A flush valve is provided which used only one moving component. A ball is used to seal either a first or second inlet when the other inlet is used to cause water to flow through the valve. The valve allows fresh water to be introduced into a second inlet in order to remove residue and debris from the cooling system from the marine propulsion engine. When fresh water is introduced into a second inlet, the ball seals the first inlet and causes the fresh water to flow through the engine cooling system. When in normal use, water flows through the first inlet and seals the second inlet by causing the ball to move against a ball seat at the second inlet. Optionally, a stationary sealing device can be provided within the second inlet and a bypass channel can be provided to allow water to flow past the ball when the ball is moved against the ball seat at the first inlet. This minimal flow of water is provided to allow lubrication for the sea water pump impeller if the sea water pump is operated during the flushing operation in contradiction to recommended procedure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a flush valve and, more particularly, to a valve that allows an internal combustion engine cooling system to be flushed by providing an external source of fresh water and connecting the external water source to the valve which is connected in fluid communication with the cooling system of the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In certain applications, it is necessary to periodically flush the cooling system of an internal combustion engine. In particular, when an internal combustion engine is used as a power source or a marine propulsion system, such as a stern drive, inboard system, or outboard motor, the marine propulsion system typically uses cooling water taken from the body of water in which the marine propulsion system is used. If the body of water contains salt water and is caused to flow within the cooling passages of the engine, a residue can be deposited on the internal surfaces of the engine. This sea water residue can eventually clog certain passages. In addition, the sea water residue can provide a corrosive atmosphere which can severely damage certain metals. It is therefore advisable to periodically flush the cooling system of the engine with fresh water in order to clean the surfaces of the cooling system and remove the sea water residue and debris. Many different techniques have been developed for flushing the cooling system of marine engines used in salt water applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,906, which issued to Rosen on Sep. 30, 1997, discloses a flush valve for a water cooled marine outboard engine having a flush orifice. The flush valve includes a valve body with an engine attachment end and a flush water source end. The valve body has a channel between the engine end and the source end. The engine end of the valve body can be affixed into the flush orifice of the engine. The flush valve also includes a means for obstructing a discharge flow of cooling liquid from the engine end of the hollow valve body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,369, which issued to Gross on Jun. 23, 1992, discloses a marine valve structure. The valve apparatus is intended for use with a marine vessel. It has a housing with first, second, and third ports and a valve member within the housing. The housing is mounted to the hull of the vessel with the first port communicating with the body of water outside the vessel. The third port is connected to the cooling system of an engine in the vessel and the second is closed by a quick release plug. The valve member is moveable to open and close communication with the outside. During normal operation, water is drawn through the structure into the engine cooling system and is discharged overboard. In an emergency, the plug can be removed and the valve member moved to a 90.degree. position in which the communication with the outside is closed, allowing the engine to draw water from within the hull and discharge it overboard. The structure can also be used with a service adapter for engine flushing and other maintenance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,670, which issued to Bates on Oct. 12, 1993, discloses a flush valve. The valve is used for alternately supplying fresh water or sea water coolant to marine engines. Such valve, used in combination with marine engine cooling systems, facilitate the flushing of contaminants. In one embodiment the valve includes a first portion having inlet conduits, a second portion having outlet conduits, and a means for rotatably securing the first and second portions together with minimum gap therebetween. Inlet and outlet portions are alternately positioned in a first, single fluid flow relationship (sea water supply) wherein only a first fluid is directed through outlet conduits, or in a second, multiple fluid flow relationship (flushing operation) wherein both a first and a second fluid are sent to outlet conduits. Also, sealing means is provided between the first and second portions to prevent liquid from escaping through the gap therebetween. In another embodiment, the inlet and outlet portions are stationary and a coupling means situated between the portions is alternately positioned to switch the fluid flow relationship. In yet another embodiment, a coupling means is alternately positioned in a first, dual fluid flow relationship, or in a second, dual fluid flow relationship wherein the fluid delivered to the outlet conduits is reversed. The valves may also be useful in industrial applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,836, which issued to Riviezzo, on Apr. 20, 1991, describes a live well valve for fishing boats. A leak-tight rotatable plug valve for controlling water flow to and from a fish live well in a fishing boat is described in which the valve body has opposite ends connected with an inlet hose for fresh water intake and a drain hose extending from the live well drain. A pump inlet passage in the valve body intersects the valve flow passage and mounts a pump having its discharge connected with a supply hose leading to the live well. When the valve is open, fresh water can be pumped to fill the live well w hen the pump is active and the live well can be drained when the pump is inactive. When the valve is closed, the pump recirculates water through the drain hose and supply hose to avoid stagnation and provide aeration for the live well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,533, which issued to Woolston, on Jan. 25, 1977, discloses a scuttling valve. The valve assembly permits the automatic scuttling, or sinking, of floatable pressure vessels or other containers and comprises an extensible, spring restrained nozzle containing a spring biased ball seal within a flow passage. Vessel internal pressure extends the nozzle from a retracted position to expose the exterior end of the flow passage. A calibrated restraining spring ring maintains the nozzle retracted and in the extended position during pressure vessel operation. The ball seal is displaced from a nonsealing position against a ball seat to preclude pressure relief through the flow passage. After exhaustion of internal pressure, the bias spring and external water pressure force the ball seal from the ball seat to permit water entry and subsequent sinking of the vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,224, which issued to Stevens, on Jul. 27, 1982, discloses a catheter flushing apparatus. The flow control apparatus has a flow passage with an inlet and outlet. It is provided in a housing. A control means having a conical valve seat and ball member for restricting flow through the seat is provided in the inlet of the passage. A valve plunger is slidably located within the housing and is resilently biased against a second valve seat provided in the passage walls of the housing. The plunger includes a marine bore capillary passage which effectively bypasses the second valve seat, thus permitting a first flow. When the plunger is moved from its seat, a second higher flow is established for flushing the device. This second higher flow rate is controlled by valve control means in the inlet of the passage in order to prevent excessively high flow rates.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,252, which issued to Brogdon on Feb. 28, 1995, discloses a fresh water flushing system for a marine engine system in a boat. It can be used whether the boat is in or out of the water. The system comprises a control panel mounted in the proximity of the marine engine and a fresh water flush valve. Hoses are connected to the fresh water flush valve and to various components of the marine engine system in order to provide fresh water fluid flow within the engine. Alternative embodiments of the system are described in marine vessels with more than one engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,266, which issued to Brogdon on Nov. 8, 1994, describes a fresh water flushing system for a marine engine. The system comprises a control panel that is mounted on the interior of the boat, a plurality of tubular "T" shaped interconnection fittings in a raw sea water cooling circuit, and a fresh water flush valve therebetween. The components are connected for fresh water fluid flow with a plurality of standard radiator hoses. The fresh water flush valve has a valve plunger for establishing fresh water flow between the control panel and the "T" shaped interconnection fittings. Furthermore, the fresh water flush valve has a plurality of axial outlet ports to proportionately direct the flow of fresh water to the appropriate interconnection fitting in the raw sea water cooling conduit of the marine engine. A valve plug is provided to secure a positive closure when the fresh water flow is disconnected. The valve plug has a tapered body and an O-ring to effect a positive seal and ensure that no fluid backflow occurs when the flushing system is not in use and the marine engine is operating under normal conditions in sea water. All of the fixed and moveable parts are fabricated from material that resists salt air and salt water corrosion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,063, which issued to Carlson on Nov. 16, 1982, discloses a spring-biased flushing accessory for outboard motors. The self-gripping spring-biased accessory directs water from an outside source in order to flush the cooling system of a marine engine. The accessory comprises a U-shaped retainer which terminates at its ends in a pair of resilient suction cups which are constructed to bear against the cooling water intake ports on opposite walls of the engine housing. At least one of the cups is connected to an external source of flushing water. A particular feature of the invention, which is disclosed in several different embodiments, is that the U-shaped retainer is provided with an auxiliary device to impart a spring-bias to the legs and urge them to move towards one another to secure the suction cups in resilient sealed relation against the cooling water intake ports. In one modification of the invention, a device is provided to apply the flushing water simultaneously to intake ports on opposite sides of the engine housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,325, which issued to Maloney on Dec. 27, 1977, describes an adaptable flush attachment for marine engines having side cooling ports. The device is a universally adaptable component for use in flushing outboard and inboard/outboard marine engines. This is made possible by the unique design of the strap and the shape of the cups which allow for the device to attach against the motor shaft housing on motors having shaft housings of different dimensions and contours.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,009, which issued to Karls on Sep. 10, 1985, discloses a flushing device for an outboard motor. The device supplies water to the cooling water inlets of an outboard motor and uses a connecting pin extending through the inlets to attach a pair of sealing cups over the inlets. A sliding spring latch releasably attaches one of the cups to the connecting pin. A hose connection allows water to be supplied to the inlets through the cups.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,851, which issued to Karls on May 20, 1986, describes a flushing device for an outboard motor. The device is provided so that water can be supplied to an inlet which is provided on the bottom of the anti-ventilation plate of an outboard motor. The flushing device uses a mounting bracket to hold a resilient cup compressed in place over the water inlet. A hose connector allows the cup to be connected to a water supply.
It would be beneficial if a flush valve could be provided that allowed a boat operator to simply connect a fresh water source (e.g. a hose) to the valve without having to manipulate the valve in any way prior to flushing the cooling system of the engine with fresh water. It would also be beneficial if a flush valve of this type could be made in such a way that it was not easily clogged with sand or other debris. In addition, it would be beneficial if a flush valve of this type could be manufactured in a way that avoiding the possibility that a valve failure could block the normal flow of cooling water to the engine. Regardless of the precise cause of such a failure, it is necessary to avoid the possibility that a failure of the valve could adversely affect the normal cooling water path for the engine. In other words, a valve of this type should operate in a fail safe manner. It would also be beneficial if a flush valve of the type described above could be manufactured at a relatively low cost and consist of few moveable components. It would also be beneficial to assure that a slight flow of fluid was available to a sea pump impeller in the event that the operator chooses to operate the engine during the flushing procedure.


