is capable of achieving high gloss reproduction at a cost that approximates the low gloss engines.
Wear and expense are also critical concerns for other high frequency service components of a high speed reproduction or printing machine. As described in the '631 Patent, the fuser roll includes a release agent management (RAM) system that applies a release agent to the surface of the fuser roll to prevent adherence of the substrate to the fuser roll. The RAM system disclosed in the '631 Patent utilizes a wiper blade formed of VITON™ to create a uniform layer of the release agent on a metering roll. Like the fuser roll, the wiper blade wears over time and must be replaced. Similar cleaning blades are used to clean the photoreceptor and certain feed rolls. The feed rolls themselves are also high frequency service components in a typical reproduction machine.
There is a continuing need to improve the life of the typical service components of reproduction machines, especially high speed machines. In addressing this need, it is also important to reduce the overall acquisition and operating costs of the machine.

Amorphous metal components for a reproduction machine


A method is provided for rendering a color image with a plurality of separations with a halftone process using a single screen. The screen is comprised of a plurality of pixel locations with associated threshold values and the image is comprised of a plurality of separation values. The method includes the steps of rendering a first one of the plurality of separations in accordance with the screen, wherein the plurality of pixel locations are turned on or off at a given pixel location based on a comparison of the image separation value at that pixel with the screen threshold value. The rendering of the next color separation is made in accordance with the rendering of the first separation and the screen, wherein for constant image separation values, pixel locations are turned on for the separation at pixel locations disposed in a highest available luminance region having a lowest available threshold value. When successive filling approaches the end portion of available threshold values, overlap filling with earlier rendered color separations occurs before the screen is completely filled.

