An input voltage detecting circuit includes an input circuit, a signal processing circuit and an output circuit. The input circuit is used for processing the intensity and the waveform of an input voltage, thereby generating a first signal, wherein the first signal and the input voltage have similar time sequences. The signal processing circuit is connected to the input circuit for reducing a first delaying time of the first signal, thereby generating a second signal having a second delaying time shorter than the first delaying time. The output circuit is connected to the signal processing circuit for processing the intensity and the waveform of the second signal, thereby generating the power status signal. If the input voltage is uninterrupted, the power status signal is in an uninterrupted status. If the input voltage is interrupted, the power status signal is in an interrupted status.

With increasing industrial development, diverse electronic devices are used to achieve various purposes. An electronic device comprises a plurality of electronic components. Generally, different kinds of electronic components are operated by using different voltages.
As known, a power supply is essential for many electronic devices such as personal computers, industrial computers, servers, communication products or network products. Usually, the user may simply plug a connector of a power supply into an AC wall outlet commonly found in most homes or offices so as to receive an AC voltage. The power supply will convert the AC voltage into a regulated DC output voltage for powering the electronic device. The regulated DC output voltage is transmitted to the electronic device through a power cable.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the connection between a power supply and a system circuit of an electronic device according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the power supply 11 includes a power converting circuit 111 and an input capacitor Cx. The input capacitor Cx is connected to the input terminal of the power converting circuit 111 for suppressing electromagnetic interference (EMI). The output terminal of the power converting circuit 111 is connected to the system circuit 12. By the power converting circuit 111, the electric energy of an input voltage Vin is received and converted into an output voltage Vo for powering the system circuit 12. If the input voltage Vin is suffered from sudden interruption, the power converting circuit 111 fails to continuously provide the output voltage Vo to the system circuit 12. If no proper measures (for example saving the game's progress of a game console, saving the operating data of the computer and reducing the bulb temperature of a projector) are taken before the electronic device 1 is turned off, some important data stored in the electronic device 1 are possibly lost and the electronic device 1 fails to be normally turned on or normally operated again. In other words, a prerequisite procedure should be done before the electronic device 1 is turned off.
For providing a sufficient time period to perform the prerequisite procedure, an input voltage detecting circuit is used to detect the magnitude of the input voltage Vin. If the input voltage Vin is suffered from interruption, the input voltage detecting circuit will issue a power status signal. According to the power status signal, the electronic device 1 performs the prerequisite procedure.
FIG. 2 is a timing waveform diagram schematically illustrating the corresponding voltage signals processed in a conventional input voltage detecting circuit. In a case that the input voltage Vin is suffered from interruption at the first time spot t1, the discharging period of the input capacitor Cx is too long and the magnitude of the input voltage Vin is decreased at a slow rate, because the capacitance value of the input capacitor Cx and the impedance at the input terminal of the power converting circuit 111 are very large. In addition, since the conventional input voltage detecting circuit (not shown) is very simple, its response to the interruption of the input voltage Vin is very slow. Until the magnitude of the input voltage Vin is lowered than a reference voltage at the second time spot t2, the conventional input voltage detecting circuit may discriminate that the input voltage Vin is suffered from interruption. At the same time, a power status signal Vk generated by the input voltage detecting circuit is at a high-level status, meaning that the input voltage Vin is interrupted.
Since the power status signal Vk indicative of interruption of the input voltage Vin is generated after the input voltage Vin has been suffered from interruption for a delaying time Td, the user fails to realize the timing of performing the prerequisite procedure before the electronic device 1 is turned off. In other words, the conventional input voltage detecting circuit is not feasible to the power supply 11.
There is a need of providing an improved input voltage detecting circuit so as to obviate the drawbacks encountered from the prior art.

Input voltage detecting circuit and power supply having such input voltage detecting circuit


A system, method, and computer program product for recovering from a memory underflow condition associated with generating video signals are disclosed. The method includes the steps of determining that a first counter is greater than a second counter, incrementing an address corresponding to a memory fetch request by an offset, and issuing the memory fetch request to a memory. The first counter represents a number of pixels that have been read by a display pipeline for a current frame and the second counter represents a number of pixels requested from a memory for the current frame.

Conventional electronic systems generate computer-rendered graphics for display on display devices such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). In a typical system, a central processing unit (CPU) is coupled to a graphics processing unit (GPU) that has a dedicated video memory for storing computer-rendered pixel data for display on a screen. The GPU renders pixel data from two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphics primitives and copies the pixel data to a frame buffer in the video memory. Then, a display controller within the GNU reads the pixel data from the frame buffer and generates video signals for output to the display device.
The video signals are time-sensitive. The display device may be configured to operate at a specific refresh frequency such as 60 Hz. In other words, each pixel in the display device is updated a number of times per second (e.g., 60 times per second). The timing requirements for the video signals are precise, but the video memory typically operates asynchronously from the display controller. In other words, the display controller transmits a request to the video memory to read the pixel data for a particular line of pixels some time before that pixel data is utilized to generate the time-sensitive video signals. However, multiple clients may attempt to access the video memory at the same time. For example, the CPU may be writing data to the video memory that is used to generate pixel data for the next frame of video, the graphics pipeline may access the data to generate the pixel data, or the graphics pipeline may write pixel data to the frame buffer in the video memory. Because the bandwidth of the video memory is limited, a memory fetch request submitted to the video memory may be delayed for a number of clock cycles before the pixel data associated with the fetch request is returned to the display controller. If the delay is long enough, then the pixel data received by the display controller corresponds to a particular point in the video signals that was already sent to the display. Thus, the pixel data must be discarded and the video signals sent to the display contained invalid data for those particular pixels. This condition is referred to herein as a memory underflow condition where the memory request is not returned in time to meet the timing requirements of the video signals. Thus, there is a need for addressing this issue and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program product for recovering from a memory underflow condition associated with generating video signals


Embodiments of the invention relate to a medical device with a visual indicator that changes color when exposed to a particular environment and/or chemical. The visual indicator may be printed or otherwise affixed on a portion of a medical device, for example the handle, and initially have the same color as that portion. When exposed to a particular environment and/or chemical, the visual indicator changes color so that it has a different color than that portion of the medical device.

Prior to using a medical device, the device should be sterile and not exposed to hazardous environments and/or chemicals. Medical devices are used with and inside the human body, and the use of unsterile medical devices can cause infections or even death. In addition, and for at least these reasons, many medical devices are designed as single use devices and should not be reused on a second patient. As it is sometimes difficult to tell by just visual inspection, however, whether a particular medical device is sterile, has been exposed to potentially hazardous environments and/or chemicals, or already used, an indicator of prior use or an unsterile state is desired.
One way to determine that a medical device is sterile is if it is used immediately after removing it from its original, unopened, sealed packaging. However, as there may be a time delay between when the medical device is removed from that packaging and when it is used by the user, and the actual user may differ from the person who removed the medical device from the packaging, this method may be of limited use.
Another way to determine that a medical device is sterile is through the placement of labels, stickers, or tapes on the medical device or packaging. The labels, stickers, or tapes may contain chemicals that change color, for example, when exposed to a nonsterile or other undesirable environment, an undesirable temperature, or a potentially hazardous chemical for any duration. However, labels, stickers, or tapes placed on the device packaging presents the same problems discussed above. In addition, labels, stickers, or tapes can be removed and/or fall off when placed on the medical device itself.
Accordingly, another method of determining the sterility of a medical device is desired.

Medical device with visual indicator and related methods of use


A plasma display having a quartet type pixel structure provides a high grade and excellent picture quality picture and maintains good white balance and excellent intensity levels. The plasma display comprises a reference circuit .phi. for outputting a control signal based on the least significant bit of a digitized green video signal and a timing signal and an arithmetic circuit 8 for performing an arithmetic operation on the output of the reference circuit. As a result of this arrangement, the least significant bit information, that was lost by halving the green signal value to maintain the white balance is incorporated in the halved green signal based on a timing signal, thereby realizing 256 intensity levels without degrading the halftone in the video picture.