A percussive therapy device that includes a housing, an electrical source, a motor positioned in the housing, a switch for activating the motor, and a routine controller configured to initiate a protocol configured to apply at least one output of the percussive therapy device in response to user input, and initiate at least one step of the protocol in which the percussive therapy device is applied in accordance with the at least one output.

Massage devices often provide ineffective massages that are superficial and do not provide any real benefit. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved massage device. Furthermore, percussive massage devices are often used in an ineffective manner. Accordingly, there is a need for a percussive therapy device to be automated to provide effective massage or recovery.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Percussive therapy device with active control


Disclosed are systems and methods for vehicles in traffic to simultaneously measure local traffic parameters and communicate the data to a planning vehicle in 5G and 6G. Each participating vehicle can measure, at a predetermined time, the angles of the other vehicles in view, and also the distances to the other vehicles using radar or lidar, for example. They then communicate the data to a planning vehicle. The planning vehicle “merges” or interconnects the various angle measurements to form a self-consistent traffic map of all vehicles in view of any of the participating vehicles, including non-participating vehicles. The planning vehicle then broadcasts the traffic map, or a listing of positions and wireless addresses of the vehicles, for all to use. The vehicles can then identify each other, and communicate with each other, to avoid collisions and facilitate the flow of traffic.

Autonomously operated vehicles are expected to cooperate with other vehicles, in order to avoid collisions and generally facilitate the flow of traffic. However, intervehicle cooperation is possible only if each vehicle can determine the wireless address of each other vehicle in proximity. Without knowing which vehicle has which wireless address, they cannot send a message to another specific vehicle, nor determine which vehicle has sent a message.
What is needed is means for determining the wireless address of each proximate vehicle in traffic, so that they can communicate for traffic management and collision avoidance.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.

Simultaneous traffic mapping for AI-assisted V2V and V2X in 5G/6G


Disclosed herein is a method for producing excess enthalpy by (a) either dispersing atomic metal ions or clusters on a support and reacting the metal ions with a chelating ligand or dispersing chelated atomic metal ions on a support and (b) pressurizing with hydrogen or deuterium to reduce the metal ion to a metal atom resulting in the growth of dispersed metal particles less than 2 nm in diameter on the support. During the particle growth, there is a growth period during which a critical particle size is reached and excess enthalpy is produced. The growth period is typically several days long.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the controlled growth of nanosized metal particles and more specifically to excess enthalpy resulting from the controlled growth of nanosized metal particles in the presence of hydrogen or deuterium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The study of dispersed metals has a long history because of their use as catalysts. It is well-known in the art that as the size of the metal particles decrease, the activity increases to a point. For the purposes of this application, papers concerning the ratio of hydrogen to palladium atoms and the heats of adsorption of hydrogen into palladium are referenced, although the rate of organic chemical bond-forming and cracking reactions also vary with particle size. Many papers reference hydrogen reactions only, but for the purpose of this application, hydrogen and deuterium are considered identical in chemical nature for the ratios of uptake with a metal catalyst. For example, Chou, et al., and Huang, et al., have shown that the uptake of hydrogen increases rapidly when the particle size of the dispersed palladium in an oxide matrix decreases to less 1 nm or less. (Shu-Chin Chou, et al., "Isosteric Heat of Sorption of Dihydrogen on Alumina-supported Palladium," J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans., 91, 949-51 (1995); Sheng-Yang Huang et al., "Chemical Activity of Palladium Clusters: Sorption of Hydrogen," J. Phys. Chem. B, 110, 21783-87 (2006)). Although, they did not state the particle size specifically, data from Huang can be used to estimate the particle size and approximate ratio of H:Pd as shown in Table 1. The heat of adsorption also increases with decreasing particle size. Chou, et al., studied a number of supports and preparation conditions and also showed that the heat of adsorption and loading ratio increased with decreasing particle size. (Pen Chou, et al., "Calorimetric Heat of Adsorption Measurements on Palladium I. Influence of Crystallite Size and Support on Hydrogen Adsorption," J. of Catalysis, 104, 1-16 (1987)). However, the estimated particle size in Chou's work was greater than 1.6 nm. Aben showed that hydrogen absorption could be used to estimate particle size and that the H:Pd ratio also increased with decreasing particle size, reaching a maximum H:Pd ratio of 0.83 in his study using ion exchanged silica. (P. C. Aben, "Palladium areas in supported catalysts: Determination of palladium surface areas in supported catalysts by means of hydrogen chemisorption," Journal of Catalysis, 10, 224-29 (1968)). The smallest size that Aben measured was 2.5 nm, and results showed that high pretreatment temperatures increased particle growth.
TABLE 1Estimated particle sizes and H/Pd ratios as calculated fromHuang. Note the sensitive dependence on the loading ratiowith particle size. The more chemically accessible particles(>5 nm) show a loading similar to bulk palladium of 0.6.Heat ofEstimatedHydrogenParticleAdsorptionRatio H:PdPreparationSize (nm)(kJ/mole)@ 0.2 barPd Powder9940.551.86% Pd/SiO2 (IW)~4920.6810% Pd/SiO2 (SG)1.11310.95% Pd/SiO2 (SG)11831.05
As the particle size must be small for high H:Pd ratios, one must disperse the particles on a support to keep them from sintering and growing too large. P. A. Sermon stated that even heating palladium black to 98° C. would cause sintering of the particles. (P. A. Sermon, "Characterization of palladium blacks: I. A novel hydrogen pretreatment and surface area determination of palladium," J. of Catalysis, 24, 460-66 (1972)).
As is well known in the art (for example, see Huang and references cited therein), there are three general methods to prepare dispersed metals on supports: (1) incipient wetness impregnation, where a solution of metal precursor is absorbed on the support. The amount of solution is just enough to wet the support. A variation on this method is wet impregnation where the amount of solution is greater than needed to just wet the support and the excess is removed at low temperature. (2) Ion exchange, where ions associated with the support are replaced with the metal ion of interest, generally using aqueous solutions of the metal of interest. Or (3) Sol-gel, where solutions of the metal are suspended in a growing polymer, which is generally inorganic in nature. After forming the supported metal precursor, the support is generally dried and calcined to remove water and organics. The heating may be done in air or an inert gas or in the presence of a reducing agent such as hydrogen. Finally, the metal ions are reduced to metal nanoparticles with a reducing agent such as hydrogen. This may be done at elevated temperatures. Elevated temperatures and high metal loading appear to increase particle size above 2 nm size and should be avoided during the preparation of the supported metal particles used in the present invention.
It is well-known in the art that repeated cycling of a supported catalyst can cause sintering and particle growth. This problem may be reduced by encapsulating the metal particles in a matrix such as a zeolite, a sol-gel, or a protective polymer. (D. G. Narehooda et al., "X-ray diffraction and H-storage in ultra-small palladium particles," International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 34, 952-60 (2009)). Also, the use of zeolites as supports for metal particles is well-known in the art. For example, see: K. P. Prasanth et al., "Hydrogen uptake in palladium and ruthenium exchanged zeolite X," Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 466, 439-46 (2008); Kh. M. Minachev et al., "Deuterium Exchange with the Surface of Zeolite Catalysts 5. Palladium-Containing Zeolites," Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow, translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2678-82 (December, 1978); and J. Michalik et al., "Studies of the Interaction of Pd3+ and Pd+ with Organic Adsorbates, Water, and Molecular Oxygen in Pd—Ca—X Zeolite by Electron Spin Resonance and Electron Spin-Echo Modulation Spectroscopy," J. Phys. Chem., 89, 4553-60 (1985).