In today's business and scientific world color has become essential as a component of communication. Color facilitates the sharing of knowledge and ideas. Companies involved in the development of digital color print engines are continuously looking for ways to improve the accuracy and total image quality of their products.
Color images are commonly represented as one or more separations, each separation comprising a set of color density signals for a single primary or secondary color Color density signals are commonly represented as digital gray or contone pixels, varying in magnitude from a minimum to a maximum, with a number of gradients between corresponding to the bit density of the system. Thus, a common 8 bit system provides 256 shades of each primary color. A color can therefore be considered the combination of magnitudes of each pixel, which when viewed together, present the combination color. Usually, printer signals include three subtractive primary color signals (Cyan, Magenta and Yellow) and a Black signal ("CMYK") which together can be considered the printer colorant signals. Each color signal forms a separation and when combined together with the other separations, forms the color image.
Printers commonly provide a limited number of output possibilities, and are commonly binary, i.e., they produce either a dot (ink drop) or no dot at a given pixel location. Thus, given a color separation with 256 shades of each additive primary color, a set of binary printer signals must be produced representing the contone effect. This process is referred to as halftoning. In such arrangements, over a given area and the separation having a number of contone pixels therein, each pixel value of an array of contone pixels within the area is compared to one of a set of preselected thresholds (the thresholds may be stored as a dither matrix and the repetitive pattern generated by this matrix is considered a halftone cell) as taught for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,194 to Holladay. The effect of such an arrangement is that, for an area where the image is a contone, some of the thresholds in the matrix will be exceeded, i.e., the image value at that specific location is larger than the value stored in the dither matrix for that same location, while others are not. In the binary case, the pixels or cell elements for which the thresholds are exceeded might be printed as Black or some color, while the remaining elements are allowed to remain white or uncolored, dependent on the actual physical quantity described by the data Since the human visual system tends to average out rapidly varying spatial patterns and perceives only a spatial average of the micro-variation in spot-color produced by a printer, the halftone process described above can be used to produce a close approximation to the desired color in the contone input.
The dither matrix of threshold values is often referred to as a "screen", and the process of generating the binary image from the contone image using the screen is called "screening" Conventional digital halftones start as a number of isolated dots which grow bigger as more colorant is requested on the paper. These screens are referred to as clustered-dot screens. The fundamental rate at which the dots in a clustered dot screen are repeated is commonly referred to as the screen's spatial frequency [Note R. Ulichney, "Digital Halftoning", MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1987]. The higher the screen spatial frequency, the finer and smoother appearing the image and also the greater is the capacity for the dots to represent fine detail in the image. Dithering creates problems in color document reproduction where the repeating pattern of a screen through the image, when superposed over similar repeating patterns in multiple separations, can cause moiré or other artifacts, particularly in a printing system with less than ideal registration between separations.
Stochastic, or non-periodic screening is an alternative to conventional clustered dot screens. Instead of producing dots that grow with increased colorant on paper, the stochastic screening method produces a well-dispersed pattern of isolated dots at spaced pixel locations. Thus there is no fundamental periodicity in the dots, instead the design of the screen attempts to produce patterns with pleasant noise characteristics. The pleasant noise characteristics are achieved by designing the screen so as to distribute the noise energy in the region of high spatial frequency, where the human visual system has a significantly reduced sensitivity. In this respect, U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,121 to Wang, discloses a stochastic halftone screening method for designing an idealized stochastic screen and is herein incorporated by reference as it discloses a particular stochastic screen useful in implementation of the subject invention, as will be more fully explained below. One of the advantages of stochastic, or non-periodic screening over periodic screening, is the suppression of moiré.
In vector halftoning, typically, a single stochastic screen is filled by the CMYK inputs rather than using four separate ones. This eliminates problems with moiré, reduces the amount of memory needed to store halftone screens, and provides better placement of dots from different separations A simplified example of a successive filling algorithm can be described so that for each pixel, the separations are halftoned in the order darkest to lightest:                1. Black is processed first, the screen is filled as in a normal halftone.        2. Then one of the colors (cyan) is added. Locations that already have black dots are avoided.        3. Then another color (magenta) is added. Locations that already have black or cyan dots are avoided.        4. Finally yellow is added.
A formula for each of the steps would look something like:IF ColorIn+PrevSum−PrevSumOut>=threshold THEN out=255,ELSE out=0
Where ColorIn is the current color input. PrevSum is the sum of the requested amounts of previously processed colors. PrevSumOut is the sum of previous outputs (255 for each color that has previously been printed at the current location). Threshold is the value for the current pixel Note that for black, Sum and PrevSumOut are zero, so the formula simply reduces to standard halftoning (Kin>=threshold . . . ).
Vector halftoning allows multiple colors to share the same screen, but to spatially occupy different portions. Each successive color continues to fill the same screen until the screen is filled After that one starts overlapping colors in an optimized manner. A difficulty occurs around the point where one fills the screen completely with more than one color. The printed image becomes extremely dependent on inter-color alignment.
More particularly, a significant issue can arise at the point where a combination of two or more colors approaches 100-percent coverage. The alignment between colors becomes critical. Small misalignments can cause significant color shifts and grain variations.
If the color-color alignment cannot be guaranteed, then outputs varying between aligned and unaligned must be expected. In many printers, electronic calibration procedures are included that allow the customer to select the best alignment. The worst scenario would be if the misalignment varies across the page or printhead due to any of a number of possible factors related to mechanical structures or printhead defects. Then no amount of alignment procedures alone will suffice. The issue becomes more important at higher speeds with multiple printhead assemblies.
However, awareness of manufacturing tolerances and empirically obtained operational data for a particular print system can provide a fairly decent basis for predicting such misregistration errors in the system family. Such errors, e.g, a fraction of a pixel to a whole pixel, or in some print systems even greater, when consistent in occurrence, should provide a reliable factor in a compensation scheme to correct or at least compensate for the misregistration.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved halftoning algorithm that enhances system robustness against color-to-color misalignment errors. The algorithm should give rise to more accurate halftone textures and better ink dispersion than what is achieved with strict vector halftoning.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Color vector halftoning using a successive filling with improved color registration latitude


An acquisition and averaging circuit is provided in which, during a sampling phase capacitors in sample blocks 4 and 6 are sequentially connected to the input signal to sample it and are then isolated so as to hold the sample. The capacitors are then connected to a combining/averaging arrangement such that an average of the sample values is formed.

It is common for data acquisition systems to perform a conversion between the analog domain and the digital domain. Typically this is performed by sampling the input signal at an instant in time and then holding it whilst an analog to digital conversion process is performed. The idealised sample and hold operation takes an instantaneous "snap shot" of the signal value. Such samples of the input signal will contain an instantaneous noise value added to the signal value. This can affect the accuracy of the conversion from the analog to the digital domain. In order to reduce the effect of noise it is known to take multiple samples of the signal, digitizing each sample and finding an average value mathematically. However this does require a proportionately faster analog to digital converter.