The present invention relates to a plasma display for use in thin TVs, personal computers, workstations and the like, and the plasma display operation.
In recent years, color plasma displays (PDP) provided with a memory function have been in demand for the purpose of making thin displays that can replace color CRTs that are widely used in television receivers. There are two kinds of plasma displays provided with a memory function, i.e. an AC type and a DC type. The DC type PDP, which is considered more practical, is explained below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a DC type plasma display has two kinds of display matrix groups, i.e. a scan electrode group 4 consisting of cathodes K1, K2, K3, etc. and a display electrode group 5 consisting of anodes A1, A2, A3, etc. with each respective crossing point thereof forming a display discharge cell 3. A space between display electrode group 5 and scan electrode group 4 is filled with a discharge gas such as helium-xenon or the like. The discharge cell, 3 formed where a display electrode and a scan electrode cross each other, emits discharge light upon application of a voltage according to display information. The light emitted by the numerous discharge cells 3 results visual information which is recognizable by a viewer. For color displays, a quartet structure formed of two green pixels, one blue pixel and one red pixel is used and fluorescent substances corresponding to the above colors are disposed on each respective discharge cell 3.
Next, producing the intensities of the pixels in the picture display will be explained.
FIG. 3 is a time chart illustrating how the intensities are produced. One field corresponding to a picture is divided into a plurality of sub-fields, and the intensities are produced by controlling the light emission period of each respective sub-field. In this particular case, the number of intensity levels is 2.sup.8 =256. One field is divided into 8 sub-fields, each having an equal time period, and the light emission period of each respective sub-field is assigned a different value. Pixels on each respective scan line can be displayed in any of the 256 intensity levels by selecting the light emission period at the corresponding sub-fields.
Accordingly, color image display is made possible with a plasma display by forming discharge cells 3 at the crossing points between display electrodes and scan electrodes. Phosphors of green, blue and red are disposed in a quartet structure and illuminated to create a color display. Varying the intensity of the display is made possible by means of the sub-fields.
The arrangement of two green pixels disposed in the quartet structure enhances brightness and also improves the apparent display resolution. Since there are two green pixels in the quartet structure, simply supplying video signals to respective pixels of red, green and blue would disturb the white balance and reproduce excessive green color. On the other hand, supplying the green video signal with its amplitude reduced by 1/2 in order to preserve the white balance would cause the intensity to deteriorate to 128 levels due to a reduction in the signal amplitude.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A vertical Hall device includes a Hall effect region formed in a substrate and a sequence of at least six contacts arranged in or at a surface of the Hall effect region between a first contact and a last contact. The vertical Hall device also includes a first contact interconnection connecting the first contact with a third to the last contact. A vertical Hall device further includes a second contact interconnection connecting a third contact with the last contact. Further embodiments made to a sensing method for sensing a magnetic field parallel to a surface of a substrate.

Vertical Hall sensors typically comprise a Hall effect region that is formed within a substrate, such as a semiconductor substrate. Vertical Hall sensors respond to magnetic field components parallel to the substrate or, more precisely, parallel to a main surface of the substrate.
Typically, vertical Hall sensors have one problem in common, namely an offset error. The offset is the output signal in the absence of the magnetic field or the component thereof which the sensor should detect. The origin of the offset error is basically a slight asymmetry of the device. The so-called spinning current technique may be used to reduce the offset error of Hall devices. The spinning current technique was initially devised to be applied to horizontal Hall devices or "Hall plates": in subsequent clock phases the roles of supply and sense terminals of the Hall plate are exchanged. The output signals of the Hall plate in two clock phases are added or subtracted so that the offset (i.e., the zero point error) cancels and a strong signal with respect to the prevailing magnetic field remains.
The offset cancellation works all the better the higher the symmetry of the Hall plate or Hall device is. Therefore, Hall plates typically have a 90° symmetry, for example, squares, crosses or octagons. Vertical Hall devices on the other hand are typically less symmetric and therefore spinning current techniques are not as efficient for vertical Hall devices than for Hall plates (horizontal Hall devices).

Vertical hall device comprising first and second contact interconnections


A sensor apparatus for measuring characteristics of optical radiation has a substrate and a low profile spectrally selective detection system located within the substrate at one or more spatially separated locations. The spectrally selective detection system includes a generally laminar array of wavelength selectors optically coupled to a corresponding array of optical detectors. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract that will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Manufacturing processes such as those used for the production of electronic devices, flat panel displays, and lithography masks and processes for fabricating semiconductor devices often require that a suitable workpiece be subjected to a sequence of discrete process operations that involve optical radiation. Many of these processes are very sensitive to the process conditions and are preferably carried out within individual process chambers, often referred to as process tools, within which very specific conditions are established. Modern manufacturing facilities for such process tools typically use robotic transfer mechanisms as part of the overall automation of the production process.
The ability to establish and maintain precise conditions within the process chambers accurately and reproducibly is needed for the successful production of numerous types of products. Examples of products of particular importance are some of the state-of-the-art electronic devices such as semiconductor devices, flat panel display devices, and lithography masks. In order to achieve the high device yields and performance necessary for commercial success, the conditions within a process chamber are, in some cases, continuously monitored and controlled using sensors designed to measure specific physical parameters. Typically, these control sensors are built into the process tool so as to measure the parameter of interest such as optical radiation at a specific location within the process tool.
For applications such as the plasma processing of workpieces using a glow discharge, the techniques typically available for monitoring the plasma process conditions can suffer from a variety of problems. A typical problem is that the standard methods are intrusive in that they require modifications to the process chamber or process operating conditions. Another problem with the standard methods is that the standard methods typically provide only global measurements or averaged measurements for a region of the process. In general, currently available monitoring techniques and apparatuses cannot easily provide non-intrusive, spatially and/or temporally resolved measurements of optical radiation parameters for processing a substrate.
It is within this context that embodiments of the present invention arise.


A projection exposure system (10) for microlithography. The system includes projection optics (12) configured to image mask structures into a substrate plane (16), an input diffraction element (28) which is configured to convert irradiated measurement radiation (21) into at least two test waves (30) directed onto the projection optics (12) with differing propagation directions, a detection diffraction element (34; 28) which is disposed in the optical path of the test waves (30) after the latter have passed through the projection optics (12) and is configured to produce a detection beam (36) from the test waves (30) which has a mixture of radiation portions of both test waves (30), a photo detector (38) disposed in the optical path of the detection beam (36) which is configured to record the radiation intensity of the detection beam (36), time resolved, and an evaluation unit which is configured to determine the lateral imaging stability of the projection optics (12) from the radiation intensity recorded.

The invention relates to a projection exposure system for microlithography. These types of projection exposure system generally have a mask holding device in the form of a mask table or of a so-called "reticle stage" for holding a mask or a so-called "reticle" with mask structures disposed on the latter. This type of projection exposure system generally further comprises a substrate holding device in the form of a so-called "wafer stage" for holding a substrate in the form of a wafer and projection optics for imaging the mask structures onto the substrate.
With conventional projection exposure systems the quality of the image often suffers from blurring. If the image position drifts over the wafer while exposing a field, the latent image is blurred in the photoresist. The effect of this is overlay errors in the printed structures. These blurring problems occur to a particularly large extent with EUV projection exposure systems. EUV projection exposure systems expose structures with light with a wavelength in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range, e.g. with a wavelength of 13.5 nm. In the roadmap of the semiconductor industry optical lithography in the EUV plays a key role. Only mirrors are considered as optical components here. With mirror optics a change to the mirror position and/or the mirror tilt position leads first and foremost to a shift in the image. The requirements for the mechanical stability of the optical components are clearly tightened in comparison to refractive systems.
With conventional projection exposure systems the field position while exposing a wafer is controlled a number of times with appropriate adjustment and so-called "alignment" sensors, and appropriate corrective measures are introduced. For this purpose the actual exposure process of the photoresist is interrupted. Between the control measurements one relies upon the short-term stability of the projection system. In comparison with EUV systems, conventional systems have a relatively high level of short-term stability. The stability requirements for the image position when carrying forward the conventional image position control concept leads to an increase in the mechanical stability requirements in the image position from 1 nm with conventional systems to 0.2 nm with EUV systems over a period of 5 minutes. The thermal expansion of the mechanical base structure of the objective is a main error contribution for the stability of the mirror positions. In order to meet the demanded high requirements of image stability, one is currently taking the approach of using materials with extremely low thermal expansion coefficients for the structure of the projection objective. However, these types of material are extremely cost intensive, sensitive and difficult to process.

Projection exposure system for microlithography and method of monitoring a lateral imaging stability


A fiber Bragg grating interrogator assembly is described. Examples of the fiber Bragg grating interrogator assembly include an optical fiber including a fiber Bragg grating having a variable Bragg wavelength (λB) and a dynamic range of interest (Δλdyn,B) over which the Bragg wavelength (λB) can shift during use. The fiber Bragg grating interrogator assembly also includes a response analyzer having a spectrally selective device with an input port to which the optical fiber is operably connected, and a plurality of output ports of which each output port is associated with a respective spectral range (Δλn). The spectral ranges (Δλn, Δλn+1, Δλn+2) of each at least three successive output ports partially overlap, such that the FBG's Bragg wavelength (λB) falls inside the spectral ranges (Δλn, Δλn+1, Δλn+2) of at least three successive output ports over the dynamic range of interest (Δλdyn,B) of the FBG.