Excess enthalpy upon pressurization of dispersed palladium with hydrogen or deuterium

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A bicycle is disclosed with a rhombus-like (preferably 60.degree.-120 .degree.), with circularly curved apexes, drive sprocket gear and a circular driven sprocket on the ear driven wheel. This gear arrangement varies the overall power input from the drive sprocket to the driven gear. The shape of the drive sprocket and the location of the drive pedal changes the gear ratio so that a low gear ratio is utilized during the horizontal portion of movement of the cyclist's legs and a high gear ratio is utilized during the vertical movement of the legs. The gear ratio with the rhomboidal gear is relatively constant during horizontal movement and abruptly changes at the approach to and during vertical movement of the cyclist's legs. While the rhombus-like, with circularly curved apexes, gear is shown primarily for bicycles it may be used in other systems for converting reciprocal to rotary movement with a change in gear ratio.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates generally to bicycles and drive sprocket gears and more particularly to a bicycle having a drive sprocket gear of a shape providing an abrupt change in gear ratio on change in pedal movement from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction.
2. Brief Description Of The Prior Art
Bicycles with a pedal driven sprocket gear driving a gear on the rear wheel were developed in the third quarter of the 19th century. In riding a bicycle, as the rider moves the pedals through a complete rotation, there are portions of the cycle of power application which are more effective than others.
In particular, when either of the pedals is at the top of its rotation and slightly forward of center, the cyclist can easily apply a strong downward force with considerable effect in the application of torque to the drive sprocket. On the other hand, when the pedal is pointed straight down, there is little or no torque being applied to the sprocket. Thus, during the vertical part of the movement, force is applied effectively, and during the horizontal part of the movement, there is little or no force applied.
During the last century, attempts were made to improve the gear relationships by making the drive sprocket gear elliptical in shape. This allegedly gave improved performance during certain portions of the operation of the drive sprocket. The use of elliptical drive sprocket gears has been suggested from time to time up to the present date. There are several patents which disclose various types of bicycles with elliptical or oblong gears.
Metz U.S. Pat. No. 513,589 discloses a bicycle with an elliptical drive sprocket gear.
Scovell U.S. Pat. No. 515,449 discloses a bicycle with an oblong drive sprocket gear.
Schaum et al U.S. Pat. No. 530,058 discloses a bicycle with an elliptical drive sprocket gear having means to compensate for variations in tension of the drive chain.
Delacroix U.S. Pat. No. 885,082 discloses another bicycle with an elliptical drive sprocket gear and means for compensating for slack in the drive chain during operation.
Hattan U.S. Pat. No. 3,259,398 discloses another bicycle with elliptical drive sprocket and having a system of idler gears for compensating for slack in the drive chain at different positions of operation.
Durham U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,932 discloses another elliptical drive gear with a special gear tooth design for preventing derailing of the drive chain.
Moretti Italian Patent 266,781 shows a bicycle gear system consisting of a drive sprocket, a driven gear for the rear wheel and an intermediate pinion gear. The drive sprocket has the appearance that it might have flat sides with curvatures at the apexes but an English translation reveals that continuous curves are all that is disclosed, e g., ovoid, helicoid, oval, etc., none of which have flat surfaces.
Frisiani Italian Patent 974,415 shows a bicycle gear system consisting of a drive sprocket, a driven gear for the rear wheel and an intermediate pinion gear. The drive sprocket is clearly elliptical and has no flat sides.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in that there is no previous disclosure of the use of drive sprocket gears having distinct rectilinear flat sections connected by circular sections which provide for an abrupt change in gear ratio at desired points in the movement of the sprocket gear. This invention is distinguished from the prior art in providing a bicycle having a rhomboidal (rhombus-like with circularly curved apexes) drive sprocket gear and a circular driven sprocket on the rear driven wheel. This gear arrangement varies the overall power input from the drive sprocket to the driven gear. The shape of the drive sprocket and the location of the drive pedal changes the gear ratio so that a low gear ratio is utilized during the horizontal portion of movement of the cyclist's legs and a high gear ratio is utilized during the vertical movement of the legs. The gear ratio with the rhomboidal (rhombus-like with circularly curved apexes) gear is constant during the horizontal part of the movement and abruptly changes at the approach to and during the vertical part of the movement of the cyclist's legs. While the rhomboidal (rhombus-like with circularly curved apexes) gear is shown primarily for bicycles it may be used in other systems for converting reciprocal to rotary movement with a change in gear ratio.

Bicycle with rhombus-like gear with circularly curved apexes


Disclosed is a composition for bonding separated tissues together or for coating tissues or prosthetic materials including at least one natural or synthetic peptide and at least one support material which may be activated by energy and to methods of making and using the same.

All surgical disciplines are concerned with the repair of damaged tissues and vessels. Damage can be the result of direct trauma to the body or as part of a surgical procedure in which there is a separation of normally continuous tissue such as in vein or artery anastomoses. Regardless of the cause, proper repair of the tissue or blood vessel is an essential step in the positive outcome of surgery.
The joining of separated tissues has principally been performed by suturing or stapling in which the skilled hands of the surgeon stitch or staple the separated tissues together. This procedure not only requires significant skill but also is a slow, tedious process, particularly if extensive repair is required.
Suturing suffers from several other drawbacks which have complicated surgical procedures. First, leaks often develop at the ends of the joined tissues which can require resuturing. In addition, suturing itself is a trauma to the tissue which can cause additional damage and extend the healing period. Further there are occurrences of inflammation in vicinity of the sutures which can result in late failure of a repair or anastomosis.
As a result, efforts have focused on overcoming the difficulties associated with suturing by the development of sutureless repairs using surgical adhesives or glues which adhere to tissue surfaces and form a bond therebetween.
The most common tissue adhesive is fibrin adhesive or glue typically containing a concentrate of fibrinogen and thrombin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,362,567, 4,414,976 and 4,909,251 and Canadian Patent No. 1,168,982. The adhesives require mixing immediately prior to application and react in a manner similar to the last stages of the clotting cascade to form a fibrin clot. The clot effects hemostasis, a cessation of bleeding. By virtue of the physical properties of a blood clot, a small amount of tensile strength is present in the clot. Fibrin glue has been used in a variety of surgical procedures for its hemostatic properties, biocompatibility and as a modest reinforcement of the strength or more commonly the watertightness of a repair. (See, for example, Dennis F. Thompson et al., "Fibrin Glue: A Review of its Preparation, Efficacy and Adverse Effects as a Topical Hemostat", Drug Intell. Clin. Pharm. vol. 22, pp. 946-952 (1988); and Richard L. Burleson et al., "Fibrin Adherence to Biological Tissues", J. Surg. Res. vol. 25, pp. 523-539 ( 1978).
Fibrin adhesive, however, has significant drawbacks which has prevented its commercial use in the United States. First, in order to prepare commercial quantities of fibrin adhesive the components must be obtained from pooled human blood. There is therefore the possibility of infection from agents such as Hepatitis "B", HIV virus and others. Particularly in the United States, the threat of infection has outweighed the benefits of obtaining commercial quantities of fibrin adhesive. As a result, the production of fibrin adhesive has been limited to quantities obtained from a patient's own blood to reduce the risk of infection. (See, for example, Karl H. Siedentop et al., "Autologous Fibrin Tissue Adhesive", Laryngoscope vol. 95, pp. 1074-1076 (September, 1985); Gidon F. Gestring et al., "Autologous Fibrinogen for Tissue-Adhesion, Hemostasis and Embolization", Vasc. Surg. vol. 17 pp. 294-304 (1983) and D. Jackson Coleman et al., "A Biological Tissue Adhesive for Vitreoretinal Surgery", Retina vol. 8 no. 4, pp. 250-256 (1988). These autologous procedures make the use of fibrin adhesive costly and time consuming and therefore of limited value.
Second, fibrin glue preparations suffer from poor tensile strength. Third, fibrin glue requires time consuming mixing of multiple reagents immediately prior to application. Finally, once the reagents are mixed the glue polymerizes, and its removal disrupts the tissue on which it has been applied.
Non-biological materials have been tried as surgical adhesives in an effort to reduce the risk of infection over adhesives obtained from pooled blood. Isobutyl-2-cyanoacrylate has been applied to separated tissues and has formed a solid watertight seal shortly after contact with the tissue. Khalid J. Awan et al., "Use of Isobutyl-2- Cyanoacrylate Tissue Adhesive in the Repair of Conjunctional Fistula in Filtering Procedures for Glaucoma", Annals of Ophth. pp. 851-853 (August, 1974). However, such adhesives have been criticized because they are irritating to tissues and difficult to apply. Andrew Henrick et al., "Organic Tissue Glue in the Closure of Cataract Incisions", J. CATARACT REFRACT. SURG. vol. 13, pp. 551-553 (September, 1987).
Thus, surgical adhesives have not been successful in replacing the suture as the primary means of tissue and vessel repair.
Another approach to sutureless tissue repair is tissue welding. Tissue welding involves the bonding of tissues together using an energy source such as a laser beam. Several types of lasers have been found useful for tissue welding including Nd:YAG, CO.sub.2, THC:YAG and Argon. Julian E. Bailes et al., "Review of Tissue Welding Applications in Neurosurgery", Microsurgery vol. 8, pp. 242-244 (1987); Rodney A. White et al., "Mechanism of Tissue Fusion in Argon Laser-Welded Vein-Artery Anastomoses", Lasers in Surgery and Medicine vol. 8, pp. 83-89 (1988); Lawrence S. Bass et al., "Sutureless Microvascular Anastomoses using the THC:YAG Laser: A Preliminary Report", Microsurgery vol. 10, pp. 189-193 (1989), Masame Suzuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,724, Jude S. Sauer U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,870; Douglas Dew, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,672,969 and 4,854,320, each incorporated herein by reference.
Tissue welding has been performed on a variety of tissues. For example, a carbon dioxide laser has been used in nerve tissue repair as described in Julian E. Bailes et al., Microsurgery. Tissue welding has successfully repaired intestinal tissue. Semion Rochkind et al., "Low-Energy CO.sub.2 Laser Intestinal Anastomosis: An Experimental Study" Lasers in Surgery and Medicine vol. 8 pp. 579-583 (1988).
The use of lasers to directly weld tissues can eliminate about two-thirds of the time needed to repair damaged tissues or blood vessels. However, histological analysis of direct laser welds has shown transmural thermal injury at the site of the weld which adds to the trauma of the injury and surgery. In vascular anastomosis, this can lead to complicating aneurysm formation at the weld site which presents a threat to the healing process and in some cases may lead to internal bleeding and complications associated therewith. Further, the welds produced by direct laser contact have been characterized by marginal strength. The welds are prone to leakage and can burst in some cases.
To overcome the problems of direct tissue welding efforts have been made to employ organic agents which improve weld strength and at least minimize trauma to the tissue brought on by direct contact with laser energy. Typically, these agents known as laser adhesives or glues absorb laser energy forming a weld which bonds separated tissues together. In some cases, the laser adhesive selectively absorbs the laser energy thereby reducing the risk of transmural thermal injury. For example, blood has been used as a welding agent in laser repair surgery to improve bond strength and arterial healing through early fibrin cross-linking. Su Wan et al., "Effect of Blood Bonding on Bursting Strength of Laser-Assisted Microvascular Anastomoses", Miscrosurgery vol. 9, pp 10-13 (1988). Egg white albumin has also been used as a laser glue. Dix P. Poppas et al., "Laser Welding in Urethral Surgery: Improved Results with a Protein Solder", J. Urology vol. 139, pp. 415-417 (February, 1988) and George S. Ganesan et al., "Urethral Reconstruction Using The Carbon Dioxide Laser: An Experimental Evaluation", J. Urology vol. 142 pp. 1139-1141 (October, 1989).
Despite these efforts, laser adhesives still suffer from deficiencies which make their universal application problematical. In particular, laser adhesives are difficult to apply to separated tissues. They are either in the form of semi-solids (e.g. fibrinogen) or liquid (e.g. albumin or blood). As a semi-solid, the product must be cut into strips and placed at the weld site. Quite often the solid strip will move during application requiring time consuming repositioning. Additionally, the strip may shrink when exposed to the laser beam and weld only a portion of the tissue. The unwelded portion may be large enough to permit the passage of blood. This requires the use of additional strips of welding material and time consuming repeat operations.
Liquid laser adhesives are disadvantageous because they can run off of the weld site and thus may also require repeat applications. In addition, conventional laser adhesives made of protein materials, such as fibrinogen, often form rigid welds which reduce the flexibility of the welded tissues, particularly welded blood vessels. If the vessel is subjected to normal pressure fluctuations which occur during the cardiac cycle, such as the unclamping of the blood vessel or when the patient moves suddenly, the weld can rupture causing internal bleeding and related complications.
It therefore an object of the present invention to provide a composition which can form a strong, flexible biological compatible bond between separated tissues preferably upon the application of energy such as a laser beam.
It is another object of the invention to provide a composition which can form a watertight, flexible seal in tissues or prosthetic materials.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a laser adhesive whose viscosity can be modified according to the desired application to facilitate placement of the composition at the tissue site.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a method of bonding separated tissues or coating tissues to form a watertight seal using a composition which is easy to handle, particularly during surgical procedures.
It is still another object of the invention to provide methods of formulating the adhesive composition, packaging, and storing the same.