Peptide amphiphile compounds, compositions and methods for self-assembly or nanofibrous network formation under neutral or physiological conditions.

Self-assembly and biomineralization are used for fabrication of many composite materials. Natural bone tissue is a particularly complex example of such a composite with multiple levels of hierarchical organization (S. Weiner, H. D. Wagner, Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci. 28, 271-298 (1998)). At the lowest level of this hierarchy is the organization of collagen fibrils with respect to hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals. Collagen fibrils are formed by self-assembly of collagen triple helices while the HA crystals grow within these fibrils in such a way that their c-axes are oriented along the long axes of the fibrils (W. Traub, S. Weiner, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 86, 9822-9826 (1989)). The preparation of any material with structure on the nanoscale is a challenging problem. Fabrication of materials that resemble bone, even at the lowest level of hierarchical organization, is even more difficult because it involves two dissimilar organic and inorganic nanophases that have a specific spatial relationship with respect to one another. One approach, using an artificial system, has been to prepare an organic nanophase designed to exert control over crystal nucleation and growth of the inorganic component.
The controlled nucleation and growth of crystals from organic templates has been demonstrated in in vitro experiments and in a number of natural biomineralizing systems (S. Mann, J. P. Hannington, R. J. P. Williams, Nature 324, 565-567 (1986); D. D. Archibald, S. Mann, Nature 364, 430-433 (1993); S. L. Burkett, S. Mann, Chem. Commun. 321-322 (1996); S. I. Stupp, P. V. Braun, Science 277, 1242-1248 (1997); J. Aizenberg, A. J. Black, G. M. Whitesides, Nature 398, 495-498 (1999); S. R. Whaley, D. S. English, E. L. Hu, P. F. Barbara, A. M. Belcher, Nature 405, 665-668. (2000); L. Addadi, S. Weiner, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 31, 153-169 (1992); S. Mann, J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Tran. 3953-3961 (1997); S. Weiner, L. Addadi, J. Mater. Chem. 7, 689-702 (1997)). These studies on templated crystal growth suggest that nucleation occurs on surfaces exposing repetitive patterns of anionic groups. Anionic groups tend to concentrate the inorganic cations creating local supersaturation followed by oriented nucleation of the crystal. Many groups have investigated the preparation of bone-like materials using three dimensional organic substrates such as poly(lactic acid), reconstituted collagen and many others, and some studies shows a similar correlation between the crystallographic orientation of hydroxyapatite when the organic scaffold is made from reconstituted collagen (G. K. Hunter, H. A. Goldberg, Biochem. J. 302, 175-179 (1994); G. M. Bond, R. H. Richman, W. P. McNaughton, J. Mater. Eng. Perform. 4, 334-345 (1995); J. H. Bradt, M. Mertig, A. Teresiak, W. Pompe, Chem. Mater. 11, 2694-2701 (1999); N. Ignjatovic, S. Tomic, M. Dakic, M. Miljkovic, M. Plavsic, D. Uskokovic, Biomaterials 20, 809-816 (1999); F. Miyaji, H. M. Kim, S. Handa, T. Kokubo, T. Nakamura, Biomaterials 20, 913-919 (1999); H. K. Varma, Y. Yokogawa, F. F. Espinosa, Y. Kawamoto, K. Nishizawa, F. Nagata, T. Kameyama, J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Med. 10, 395-400 (1999); A. Bigi, E. Boanini, S. Panzavolta, N. Roveri, Biomacromolecules 1, 752-756 (2001); M. Kikuchi, S. Itoh, S. Ichinose, K. Shinomiya, J. Tanaka, Biomaterials 22, 1705-1711 (2001)). However, such results have never been demonstrated in a pre-designed and engineered self-assembling molecular system.

Self-assembly of peptide-amphiphile nanofibers under physiological conditions


A method of forming a semiconductor structure includes forming an interfacial layer surrounding at least one channel stack, forming a high-k dielectric layer surrounding the interfacial layer, and forming a metal gate layer surrounding the high-k dielectric layer. The method also includes forming a silicon layer over the metal gate layer and forming at least one additional metal layer over the silicon layer. The method further includes performing silicidation to transform at least a portion of the at least one additional metal layer and at least a portion of the silicon layer into a silicide layer. The metal gate layer, the silicon layer and the silicide layer form at least one gate electrode for a vertical transport field-effect transistor (VTFET).