In the field of aerospace, the use of strong and light weight composite materials is increasing. A notorious drawback of these materials is that the process of their failure is rather complex, and damage may develop virtually invisibly from within composite structures, such as aircraft wings and wind turbine blades. To prevent accidents, regular manual inspection of these structures may therefore be required.
It has been suggested to automate the surveillance of mechanically loaded structures by means of an active health monitoring system including a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor that is interrogated by an arrayed wave guide (AWG) based interrogator, which system may infer the existence of various kinds of damage to the monitored structure from changes in the Bragg wavelength. In such health monitoring systems the initial Bragg wavelength of an FBG sensor may typically be situated between the respective center wavelengths of two associated output ports or output channels of the AWG, such that a response provided by the FBG sensor upon interrogation is divided between those ports. When, during use, the Bragg wavelength of the FBG changes due to the fact that it is strained, the power ratio between the two output ports also changes.

Fiber bragg grating interrogator assembly and method for the same


A method for calibrating real and virtual views includes tracking a calibration screen, wherein a real reference point, generated by a real reference point generator, is projected on the calibration screen, aligning a view of a virtual reference point to a view of the real reference point in a display, wherein the real reference point generator and the display have a fixed relative position, determining a point correspondence between the virtual reference point and the real reference point, and determining one or more parameters for rendering a virtual object in the real scene.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to augmented reality, and more particularly to a system and method for augmented reality calibration of see-through head-mounted displays.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Augmented vision, also referred to as augmented reality or augmented reality vision, augments a user's view of the real world with superimposed computer generated graphical information. This information may be include, for example, a text label attached to some object in the scene, or a three-dimensional (3D) model of a patient's brain, derived from an MRI scan, and aligned to the real view of the person's head.
The user may observe the real world directly with his or her eyes, and the additional graphics information is blended in via a semi-transparent display located between the observer and the real scene. Such a display device can, for example, be an optical see-through head mounted display.
The display can also be opaque, like a computer screen or a non-see-through head mounted display. It then presents to the user the complete augmented view, a combination of the real-world view and the graphics overlay. A video camera takes the place of the real-world observer to capture the real world-view. Two cameras may be implemented for stereo vision. A computer may be used to combine the live video with the graphics augmentation. A display device of this kind is, for example, a video-see-through head-mounted display.
The graphics are positioned, oriented, and scaled, or even rendered in a perspective fashion for correct alignment with the real-world view. To achieve precise alignment of the real and virtual view, the graphics may be anchored to a real-world object. For this knowledge of the position and orientation of the user's viewpoint is needed with respect to this object, and the orientation of the object. Thus, the relationship between two coordinate systems needs to be defined, one attached to the user's head, the other attached to the object.
Tracking denotes the process of keeping track of this relationship. Commercial tracking systems are available based on optical, magnetic, ultrasound, and mechanical means.
Calibration is needed to achieve correct alignment between virtual graphics objects and real objects in the scene. Calibrating a video-see-through HMD can be done in an objective way, independent of a user, as real and virtual images are combined in the computer. In contrast, with an optical-see-through HMD the combination of the real and virtual images takes place finally in the user's eye, and the position of the user's eye behind the semi-transparent screen has critical influence on the alignment.
Different methods for calibrating an optical-see-through HMD are known as prior art. All known calibration methods require the user to align virtual structures with real reference structures. For example, in the SPAAM method the user is shown a sequence of fixed graphical markers on the display and moves the head to bring them into alignment with a reference marker in the real scene. This alignment is hampered by the user's head jitter. Due to head jitter the location of the real marker jitters, and it is not possible to precisely align virtual and real markers.
For augmented reality applications needing both precise measurements and comfortable use, such as in an operating room, no known system currently exists. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method for augmented reality calibration of see-through head-mounted displays.


Polymorphisms within a plasma carboxypeptidase designated plasma carboxypeptidase B (PCPB) have been identified. The relative distribution of these polymorphs in a patient's blood can be used to assess an individual's risk toward thrombotic disease.

The coagulation and fibrinolytic cascades comprise a series of zymogen to enzyme conversions which terminate in the proteolytic enzymes thrombin and plasmin, respectively (Mann et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. (1991), Vol. 614, pp. 63-75); K. Collen et al., Blood (1991), Vol. 78, pp. 3114-3124; Astrup T., Semin. Thromb. Hemostasis (1991), Vol. 17, pp. 161-174). These enzymes catalyze the deposition and removal of fibrin. A proper balance between the activities of the two cascades is required both to protect the organism from excessive blood loss upon injury and to maintain blood fluidity within the vascular system. Imbalances are characterized by either bleeding or thrombotic tendencies, the latter of which are manifested as, for example, heart attacks and strokes.
Thrombomodulin is a component of the blood vessel wall which binds thrombin and changes its specificity from fibrinogen to protein C, yielding anticoagulant rather than procoagulant activity (Esmon, C. T., FASEB J. (1995), Vol. 9, pp. 946-955). The thrombin-thrombomodulin complex catalyzes cleavage of protein C to activated protein C, which then downregulates the coagulation cascade by proteolytically inactivating the essential cofactors Factor Va and Factor VLLLa (Esmon et al., Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. (1991), Vol. 614, pp. 30-43). These events are essential in the regulation of the coagulation cascade.
Early studies suggested that activated protein C is not only an anticoagulant but also profibrinolytic, both in vitro and in vivo (Taylor et al., Thromb. Res. (1985), Vol. 37, pp. 639-649; de Fouw et al., Adv. Exp. Med. Biol., Vol. 281, pp. 235-243). It was later determined that protein C only appears profibrinolytic because it prevents the thrombin-catalyzed activation of a previously unknown fibrinolysis inhibitor, whose precursor has been isolated from plasma and designated TAFI (thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor) or PCPB (plasma carboxypeptidase B). The zymogen precursor is activated by thrombin, plasmin or by a thrombin-thrombomodulin complex to produce an enzyme with carboxypeptidase B activity, which inhibits plasminogen activation and thereby prolongs fibrinolysis (Bajzar et al., J. Bio. Chem. (1996), Vol. 270, pp. 14477-14484).
TAFI was discovered independently in three different laboratories. It initially appeared as an unstable carboxypeptidase B-like entity in human serum and was described by Hendricks et al. (Biochim. Biophys. Acta (1990), Vol. 1034, pp. 86-92). Then Eaton et al. (J. Biol. Chem. (1991), Vol. 266, pp. 21833-21838) cloned the cDNA, deduced the amino acid sequence, described its activation by trypsin, and analyzed its enzymatic properties toward synthetic carboxypeptidase B substrates. They designated the protein PCPB, for plasma carboxypeptidase B (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,161). Wang et al. (J. Biol. Chem. (1994), Vol. 269, pp. 15937-15944) independently isolated the activated material and named it carboxypeptidase U, where "U" indicates unstable. Nesheim et al (J. Biol. Chem. (1995), Vol. 270, pp. 14477-14484 ) showed that the protein was both activated by thrombin and inhibits fibrinolysis and gave it the name TAFI (thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor). Subsequently, Tan and Eaton (Biochemistry (1995), Vol. 34, pp. 5811-5816) studied the trypsin activated enzyme and renamed the protein plasma procarboxypeptidase B (pro-pCPB). The co-identity of TAFI and pro-pCPB (or PCPB, as it was initially designated) has been established by their chromatographic behavior on plasminogen Sepharose and the amino acid sequences present at the activation cleavage site.
Thrombophilia can be defined as a tendency toward venous thromboembolic disease in adults under 50 years old in the absence of known risk factors including, among others, malignancy, immobilization, or major surgery. In principle, a tendency toward venous thrombosis could arise from hyperactive coagulation pathways, hypoactive anticoagulant mechanisms, or hypoactive fibrinolysis. Molecular explanations for some thrombophilic patients have come following the discoveries of hereditary thrombophilia associated with deficiencies of the anticoagulant factors antithrombin III (Egeberg, O., Throm. Diath. Haemorrh. (1965) Vol. 13, p. 516), protein C (Griffin et al., J. Clin. Invest. (1981), Vol. 68, p. 1370), and protein S (Comp et al., N. Engl. J. Med. (1984), Vol. 31, p. 1525). More recently, Dahlback et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA (1993), Vol. 90, p.1004) have identified the presence of a single point mutation in the Factor V gene, which results in the replacement of an amino acid within the activated protein C cleavage site of the Factor Va molecule. The presence of this mutation has been useful in screening the population to determine those at risk for thromboembolic (thrombotic) disease.