Tissue bonding and sealing composition and method of using the same

The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York


In a multilayer ceramic capacitor including outer electrodes electrically connected to inner electrodes of a ceramic body, a thickness of each of end portions of extension portions of the inner electrodes in a width direction is larger than a thickness of a corresponding one of middle regions in the width direction, and a distance from a first main surface of the ceramic body to a first auxiliary electrode closest to the first main surface is different from a distance from a second main surface of the ceramic body to a second auxiliary electrode closest to the second main surface in a stacking direction. Each of the first auxiliary electrode and the second auxiliary electrode has a continuity in the width direction of about 60% or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor, and specifically, to a multilayer ceramic capacitor including a structure that includes a ceramic body and outer electrodes, the ceramic body including inner electrodes, and the outer electrodes being electrically connected to the inner electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of typical electronic ceramic components is a multilayer ceramic capacitor as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2006-213946.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, the structure of the multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a ceramic multilayer body (ceramic body) 110 and a pair of outer electrodes 104 (104a, 104b) arranged on a pair of end surfaces 103 (103a, 103b), respectively, of the ceramic multilayer body 110, the ceramic multilayer body 110 including a plurality of inner electrodes 102 (102a, 102b) stacked alternately with ceramic layers 101 serving as dielectric layers, and the outer electrodes 104 (104a, 104b) being electrically connected to the inner electrodes 102 (102a, 102b).
The outer electrodes 104 (104a, 104b) include sintered metal layers 105 (105a, 105b) arranged to extend from the end surfaces 103 of the ceramic multilayer body 110 to main surfaces and side surfaces of the ceramic multilayer body 110; and plating layers 106 (106a, 106b) arranged to cover surfaces of the sintered metal layers 105, the sintered metal layers 105 being formed by, for example, baking a conductive paste containing a Cu powder serving as a conductive component.
The plating layers 106 (106a, 106b) include Ni plating layers 107 (107a, 107b) arranged on surfaces of the sintered metal layers 105 (105a, 105b); and Sn plating layers 108 (108a, 108b) arranged on the Ni plating layers 107 (107a, 107b).
The multilayer ceramic capacitor having the foregoing structure has portions where the inner electrodes are not present. The portions are between end portions of the inner electrodes in the width direction, which is a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to both the direction in which the inner electrodes extend and the direction in which the inner electrodes are stacked, and the side surfaces of the ceramic body. In the portions, steps are formed between portions where the inner electrodes are not present and portions where the inner electrodes are present.
The steps cause the positional deviations of the inner electrodes in a stacking step and a pressure-bonding step when the multilayer ceramic capacitor is manufactured.
A multilayer ceramic capacitor is often produced by the steps of stacking mother ceramic green sheets to form a mother multilayer body, the steps of pressure-bonding the resulting mother multilayer body, and the steps of dividing the pressed mother multilayer body into individual elements. In the case of producing a multilayer ceramic capacitor by such a method, if the positional deviation occurs in the stacking step and the pressure-bonding step, the following problems arise: a reduction in the area of an effective region in which adjacent inner electrodes in the stacking direction overlap each other and which contributes to capacitance generation; and the impairment of the mounting stability of the multilayer ceramic capacitor because of a failure to accurately produce a ceramic body having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape.
In recent years, a trend toward higher capacitance of multilayer ceramic capacitors has required the stacking of larger number of inner electrodes. The stacking of a large number of inner electrodes may reduce the distance between inner electrodes and surfaces of ceramic bodies, causing a fatal problem of a reduction in moisture resistance reliability.


It is objective of the invention to provide a highly reliable control apparatus and method which reduces the amount of calculation required for both learning of an input/output relationship and actual control as well as prevent inappropriate outputs from being generated for inputs which have been never learned. According to one aspect of the invention, pairs of an input pattern vector for learning and a target output are distributed to a class based on the target output. Then, a correspondence between each element of the input pattern vector for learning and the target output is learned only in that class, and a distribution function is calculated for distributing a new input pattern vector for learning to that class. After the completion of this learning, the distribution function is used to determine which class a new input pattern vector detected by a sensor belongs to. Finally, an output is calculated according to the learning result of that class. Therefore, since the range of the outputs corresponding to the inputs may be limited, reliability of the control is improved.