The present application relates to semiconductors, and more specifically, to techniques for forming semiconductor structures. Memory chips and logic devices may utilize semiconductor structures such as fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs). The scaling of such silicon MOSFET structures to theoretically predicted miniaturization limits, however, cannot be accomplished by simply shrinking all features of the MOSFET to specified dimensions.

Self-aligned metal gate with poly silicide for vertical transport field-effect transistors

International Business Machines Corporation


In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to presenting search diagnostic tools in concert with a website. In some embodiments, a system for presenting search diagnostic tools in concert with a website comprises a server, wherein the server stores code for a website including a first code set including executable code for rendering the website and a second code set including executable code for rendering a user interface integrated with the rendering of the website including search diagnostic tools for the website, and a control circuit configured to receive a search query, receive results for the search query, output signals to cause rendering of the website, wherein the website includes the results for the search query, and output signals to cause rendering of the user interface including the search diagnostic tools such that the user interface is presenting with the search results for the search query.

Many websites include search functions for users. The search functions allow users to search, based on search queries, for content on the website and/or external to the website. For example, the search function of a retailer's website allows users to search for products offered for sale by the retailer and the search function of a search provider (e.g., Google or Yahoo) allows users to search for content across numerous websites. In either case (i.e., searching within a website and/or search across websites), the search function is typically capable of receiving complex search queries using varying operators in addition to plain language. However, typical users are most comfortable using plain language for search queries and, consequently, use plain language when searching via the search function. Unfortunately, plain language does not always yield the most relevant search results. Additionally, even if a user utilizes complex operators for his or her search, he or she is may not find what he or she is looking for.
Systems exist that allow computer programmers to alter the functionality of search engines to enhance the results received by users. However, such systems are complex and require specially trained engineers to alter the functionality of the search engine. Because existing systems are so complex, few people have the skill necessary to execute such changes which makes such search enhancement difficult and limited to few people. Consequently, a need exists for systems, methods, and apparatuses that make enhancing searches easier and accessible to more people.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

Systems and methods for search modification


Bracket (1) containing a gear train holds the end of spring (19) wound in a direction to be opened when the bracket moves up from the paper tray (7). Spring (19) is wound on an arbor (15) which is mounted on a shaft (9) which is located on the pivot axis of the bracket. Spring (17) is wound on a second part of the arbor in a direction to be closed when the bracket moves away from the tray. Spring (19) has a much tighter grip on the arbor than spring (17). In operation the bracket resists upward movement under the influence of stiff paper being fed, and is slowed in its downward movement to reduce bounce, which increases the speed at which a second sheet can be fed.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,026 to Padget et al., assigned to the assignee to which this invention is assigned, a paper feed mechanism is disclosed in which pick rollers are driven by a gear train mounted on a arm which is free to pivot around the center of the driven gear of the gear train. This construction automatically applies increasing force on the pick roller until the pick roller moves paper, at which point the downward pressure is automatically relieved.
In practice using the foregoing construction heavy paper lifts the gear train as the paper is fed, thereby causing the gear train to drop under the influence of gravity as such paper or other media leaves the drive roller. This causes bouncing of the drive roller and thus the gear train, which slows reliable operation. This invention is directed to the addition of a damping mechanism which largely restricts the lifting movement, and which slows the dropping on to the paper stack.


A formed laminate (20) is made by a method and apparatus (38) by compressing a flexible sheet (28) and a foamable liquid mixture (50) that has substantially completed expansion but not yet substantially cured so as to form the flexible sheet and provide a collapsed foam layer (30) bonded to the sheet. The flexible sheet (28) is preferably porous cloth, vinyl or leather. A film (56) which is preferably a nonadherent plastic such as polyethylene is preferably positioned in a vertically spaced relationship with the flexible sheet (28) either above or below the flexible sheet with the foamable liquid mixture received therebetween for the expansion prior to the compression that provides the formed laminate. The formed laminate (20) has particular utility as an article of apparel (22) and is preferably made by a quick reacting type foamable liquid mixture (50) which expands in about 8 to 25 seconds and most preferably in about 10 to 15 seconds.