Method of detecting thrombotic disease risk associated with plasma carboxypeptidase B polymorphisms


The present invention is a modular binder which allows for the quick exchange of binder covers and/or pocket inserts such that the user can customize his or her binder to a particular need or situation. The binder includes a ring assembly with a guide member attached near one end of the ring assembly. A first fastener portion is attached near a second end of the ring assembly. The binder includes a binder cover configured to receive the guide member. A second fastener portion is attached to the cover such that when the guide member is received by the cover, the first and second fastener portions can be releasably secured to each other. The modular binder also includes a pocket insert configured to be captured between the ring assembly and the binder cover.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a modular binder. More particularly, the present invention is related to a modular binder having a removable ring assembly with a guide member and an anchor, a detachable insert with a selection of pockets, and a binder cover configured to receive and secure the ring assembly and detachable insert.
2. Technical Background
Personal productivity has become an ever-increasing goal for many people as they try to juggle their daily schedules. One tool for aiding personal productivity is a calender or planner system which includes a series of pages corresponding to the days, weeks, or months of the year. These pages allow the user to plan his or her activities on a regular basis. Most planning or calender systems are contained in a binder and used on a daily basis. Other people, such as students, also have need for a binder on a daily basis. Accordingly an increasing number of people are carrying binders with them wherever they go. Many even use them in place of a wallet or purse.
Most binders come with some sort of paper entrapment system, such as a ring assembly, that is permanently affixed to a binder cover. However, with the increase in personal binder users, it would be advantageous to be able to vary the appearance of the binder without having to remove all the paper from the entrapment mechanism. If the entrapment mechanism where removable, it would allow a user to easily change the appearance of the binder to fit a particular situation. For example, a rugged-textured colorful binder, typically used in less formal situations, could become a black leather binder, suitable for more formal circumstances, by simply switching out the paper entrapment mechanism to the more formal black cover.
Thus, there have been some attempts to create a binder with a removable ring assembly. Some designs include a pair of posts affixed to a spine portion of the binder cover. The ring assembly is configured with a pair of holes for receiving the posts. In one design by Segal (U.S. Pat. No. 2,568,131), the posts are configured to engage keyholes. A separate mechanism is used to lock the ring assembly in place. In this configuration, however, the attachment of the ring assembly to the binder cover is not easily accomplished. Each end of the ring assembly must be simultaneously aligned with the posts in order for the ring assembly to be secured to the binder cover. This simultaneous alignment is often tedious and time consuming, especially when the holes in the ring assembly are obscured by the paper entrapped within the ring assembly. Often times, the paper must be separated or even removed completely before alignment can be accomplished.
Another design by Shillinger (U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,454) similarly employs a pair of posts which must be simultaneously aligned with opposing holes in the ring assembly to secure the ring assembly. In this design, the ring assembly is secured in place by a pair of clips, which once secured, are difficult to remove. Further, the clips are separate pieces which are susceptible to being lost. Thus, it would be advancement in the art to provide a modular binder with a ring assembly that is easily secured in place. It would be a further advancement to provide a modular binder that could be locked in place without the need for a separate locking mechanism or non-attached locking pieces.
Some binders have covers configured with pockets to store pens, business cards, or any number of items. Like most ring assemblies, however, these pockets are a permanent part of the binder. These binders do not allow the user to alter the pocket configuration to suit a particular situation or need. Thus, it would be an additional advancement in the art to provide a modular binder configured to receive a detachable pocket insert having a variety of pocket configurations.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that it would be an advancement in the art to provide a durable and versatile modular binder with a ring assembly that can be easily secured to, and released from, the binder cover allowing the user to have a variety of binder "looks." It would be a further advancement to provide such a modular binder with a positive anchor that did not require a separate or additional locking assembly or unattached locking pieces to secure the ring assembly to the binder cover. It would be an additional advancement to provide such a modular binder with a detachable pocket insert that could be easily switched out for another insert with a different pocket configuration.
Such a modular binder is disclosed and claimed herein.


The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for locationing a instrument of tablet, wherein a very simple equation is used to locate a instrument, for example, a stylus pen. The stylus pen location on the a sense line grid which formed by a set of spaced conductors is converted to a digitized number and can be reported to the host computer for controlling the screen cursor or making a sketch drawing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method and apparatus for locationing a instrument of tablet, especially to a method and apparatus in which a location is searched by a tablet instrument.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, such as that discloses in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,210,775 and 4,423,286 and the U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,192 which is disclosed by the inventor of the present invention, in general, a coil is arranged in the front end of pen, and meanwhile an alternating current signal with fixed frequency and fixed amplitude is applied to the coil, therefore, a sense line grid which comprises some spaced conductors on the tablet may induce a relative alternating current signal.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,775, a scanning circuit is used to scan said spaced conductors, firstly it scans along X direction and then the Y direction. For each directions, the scanning process begins from the first conductor. The sequentially induced signal is input to a signal amplifier, each time the scanning process begins a counter is reset and start to count. The count operation is continued while the scanning process is going on, and the counter is increased in a fixed frequency higher than the scanning rate.
The output of said amplifying circuit is connected to the input of a synchronous phase detector, when the scanning process is scanning across the pen tip i.e. "from one side of the pen tip to another side thereof", the polarity of the output signal of the synchronous phase detector will be change. Then the signal is passed through a low pass filter to a comparing device. A pulse signal with rising edge is produced at the "Zero-Crossing" point of the filtered signal. The said pulse signal is used to stop the said count operation of the counter. The final value in the counter is then recorded, which represents the location of the pen tip in a sense line grid.
The aforementioned technology has been improved by the inventor of the present invention, and the improved result is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,192, in which the start point of the count operation is changed. The said zero-crossing point of the filtered signal is used as a trigger to start a count operation, as the scanning is switched to the following next sense line the count operation is stopped. Therefore, the counting period is reduced and the length of the counter is also greatly reduced.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,286, during the operation of sequentially scanning the induced signal from each of the spaced conductors is passed through a rectifier, a filter, and a Analog-Digital converter to obtain the amplitude of induced signal thereof, wherein the polarity of the phase angle of each said induced signal is detected by phase detector. When the polarity of the signal is varied during scanning, the amplitude of positive and negative signals may be substituted into a formula for operation, thus the location of the pen tip may be determined.
According to the aforementioned methods, the phase of said induced alternating signal has to be obtained to produce the zero-crossings during the process, as shown in FIG. 1, However, during the process of signal amplifying and filtering, if the process is affected by internal or external noises or by the tolerance of components so that there may be a DC offset voltage Voffset on the filtered signal, then the zero-crossing point will drift, a count error d will be generated.
Furthermore, the phase of the induced alternating current signal is important for determining the location of the pen, then the phase signal from the coil in the pen must be obtained so as to compare with said induced signal to get the phase difference. In the conventional tablet design, the phase signal of the coil is connected to the scanning circuit by a wire. But now in practical usage, a wireless pen is desired for a better feeling when making a sketch or writing a signature. Thus a low cost wireless pen is difficult to implement.
Thus it is apparent that the methods and apparatus for determining the location of the instrument on a tablet still have some defects.

Method and apparatus for finding the location of a pointing instrument on a tablet


Embodiments of the invention provide a color filter substrate, a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal display device. The color filter substrate comprising a substrate; a plurality of sets of electrode structure formed on a side of the substrate, each set of electrode structure comprises a pixel electrode and a common electrode for generating a horizontal electric field between the pixel electrode and the common electrode by applying a voltage.

LCD devices are categorized into vertical electric field (E-field) LCD devices and horizontal E-field LCD devices, based on the direction of the E-field driving the liquid crystals. The vertical E-field LCD devices generally include Twist Nematic (TN) mode and vertical alignment (VA) mode, while the horizontal E-field LCD devices generally include in-plane switching (IPS) mode, fringe field switching (FFS) mode and advanced super dimension switching (ADS) mode. In comparison with the vertical E-field LCD devices, the horizontal E-field LCD devices do not require additional optical compensation films to realize wide view angle. However, the distribution of the E-field in the liquid crystal layer of the horizontal E-field LCD device is not uniform and there are local regions not covered by the E-field and therefore non-transmissive for the light, which makes the overall light transmissivity of the liquid crystal panel low.

Color filter substrate, liquid crystal panel and liquid crystal display device


A mobile terminal device has an information processing unit that processes electronic money information and a storage unit that stores the electronic money information. A receiving unit receives from an electronic money server an electronic money identification (ID), a mobile terminal identification (ID) identifying the mobile terminal device, and a money information processing program for enabling the information processing unit to execute processing of the money information stored in the storage unit. An installation unit installs into the storage unit the money information processing program and the IDs received by the receiving unit. A sending unit sends to the electronic money server information necessary for enabling the electronic money server to provide electronic money service, the necessary information being sent to the electronic server before the receiving unit receives the money information processing and the IDs.