Some methods are well known for stably controlling an object. In those methods, a relationship between an input and an output is first obtained by learning and an output is then provided to the object to be controlled (hereinafter referred to as "controlled object") based on the learning result. Some functions which properly represent the input/output relationship are created and used for the control. For creating the functions, layered neutral network such as perceptron, RBF network and CMAC (cerebellar model arithmetic computer) are used, for example.
In perceptron, three layers including an input layer, a middle layer and an output layer are generally provided. Then, learning is conducted as follows: first, an output obtained by entering an input to perceptron is compared with an actual output (that is, a teacher signal); then, the error between those outputs is reflected to coupling load and threshold values of the perceptron. One example of a control apparatus using such neural network is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication (Kokai) No.09-245012.
In RBF network, a nonlinear function for representing the input/output relationship is calculated as an output from the network by linearly connecting outputs of basis functions on a middle layer, A Gaussian function is generally used as the basis function on the middle layer.
In the perceptron, it is necessary to prepare a large amount of data set of inputs and outputs for realizing reliable control. In addition, since sigmoid functions are used as the input/output function on a middle layer in multilayer perceptron, output from the middle layer will take a large output value in response to a large input value. Thus, when an input within the range where the learning has not been conducted is provided, an inappropriate output may be generated which is totally different from a desired one. Such inappropriate outputs may lead to a serious accident (for example, roll or crash) for a controlled object such as a helicopter.
On the other hand, since the input/output functions on the middle layer are Gaussian functions in the RBF network, the input/output functions will take large output value only for local range in a input space and will take no unexpected output in contrast to the perceptron. However, since the input/output relationship is represented by a linear combination of multiple Gaussian functions in the RBF network, it is necessary to learn the ratio for all Gaussian functions (classes) and to output calculation results of all classes for a certain input. Consequently, the calculation load becomes relatively large.
Therefore, there is a need for a highly reliable control apparatus and method for reducing the amount of calculation required for both learning of an input/output relationship and for actual control as well as preventing inappropriate outputs from being generated for inputs which have been never learned.


A rubber composition that can improve in good balance the fuel economy, wet-grip performance, and abrasion resistance, and a pneumatic tire that uses this rubber composition are provided. This rubber composition contains a rubber component, and carbon black and/or silica, wherein based on 100% by mass of the rubber component, the rubber component contains 5 to 50% by mass of natural rubber, 0.3 to 10% by mass of an epoxidized natural rubber, and at least 5% by mass of a conjugated diene polymer that has a constituent unit based on a conjugated diene and a constituent unit represented by formula (I) below, at least one terminal of the polymer being modified, and wherein a total content of the carbon black and the silica is 3 to 100 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component.

The demands on automobiles for better fuel economy have been increasing in recent years as concern with environmental issues has been rising, and good fuel economy is also being required of the rubber compositions used for automotive tires. For example, rubber compositions containing a conjugated diene polymer (e.g., polybutadiene, butadiene-styrene copolymer, and so forth) and a filler (e.g., carbon black, silica, and so forth) are used for the rubber compositions for automotive tires.
An example of a method for improving the fuel economy is provided in Patent Document 1; this method uses a diene rubber that has been modified by an organosilicon compound that contains an amino group and alkoxy group. However, there has been demand in recent years for additional improvements in fuel economy. Wet-grip performance and abrasion resistance are also properties required of the rubber compositions used for automotive tires; however, these properties generally assume an inverse relationship with the fuel economy and it has been difficult to obtain these individual properties in good balance at high property levels.
Patent Document 1: JP 2000-344955 A


A battery monitoring device includes a control unit; electric elements respectively connected in parallel to battery cells; main analog-digital converters that are respectively connected to the battery cells via the electric elements, and respectively detect voltages of the battery cells; and sub analog-digital converters that are respectively connected to the battery cells without using the electric elements, and respectively detect the voltages of the battery cells. The control unit is configured to determine whether there is a failure in each electric element based on a first voltage detection value detected by the main analog-digital converter, and a second voltage detection value detected by the sub analog-digital converter. The control unit is configured to limit a control range of a degree of charge as compared to that used during a normal control, when it is determined that there is a leak failure in at least one of the electric elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a battery monitoring device.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a conventional semiconductor circuit in which when a diagnosis is performed on the equalization function of an equalization switching element in a discharge circuit, an initializing operation is performed such that a capacitor in a comparison circuit is charged with electric power corresponding to a difference between a voltage of a signal line and a threshold voltage, and another capacitor in the comparison circuit is charged with electric power corresponding to a difference between a voltage of another signal line and the threshold voltage. In a comparison operation, signal lines are connected to each other such that a voltage is input to each of the capacitors. In the case where the equalization process is not performed, when the output is at the L level (LOW level), it is determined that the equalization function is normally performed, and when the output is at the H level (HIGH level), it is determined that there is a failure, and in the case where the equalization process is performed, when the output is at the H level, it is determined that the equalization function is normally performed, and when the output is at the L level, it is determined that there is a failure (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-147587).
In the above-described circuit in related art, when there is a leak in the capacitor, the detected voltage of the capacitor is smaller than the actual voltage of the capacitor, and therefore, over-charging may occur. Further, over-charging may be caused when there is a leak in an electric element connected in parallel to a battery cell whose voltage is monitored, as well as when there is a leak in the electric element such as the capacitor.


An improved remote control vehicle security system performing an override re-arm function enables a disarmed security system in which siren alarming, parking light flashing and other sensor trigger system and etc. are stopped to function for a preset period of time, such as 30 seconds, if no further input to cancel the override re-arm is given within the preset period of time, the system will resume an armed state automatically.

The present invention relates to an improved remote control vehicle security system having a capability of performing an override re-arm function.
First, it is necessary to give a brief explanation for the word of "override" which is a common term used in the field of remote control vehicle security systems. As a user of a remote control vehicle security system, a person must employ a remote control device to effect arm/disarm operations on a security system. However, in case the remote control device of a vehicle is lost or forgotten to be brought along with the owner of this vehicle or out of order and the security system is put in an armed state, the legal owner or user of this vehicle has to take a proper procedures without the remote control device to get the system disarmed. Such kind of procedure is called "override".
Almost all remote control vehicle security systems have a hidden override switch that permits the legal user of a security system to turn off the alarm of or to disarm an on-guard security system. So, a break-in burglar can easily turn off the alarm of a remote control vehicle security system in the following steps:
1. Switch the ignition key to "on" position. PA0 2. Locate the hidden override switch. (For a professional burglar, he can find the switch in seconds.) PA0 3. Flip the override switch. and steal the vehicle without causing any interference.
The inventor got his idea of making improvement on the prior art remote control vehicle security system from a conventional radio frequency operated re-arm system.
It is well known that in a conventional remote control vehicle security system, a transmitter is used as a remote control device. When the transmitter's button is pressed, it will transmit a specific code in radio frequency to effect the arm or disarm operations on the security system. In case the legal user accidentally press the transmitter's button and get the system disarmed without his knowledge, his or her vehicle might get stolen as a result of such ignorance. To prevent such situations from happening, manufactures of vehicle security systems developed a RF (Radio Frequency) re-arm function so as to resolve such kind of problem.
The RF re-arm function is briefly described as follows: If a legal user accidentally press the transmitter's button and get the system disarmed and the ignition switch is not turned on within 30 or 60 seconds, the system will automatically be re-armed again after the preset duration.
The present invention provides an override re-arm function for a remote control vehicle security system. Such override re-arm function is related to the idea of RF re-arm disclosed in the prior art. In the present invention, when a vehicle security system is disarmed, the alarming activities including siren alarming, parking light flashing and other sensor trigger systems all stop functioning and the security system will count down 30 seconds automatically and wait for further instructional input to cancel the override re-arm. If within the pre-set time duration, i.e., 30 seconds, no valid instruction is input, the security system will automatically resume an armed state.

Remote control vehicle security system issuing in override re-arm feature


A light amount adjustment method for use in an image exposure apparatus records an image by scanning a photosensitive material with a light beam modulated in accordance with image signal. The light beam has a first light amount level and a second light amount level that is higher than the first light amount level to perform exposure of one dot. The method sets the first light amount level based on the image signal, exposes test patches by displacing a focus position of the light beam on the photosensitive material and changing the second light amount level that is outputted in accordance with changing of the image signal and adjusts the second light amount level such that halftone dot percent fluctuations of the exposed test patches are minimized to set the adjusted second light amount level.