Slab stock foam has previously been compressed to provide greater strength such as for carpet padding, to control size of cells such as for use as a filtering media, and to provide localized compressed areas such as for reinforcement for fasteners. Such prior art and other foam prior art noted during investigation conducted for the present invention are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,243,485, Griffen; 3,506,600 Zocco et al.; 3,622,435 Cacella; 3,650,993 Zocco et al.; 3,709,966 Gambardella; 3,867,320 Gambardella et al.; 3,880,977 Gealer et al.; 3,978,266 Lock; 3,978,855 McRae et al.; 4,180,631 Yukuta et al.; 4,228,076 Pettingell; 4,241,189 Sheldon et al.; 4,246,361 Yukuta et al.; 4,265,965, Chancler; 4,278,482, Poteet et al.; 4,304,810 Gates et al.; 4,443,286 Ikeda et al.; 4,465,388 Iwasawa; 4,508,774 Grabhoefer et al.; 4,513,518 Jalbert et al.; 4,515,646 Walker et al.; 4,600,461, Guy; 4,656,906 Mozieka et al.; 4,668,557 Lakes; 4,740,256 Vosberg; 4,781,774, Steward et al.; 4,789,584, Perrin; 4,810,316, Wakabayashi et al.; 4,816,494 Watson, Jr. et al.; 4,828,238 Mozieka et al.; 4,850,579 Fisher; 4,878,972, Kaneko et al.; and 5,032,622 Herrington et al.
Wearing apparel, which is one use for which the present invention has particular utility, often has designs, logos etc. printed, dyed or sewn onto the article which can be a T-shirt, sweater, etc. However, heretofore there has not been any great acceptance of processing for forming wearing appeal with a formed shape that enhances the article of apparel.


A transgenic diabetes type II model laboratory animal is disclosed which comprises β-cells expressing a dominant negative form (dnFGFR1c) of FGFR1c. Also disclosed is the use of the Ipf1/pdx1 promoter for controlling expression of FGFR1c; β-cells in which the expression of PC1/3 is down-regulated or absent or which are competent to express a dominant negative form (dnFGFR1c) of FGFR1c; mature β-cells incompetent to express Glut2 or in which the processing of proinsulin is substantially impaired; a method of preventing or treating type II diabetes.

The Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) gene superfamily is a family of conserved, secreted proteins that have been shown to play a critical role in many biological processes (Kato and Sekine, 1999; Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999). FGF-signalling is achieved by binding of the ligand, FGF, to the extra-cellular domain of high affinity membrane bound FGFR, which belongs to the tyrosine kinase family of receptors (Kato and Sekine, 1999; Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999). Today around 20 different FGF genes and 4 different FGFR genes have been identified, and multiple ligands can interact with one and the same receptor (Kato and Sekine, 1999; Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999). The level of complexity of signalling via these receptors is further compounded by the fact that alternative splice variants exist for these receptors. Loop three of the extracellular domain (=ligand binding domain) can splice to give rise to b, or c, isoform. This isoform variation ultimately determines ligand specificity and proper ligand-receptor interaction ultimately leads to activation of the intracellular tyrosine kinase domain (Kato and Sekine, 1999; Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999).
FGF-signalling has been implicated in a variety of distinct biological processes including patterning, differentiation, morphogenesis, proliferation, survival, angiogenesis, tumorogenesis, etc. (Kato and Sekine, 1999; Szebenyi and Fallon, 1999). In mouse, an early embryonic lethality or functional redundancy have, however, largely hampered direct genetic approaches aiming at elucidating the role of FGF-signalling during development and in the adult. Thus these approaches has for the most part failed to provide critical information regarding the role of FGF-signalling during later stages of vertebrate organogenesis, including the pancreas. An alternative approach have been to impair FGF-signalling via organ specific expression of dominant negative forms of FGFR that will competitively block FGF signalling via the endogenous, corresponding FGFR variant. This approach has been successfully used to antagonise FGF-signalling in a number of different systems.
Viral infection of a dominant negative FGFR1 construct in chick limb muscle mass blocked the differentiation of myoblast to myotubes providing evidence that this process depends on FGF-signalling (Itoh et al., 1996). Studies focused on maintenance of cell types within the retina revealed that expression of dnFGFR2 under the control of the bovine rhodopsin promoter increased photoreceptor degeneration (Campochiaro et al. 1996). The specificity of dominant negative constructs with respect to ligand binding was demonstrated in analyses where dnFGFR1c and dnFGFR2b constructs where expressed in transgenic mice using the mammary tumour virus promoter (Jackson et al.,1997). Expression of dnFGFR1c under these conditions did not result in any discernible phenotype whereas an impairment of lobuloalveolar development in the mammary gland was observed when using the dnFGFR2b variant (Jackson et al.,1997). Moreover, FGF8 mediated induction of dopaminergic (DA) neurons was successfully inhibited when growing six somite rat ventral mid/hindbrain explants in presence of soluble dnFGFR3c, i.e. the high-affinity blocking receptor for FGF8 (Ye et al., 1998). In contrast, when the same experiment was performed using soluble, dnGFGR1c, a low-affinity nonblocking receptor for FGF8, DA neurons readily appeared (Ye et al., 1998). Together these analyses demonstrate the effectiveness by which FGF signalling, in an apparent ligand-specific manner, can be perturbed using a dominant-negative FGFR approach.
Three different FGF-signalling mutant mice, involving transgenic approaches to over-express either a ligand or a dn form of a receptor, resulting in a pancreatic phenotypes have been reported. Transgenic over-expression of FGF7/KGF in the mouse liver induced pancreatic ductual hyperplasia (Nguyen et al. 1996) and similarly, transgenic mice with forced expression of FGF-7/KGF in pancreatic β-cells under the control of the insulin promoter show enlarged islets containing proliferating duct cells (Krakowski et al., 1999). General transgenic over-expression of dnFGFR2b under the control of the metallothionein promoter resulted in pancreatic hypoplasia (Celli et al. 1998). Together these studies indicate that signalling through FGFR2b may operate during pancreatic development. In vitro experiments involving culturing of pancreatic rudiments support such a scenario and suggest that FGFs positively stimulate pancreatic epithelial cell proliferation and exocrine cell differentiation (Le Bras et al. 1998, Miralles et al. 1999).
Selective inactivation of the IIIb form of FGFR2 leads to developmental abnormalities in limbs, lung, anterior pituitary, salivary glands, inner ear, teeth and skin but apparently not in the pancreas (De Moerlooze et al., 2000). Thus, the roles of FGFR2b during pancreas development remain to be determined.
Failure of the β-cell to compensate for an increased demand for insulin is a key feature in the manifestation of type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes, affecting 2–3% of the world-wide population, and is the combined result of resistance to insulin action coupled with a defect in β-cell compensation (Kahn, 1998; Kahn and Rossetti, 1998; Taylor, 1999). The molecular defects underlying the development of the disease are not fully understood and there are also uncertainties as to what is the primary defect initiating the disease; the insulin resistance or the β-cell failure. A typical trait associated with the disease is the increased proinsulin to insulin (P/I) ratio observed in many type 2 diabetic patients (Porte and Kahn, 1989). The relationship between the increased P/I ratio and the etiology of the disease has however remained diffuse; i.e. is it a consequence rather than a directly contributing factor to the disease? Several independent studies points towards an increased P/I ratio being an early sign of primary β-cell dysfunction, independent of insulin resistance, which is directly associated with the conversion from a prediabetic to an overt diabetic state over a short time period (Mykkänen et al., 1995; Kahn et al., 1995, Nijpels et al., 1996; Rachman et al., 1997; Mykkänen et al., 1997; Haffner et al 1997; Larsson and Ahrén, 1999). Moreover, it has been suggested that normal β-cells respond to an increased insulin resistance by enhanced processing of insulin and that the increased P/I ratio in individuals with an impaired glucose tolerance, and/or type 2 diabetes, is the consequence of defects in proinsulin processing (Mykkänen et al., 1997, Larsson and Ahrén, 1999).
Processing of proinsulin to insulin in β-cells is catalysed by the sequential actions of prohormone convertases PC1/3 and PC2, which both act in concert with carboxpeptidase E (CPE) (FIG. 7) Analyses of PC2 null mutant mice demonstrated a crucial role for PC2 in the processing of proglucagon and prosomatostatin in α- and δ- cells, respectively (Furuta et al., 1998). Proinsulin processing in β-cells was less affected in the PC2 null mutant mice providing evidence that PC3 is quantitatively more important than PC2 with respect to processing of proinsulin to active insulin (Furuta et al., 1998). At present there is a lack of genetically defined animal models that mimic these aspects of human type 2 diabetes. The importance of this disease in terms of human suffering and health care costs makes the provision of such a model an important goal.

Animal and cell models for type II diabetes and their use