In recent years, a demonstration test of a settlement system using electronic money has been successful and the electronic money is put into practical use.
Currently, a retail shop uses the electronic money for settlement. Further, in order to widespread the electronic money to general users, efforts are made to develop a technology of elements and structure a business model.
In addition to the retail shop, a system using the electronic money is put into practical use to adjust the fare of a train or bus.
With the electronic money, an electronic-money card stores the same exchange value, that is, so-called value, as the money, and is used as an electronic wallet.
The value is written to the electronic-money card by a specific terminal device (hereinafter, referred to as an electronic-money terminal). The processing for writing the value is called charge. Upon charging the value, the money corresponding to the value is collected from a user. Thus, the actual money corresponds to the value, thereby keeping the exchange value of the value for security.
The settlement using the value is executed by subtracting the amount of money corresponding to the settlement from the value stored in the electronic-money card on the electronic-money terminal.
The electronic-money card comprises a non-contact IC (Integrated Circuit) card or a contact IC card.
The electronic-money card comprising the non-contact IC card comprises: an IC chip having a value processing function and a value storing function; and an antenna for communication with the electronic-money terminal. The antenna has a function for wireless communication with the electronic-money terminal and further has a function for generating the power for receiving the electronic waves from the electronic-money terminal and driving the IC chip.
The electronic-money terminal communicates by radio waves with the IC chip via the antenna, and accesses the IC chip in the electronic-money card, thereby performing various processing for value (writing processing, subtraction, and reference to the balance, hereinafter, referred to as value processing).
Mainly, using forms of the electronic-money card are as follows.
(1) Charge Value
First, in a shop in which an electronic-money terminal is installed, an electronic-money card is set to the electronic-money terminal, and the writing operation of a value is requested to a person in charge. In this case, the money corresponding to the value is paid.
Next, the person in charge operates the electronic-money terminal to write the value of charge to the electronic-money terminal.
Then, the electronic-money terminal sends a write command for adding the money corresponding to the value to the IC chip in the electronic-money card.
The IC chip receives the write command and executes the command, thereby adding the money of value stored in the IC chip.
As mentioned above, the value is charged to the electronic-money card.
Incidentally, in an unmanned electronic-money terminal, the electronic money card is set and the money is set to the electronic-money card, thereby automatically charging the value.
(2) Settle by Value
First, a product or service, serving as a target of settlement, is presented to a person in charge of an electronic-money terminal. An electronic-money card is set to the electronic-money terminal installed to a shop, and a message indicating the settlement using the value is sent to the person in charge.
On the contrary, the person in charge operates the electronic-money terminal to subtract the money for settlement from the value stored in the electronic-money card.
Then, the electronic-money terminal sends a subtract command for subtracting the value corresponding to the money to the IC chip in the electronic-money card.
The IC chip receives the subtract command and executes the command, thereby subtracting the value corresponding to the value stored in the IC chip.
As mentioned above, the settlement is performed by using the value in the electronic-money card.
Incidentally, in an electronic-money terminal installed to a vending machine, a user purchases a product, and the value is automatically settled.
(3) Use Electronic Money on Internet
With a terminal device having an Internet access function and a reader/writer for reading/writing data to/from an electronic-money card, a value is charged to the electronic-money card or a settlement is performed by a value stored in the electronic-money card.
When a value is to be charged, the electronic-money card is set to the reader/writer and is accessed to a Web site for charge on the terminal device. Then, the communication is established between a server device and the electronic-money card, and the server device writes the value to the electronic-money card. The money corresponding to the written value is withdrawn from a bank account of a user, or is processed by a credit card.
In the settlement using the value, similarly, the communication is established between the server device and the electronic-money card, and the value is subtracted.
As mentioned above, the electronic-money card is used as a pre-paid electronic wallet and, in particular, it is advantageous for a user in the settlement of a small amount of money because the small change does not burden the user.
Recently, the mobile phone is excessively spread and it is tried that the mobile phone has the same function as that of the electronic-money card.
If the mobile phone has the same function as that of the electronic-money card, a user charges the value to the mobile phone or settles the money by the value stored in the mobile phone.
As mentioned above, the following technology allows the mobile phone to have the function of the electronic-money card.
(Patent Document 1)
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication-No. 2002-352173
According to the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, a specific memory for storing the value to the mobile phone is provided, and the value is charged or the money is settled by the stored value.
Upon installing the same value processing function as that of the electronic-money card to the mobile phone, the install timing is a problem.
Upon installing the value processing function to the mobile phone, various information on the security must be installed.
If the install processing is commissioned to an external operator, then, information on the security is transferred to the commission site, and the information is not managed in the company itself.

Mobile terminal device, mobile terminal method, mobile terminal program, and electronic money server


The preferably optically clear, transparent or translucent micromulsion contains from 20 to 60 percent by weight water; from 3 to 20 percent by weight of an oil phase, which contains hydrophobic oil that is liquid at 25° C. and optionally dissolved lipophilic materials, and from 20 to 60 percent by weight of an emulsifier mixture. The emulsifier mixture contains at least one first emulsifier, which is an ethoxylated castor oil and/or an ethoxylated hydrogenated castor oil, and at least one second emulsifier with an NRU50 value greater than 110 μg/ml. The microemulsion is usable as a cosmetic, dermatological or pharmaceutical preparation, especially as an agent for hair treatment.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of the present invention is a microemulsion, which is usable, especially as a cosmetic, dermatological or pharmaceutical agent for skin or hair treatment, preferably in the form of an optically clear, transparent or at least translucent product. This microemulsion contains water, an oil phase comprising liquid hydrophobic oils and an emulsifier mixture of at least two selected emulsifiers.
2. Related Art
Microemulsions are macroscopially homogeneous, optically transparent, low viscosity, thermodynamically stable mixtures comprising two non-miscible liquids and at least one nonionic or ionic surfactant, which contain two hydrophobic groups. If an ionic surfactant containing only one hydrophobic group is added to both components, which are insoluble in each other, e.g. water and nonpolar hydrocarbon, a co-surfactant, usually a short chain aliphatic alcohol, is needed to form a microemulsion. A microemulsion is a ternary mixture of water, hydrophobic phase and surfactant phase. Microemulsions have been shown to be structured with submicroscopic strongly fluctuating bi-continuous oil and water domains with a transmission electron microscope. The sizes of the domains between 3 and 100 nm are stabilized by the boundary surface tension between water-rich and oil-rich phases in the presence of a saturated monomolecular surfactant layer. Frequently microemulsions are solid or semi-solid and have a behavior known as the "ringing effect". Many pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations are microemulsions. A general problem with microemulsions is that they have a high risk of skin incompatibility, especially skin and eye irritation, in comparison to normal (macro)-emulsions built up from the same recognized safe ingredients. The problem with using especially mild and skin friendly surfactants is that they do not provide sufficient stability and turbidity, separation or color changes can occur. Alternatively the desired hardness or solidity of the product may change or degrade with time.

Microemulsions, especially for skin or hair treatment


A polyamide comprising a unit containing at least one (a) alicyclic dicarboxylic acid and a unit containing a (b) diamine having 8 or more carbon atoms, wherein the polyamide satisfies the following conditions (1) and (2): (1) a sulfuric acid relative viscosity ηr at 25° C. is 2.3 or more; and (2) Mw (weight average molecular weight)/Mn (number average molecular weight) is 4.0 or less.