The present invention relates to a light amount adjustment method for use in an image exposure apparatus, in particular, a light amount adjustment method for use in an image exposure apparatus with which image quality is enhanced by suppressing degradation of image quality in the rising and falling portions of a light beam through light amount increase in the edge portions of an image signal.
In recent years, a computer-to-plate (CTP) system has been used widely in which a digital image is created using a computer and image recording is performed directly on a printing plate without using a film at the time of plate making. As an image exposure apparatus used in such a CTP system or the like, an image exposure apparatus is used which records an image as a latent image by performing laser light exposure in accordance with a digital image signal while holding a photosensitive material, such as a PS plate, on the surface of a rotating drum.
With this technique, the turned-on state of a light beam irradiated from a light source for exposure is controlled in accordance with a binary image signal generated based on the image data of an original image to be recorded and a photosensitive material is two-dimensionally scanned with the light beam modulated in accordance with the image signal by relatively moving the light source for exposure and the photosensitive material. In this manner, a desired image is recorded as a latent image on the photosensitive material.
An image for plate making is a halftone dot gradation image (area-modulated image) using so-called halftone dots and each halftone dot is recorded by a collection of many dots formed through scan-exposure using a light beam having a certain size determined in accordance with a resolution.
Conventionally, in such an exposure apparatus, when the quality of a laser beam is degraded, a correction has been made in which image quality is improved by creating an edge signal from the ON/OFF signal for a laser beam and changing a light amount at the instant of laser beam ON/OFF in accordance with the edge signal. The increase of the light amount at the instant of laser beam ON/OFF in accordance with the edge signal created from a laser beam-ON/OFF signal will be referred to as the "edge light amount increase" in this specification.
For instance, a method is proposed with which the brightness of a light source is increased at the time of exposure of a contour portion of an image to be recorded on a photosensitive material and the edge of density is sharpened in the contour portion through edge enhancement based on differentiation of a binary signal (see JP 08-023422 A, for instance).
In the conventional edge light amount increase process, the light amount increment has been determined to a uniformly fixed value with reference to a result of evaluation conducted in advance and the edge light amount increase has been carried out on a fixed percent basis using the value. Therefore, when the sensitivities or the like of photosensitive materials vary from one lot to another or from one kind to another, there occurs a problem in that the light amount correction by the edge light amount increase becomes insufficient or, inversely, excessive.

Light amount adjustment method for use in image exposure apparatus


The tool box comprises a lower bin having a pair of opposed sidewalls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall that define a storage space, the bottom wall comprising a first recess and a second recess; and a lid coupled to the lower bin by a hinge and movable between a closed position and an open position. The lower bin and the lid support the weight of a person standing on the lid when the lid is in the first position. The lower bin and lid are positionable at a first height when the bottom wall is in contact with a floor and is positionable at a second height when the first recess receives the first chock and the second recess receives the second chock. The toolbox may also comprise an insert configured to divide the internal cavity between a lower space and an upper space and comprising an aperture. An object stored in the lower space may extend through the aperture in the insert into the upper space.

The present invention relates to a multi-use toolbox. More specifically, the present invention relates to a tool box with sufficient strength to support the weight of a person, to secure items inside, and provide a variety of features that are desirable where storage capacity, space limitation, and/or weight are limited for items such as toolboxes on an aircraft.
Tool boxes are generally known. Such known tool boxes typically include a bin (i.e., container, base, etc.), a lid or cover pivotally coupled to the base, and one or more trays that separate a storage area between a lower storage space and an upper storage space. The tray may be divided by walls into separate compartments. Items such as tools and other equipment and supplies are generally stored loosely in the lower space, on top of the tray, or sometimes in drawers.
However, such known toolboxes have several disadvantages including: lack of features to minimize required accessories or attachments to accommodate multiple uses and applications. For example, toolboxes carried on aircraft need to be compact and multifunctional to minimize the space and weight for equipment needed to do routine and non-routine tasks.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a multi-use toolbox. It would also be advantageous to provide a toolbox designed for use with aircraft and other applications where it is advantageous to hold or secure containers inside the toolbox, use the toolbox as a ladder, elevate the toolbox for the user to reach greater heights, and the like. It would be desirable to provide for a multiple use tool box having one or more of these or other advantageous features. To provide an inexpensive, reliable, and widely adaptable tool box that avoids the above-referenced and other problems would represent a significant advance in the art.


A system and method for converting compact multimedia format files to synchronized multimedia integration language while preserving media and timeline information. Media objects and timeline information are extracted from a compact multimedia format file. The media is saved to separate files, and each file may be split into multiple files if the file overlaps a loop boundary. A synchronized multimedia integration language is created from the timing information, including loops, and the media files.

Compact Media Format (CMF) is used to store and transfer ring tones and audio/visual presentations. The CMF format is very similar in structure to standard musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) format with extensions for embedding media objects such as images, audio and text. CMF inherently represents the timing information for playback of included media objects. Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is an XML language that describes the layout and synchronization of media objects in a presentation and is standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium.
Media objects and timing information need to be extracted from a CMF file and restructured into a form consistent with SMIL grammar. The start time and duration of playback of each media object can be determined by parsing the CMF file. However, the use of repeated sections, or loops, within the CMF file becomes a complicating factor because the loop boundaries may occur within media objects, which are handled internally by a CMF player. SMIL does have the capability to repeat playback of media objects, but not with the capability of a CMF player that has random access to the media on a very fine time scale. SMIL references media objects as a whole, although it can specify sub-regions, and passes them to a decoder or player that does not allow random access during playback.

System and method for converting compact media format files to synchronized multimedia integration language


A transparent glass-ceramic comprising the following composition, expressed in terms of weight percent on an oxide basis: 45-65 SiO.sub.2, 14-28 Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, 4-13 ZnO, 0-8 MgO, 0-10 TiO.sub.2, 0-6 ZrO.sub.2, 0-8 BaO, 0-15 Cs.sub.2 O, ZnO+MgO in combination being greater than or equal to about 8, and TiO.sub.2 +ZrO.sub.2 in combination being greater than about 4.

The materials of the present invention are most importantly substrate candidates for high temperature polysilicon thin films. Products based on thin films of polycrystalline silicon include solar cells and flat panel displays, in particular active matrix liquid crystal displays. The materials of the present invention are also useful, however, as a substrate material in various electric, electronic, and optoelectronic devices such as, for example, other forms of flat panel displays, solar batteries, photomasks, and optomagnetic disks.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are typically comprised of two flat glass sheets that encapsulate a thin layer of liquid crystal material. An array of transparent thin film electrodes on the glass modulate the light transmission properties of the liquid crystal material, thereby creating the image. By incorporating an active device such as a diode or thin film transistor (TFT) at each pixel, high contrast and response speed can be achieved to produce high resolution displays. Such flat panel displays, commonly referred to as active matrix LCDs (AMLCD), have become the predominant technology for high performance displays such as notebook computers and portable televisions.
At present, most AMLCDs utilize amorphous silicon (a-Si) processes and have a maximum process temperature of 4500C. Nevertheless, it has long been recognized that the use of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) would offer certain advantages over a-Si. Poly-Si has a much higher drive current and electron mobility, thereby allowing reduction of TFT size and at the same time increasing the response speed of the pixels. It also is possible, using poly-Si processing, to build the display drive circuitry directly onto the glass substrate. Such integration significantly decreases costs and increases reliability and also allows for smaller packages and lower power consumption. By contrast, a-Si requires discrete driver chips that must be attached to the display periphery using integrated circuit packaging techniques such as tape carrier bonding.
Poly-Si is conventionally made by depositing amorphous silicon onto a glass sheet using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques, and subsequently exposing the coated glass to high temperatures for a period of time which is sufficient to crystallize the a-Si to poly-Si. There are many methods for fabricating poly-Si, which can be grouped in two categories: low-temperature poly-Si methods, which utilize processing temperatures up to about 600.degree. C., and high-temperature poly-Si methods, which typically employ temperatures as high as 900.degree. C.
Many of the low-temperature methods employ techniques such as laser recrystallization, in which the substrate is held at a temperature of 400.degree. C. and an excimer laser is used to melt and recrystallize the Si layer. The main disadvantage of laser recrystallization is difficulty in achieving good uniformity across the sample. Most of the TFTs have more than sufficient mobilities for on-board logic, but the fact that only a small area can be melted and recrystallized at a time leads to stitching problems. Low temperature poly-Si TFTs can also be made by thermally crystallizing amorphous silicon (maximum temperatures of 600.degree. C.), but in order to make high quality transistors at such low temperatures the films typically must be treated for at least 25 hours. In addition, there are commonly several other high temperature processes following the crystallization step, including growing or annealing of the gate oxide and dopant activation.
The highest quality poly-Si TFTs are fabricated at temperatures of at least 900.degree. C.: such processes enable formation of poly-Si films having extremely high electron mobility (for rapid switching) and excellent TFT uniformity across large areas. This fabrication process typically consists of successive deposition and patterning of thin films using elevated temperature processes which result in the substrate being heated to temperatures in the range of 900.degree. C. There are very few materials capable of meeting this requirement. One approach has been using fused or vitreous silica as the substrate. Fused silica has a sufficiently high strain point of 990.degree.-1000.degree. C. but its thermal expansion coefficient (C.T.E.) is significantly lower than that of silicon, however, with a C.T.E. of 5.times.10.sup.-7 /.degree.C. versus silicon's 37.times.10.sup.-7 /.degree. C. Furthermore, fused silica substrates are extremely expensive to produce, to the point where using them in large display applications is cost prohibitive.
It would therefore be desirable to develop transparent glass-ceramic materials having high strain points and coefficients of thermal expansion which are compatible with polycrystalline silicon, especially high temperature poly-Si.