Polyamides represented by polyamide 6 and polyamide 66 (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6" and "PA66" respectively) or the like have excellent fabricability, mechanical properties, and chemical resistance. Therefore, the polyamides are widely used as a material for various parts, such as for automobiles, electric and electronic parts, industrial materials, engineering materials, and daily and household articles.
In the automobile industry, as an environmental measure, there is a need to lighten the weight of the automobile body in order to reduce exhaust gases. To respond to this need, the polyamides are increasingly used as exterior materials and interior materials or the like for the automobiles, instead of metals. The level of the properties required for the polyamides used as the exterior materials and interior materials or the like for the automobiles, such as heat resistance, strength, and surface appearance, is further increased.
Of these, since the temperature in an engine room tends to increase, the need to increase the heat resistance of a polyamide used for materials in the engine room is growing stronger.
In the electric and electronics industry, such as household appliances, lead-free surface-mount (SMT) solder is advanced. There is a need for increased heat resistance for the polyamide which is used as materials for the household appliances or the like, and can withstand the increased melting point of the solder caused by the lead-free of the solder.
On the one hand, the polyamides such as PA6 and PA66 cannot satisfy these requirements in terms of heat resistance, since their melting point is low.
To resolve the above-described problems with conventional polyamides such as PA6 and PA66, a high-melting-point polyamide has been proposed. Specifically, a polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6T") formed from terephthalic acid and hexamethylenediamine has been proposed.
However, the PA6T is a high-melting-point polyamide having a melting point of about 370° C. Therefore, even if a molded article is obtained from the PA6T by melt molding, pyrolysis of the polyamide is severe, which makes it difficult to obtain a molded article having sufficient properties.
To resolve the above-described problem with the PA6T, a high-melting-point semi-aromatic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "a 6T-based copolymer polyamide") or the like having terephthalic acid and hexamethylenediamine as main components has been proposed. This high-melting-point semi-aromatic polyamide is obtained by copolymerizing an aliphatic polyamide, such as PA6 and PA66, or an amorphous aromatic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6I") formed from isophthalic acid and hexamethylenediamine, or the like with the PA6T, and has a melting point lowered to about 220 to 340° C.
As the 6T-based copolymer polyamide, Patent Literature 1 discloses an aromatic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6T/2MPDT") which is formed from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diamine, in which the aliphatic diamine is a mixture of hexamethylenediamine and 2-methylpentamethylenediamine.
In contrast to an aromatic polyamide formed from an aromatic dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diamine, a high-melting-point aliphatic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA46") formed from adipic acid and tetramethylenediamine, and an alicyclic polyamide formed from an alicyclic dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diamine, or the like have been proposed.
Patent Literatures 2 and 3 disclose a semi-alicyclic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6C copolymer polyamide") formed from an alicyclic polyamide (hereinafter, sometimes abbreviated as "PA6C") formed from 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid and hexamethylenediamine, and another polyamide.
Patent Literature 2 discloses that electric and electronic members formed from a semi-alicyclic polyamide blended with 1 to 40% of 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid as a dicarboxylic acid unit have heat resistance which can resist a temperature under solder conditions.
Patent Literature 3 discloses that automobile parts produced from a polyamide composition substantially consisting of a unit derived from an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diamine have excellent fluidity and toughness or the like.
Patent Literature 4 discloses that a polyamide formed from a dicarboxylic acid unit containing 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid and a diamine unit containing 2-methyl-1,8-octanediamine has excellent light resistance, toughness, moldability, low weight, and heat resistance or the like. As a production method for the polyamide, Patent Literature 4 discloses that a polyamide having a melting point of 311° C. is produced by reacting 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid and 1,9-nonanediamine at 230° C. or less to produce a prepolymer, which is then subjected to solid phase polymerization at 230° C.
Patent Literature 5 discloses that a polyamide using 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid having a trans/cis ratio of from 50/50 to 97/3 as a raw material has excellent heat resistance, low water absorbance, and light resistance or the like.
Patent Literature 6 discloses a polyamide formed by polymerizing 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid and a diamine having a substituent branched from a main chain.
Patent Literature 7 discloses a polyamide formed by polymerizing 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, undecamethylenediamine, and 1,6-diaminohexane.
Patent Literature 8 discloses a polyamide formed by polymerizing 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid, 1,12-diaminododecane, and 1,6-diaminohexane.
Patent Literature 9 discloses a copolymer polyamide formed by polymerizing an alicyclic dicarboxylic acid, a diamine, and a predetermined copolymer component.

Polyamide, polyamide composition, and molded article


A cool air supply duct of a refrigerator includes a vertical duct unit installed in a freezing chamber or a refrigerating chamber of the refrigerator so that the length of the vertical duct unit can be adjusted in the vertical direction; and horizontal duct units installed on the vertical duct unit so that the length of the horizontal duct unit can be adjusted in the horizontal direction and provided with cool air discharge holes formed therethrough for discharging cool air. Since the cool air discharge holes are changed to positions desired by a user, the cool air supply duct cools a designated space of the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber of the refrigerator to a temperature lower or higher than those of other spaces, thus increasing convenience in using the cool air supply duct and improving the cooling efficiency of the cool air supply duct.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cool air supply duct of a refrigerator, and more particularly to a cool air supply duct of a refrigerator, in which positions of cool air discharge holes for supplying cool air to a freezing chamber or a refrigerating chamber are changeable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, refrigerators are apparatuses, in which a refrigerating cycle device comprising a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator is installed for supplying air cooled by the evaporator to storage chambers, such as freezing and refrigerating chambers.
Recently, a cool air supply duct, which has a plurality of cool air discharge holes and is installed in the freezing or refrigerating chamber, is used to supply cool air with three-dimensional freedom.
FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional cool air supply duct of a refrigerator, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the conventional cool air supply duct of the refrigerator.
As shown in FIG. 1, a cool air supply duct 10 for supplying cool air to a freezing or refrigerating chamber of a refrigerator 1 is buried in one side wall of the freezing or refrigerating chamber, and a plurality of racks 20 and 30, which are separated from each other in the vertical direction, are installed in the freezing or refrigerating chamber of the refrigerator 1.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cool air supply duct 10 comprises a plurality of cool air discharge holes, which are separated from each other in the vertical or horizontal direction.
Generally, at least one rack is installed. The vertical position of the rack is adjustable.
For example, when the upper rack 20 and the lower rack 30 are provided, the upper rack 20 may upwardly move from the position of SU to the position of SU′ or downwardly move from the position of SU to the position of SU″, and the lower rack 30 may upwardly move from the position of SL to the position SL′ or downwardly move from the position of SL to the position of SL″.
Generally, the cool air discharge holes 12, 14 and 16 are located close to the racks 20 and 30 so as to supply cool air to the lower portions of the racks 20 and 30 or food stored therein. Since the positions of the cool air discharge holes 12, 14 and 16 are fixed, when a user changes the positions of the racks 20 and 30 according to sizes of food, the cool air discharge holes 12, 14 and 16 may be closed by the racks 20 and 30 or the food, thereby being incapable of discharging cool air.
That is, an interval between the upper and lower racks 20 and 30 is changed so that the racks 20 and 30 can store various-sized objects. Further, since the shapes of the racks 20 and 30 are different, when the positions of the racks 20 and 30 are arbitrarily changed, the racks 20 and 30 may close the cool air discharge holes 12, 14 and 16.
When a part of the cool air discharge holes 12, 14 and 16 (here, the cool air discharge hole 14) is closed, cool air is concentrated onto other cool air discharge holes 12 and 16 so that designated food stored in the cool air discharge holes 12 and 16 can be supercooled, and the distribution of temperature in the freezing or refrigerating chamber is not uniform so that the cooling efficiency of the refrigerator is lowered, thereby causing the stored food to rot.
Further, when the upper rack 20 downwardly moves from the position SU to the position SU″ and the lower rack 30 upwardly moves from the position of SL to the position SL′, cool air is not discharged to a middle space of A, thereby causing a difficulty in maintaining the freshness of food stored in the middle space of A.
The cool air supply duct 10 is buried in one side wall of the freezing or refrigerating chamber, thereby increasing an adiabatic loss at the portion of the side wall in which the cool air supply duct 10 is buried.


A compact, lightweight, and efficient evaporative spray cooling system is provided for removing high heat fluxes from surfaces of devices such as micro-electronic chips, metal, mirrors, and lasers. The system uses expanding metastable two-phase flow and a method of controlling the spray for optimum heat flux removal. Control includes spray atomization, fluid-phase, mass flow, and spray temperature.

The present invention relates to improved cooling systems for devices that need to be actively cooled to function reliably and efficiently. A primary application of this invention is microelectronic chips, devices, or systems that generate large quantities of heat in small volumes, thereby requiring high heat flux removal techniques. Other applications include rapid quenching of metals, thermal control of mirrors, and cooling of lasers.
As microelectronics continue to develop, there is an increasing trend of performing more functions at a faster rate in a smaller package volume. The net effect is that more heat is generated and it must be removed from a smaller surface area for efficient operation and reliability. It is not only desirable to remove the heat, but also to control the chip temperature independently of ambient conditions. It is well known that in certain microelectronic devices, such as monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chips, that by lowering chip temperature, greater throughput may be allowed without damaging the chip and more efficient amplification is possible. These chips find application in electronically scanned active aperture antennas and have potential application in next-generation, electronic warfare systems and other equipment requiring high performance, electronically-steered antennas.
Common heat removal techniques such as conductive heat transfer through the use of heat sinks, natural or forced convective heat transfer, or combinations thereof, limit chip temperature to temperatures slightly above ambient. Active cooling systems provide the flexibility to cool microelectronics to temperatures below ambient and provide high heat flux removal. While there are several high heat flux cooling techniques, the present invention focuses on spray cooling, the advantages of which will become apparent in the following discussion.
There have been numerous investigations into the use of spray cooling for microelectronic systems. In most cases, practical application or systems to control the temperature and spray of the issuing spray have been limited. This is partially due to the lack of understanding of the contributions from each of the mechanisms behind spray cooling that lead to an optimized spray for high heat flux removal.
The first condition for high heat flux spray cooling is atomization of the fluid spray. Prior to spray cooling, early studies were performed using liquid jet impingement, where a narrow jet of fluid is directed upon the cooling surface. Later studies confirm that a finely atomized spray increases the heat flux removal capability of the fluid. Atomized sprays provide a more equal distribution of heat flux thereby maintaining more uniform temperature distributions across the cooling surface and preventing localized hot spots. This in turn prevents burnout and allows for higher critical heat flux, i.e. the point where increasing the temperature difference between the cooling surface and the spray is no longer associated with an increase in heat flux. Additionally, spray cooling allows for lower flow rates for equivalent average heat flux, thus reducing cooling system size. Spray atomization occurs when the magnitude of aerodynamic disruptive forces exceeds the consolidating surface tension forces and stabilizing viscous forces.
A wide variety of spray atomizers exist. Pressure-type atomizers are the most compact and therefore beneficial for compact microelectronics cooling packages. Within pressure-type atomizers, plain orifice and simplex pressure swirl are the most compact, simplistic, and rugged. To enhance spray cooling, several atomization conditions including uniform spray, complete cooling surface coverage, minimal momentum losses, and minimum spray evaporation losses are preferred.
Plain orifice atomizers produce uniform, full cone sprays. Simplex (or pressure-swirl) type atomizers generally produce a hollow cone that can be modified to produce a full cone by using an axial jet or some other device to inject droplets in the center of the hollow conical spray pattern. Hollow cone sprays can potentially lead to burnout at the cone center, whereas, full cone sprays created with axial jets or injections typically produce a bimodal distribution of drop sizes with the droplets at the center of the spray being larger than those near the edge leading to burnout at the spray edge. To prevent burnout, the entire heat-producing surface must be covered. xe2x80x9cSimplexxe2x80x9d atomizers produce a spray angle that is highly dependent on pressure differential across the nozzle. Practical application would require moving the nozzle axially to maintain c overage with changes in pressure differential or a control system to maintain nozzle pressure differential regardless of other system parameters such as cooling load or heat rejection temperature. Plain orifice atomizers produce a more constant spray angle that is mostly dependent on fluid properties such as viscosity and surface tension as well as turbulence of the issuing spray and therefore do not require axial locational control. Axial momentum improves spray cooling heat transfer by holding a thin liquid layer on the cooling surface. This is particularly important in adverse-gravity environments that may be encountered in space cooling applications or aboard aircraft during flight maneuvers. Therefore, it is desirable to minimize axial momentum losses that are typically increased as the radial spray component increases (i.e. increased spray angle). Plain orifice nozzles have a narrower spray cone (typically 5 to 15 degrees) than simplex nozzles (typically 30 to 180 degrees) and therefore reduced axial momentum losses. Additionally, narrow cone sprays are less susceptible to evaporation due to mixing of ejected liquid droplets and entrained vapor, thus providing more evaporation due to impingement of saturated liquid on the hot surface to be cooled.
These atomization conditions lead to an associated spray property that also enhances spray cooling. Prior art approaches typically use a spray that is xe2x80x9cat or nearxe2x80x9d saturated liquid conditions. This allows for two-phase boiling heat transfer at the heated surface and takes advantage of the high heat transfer associated with latent heat of vaporization. Two-phase heat transfer is typically at least an order of magnitude greater than single phase heat transfer. However, the condition of xe2x80x9cat or nearxe2x80x9d saturated liquid is not optimal. If the spray fluid is slightly subcooled (i.e. only near saturated liquid conditions) then nucleation for boiling must occur at the heated surface. This means the entire process of creating a nucleation site, allowing bubble growth, and removing the bubble to allow new nucleation sites must occur at the chip surface after the liquid droplets impinge on the surface.
It is not only important to initiate nucleation prior to contacting the surface to be cooled, it is also important that a system control the temperature at which this nucleation occurs and a system be capable of accommodating varying heat loads at the desired temperature. For instance, while it is desirable to constrain a spray to a uniformly atomized spray, that is two phase and is issued at an adjustable temperature, practical controls to perform these functions must be incorporated into a complete cooling system. Atomization in pressure-type spray nozzles only occurs if the pressure differential across the nozzle is sufficient.
At very low pressure differentials the flow begins as a xe2x80x9cdribblexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cthin distorted pencilxe2x80x9d. At intermediate pressure differentials additional stages such as xe2x80x9conionxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ctulipxe2x80x9d stages may occur prior to fully developed sprays at higher differentials. It is doubtful that the early stages will provide adequate cooling and will most likely lead to premature burnout. Therefore, control of the spray must be incorporated in a practical design. Optimum chip operating temperature may be determined a priori or through the use of chip performance monitoring plus feedback. For instance, high power microwave amplifiers measure efficiency as output power divided by input power. If it is desirable to optimize efficiency, then that value may be fed back to the spray control mechanism until the highest efficiency is achieved. Chip performance may alternatively be measured as the maximum power than can be transmitted through a chip without damaging that chip. If the maximum power is known, then the spray controller may be altered until maximum power is achieved. Finally, a combination of these and other chip performance feedback signals may be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,804 describes a wide-angle spray cooling system. The apparatus uses a simplex nozzle to spray liquid onto the heated surface. A method of controlling the state of the spray fluid is not disclosed. Other than the spray chamber the remainder of the system is not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,536, U.S. Pat. No. 5,831,824, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,907,473 all discuss ways of spray cooling electronic systems. In each of these cooling systems the condenser is part of the spray chamber and a liquid pump is used to supply the pressurized liquid to the spray nozzle. This type of system, typically called a xe2x80x9cpumped loopxe2x80x9d can not control spray temperature below that of ambient temperature. Further, other than U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,536, disclosing that the spray emitted from the nozzle should be saturated liquid (meaning a quality of zero), no method for controlling the spray is given. In our invention, the spray emitted from the nozzle will have some quality, that is it will not be a saturated liquid but rather a combination of saturated liquid and vapor. The fluid has a quality of greater than zero but less than one.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,600 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,104 disclose spray cooling systems that use a vapor compression cycle, thus allowing spray temperatures to be below that of the ambient or heat rejection temperature. In the latter patent, a liquid is used in the impinging jet, and the xe2x80x9ccooling liquid should be preferable at or near its vaporization temperature when it impinges on the hot objects.xe2x80x9d This approach did not realize that the fluid should be saturated with a quality greater than zero (and less than one), that is the inlet fluid enthalpy should be selected or controlled so that after the pressure drop in the orifice the fluid is nucleating (due to the expansion) before it contacts the surface or environment to be cooled.
In these patents, the spray cooling chamber therein does not fully vaporize the refrigerant, resulting in the need for a downstream evaporator to fully evaporate the refrigerant vapor prior to compression. In addition to the extra hardware of such a conventional configuration, the coefficient of performance of the cooling system is reduced because not all the potential cooling is utilized in cooling the objects to be cooled via the spray cooling. The cooling provided by the downstream evaporator is not available for spray cooling in this configuration and represents lost cooling potential. It does not utilize all the potential cooling in the spray cooling chamber or recognize how to eliminate the downstream evaporator. Likewise the former patent also requires the downstream evaporator to completely vaporize the working fluid prior to compression and again is configured to spray liquid on the object to be cooled, as reflected in the statement xe2x80x9cin operation spraying the liquid coolant on one or both sides of the silicon wafers . . . .xe2x80x9d
Both of these known systems use an evaporator external to the microelectronics cooling chamber to evaporate any remaining fluid and prevent liquid slugging at the compressor. In addition to the excess size and weight of the evaporator and compressor, this method is inefficient.
Therefore, in light of our discovery of the benefits of saturated two-phase spray cooling, as well as in view of the afore-mentioned shortcomings in the prior art, our invention has the following objectives.
One object is to provide a single or multiple component two-phase fluid spray for cooling equipment that requires high heat flux removal. As opposed to the prior art that uses subcooled liquid or saturated liquid sprays that develop boiling nucleation sites at the surface to be cooled, the current spray is a saturated two-phase spray that includes nucleation sites prior to impingement on the cooling surface, thereby increasing heat flux, and reducing the wall superheat.
Another object is to provide a nozzle, capable of producing a narrow cone angle spray, which atomizes the fluid with the primary momentum in the axial direction of the spray. A narrow cone angle improves the uniformity of heat flux across the cooling surface.
A further objective is to utilize the adiabatic nucleation in the nozzle to provide additional liquid acceleration and increase the momentum in the axial direction of the spray. Homogeneous nucleation due to the isenthalphic vaporization improves the uniformity of spray droplets and thus the uniformity of the heat flux across the cooling surface.
A still further object is to control the spray to ensure that it is atomized and saturated two-phase and therefore to gain the benefits of uniform evaporative spray cooling with nucleation sites already formed.
Yet another object is to provide a spray cooling configuration that does not require an additional downstream evaporator. The cooling chamber serves as the sole evaporator, and flow rate is controlled to match the load, thereby producing a more compact and efficient cooling system.
Another object is to control the vapor compression system so that spray phase and temperature are controlled independently, thereby optimizing electronics performance.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings herein.