In one embodiment, a display device having a touch function includes an insulating substrate and a plurality of pixels formed on the insulating substrate and arranged in a matrix of rows and columns. The pixels form a plurality of pixel blocks formed of a plurality of rows and columns of the pixels. A sensor circuit is arranged in a space between adjacent pixels on the insulating substrate and includes a coupling electrode, a detection electrode arranged adjacent to the coupling electrode for forming a coupling capacitance therebetween, and a reading-out circuit to read out a potential of the detection electrode. At least one sensor circuit is arranged in each pixel block. The contact or non-contact by a fingertip or a nib is detected by a potential difference of the detection electrode.

In recent years, electronic devices having a display provided with a touch panel function are developed as a user interface, such as a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PAD), and a personal computer. In the electronic devices equipped with the touch panel function, it is studied to provide the touch panel function by pasting a touch panel substrate separately made to the displays, such as a liquid crystal display and an organic electroluminescence display.
Moreover, in a display device having scanning lines and signal lines, a technology of manufacturing the display device with sensor elements is researched.
Moreover, as a sensing system, a technology is studied to detect a contact position on the surface of the display panel by a fingertip or a nib, in which a detection electrode is provided in place of an electrical optical sensor element, and an information of the contact position is detected by a capacitance change between the electrode and the finger, etc.
For example, when the touch panel function is realized by building the sensor elements on the substrate which constitutes the display, the characteristic of the sensor element on the substrate might show variation depending on manufacturing processes, and a non-sensing region in the touch panel function area might be generated. Moreover, there is a possibility that the touch panel function might stop operating by changes of electrostatic noises in a using environment.
Moreover, when a voltage difference of the detection electrode is detected corresponding to the contacting or non-contacting by the fingertip or the nib, the cost for the touch sensing is increased if the voltage range inputted to an analog-to-digital converter is made greater in order that an absolute out-put voltage is made greater.

Display device with integrated touch function


A vehicle assembly for housing an unlocking mechanism provided within a vehicle passenger compartment which is operably connected to a locking device of a trunk lid includes an interior body panel having an outer surface including an opening portion for receiving an unlocking mechanism. A lid is removably mounted to the body panel and has a closed position for covering the opening portion and an opened position. The lid defines a lid body having an exterior surface. An edge portion of the exterior surface is continuous and without interruption about a periphery of the exterior surface so that the lid body exterior surface is flush with the body panel outer surface about the entire periphery of the lid body exterior surface.

It is known for a vehicle to have an electronic key that is in signal communication with a locking device of a trunk lid so that depression of a trunk lid button on the electronic key actuates the locking device. It is also known to provide a trunk lid unlocking mechanism mounted directly on an instrument panel which allows the trunk lid to be opened from in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. For this purpose, the unlocking mechanism is operably connected to the locking device of the trunk lid so that actuation of the unlocking mechanism unlocks the locking device. The unlocking mechanism can be concealed by a cover or lid, and an outer surface of the lid typically includes an interruption, such as a cut-out shape or raised feature to accommodate an operator's finger or hand space, which allows the lid to be opened. However, this type of lid design having the interruption on the outer surface can affect the aesthetic appearance of a vehicle body panel to which the key lock is mounted.

Vehicle interior lid for covering trunk lid unlocking mechanism


The present invention provides a method of controlling a washing course in a washing machine, by which a drive motor for rotating a drum is prevented from being overloaded according to a laundry amount and by which a drum can be smoothly rotated without unnecessary power consumption provided to a motor. In a washing machine having a motor for rotating a drum in a first direction, the present invention includes the steps of driving the motor to rotate the drum at a prescribed angle in the first direction, stopping driving the motor so that the drum is rotated by a gravitational force of a laundry within the drum in a second direction opposite to the first direction, and rotating the drum in the first direction again by driving the motor while the drum is rotated in the first direction switched from the first direction by the gravitational force of the laundry.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a washing course in a washing machine, by which a rotational force of a drum can be compensated in case that a laundry is excessively put in the drum to weaken the rotational force in an early stage of the washing cycle.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a washing machine is a home appliance for removing dirt or filth attached a laundry by chemical reaction and mechanical impact. A drum type washing machine, which is a sort of the washing machine, is advantageous in increasing its washing capability as well as in lowering its overall height smaller than that of a pulsator type washing machine having an upright drum that is rotated for washing. And, the drum type washing machine prevents such a problem as laundry entanglement, laundry raveling, and the like. Hence, the demand for the drum type washing machine tends to rise.
A configuration of a general drum type washing machine is explained by referring to the attached drawing as follows.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional diagram of a drum type washing machine according to a related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a drum type washing machine according to a related art consists of a tub 2 supported by a damper 7 and a spring 6 provided within a body 1, a cylindrical drum 3 installed within the tub 2 to be rotatable centering around a horizontal axis, and a motor 5 connected to the drum 3 via the horizontal axis.
The motor 5 is mounted on a rear surface of the tub 2 and consists of a rotor 5b and a stator 5a. In order to transfer a drive force of the rotor 5b to the drum 3 directly without using a pulley or belt, a drum shaft 4 is directly connected to the rotor 5b to rotate together with the drum 3.
A door 8 is provided to a prescribed location of a front surface of the body 1 to confront an opening of the drum 3. A gasket 9 is provided between the door 8 and the drum 3 to maintain a hermetic state within the drum 3. And, a control panel 10 is provided over the door 8 to control an overall operation of the washing machine according to user's operational command.
In the above-configured drum type washing machine, the drive (rotational) force of the rotor 5b is transferred to the drum 3 via the drum shaft 4. Hence, the drum 3 is rotated so that a laundry is lifted upward by a lifter 3a to fall due to gravity. Thus, a washing cycle is performed.
However, in the related art drum type washing machine, in case of putting a laundry in the drum 3 excessively, the laundry tends to closely adhere to a door glass 8a of the door 8 projected inward the opening. If so, the motor 5 becomes overloaded in an initial rotation of the drum 3. In a worsened case, the motor 5 is unable to rotate the drum 3. Hence, the washing cycle may stop while an upper portion of the laundry fails to be soaked in water.

Method of controlling washing course in washing machine


A pinch roller urging mechanism adapted for use in a magnetically recording and reading apparatus includes primary and auxiliary link mechanisms operated by main and subsidiary plunger solenoids. The primary and auxiliary link mechanisms are operatively coupled to each other so that the primary link mechanism is operated by both or either one of the main and subsidiary plunger solenoids.

The present invention relates to a magnetic reading and recording apparatus for use with a magnetic tape, and more specifically to a device for urging a pinch roller against a capstan roller in such an apparatus.
An apparatus for reading and recording information on a magnetic tape, such as, for example, a video tape recorder, may, as is known in the art, include a rotary head drum carrying a magnetic head, a capstan roller for transporting a magnetic tape via the head drum, a pinch roller for urging the magnetic tape against the capstan roller, and a device for driving the pinch roller. The pinch roller urging device may typically include a reciprocally moving link and a rotary arm connected to the link.
However, the pinch roller urging device allows the pinch roller to urge the magnetic tape against the capstan roller in both the PLAY and STOP operation modes of the apparatus. The force applied on the pinch roller in the STOP mode causes the pinch roller to become deformed, thereby disturbing the smooth transport of the magnetic tape.
There is a great demand for a pinch roller urging device which will control the pinch roller without deforming the pinch roller and which will smoothly transport the magnetic tape.

Pinch roller urging device for video information recording/reading apparatus


An integrated circuit and manufacturing method therefore is provided having a semiconductor substrate with a semiconductor device. A device dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate, and a channel dielectric layer formed on the device dielectric layer has an opening formed therein. A barrier layer lines the channel opening and a conductor core fills the opening over the barrier layer. Before planarization of the conductor core and the barrier layer, an anneal of the semiconductor substrate is performed at high temperatures of 400xc2x0 C. and above to stimulate grain growth. After planarization, subsequent high temperature deposition of passivating or capping layers will not cause grain growth and hillocks will be suppressed.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor technology and more specifically to suppressing hillocks in copper interconnects in semiconductor processing.
In the manufacture of integrated circuits, after the individual devices such as the transistors have been fabricated in and on the semiconductor substrate, they must be connected together to perform the desired circuit functions. This interconnection process is generally called xe2x80x9cmetallizationxe2x80x9d and is performed using a number of different photolithographic, deposition, and removal techniques.
In one interconnection process, which is called a xe2x80x9cdual damascenexe2x80x9d technique, two channels of conductor materials are separated by interlayer dielectric layers in vertically separated planes perpendicular to each other and interconnected by a vertical connection, or xe2x80x9cviaxe2x80x9d, at their closest point. The dual damascene technique is performed over the individual devices which are in a device dielectric layer with the gate and source/drain contacts, extending up through the device dielectric layer to contact one or more channels in a first channel dielectric layer.
The first channel formation of the dual damascene process starts with the deposition of a thin first channel stop layer. The first channel stop layer is an etch stop layer which is subject to a photolithographic processing step which involves deposition, patterning, exposure, and development of a photoresist, and an anisotropic etching step through the patterned photoresist to provide openings to the device contacts. The photoresist is then stripped. A first channel dielectric layer is formed on the first channel stop layer. Where the first channel dielectric layer is of an oxide material, such as silicon oxide (SiO2), the first channel stop layer is a nitride, such as silicon nitride (SiN), so the two layers can be selectively etched.
The first channel dielectric layer is then subject to further photolithographic process and etching steps to form first channel openings in the pattern of the first channels. The photoresist is then stripped.
An optional thin adhesion layer is deposited on the first channel dielectric layer and lines the first channel openings to ensure good adhesion of subsequently deposited material to the first channel dielectric layer. Adhesion layers for copper (Cu) conductor materials are composed of compounds such as tantalum nitride (TaN), titanium nitride (TiN), or tungsten nitride (WN).
These nitride compounds have good adhesion to the dielectric materials and provide good barrier resistance to the diffusion of copper from the copper conductor materials to the dielectric material. High barrier resistance is necessary with conductor materials such as copper to prevent diffusion of subsequently deposited copper into the dielectric layer, which can cause short circuits in the integrated circuit.
However, these nitride compounds also have relatively poor adhesion to copper and relatively high electrical resistance.
Because of the drawbacks, pure refractory metals such as tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti), or tungsten (W) are deposited on the adhesion layer to line the adhesion layer in the first channel openings. The refractory metals are good barrier materials, have lower electrical resistance than their nitrides, and have good adhesion to copper.
In some cases, the barrier material has sufficient adhesion to the dielectric material that the adhesion layer is not required, and in other cases, the adhesion and barrier material become integral. The adhesion and barrier layers are often collectively referred to as a xe2x80x9cbarrierxe2x80x9d layer herein.
For conductor materials such as copper, which are deposited by electroplating, a seed layer is deposited on the barrier layer and lines the barrier layer in the first channel openings. The seed layer, generally of copper, is deposited to act as an electrode for the electroplating process.
A first conductor material is deposited on the seed layer and fills the first channel opening. The first conductor material and the seed layer generally become integral, and are often collectively referred to as the conductor core when discussing the main current-carrying portion of the channels.
A chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process is then used to remove the first conductor material, the seed layer, and the barrier layer above the first channel dielectric layer to form the first channels. When a layer is placed over the first channels as a final layer, it is called a xe2x80x9ccappingxe2x80x9d layer and the xe2x80x9csinglexe2x80x9d damascene process is completed. When additional layers of material are to be deposited for the dual damascene process, the capping layer also functions as an etch stop layer for a via formation step.
The via formation step of the dual damascene process continues with the deposition of a via dielectric layer over the first channels, the first channel dielectric layer, and the capping or via stop layer. The via stop layer is an etch stop layer which is subject to photolithographic processing and anisotropic etching steps to provide openings to the first channels. The photoresist is then stripped.
A via dielectric layer is formed on the via stop layer. Again, where the via dielectric layer is of an oxide material, such as silicon oxide, the via stop layer is a nitride, such as silicon nitride, so the two layers can be selectively etched. The via dielectric layer is then subject to further photolithographic process and etching steps to form the pattern of the vias. The photoresist is then stripped.
A second channel dielectric layer is formed on the via dielectric layer. Again, where the second channel dielectric layer is of an oxide material, such as silicon oxide, the via stop layer is a nitride, such as silicon nitride, so the two layers can be selectively etched. The second channel dielectric layer is then subject to further photolithographic process and etching steps to simultaneously form second channel and via openings in the pattern of the second channels and the vias. The photoresist is then stripped.
An optional thin adhesion layer is deposited on the second channel dielectric layer and lines the second channel and the via openings.
A barrier layer is then deposited on the adhesion layer and lines the adhesion layer in the second channel openings and the vias.
Again, for conductor materials such as copper and copper alloys, which are deposited by electroplating, a seed layer is deposited by electro-less deposition on the barrier layer and lines the barrier layer in the second channel openings and the vias.
A second conductor material is deposited on the seed layer and fills the second channel openings and the vias.
A CMP process is then used to remove the second conductor material, the seed layer, and the barrier layer above the second channel dielectric layer to simultaneously form the vias and the second channels. When a layer is placed over the second channels as a final layer, it is called a xe2x80x9ccappingxe2x80x9d layer and the xe2x80x9cdualxe2x80x9d damascene process is completed.
Individual and multiple levels of single and dual damascene structures can be formed for single and multiple levels of channels and vias, which are collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cinterconnectsxe2x80x9d.
The use of the single and dual damascene techniques eliminates metal etch and dielectric gap fill steps typically used in the metallization process. The elimination of metal etch steps is important as the semiconductor industry moves from aluminum (Al) to other metallization materials, such as copper, which are very difficult to etch.
One major problem relates to the formation of hillocks in the copper surface, which are due to grain growth at elevated temperatures. A hillock is a protrusion of copper from the copper surface. Hillocks tend to form most readily at free surfaces where there are no constraining films, but they can also protrude through thin films if the stresses are high enough. If the hillocks are large enough, they can result in causing short circuit types of defects either immediately or over time, which irrevocably damage the integrated circuit.
Solutions to this problem have been long sought but have long eluded those skilled in the art.
The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an integrated circuit having a semiconductor substrate with a semiconductor device. A dielectric layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate and an opening is formed in the dielectric. A barrier layer is deposited to line the opening, and a conductor core is deposited to fill the channel opening over the barrier layer. A high temperature anneal is performed above about 400xc2x0 C. to force grain growth in the conductor core material and relieve stress in the copper. The conductor core and barrier are planarized. A capping layer is deposited at a high temperature of 400xc2x0 C. The high temperature anneal removes the driving force for grain growth during passivation and suppresses the formation of hillocks.
The above and additional advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Anneal hillock suppression method in integrated circuit interconnects


A semiconductor memory comprising a memory cell array, a spare memory cell array, a spare data replacing circuit, a syndrome computing circuit, and an ECC circuit is disclosed. The data in the memory cell replaced with a memory cell in the spare memory cell array is set to 0 and then the syndromes of the data read from the memory cell array are calculated. In parallel with the syndrome calculation, the data in the memory cell of the memory cell array is replaced with the data read from a spare memory cell. Then, the syndromes of the data read from the memory cell in the spare memory cell array are calculated. The calculated syndromes and the output of the spare data replacing circuit are supplied to the ECC circuit, which corrects the error if there is a 1-bit error in the data read from the memory cell array.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a ferroelectric memory which stores binary data in a nonvolatile manner by using two different magnitudes of polarizations of a ferroelectric substance on the basis of the fact that spontaneous polarization, one of the properties of a ferroelectric substance, presents a hysteresis characteristic.
2. Description of the Related Art
A ferroelectric memory stores binary data in a nonvolatile manner by using two different magnitudes of polarizations of a ferroelectric substance on the basis of the fact that spontaneous polarization, one of the properties of a ferroelectric substance, presents a hysteresis characteristic. A memory cell in a conventional ferroelectric memory has generally employed the same architecture as that of a DRAM (refer to, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-143478 or Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2001-250376). In the conventional ferroelectric memory, a normal dielectric capacitor is replaced with a ferroelectric capacitor and the ferroelectric capacitor is connected in series with a transistor, thereby configuring a memory cell. A plurality of units of this memory cell are arranged, thereby configuring a memory cell array.
In addition to the memory cell array, a spare memory cell array is provided to remedy defective bits in the memory cell array. If a defective bit has occurred in a block in the memory cell array, the block is replaced with a block in the spare memory cell array. This enables the overhead of the chip area to be minimized and the chip yield to be increased.
Furthermore, providing the chip with an error checking and correcting (ECC) circuit makes it possible to correct the error in the data, when there is an error only in one bit in a plurality of items of data read out. The method with the ECC circuit works on a defective bit from which erroneous data will be read at a certain probability under a specific condition, not on a defective bit which can be neither read from nor written to a cell in the memory cell array. Using this method enables the reliability of read data to be improved.
In a case where the chip is provided with both the spare memory cell array and the ECC circuit, when data replacement is needed using the spare memory cell array, the data in the memory cell array is replaced with the data in the spare memory cell array first. Next, using a syndrome computing circuit, syndromes are calculated from the data in the memory cell array and the data in a part of the spare memory cell array. If there is a 1-bit error, the ECC circuit corrects the error on the basis of the syndrome and the read data and outputs the result. A ferroelectric memory is a nonvolatile memory. Since the ferroelectric memory uses a destructive read operation, the series of operations has to be carried out in a short period from when the data is read onto the data line until the data is written again.
Since the spare memory cell array is generally provided adjacent to the memory cell array, some of the blocks in the memory cell are close to the spare memory cell array and some are far away from the spare memory cell array. The difference in wiring length between a block close to and a block far away from the spare memory cell array is large. When the data read from a memory cell in the block far away from the spare memory cell array is replaced with the data in the spare memory cell array, the time required to replace the data in the memory cell array with the data in the spare memory cell array increases. This results in an increase in the cycle time and an increase in the access time.

Ferroelectric memory with spare memory cell array and ECC circuit