Method and two-phase spray cooling apparatus


A method of determining the image capture date of scanned hardcopy medium, includes scanning hardcopy medium that includes at least one index print(s) to produce scanned digital images; detecting one or more index prints from among the scanned digital images; identifying thumbnail images contained within the one or more index prints; determining an image capture date for each index print and associating the image capture date with the thumbnail image(s) contained within that index print; matching a scanned digital image to a thumbnail image from the one or more index prints; associating the date from the thumbnail image to the scanned digital image that matches the thumbnail image; and storing the date in association with the scanned digital image that matches the thumbnail image.

Consumers today are switching from film-based chemical photography to digital photography in increasing numbers. The instantaneous nature of image capture and review, the ease of use, numerous output and sharing options, multimedium capabilities, and on-line and digital medium storage capabilities have all contributed to consumer acceptance of this technological advancement. A hard drive, on-line account, or a DVD can store thousands of images, which are readily available for printing, transmitting, conversion to another format, conversion to another medium, or used to produce an image product. Since the popularity of digital photography is relatively new, the majority of images retained by a typical consumer usually takes the form of hardcopy medium. These legacy images can span decades of time and have a great deal of personal and emotional importance to the collection's owner. In fact, these images often increase in value to their owners over time. Thus, even images that were once not deemed good enough for display are now cherished. These images are often stored in boxes, albums, frames, or even their original photofinishing return envelopes.
Getting a large collection of legacy images into a digital form is often a formidable task for a typical consumer. The user is required to sort through hundreds of physical prints and place them in some relevant order, such as chronology or sorting by event. Typically, events are contained on the same roll of film or across several rolls of film processed in the same relative time frame. After sorting the prints, the user would be required to scan the medium to make a digital version of the image. Scanning hardcopy image medium such as photographic prints to obtain a digital record is well known. Many solutions currently exist to perform this function and are available at retail from imaging kiosks and digital minilabs and at home with "all-in-one" scanner/printers or with personal computers equipped with medium scanners. Some medium scanning devices include medium transport structure, simplifying the task of scanning hardcopy medium. Using any of these systems requires that the user spend time or expense converting the images into a digital form only to be left with the problem of providing some sort of organizational structure to the collection of digital files generated.
The prior art teaches sorting scanned hardcopy images by physical characteristics and also utilizing information/annotation from the front and back of the image. This teaching permits grouping images in a specific chronological sequence, which can be adequate for very large image collections. However, if the images are scanned and organized, but are not rotated correctly, they will be recorded to CD/DVD or some other suitable storage medium in the wrong orientation. This results in a less than ideal experience for the end user.
Accordingly, if additional metadata can be acquired from an image, there are several improvements to the image that can be made. For example, in addition to organization, metadata indicating that an image is black-and-white vs. color can be used to correct the orientation of the image.
Knowledge of image orientation permits the correct orientation of an image on an output display. Several algorithms exist for determining the orientation of images.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,443, to Goodwin et al., describes a method of considering an entire set of images in a consumer's film order to determine the orientation of an entire order. A statistical estimate of orientation is generated for each image in the set. A statistical estimate for the entire order is derived based upon the estimates for individual images in the set. Goodwin et al teach deriving relevant probabilities from spatial distributions of colors within the image. Goodwin et al must view an entire order of images rather than a single image. There are applications that only contain one image that Goodwin et al will be unable to correctly orient.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,694, to Takeo describes a method of determining the orientation of an image that contains a representation of a human body. The position of the human is used as a clue to the orientation of the image. Takeo is primarily applicable to radiographic applications as used in hospitals or medical clinics. It is unlikely a broad-based consumer application, because it depends on certain constraints, such as requiring a human figure within the image.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,585, Anderson, describes a method of determining image format and orientation based upon a sensor present in the camera at the time of image capture. However, if a sensor is not present in a particular camera or image-capturing device, the method of Anderson is not useful. The approach described by Anderson has the further disadvantage of requiring additional apparatus in the camera. Moreover, an image processing unit or operation will be unable to perform correct orientation unless the particular camera contained the additional apparatus. Likewise, this method is not able to find the orientation of a scanned photographic print because the state of the camera's sensor is not recorded on the photographic print.
Several other methods for determining the orientation of an image have been described where either low-level features (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,828) are extracted or objects are detected and used to determine the orientation of the image. For example, it is known to determine orientation of images based on looking for faces as discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 6,940,545 to Ray et al., but only about 75% of images contain faces and automatic face detectors sometimes miss detecting faces even when they are present, or find false faces that are not actually in an image. Other methods of determining image orientation are based on finding sky (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,846) or grass or street signs (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,215,828), but again many images do not contain these materials. Furthermore, the structure of lines and vanishing points in the image has been shown to be useful for determining the format and orientation of images (U.S. Pat. No. 6,591,005). Even considering all of these features, there are still many images that will not be oriented properly because they do not contain the sought after objects, or the object detectors were incorrect. Further complicating the problem of determining the orientation of scanned photographic prints is the fact that many prints contain no color information, which complicates and compromises the accuracy of the detection of sky and other materials.
In addition to the problem or properly orienting the images, for organizing and searching the image collection that contains scanned images, it is useful to know the image capture date of the images.

Finding orientation and date of hardcopy medium


An SIP terminal control system makes it possible for SIP terminals to be connected to the system including a master main device and one or more slave main devices. The SIP terminal control system includes the master main device and slave main devices connected to the master main device. The master main device includes multilink sections each corresponding to the master main device or to each of the slave main devices. The master main device and the slave main devices each include an SIP terminal connecting section which connects SIP terminals. The multilink sections and the SIP terminal connecting sections are connected to each other by an SIP link. The multilink sections operate by using a CPU of the master main device. The SIP terminal connecting sections each operate by using a CPU of the slave main device or master main device that contains the SIP terminal connecting section.

In an invention disclosed in PTL 1, a physical package included in a slave main device is used as a package for controlling a digital terminal and a digital line. The physical package included in the slave main device uses a correspondence table to be associated with a virtual slot included in a master main device. Then the master main device utilizes the association to thereby control the digital terminal and digital line which are connected with the physical package of the slave main device. The physical package included in each slave main device uses a CPU of the corresponding slave main device to control the digital terminal and the like, so that processing for such control can be avoided from being concentrated on a CPU of the master main device.

SIP terminal control system and SIP terminal control method


A cup-shaped shield surrounds a counter weight on the lower end of a rotor of the refrigeration compressor. The shield advantageously restricts lubricant flow to the rotating lower end of the rotor whereby power consumption of the motor is reduced. The shield may be axially and/or rotationally limited by engagement with a lower bearing assembly. The shield may be used on a scroll compressor. The shield may also be used on a rotor without having a counter weight on the lower end thereof.

The present teachings relate generally to field compressors and, more specifically, to lubrication systems for compressors.
Typical refrigeration compressors incorporate a lubricant sump in the lower or bottom portion of the housing into which the drive shaft extends so as to pump lubricant therefrom to the various portions requiring lubrication. In addition, the lubricant also often acts to aid in removal of heat from the various components. In order to ensure sufficient lubricant is contained within the sump to assure adequate lubrication and/or cooling of the moving parts while also minimizing the overall height of the housing, it is sometimes necessary that the lubricant level extend above the rotating lower end of the rotor and the counter weight thereon. However, the higher viscosity of the lubricant as compared to refrigerant and gas creates an increased drag on rotation of the rotor, resulting in increased power consumption. This problem may be further aggravated in scroll-type compressors, which typically employ a counter weight secured to the lower end of the rotor.
A shield for a refrigeration compressor that advantageously limits its axial position is disclosed. A portion of the shield may engage with a bearing assembly such that axial movement of the shield member relative to the bearing assembly is limited by the engagement. A portion of the shield member may engage with the bearing assembly such that rotational movement of the shield relative to the bearing assembly is limited by the engagement. Axial and rotational movement of a shield member relative to the shell of the refrigeration compressor may be limited by engagement of the shield member with components other than the shaft. The shield member advantageously restricts lubricant flow to the rotating lower end of the rotor whereby power consumption of the motor is reduced.
Further advantages, features and areas of applicability of the present teachings will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims.