An air fuel vapor stratifier apparatus is described, for use with piston internal combustion engines, to create stratified air fuel vapor mixtures within the engine combustion chamber. A fuel rich air fuel vapor mixture is created within a separate chamber, and then displaced into the engine combustion chamber, where it mixes with air contained therein. The consequently leaner air fuel vapor mixture is spark ignited following mixing, and burning takes place. Very lean overall air fuel ratios can be used since a stratified mixture is created. Hence intake air throttling is unnecessary and thus engine efficiency is improved. The absence of liquid fuel during burning in the engine combustion chamber, largely prevents the formation of soot, and thus reduces undesirable exhaust smoke.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the fields of air fuel mixture stratifiers and igniters for internal combustion engines of the piston and cylinder type, wherein a jet of air fuel mixture can be used to create a stratified principal air fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of the engine cylinder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Hesselman engine combustion process, and the more recent Texaco combustion process, are examples of early prior art air fuel mixture stratifiers, which created a stratified principal air fuel mixture in the engine combustion chamber. Descriptions of these prior art mixture stratifier schemes are presented in the following references:
(i) "A High Power Spark-Ignition Fuel Injection Engine," Trans. SAE, Vol. 35, p.431, 1934; PA1 (ii) "The Elimination of Combustion Knock-Texaco Combustion Process," SAE Quarterly Trans., Vol. 5, p. 26, 1951; PA1 (iii) "The Elimination of Combustion Knock," E. Barber, J. Malin, J. Mikita, Jour. of the Franklin Institute, Vol. 241, p. 275, April 1946; PA1 at least one combined means for compressing and expanding gases, each combined means comprising: an internal combustion engine mechanism comprising a variable volume chamber for compressing and expanding gases, and drive means, such as a connecting rod and crankshaft, for driving said internal combustion engine mechanism and varying the volume of said chamber through repeated cycles. Each variable volume chamber comprises a combustion chamber end at the minimum volume position of the variable volume.
In these prior art combustion processes, a jet of liquid fuel was injected into the engine combustion chamber, near the end of the compression stroke. The air inside the engine cylinder was set into rotary motion during intake, by use of shrouded intake valves, or specially oriented intake ports and manifolds. The liquid fuel spray was carried by the rotating air into which it was injected, toward a spark igniter. When this stratified air fuel mixture reached the spark, evaporated portions of the fuel, diffused into the surrounding air, were ignited by the spark; and a burning zone was thus created. The heat generated in this burning zone, evaporated those fuel portions unevaporated at the time of spark ignition and subsequent interdiffusion of air and thusly evaporated fuel maintained the burning zone, until most of the injected liquid fuel was burned. This burning process somewhat resembles that of a conventional liquid fueled oil burner, except that it is carried out intermittently and at high pressure.
Since air fuel vapor mixture is burned very shortly after being created, time is not available for expiration of the compression ignition delay period, which leads to engine knock. Thus one principal advantage of the Texaco combustion process was that high engine compression ratio, and hence high engine efficiency, could be achieved while using fuels of low octane number, and hence low knock resistance. Such low octane number fuels are generally of lower cost than high octane number fuels.
Engine torque was adjusted, for this Texaco combustion process, by proportionally adjusting the liquid fuel quantity injected into the engine cylinder, using fuel injection pumps and nozzles very similar to diesel engine injection pumps and nozzles. Since a stratified mixture was used, the air quantity inside the engine cylinder did not require adjustment, and an intake manifold throttle valve was not used. In consequence, the engine efficiency losses due to intake air throttling were avoided. Hence another principal advantage of the Texaco combustion process, was that high engine efficiency could be obtained at low engine torque since the usual throttling was avoided.
Liquid fuel, unevaporated at the start of burning, becomes surrounded by very hot burned gases, essentially devoid of oxygen. Rapid evaporation of liquid followed, but in the absence of oxygen, this evaporated fuel produced a high yield of soot particles, in a manner similar to soot production in diesel engines. Appreciable portions of this soot survives to exhaust to create an undesirable exhaust soot emission.
The injected liquid fuel volume, being much smaller than the air volume needed for burning, it is difficult to distribute the liquid spray particles uniformly throughout the cylinder air mass. In consequence the available cylinder air mass is incompletely utilized for burning. For this reason a larger engine displacement is needed, resulting in increased engine weight and cost than for a comparable conventional gasoline engine.
The liquid fuel is injected at high pressure, and must withstand subsequent peak combustion pressures and high heat transfer rates which follow. The fuel injection equipment is thus essentially similar to that used with conventional diesel engines and is expensive.
These then are the principal disadvantages of the Texaco combustion process; that exhaust soot is emitted, that a larger engine displacement is needed, and that expensive fuel injection equipment is required. It would be desirable to have available an engine system capable of realizing the knock suppression and reduced friction loss characteristics of this Texaco combustion system, but possessing reduced soot emissions, better air utilization, and lower cost fuel injection apparatus.
3. Definitions
The term piston internal combustion engine is used herein and in the claims to mean an internal combustion engine of the piston and cylinder type, with connecting rod and crankshaft or equivalent, such as the Wankel engine type, and comprising:
Each variable volume cycle comprises a compression time interval, when said variable volume is sealed and decreasing, followed by an expansion time interval, when said variable volume is sealed and increasing, these two time intervals together being a compression and expansion time interval.
Each combined means for compressing and expanding further comprises intake means for admitting reactant gases into said variable volume chamber prior to each compression time interval and exhaust means for removing reacted gases from said variable volume chamber after each expansion time interval.
Each variable volume cycle further comprises an exhaust time interval, when said variable volume is opened to said exhaust means, followed by an intake time interval, when said variable volume is opened to said intake means, these two time intervals being an exhaust and intake time interval; said exhaust and intake time interval following after a preceding expansion time interval and preceding a next following compression time interval. For a four stroke cycle piston internal combustion engine each separate time interval occupies approximately one half engine revolution and thus one stroke of the piston. For a two stroke cycle piston internal combustion engine the expansion time interval together with the exhaust time interval occupy approximately a half engine revolution and one piston stroke, and an intake time interval followed by a compression time interval occupy the next following half engine revolution and piston stroke.
A piston internal combustion engine further comprises a source of supply of reactant gas containing appreciable oxygen gas to each said intake means for admitting reactant gases into said variable volume chamber.
The combustion time interval is that portion of the compression and expansion time interval when burning of the air fuel mixture in the engine cylinder is intended to take place. For reasons of engine efficiency this combustion time interval is usually to occur when the variable volume chamber is at or near to its minimum volume, during or following a compression time interval.
The term reactant gas containing appreciable oxygen gas is used herein and in the claims to mean a reactant gas containing at least as much oxygen as is contained in the atmosphere.


According to a hair lifting comb of the present invention, a plurality of teeth, which are as thick as a bar-shaped supporting member and which at their distal ends are shaped like birds' beaks, are attached to the supporting member, as are side members of the comb, each of which is constituted by a first frame member, a second frame member and a third frame member. The thus structured comb, which maintains the supporting member at a maximum height of 18 mm from the scalp, is inserted into hair at the hairline and moved toward the rear of the head to lift the hair to a predetermined height.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hair lifting method, and a hair lifting comb and a collapsible hair lifting comb.
2. Related Arts
Currently popular among women are upsweep, full hair styles; particularly popular is a hair style for which the hair is lifted up from its roots along the hairline on the sides of the head.
To arrange the hair for this style, the hair is lifted with a comb or a brush, which is held in one hand, while a hair dryer, which is held in the other hand, is used to blow warm air onto the hair. Thereafter, for fixing, a hair spray is applied to the hair.
With the conventional hair lifting method, however, a great deal of time and effort is required to use a comb or a brush to arrange the hair, and to then fix the hair style. For these reasons, lifting the hair is not easy.
Furthermore, as most combs are originally intended to be used to prevent hair from rising, generally the teeth of combs are thin. There are combs that have thick teeth, however, including the hemispherical ornamental hair combs used for Japanese hair styles, boxwood combs, dandruff combs, fine-toothed combs, jumbo combs and curling combs.
Such combs are designed and produced for the lifting and the arrangement of hair. But since the support frames for the combs are thick, and the frames, including the comb teeth, are heavy, using the combs by inserting them along the hairline on the sides of the hair is not feasible. Further, since the teeth of these combs are not very thick, the hair must be lifted a number of times while using a hair dryer and while using a hair spray for fixing the hair style, and as a great deal of time is therefore required before a hair arrangement can be completed, it is not easy to use these combs for lifting hair.

Hair lifting method hair lifting comb and collapsible hair lifting comb


A semiconductor processing chamber having a motorized lid is provided. In one embodiment, the semiconductor processing chamber generally includes a chamber body having sidewalls and a bottom defining an interior volume. A lid assembly is coupled to the chamber body and is movable between a first position that encloses the interior volume and a second position. A hinge assembly thereto is coupled between the lid assembly and the chamber body. A motor is coupled to the hinge assembly to facilitate moving the lid assembly between the first position and the second position.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to a semiconductor processing chamber having a motorized chamber lid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor wafer processing is generally performed in vacuum chambers having lid assemblies that may be opened for maintenance and replacement of process kits. In processing chambers configured for 200 mm and smaller substrates, these lid assemblies generally are opened manually. In larger systems, the lid assemblies may weigh in excess of 300 pounds. The weight of these lid assemblies has led to the incorporation of spring, gas pots and counterbalances for facilitating the opening and closing of the lid assembly.
One typical arrangement includes gas or mechanical springs coupled to a hinge of the lid assembly. The spring applies a bias to the lid assembly to counteract the weight of the lid as the lid is opened and closed. Counterbalance systems are also commonly used to facilitate opening the lid assembly. Generally, the counterbalance system balances the weight of the lid across a pivot or hinge with a counterbalance weight. Although the systems have been successfully employed to assist in reducing the force required to open the lid assembly, each arrangement has some attribute that is generally not favorable for semiconductor processing.
For example, systems employing springs generally are not favored due to the possibility of particulate contamination. Flexing of the spring and the interplay between the spring and its housing generates particles. As these springs are typically located at or near the lid assembly, these particles may fall into the processing chamber and cause subsequent contamination during wafer processing.
Systems utilizing counterbalances require dedicated free space proximate the chamber to allow movement of the counterbalance. Moreover, as the center of gravity for the lid assembly and counterbalance often are not matched about the center of rotation of the lid assembly, the force required to open the lid assembly may vary as the lid assembly is rotated away from the chamber. This makes opening the lid assembly difficult to control.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved device for opening a semiconductor chamber lid assembly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A computer system for processing and presenting cost estimates in the construction industry includes a CPU; primary input hardware for entering data and commands to the CPU; output hardware including a display for displaying information; estimating hardware for interacting with a plan print to count and/or scale off measurements of assemblies and/or items on the plan print and input such counts and/or measurements into the CPU for processing; and a memory unit having a stored assembly information record list database and a stored item information record list database and including software means for permitting an operator to command, through the primary input hardware, an opening for concurrent use of any selected number of takeoff windows from the assembly and/or item information record lists; a closing of any open takeoff window; an opening of any additional takeoff window; and a count and/or scaling off of measurements of assemblies and/or items from a plan print with the estimating hardware for cost estimating purposes.

The present invention is directed to a computer system for processing and presenting cost estimates in the construction industry and in particular, to a computer system which enables the operator to simultaneously bring up a plurality of assembly list and/or item list takeoff windows; display such takeoff windows on the system display screen; and count and/or perform measurements relating to the assemblies and/or items included on any of the takeoff windows which have been brought up.
As used herein, the term "construction materials" means electrical; plumbing; telephonic; insulating; heating, ventilating and air conditioning; windows; doors; flooring; roofing; siding; and other construction materials such as structural construction materials. As used herein, the term "assembly database" means a construction material database which includes a construction material assembly list or file of records composed of fields containing data items (e.g. assembly number, assembly name, assembly cost, assembly installation cost, etc.). As used herein, the term "item database" means a construction material database which includes a construction material item or component list or file of records composed of fields containing data items (e.g. item or component number, item or component name, item or component cost, item or component installation cost, etc.). The construction materials of the assembly database and the item database are related in that the items or components listed in the item database may be items or components of assemblies listed in the assembly database as well as stand alone items or components not included in an assembly listed in the assembly database.
Previous computer systems available in the construction industry have included assembly databases and item databases. One such computer system permits the operator or estimator to bring up one takeoff window at a time from either the assembly database or the item database; display the takeoff window on the display screen of the computer system; and count and/or make measurements (such as length) relating to the assemblies or items appearing on that single takeoff window through the use of input hardware interacting with a print plan. If the estimator desires to count and/or measure assemblies or items appearing elsewhere on the database list from which the takeoff window was selected or to change from an assembly count or measurement to an item count or measurement or vise-versa, the takeoff window then being displayed (e.g. a first takeoff window) must be replaced with a new takeoff window (e.g. a second takeoff window). If the estimator later discovers that he/she has miss counted or measured an assembly or item being counted or measured in the first takeoff window, the estimator must replace the second takeoff window with the first takeoff window before the estimator can go back and change the count or measurement of the assembly or item contained in the first takeoff window. These assembly and item lists frequently have tens of thousands of assemblies or items listed and can exceed one hundred thousand assemblies or items. Accordingly, the task of estimating construction costs with a computer system that permits the estimator to work with only one takeoff window at any given time can become quite awkward and time consuming.
A second computer system used for cost estimating purposes in the construction industry permits the operator or estimator to simultaneously bring up three takeoff windows on the display screen. While this system simplified and streamlined the task of cost estimating from print plans using a computer system, the estimator is still restricted to three takeoff windows and only three takeoff windows at any given time. The estimator can not use a different number of takeoff windows in his cost estimating effort. Accordingly, there has been a need to provide a cost estimating computer system and method which provides the estimator greatly increased flexibility by permitting the estimator to bring up or open at any given time any number of takeoff windows from one or more databases; to count and/or measure assemblies or items on any of the takeoff windows that have been brought up or opened; to bring up or open one or more additional takeoff windows at any time during the estimating process without having to close down any of the other takeoff windows currently being used to perform the estimate; and to close one or more selected takeoff windows while performing a cost estimate without having to close the other takeoff windows currently being used to perform the estimate.

System for processing and presenting cost estimates in the construction industry


A system and method adapted to detect a malfunction related to a pad conditioner in a polishing apparatus are disclosed. The pad conditioner includes a conditioning pad seated on a conditioner head and a drive motor rotating the conditioner head. The system also comprises a current sensor connected to the drive motor, adapted to detect electrical current drawn by the drive motor, and provide a corresponding current value, a Personal Computer (PC) receiving the current value, adapted to compare the received current value to first and second reference values, and generate a drive indication signal in response to the comparison, and a main controller receiving the drive indication signal and adapted to generate an interlock signal halting operation of the polishing apparatus in response to the drive indication signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a polishing apparatus (or system) useful in the fabrication and processing of semiconductor wafers. More particularly, the invention relates to a device and related method adapted to detect a malfunction related to a pad conditioner in the polishing apparatus.
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0071967, filed Sep. 9, 2004, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The typical sequence of processes used to manufacture semiconductor devices is a long and complicated one. Many individual semiconductor devices are manufactured on a single substrate. This substrate is usually provided in the form of a thin wafer of semiconductor material.
Over time, semiconductor devices have been formed a wafer with ever increasing height profiles. Increased height profiles result from higher integration densities and increased use of multi-layer structures. These interconnected multi-layer structures are generally formed layer by layer. To accomplish this, multiple planarization processes are performed prepare an upper surface of one structure or layer to receive another structure or layer.
A great variety of conventional, wafer planarization processes exist, including as examples, spin on glass (SOG), etch back, and reflow. Many of these processes include mechanical polishing and/or chemical polishing. Chemical and mechanical polishing has respective advantages and disadvantages. For example, a chemical polishing is preferred where a mechanical polishing might damage (e.g., grind) a delicate surface. However, it is often difficult to obtain a truly flat surface (e.g., an accurate topology) using only chemical polishing.
So, conventionally, some mix of mechanical polishing and chemical polishing has been required to accurately planarize a surface. In fact, the mutual presence of both chemical and mechanical polishing in conventional planarization processes is commonly referred to as Chemical-Mechanical-Polishing (CMP).
There are many types and variations of conventional CMP processes. Several examples are described here.
CMP is conducted at a polishing table. A wafer is attached to a polishing head using surface tension or vacuum pressure. A rotating polishing pad provided at the polishing table is forced into contact with the wafer under constant force. The pad rotation and the resulting forcible agitation polish the wafer. That is, using the weight of the polishing head and the applied force, the wafer surface and the polishing pad come into contact. The resulting plane of contact is typically washed with a slurry of polishing solution containing grinding particles and/or polishing agents (e.g., chemicals). The grinding slurry serves to remove polishing debris and grinding particles and supply polishing agents to the surface.
One example of a conventional polishing apparatus is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,994.
A similar conventional polishing apparatus is illustrated on Figure (FIG.) 1. Within this apparatus, a wafer 12 is vacuum attached to a polishing head 10 which is attached to rotatable motor 26. A platen 20 attaching a polishing pad 16 is rotated in a direction contrary to the rotation direction of motor 26. Polishing head 10 is lowered until the facing surface of wafer 12 contacts polishing pad 16 while a slurry is supplied. A conditioning disc 24 driven by a motor 28 and attaching a conditioning pad 22 is typically provided as part of the foregoing polishing apparatus. Conditioning pad 22 is applied to polishing pad 16 in order to maintain a proper (e.g., planar) surface.
Polishing apparatuses like the one shown in FIG. 1 have been widely used in the industry for many years with excellent results. However, one notable exception to this excellent track record is reoccurring problems with a conditioning pad installed in opposition to the platen. Such conditioning pads have a frequent rate of malfunction. This frequent state of malfunction can cause larger problems, because if the conditioning pad is not regularly applied to the polishing pad (typically before and/or after each polishing process) problems arise, such as inadequate polishing rates and degraded polishing uniformity. These results threaten the reliability of semiconductor devices formed on the wafer.

System and method detecting malfunction of pad conditioner in polishing apparatus


A system and method for automated estimation of average stopped delay at signalized intersections using digitized still image analysis of actual traffic flow is disclosed. The system and method includes digitizing images of an intersection and creating a line of pixels that acts as a virtual sensor in a traffic lane of interest. Background intensities of the pixel line on the traffic lane without vehicles are compared to pixel intensities on images with traffic. Once vehicles are identified, the present method and system provides for three alternative embodiments of methods for determining the stopped delay for an entire image or for a particular vehicle. Once the stopped delay for all relevant images or for all relevant vehicles is determined, the average stopped delay per vehicle is estimated.

With ever increasing road traffic levels there is a particular need to evaluate the performance of traffic control systems. One particular traffic control system that is almost universally encountered is signalized intersections. Evaluation of signalized intersection performance may take various forms. One form of particular importance includes the analysis of average stopped delay per vehicle. The Institute of Transportation Engineers ("ITE") defines stopped delay as the time a vehicle is standing still while waiting in line in the approach to an intersection. The average stopped delay per vehicle for a given intersection approach is the sum of the individual stopped delay divided by the volume of traffic that passes through the intersection approach including vehicles that do not stop.
A basic method for estimating average stopped delay per vehicle suggested by the ITE includes the use of a human observer for counting vehicles. Typically, for fifteen minutes the observer counts the number of vehicles stopped at an intersection approach at fifteen second intervals. The total number of vehicles that passed through the intersection is also recorded. Once the data are collected, the total number of vehicles that were counted as stopped is multiplied by the fifteen second time increment and then divided by the total number of vehicles that passed through the intersection from that approach. This method may be referred to as the ITE manual method.
Although the ITE manual method is common in the field of traffic engineering, it does have several possible error sources. For example, the ITE manual method assumes that vehicles counted as stopped at each fifteen-second interval have been stopped at the intersection for the entire fifteen seconds. Error can also arise from the use of human observers. Long traffic queues can make it difficult for observers to accurately count the stopped vehicles. The difficulties associated with manual analysis do not disappear even if an electronic counter is used to simplify the steps of the ITE manual method.
Consequently, it would be desirable to reduce the large labor cost and reduce the inaccuracies inherent in the ITE manual method. It would further be desirable to provide automated, instead of manual estimation of the average stopped delay per vehicle at a given signalized intersection.

Automated estimation of average stopped delay at signalized intersections


A node device (601) of a wireless sensor network comprises a receiver (651) for receiving transmissions from other nodes. A controller (641) selectively switches on said receiver (651) according to a timetable. The node device (601) maintains synchronization with and receives beacon transmissions from another node in said wireless sensor network. If a failure is observed in previously maintained synchronization, the controller (641) reads from memory previously received information about neighboring nodes with which said node device (601) did not yet maintain synchronization. The controller (641) utilizes such stored information to selectively switch on the receiver (651) to attempt receiving a beacon transmission from such a neighboring node.

The concept of a wireless sensor network (WSN) refers to a communications network that comprises a (potentially large) number of autonomous nodes that are capable of setting up and maintaining multi-hop wireless communication connections through an randomly deployed arrangement of nodes. Contrary to general-purpose ad-hoc wireless networks such as WLANs (Wireless Local Area Networks), a WSN does not aim at maximizing wireless medium utilization or at ensuring highest possible data rates. A major concern in WSNs is the long-term power consumption of the nodes, which means that even relatively modest data rates and relatively long latencies may be accepted if they help to minimize the mean amount of consumed electric power. The word "sensor" in WSNs comes from the fact that traditionally a major application area of WSNs was considered to be relative static measurement networks, in which a large number of sensor-equipped nodes act as source nodes generating measurement data, which is collected to a relatively small number of sink nodes. The sink nodes may also act as gateways that set up and maintain communications between the WSN and other communications networks.
Prior art of WSNs and related features are known at least from publications WO2006/067271, US 2004/0100917 A1, US 2003/0152041 A1, US 2002/0044533 A1, CA 2 311 245 A1, WO01/69279, WO01/26329, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,247 B1. Known protocols for wireless sensor networks include the Sensor-MAC (also known as S-MAC), the Self-organizing Medium Access Control for Sensor networks (SMACS), the Traffic Adaptive Medium Access (TRAMA) protocol, and the IEEE 802.15.4 Low Rate Wireless Personal Area Network (LR-WPAN) standard. Of these, the S-MAC has been described in the scientific publication W. Ye, J. Heidemann, and D. Estrin: "Medium access control with coordinated, adaptive sleeping for wireless sensor networks," ACM/IEEE Trans. Networking, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 493-506, June 2004. SMACS has been described in K. Sohrabi, J. Gao, V. Ailawadhi, and G. J. Pottie, "Protocols for self-organization of a wireless sensor network," IEEE Personal Communications, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 16-27, Oct. 2000. TRAMA is described in V. Rajendran, K. Obraczka, and J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves, "Energy-efficient, collision-free medium access control for wireless sensor networks," in Wireless Networks, vol. 12, no. 1, February 2006, pp. 63-78. A further development to LR-WPAN is known as the ZigBee and described online on the official website of the ZigBee alliance (http://www.zigbee.org).
Aiming at ultimate savings in the energy needed to operate a node typically means that wireless communications in a WSN consist of short activity periods and long idle periods, during which most electric circuits in the node are in a sleep mode. Keeping the activity period short is easy, when timing is synchronized throughout the network and each node knows its immediately neighboring nodes. These assumptions hold reasonably well if mobility of nodes is low. Problems arise if the network should support highly mobile nodes, which may be the case for example in applications like access control, assets tracking, and interactive games.
FIG. 1 illustrates schematically the transmission of data between a source node and a destination node in a WSN utilizing a synchronous MAC (Medium Access Control) protocol. Here "destination" does not necessarily mean the final destination of data; this example only shows transmission of data between two nodes that are within each other's radio coverage. White blocks indicate transmission and reception of beacon signals. A simple hatch indicates a period when data reception is possible (the receiver is on), and a cross hatch indicates transmission of data. The beacon transmission 101 of the destination node is received at the source node in 102. According to the principles known from e.g. publication WO2006/067271, the beacon transmission contains all the information that the source node needs to know about the destination node in order to successfully transmit data thereto. After the beacon transmission 101 there occurs a data reception period 103 in the destination node. The source node utilises this to make its data transmission at 104. The same pattern is repeated at steps 111, 112, 113, and 114. In the meantime the source node may make its own beacon transmission at 105, and have a reception period 106. These are not necessary, if the source node is a so-called subnode of the destination node.
FIG. 1 also illustrates the concepts of a wakeup period Twakeup, which consists of an active period Tactive and a sleep period Tsleep. For reasons of graphical clarity the relative lengths of the time periods are not realistic in FIG. 1. Typically the length of the active period Tactive is considerably less than one second, while the sleep period Tsleep may be several seconds or even minutes.
The fact that the MAC protocol is synchronous means that the source node knows, when it may expect the beacon transmission 101 to come, so that the source node only needs to keep its receiver on for receiving beacon signals at that very moment. The source node has obtained the necessary information earlier by performing a so-called network scan. In principle the source node would not even need to receive the beacon transmission at 102 or at least not at 112, if it can deduce the appropriate moment for transmitting data to the destination node from some beacon signal it has previously received from the destination node. However, it is usually advisable to receive all beacon signals, because they can also contain up-to-date information about the reservation of slots by other nodes during the reception period 103 or 113, or other actual information. Regularly receiving beacon transmissions also helps to compensate for random errors in clock frequency between nodes.
Let us imagine that the source node moves, and eventually goes out of the radio coverage of the destination node. In that case the source node should find some other node close enough to its new location to communicate with. In other words the source node must make a network scan. Even if there is a common network beacon frequency on which all beacon transmissions are made, in the worst case the source node must keep its beacon receiver on for the duration of a whole wakeup period to receive even a single beacon transmission. The on-time of the receiver that is required for performing a network scan becomes even longer, if the node must listen to a number of frequencies in sequence. The more mobility there is among the nodes, the more frequent will be the need for scanning the network, which may dramatically increase the overall energy consumption of a WSN.
An objective of the present invention is to present a method, an arrangement and a computer program product for enhancing the support for mobility in a WSN without considerably increasing the overall energy consumption of the network. Another objective of the invention is that the enhanced support for mobility can be implemented in the framework of existing WSN protocols without requiring major changes. A yet another objective invention is to keep the requirements for hardware complicatedness at nodes reasonable despite of the enhanced support for mobility.
The objectives of the invention are achieved by including information about second-hop neighbor nodes in beacon transmissions, and by utilising previously received information about second-hop neighbors when creating new connections.
According to a first aspect of the invention, a node device for a wireless sensor network comprises:                a receiver for receiving transmissions from other nodes in said wireless sensor network,        a controller configured to selectively switch on said receiver according to a timetable known to said controller, and        a memory configured to store information about other nodes in said wireless sensor network;wherein said node device is configured to maintain synchronization with and receive beacon transmissions from another node in said wireless sensor network.
As a characterizing feature said controller is configured to read from received beacon transmissions information about neighboring nodes with which said node device does not maintain synchronization and to store such information into said memory, and said controller is configured to utilize such stored information to selectively switch on said receiver to attempt receiving a beacon transmission from such a neighboring node as a response to an observed failure in previously maintained synchronization.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a node device for a wireless sensor network comprises:                a receiver for receiving transmissions from other nodes in said wireless sensor network,        a transmitter for making transmissions to other nodes in said wireless sensor network, and        a controller configured to selectively switch on said receiver and said transmitter according to a timetable known to said controller;wherein said node device is configured to maintain synchronization with and receive beacon transmissions from another node in said wireless sensor network.
As a characterizing feature said controller is configured to compose a synchronization data unit that contains information about such node with which said node device maintains synchronization, and said controller is configured to make said transmitter transmit said synchronization data unit as a part of a beacon transmission.
A method according to a first aspect of the invention is characterized by the steps performed by a node device according to a first aspect of the invention.
A method according to a second aspect of the invention is characterized by the steps performed by a node device according to a second aspect of the invention.
A computer program product according to a first aspect of the invention is characterized in that it comprises executable instructions to make a computer perform the method according to the first aspect of the invention.
A computer program product according to a second aspect of the invention is characterized in that it comprises executable instructions to make a computer perform the method according to the second aspect of the invention.
Although the topology of a WSN does not place any requirements about any nodes being stationary, a significant probability still exists that the new node, with which a moving node will want to communicate after losing a link with a previous neighboring node, already was somewhere in a relatively concise neighborhood around the moving node's previous location. In its previous location, the moving node received beacon transmissions from immediately neighboring nodes and thus knew about them. The "neighbor awareness" of the moving node can be significantly extended outwards by making said immediately neighboring nodes announce, preferably in the same beacon transmissions that the nearby nodes will receive anyway, important information about those nodes that a particular moving node does not hear yet but that are only one step away in the network topology.
If a common network beacon frequency exists for making all network beacon transmissions, the most important thing to be announced about potential next-step neighboring nodes is the relative timing of their beacon transmissions in relation to those of the node that is making the announcement. Thus a moving node will immediately know, at which time it should expect a beacon transmission from the next-step neighboring node. If beacon transmissions come on different channels, also channel identification is among the signaled information that a node advantageously receives in beacon transmissions. This way the moving node may manage to avoid having to make full network scans for long periods. Significantly reducing the average occurrence of network scans will mean dramatic savings in the average power consumption of a WSN where nodes are allowed to move frequently.
The exemplary embodiments of the invention presented in this patent application are not to be interpreted to pose limitations to the applicability of the appended claims. The verb "to comprise" is used in this patent application as an open limitation that does not exclude the existence of also unrecited features. The features recited in depending claims are mutually freely combinable unless otherwise explicitly stated.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Energy-efficient neighbor discovery for mobile wireless sensor networks


Metal is electrolytically precipitated on a cathode plate except for a portion thereof. The non-precipitated portion enables easy peeling of the precipitated metal from the cathode plate. The ceramic coating film is formed on the non-precipitated portion and prevents intrusion of electrolytic acid between the ceramic coating film and the cathode plate. The life of the coating is prolonged. The polishing of the cathode plate can be automatized.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related to hydro-electro-winning or electro-refining of metals, such as copper, zinc and nickel, particularly to a cathode plate which is a substrate for precipitating metals thereon in the form of a sheet during the hydro-electro-winning or electro-refining. The above-mentioned cathode plate and precipitated metal are referred to as the mother plate and the mold plate, respectively. The present invention is more particularly related to the mother plate having an improved insulating structure for shielding its edge portion from the electrolytic precipitation of metals.
2. Description of Related Art
The edge portion and side of a mother plate have been coated with an insulator so as to enable the mold plate to be peeled from the mother plate. Since the electrolyte liquid for obtaining the mold plate is based on sulfuric acid and is acidic, the insulator used as the coating of the mother plate's edge portion must be resistant to the sulfuric acid. The insulator must also be well bonded to the mother plate.
The conventional coating methods of the insulator are provided for example (a) bonding a vinyl-chloride sheet, (b) applying an insulating resin, (c) applying a heat-resistant resin such as epoxy resin via a vinyl-chloride sheet (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 50-160,121), (d) applying a polyurethane rubber (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-13,089), (e) applying a fluorine rubber (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-307,292), and (f) applying a resin which is mainly composed of dimethyl polysiloxane (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2-61,086).
The method (a), in which a vinyl-chloride sheet is applied, incurs problems such as: the adhesion of the sheet decreases during the electrolyzing; the electrolyte liquid penetrates between the mother plate and the insulator; and, the metal inevitably precipitates in the clearance between the mother plate and the insulator during the electrolyzing. When the mold plate is peeled from the mother plate, the metal, which has been precipitated onto the edge of the mother plate, is incorporated is the vinyl chloride. Alternatively, the precipitated metal so grows to such an extent that the vinyl-chloride sheet ruptures. The method (a) is, therefore, disadvantageous in the point that the life of the insulator, i.e., the vinyl-chloride sheet, is very short.
The method (d) can eliminate these advantages since the dimethyl polysiloxane used has good flexibility and sealing property.
The method (c) eliminates the high-cost problem of the method (a). The method (d) emphasizes the excellent acid-resistance of polyurethane rubber and aims to improve the shielding performance of the insulator against the electrolytic precipitation.
In addition, in the conventional insulator-coating methods (c) through (f) the coating is provided on the mother plate at its peripheral or edge portions of the main surface.
The conventional coating materials, which are applied as the insulator of the peripheral or edge portions of the mother plate, are resin and rubber. These materials are usually referred to as the protector. The protector is applied by means of application with a brush or bonding with a binder. However, since the bonding property of the resin materials of the protector with the metal of the mother plate is poor, the insulator function is lost in a relatively limited number of times of the electrolysis process and hence must be replaced. In addition, the mother plate has to be polished after lapse of a certain period. Since the conventional material is applied on the peripheral or edge portions of the main surface of the mother plates, such material must be preliminarily removed when the polishing is carried out.

Cathode plate used for hydro-electro-winning or electro-refining


A data presentation system and method for selecting, processing, and displaying survey information for evaluative purposes, which includes a storage device, a display device, a server, and a network connecting the server to the display device. The server is programmed to maintain in the storage device a database with data information from a data collection, perform calculations on the data information from the data collection, and produce on the display device graphical data displays indicating measurement results based on selected population characteristics.

Conventional approaches to access customer satisfaction information generally use standard survey forms or questionnaires by mail or telephone. Survey results are then tabulated or summarized in order to evaluate the information. However, any project or initiative will generally have an overwhelming number of measurement options. Pursuing all of them results in data overload and frustration.
The compass viewpoint concept is a tool that can be used to help evaluate customer satisfaction and focus improvement efforts. This improvement process provides a framework for developing a balanced measurement profile for an initiative by focusing on a small set of measures. The concept consists of four points which display four main outcome measurement categories or areas of measurement. Key measures of the initiative are then selected by addressing what variables or subcategories might be considered under each of the points.
In the health care system, the four outcome measurement categories are clinical, functioning, satisfaction, and cost. Like a directional compass, the points correspond to key aspects of quality and performance for both patients and staff. Clinical includes measures of mortality and morbidity, such as signs, symptoms, treatment complications, diagnostic test results and laboratory results, and disease-specific measures. Functional consists of measures of physical function, mental health, social/role function, and other measures of health status, such as pain, vitality, and perceived well-being and health risk status. Satisfaction includes measures of satisfaction such as patient and family satisfaction with health care delivery processes, a patient's perceived health benefit from care received, and employee satisfaction with work environment. Cost consists of measures of direct medical costs (e.g., ambulatory care, inpatient services, and medications) and indirect social costs (e.g., days lost from work or normal routine, replacement worker costs, and caregiver costs). A detailed description of the compass viewpoint can be found in "Clinical Improvement Action Guide," edited by Nelson, Batalden, and Ryer, 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference.
However, this improvement process has several limitations. In depth application of the compass viewpoint and evaluation of the information collected need several measurement methods. These methods include control charts indicating variations in trends over time, patient preferences, rating scales, benchmarking, cost analysis, and cross related measurements. In addition, evaluators of a survey assessment may be interested in detailed reasons behind an answer in a particular situation, such as when a participant is very dissatisfied with a service or product, while the same evaluator may not care why a survey participant was satisfied with a different service or product. Processing stated reasons and such measurement methods using standard techniques can be difficult, time-consuming, and costly. Thus, there is a need for a computer-implemented system and method based on the improvement process that allows for presenting collected survey information in a compass viewpoint framework.
It would also be advantageous to automate the analysis and presentation of the collected survey information to enable a user to more easily and efficiently review the collected information. Modern computer and networking technology provide potential solutions to these problems. Advances in database design, computer processing, and computer networking all provide means to improve the process of analyzing and evaluating survey information. Accordingly, an adaptable survey presentation procedure would be useful, one that indicates the depth of measurements on certain topics depending on the answers given to questions on that topic, and that utilizes computer technology to process calculations and verbal replies.

Method and system for presentation of survey and report data


A steel laminate gasket of the present invention is installed between two engine parts having at least one fluid hole. The gasket comprises a first plate having at least one first hole, a second plate situated above the first plate and having at least one second hole, at least one third plate situated above the second plate and having at least one third hole, and a cover member for covering at least first and third holes. The size of the first hole is smaller than the fluid hole of the engine parts to restrict flow rate of fluid passing therethrough. The second plate is provided with a first sealing device situated around the fluid hole such that the first sealing device is sandwiched between the two engine parts. The size of the second hole is smaller than the first sealing device. The size of the third hole is substantially the same as that of the first hole. The third plate is provided with a stepped portion, which is located inside the first sealing device when the plates are assembled together.

The present invention relates to a steel laminate gasket with a reduced hole for regulating flow rate of fluid passing therethrough.
In an internal combustion engine, there are provided with fluid passages for water and oil. In particular, the water and oil passages are formed inside a cylinder block and cylinder head, and when the engine is assembled together, water and oil circulate through the respective passages in the cylinder block and cylinder head. When the cylinder block and cylinder head are assembled, a gasket is installed therebetween to prevent leakage of fluid at a connecting portion.
In an automobile industry, one engine is installed in different models of cars to reduce manufacturing cost of an engine. In this case, cylinder block and cylinder head in one engine are manufactured in the same manner. Although the engine is the same, installation condition is different in each model of the cars. Therefore, small design changes of an engine are required in each model. For example, amounts of cooling water and oil circulating through the engine and distribution rates of cooling water and oil inside an engine may be changed in each model.
The cylinder head and cylinder block are made of cast metal. Therefore, the cylinder head and cylinder block are not changed, and instead, a gasket situated between the cylinder head and cylinder block is changed. For example, in case the cylinder head and cylinder block are provided with a large water hole, a small hole is formed in the gasket to reduce flow rate of water. In some cases, water holes in the cylinder block and cylinder head are entirely closed by the gasket.
A steel laminate gasket is formed of a plurality of thin steel plates. In case the size of the water hole is reduced in a steel laminate gasket, at least one of the steel plates must extend into a water hole. As a result, these arises some technical problems. Namely, in case one plate extends into the water hole, since the plate is very thin, the plate may bend by pressure of flowing water to thereby reduce sealing ability. In case some of the steel plates extend into a water hole, water enters into spaces between the plates. In a steel laminate gasket, it is very difficult to seal around fluid holes especially in case the gasket partly extends into a fluid hole.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a steel laminate gasket having a reduced fluid hole, wherein leakage of fluid is substantially prevented.
Another object of the invention is to provide a steel laminate gasket as stated above, wherein deformation of the steel plate due to fluid flow is substantially prevented.
A further object of the invention is to provide a steel laminate gasket as stated above, which can be used for a long period of time.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


A multi-chip package type semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate having first and second conductive patterns thereon, a first semiconductor chip on the insulating substrate and having a first terminal pad and a relay pad isolated from the first terminal pad. The device further includes a second semiconductor chip on the first semiconductor chip having a second terminal pad. The first semiconductor chip is connected to the first pattern by a first bonding wire. The second semiconductor chip is connected to the second pattern by a second bonding wire, which connects the second pattern to the relay pad, and a third bonding wire, which connects the relay pad to the second terminal pad. The lengths of the first, second and third bonding wire are approximately the same.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a multi-chip package type semiconductor device in which more than one IC chip can be packaged.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there are several types of multi-chip packages in which more than one IC chip can be packaged. One typical multi-chip package is a stack type multi-chip package that packages at least two IC chips in a stacked manner.
In the stack type multi-chip package, the semiconductor device includes an insulating substrate, a first semiconductor chip formed on the insulating substrate and a second semiconductor chip, which is formed on the first semiconductor chip. Each of the semiconductor chips includes terminal pads, and the insulating substrate includes internal terminals. In the stack type multi-chip package, the terminal pads of the first semiconductor chip are connected to the internal terminals by a first conductive wire, and the terminal pads of the second semiconductor chip are connected to the internal terminals by a second conductive wire. The insulating substrate, a first semiconductor chip and a second semiconductor chip are encapsulated by a sealing material, such as resin.
According to the stack type multi-chip package structure, since the second semiconductor chip is mounted on the first semiconductor chip, the distance between one of the terminal pads on the second semiconductor chip and one of the internal terminals, which is closest to the second semiconductor chip, is longer than that between one of the terminal pads on the first semiconductor chip and one of the internal terminals, which is closest to the first semiconductor chip. Therefore, the second conductive wire that connects the terminal pad of the second semiconductor chip to the internal terminal should be longer than the first conductive wire that connects the terminal pad of the first semiconductor chip to the internal terminal.
When the semiconductor device including conductive wires having the different lengths is encapsulated by the sealing material, the second conductive wire that is longer than the first conductive wire is pushed by injection pressure from the sealing material. As a result, the second conductive wire may contact an adjacent conductive wire so that circuits of the second semiconductor chip may short.

Multi-chip package type semiconductor device


The present invention discloses pliers including first and second members having first and second jaw members, respectively, and a first handle and a second handle. The jaws have first and second workpiece engaging surfaces constructed and arranged to generally correspond to first and second surfaces of a standardized workpiece, such as a hexagonal nut. A pivot assembly is provided to interact between the first and second members, which includes a plurality of pivot retaining regions disposed on the first jaw member and a pivot structure disposed within the second member. The pivot structure is engageable at a selected one of the retaining regions to adjust a relative position of a pivot axis between the first and second members so as to adjust an extent of relative spacing between the first and second jaws of the pliers. The second member and the pivot structure are capable of relative movement with respect to one another so that the first workpiece engaging surfaces and the second workpiece engaging surfaces orient themselves into engagement with the first and second surfaces of the standardized workpiece, respectively.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is generally related to pliers. More specifically, the present invention is related to adjustable pliers.
2. Background
Pliers are a tool that may be used on a wide range of workpieces. Some pliers may be presented with an ill-fitting geometry between the jaws of the pliers and the workpiece, thus causing stripping of the workpiece or forming blemishes on the workpiece.


Method, system and computer program product for transferring data in a data processing system network. A method for transferring data in a data processing system network according to the invention includes determining an adapter among a plurality of adapters that has the lowest transmit latency, and assigning data to be transferred to the adapter determined to have the lowest transmit latency. The data to be transferred is then transferred by the assigned adapter. The present invention utilizes network adapters to transfer data in a more efficient manner.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the data processing field and, more particularly, to a method, system and computer program product for transferring data in a data processing system network.
2. Description of Related Art
Network demands in a data processing system network are increasing faster than the ability of devices in the network to handle the demands. Applications such as on-line contents, e-commerce, large databases and streaming media require more network bandwidth than conventional textual data; and the most popular 1-Gigabit Ethernet network speed adapter currently in use does not meet network bandwidth demands in some of these environments.
The EtherChannel and IEEE 802,3ad technologies have been developed to address these business needs by grouping multiple network adapters together to form a single larger pipe. FIG. 4 is a block diagram that schematically illustrates an EtherChannel interface system that is known in the art. The system is generally designated by reference number 400 and is adapted to send and receive TCP/IP protocol messages 404 to/from application 402 by opening socket 406 and reading and writing data to and from socket 406. A plurality of Ethernet adapters 412, 414, 416 and 418 are connected to transfer TCP/IP messages to and from application 402 via Ethernet drivers 422, 424, 426 and 428 and EtherChannel driver 430.
In system 400, Ethernet drivers 412-418 are grouped together to form a single larger pipe. For instance, four 1-Gigabit Ethernet adapters can be combined in a server to realize a single 4-Gigabit network interface using one IP address.
In order to balance the transmission workload among the plurality of adapters 412-418, current EtherChannel "port aggregation" software evenly allocates data packets among the adapters in a "round-robin" fashion. Although a round robin scheme performs very well in a homogeneous environment, the scheme suffers under more realistic situations. For example, low performance adapters require more time to transmit a given amount of data because of smaller bus width/speed. In addition, the throughput on the transmit side of an adapter may be affected by the workload on the receive side of the adapter.
In practice, the transmission capability of a network adapter can be affected by four factors: slot size (32 bits vs. 64 bits), slot speed (33 MHz, 66 MHz or 133 MHz), degree of I/O bus contention (how many adapters are sharing the I/O bus) and traffic rate from the network. Current EtherChannel port aggregation software employs a round-robin packet algorithm for all adapters in the same EtherChannel group. This results in undesirable transmission delay due to the latency disparities of each adapter. With a round robin scheme, accordingly, it is conceivable that adapters having a higher capability of transferring data would have to wait to receive data to be transferred while adapters having a lower capability are busy working on packets that are queued for transmission.
There is, accordingly, a need for a method, system and computer program product for transferring data in a data processing system network that utilizes network adapters to transfer data in a more efficient manner.

Optimization of network adapter utilization in EtherChannel environment

International Business Machines Corporation


On-vehicle control units include an attaching section for attaching a message code used to check the validity of the transmission source of communication data, to the communication data. The on-vehicle control units also include an update section for updating a key code and the message code every time communication of communication data has been completed. An authentication section checks communication data and the transmission source thereof on the basis of the result of comparison between the random code obtained by restoring a message code and the random code owned by the on-vehicle control units, which are authorized.

Recent vehicles such as automobiles include on-board controllers that configure navigation systems and on-board controllers that electronically control various types of on-board devices such as an engine, brake, and the like. A vehicle includes many on-board controllers such as an on-board controller that controls a device such as a meter, which shows various states of the vehicle. The on-board controllers are electrically connected by a communication line to form a vehicle network, and various types of vehicle data are transmitted and received between the on-board controllers through the vehicle network.
In a vehicle such as an automobile that is nowadays highly computerized, to determine whether or not the user who is using the vehicle or the various types of on-board devices in the vehicle is an authorized user, authentication is performed with an authentication key used to exchange an encryption code between the vehicle and the on-board device. Alternatively, user authentication is performed using a predetermined password.
In order to maintain security, the authentication key used for such authentication has to be possessed only by the user or device having the correct authorization. For example, as described in patent document 1, a system may encrypt a private key, which is used for authentication, with a key that is held in advance at a distributing destination of the private key, and distribute the encrypted private key to the distributing destination.
As shown in FIG. 14, in such a system, an on-board device center key 22, which is a key unique to a vehicle 1, is written in advance by a write device 18 to the vehicle 1, which is the distributing destination of a private key 16 used for authentication. An electronic key center key 23 unique to an electronic key 2 is also written in advance by the write device 18 to the electronic key 2, which is the distributing destination of the private key 16.
A center 20 for generating and distributing the private key 16 holds, in advance, the on-board device center key 22 and the electronic key center key 23 respectively held by the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2. When distributing the private key 16, the center 20 uses the on-board device center key 22, which is a key shared with the key held by the vehicle 1, to encrypt the private key 16 that is distributed to the vehicle 1. The center 20 also uses the electronic key center key 23, which is a key shared with the electronic key 2, to encrypt the private key 16 that is distributed to the electronic key 2. The center 20 distributes the encrypted private key 16 to each of the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2. In the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2, the encrypted private key 16 is decrypted by the corresponding on-board device center key 22 and the electronic key center key 23. Then, the center 20 performs cryptographic communication with the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2 using the decrypted private key 16. In this manner, in the system described in patent document 1, the private key 16 is encrypted with the on-board device center key 22 and the electronic key center key 23 of the vehicle 1 and the electronic key 2, respectively. Thus, even if the private key 16 is acquired in an unauthorized manner during distribution, improper use of the private key 16 when acquired in an unauthorized manner may be limited.

Authentication system and authentication method


To synchronize a regularly occurring pulse train to the average of a bunched pulse train, an oscillator generates a plurality of differently phase shifted signals at a given frequency. One of the phase shifted signals is selected as an output signal. The output signal is compared with the bunched pulse train. The selected phase shifted signal is changed responsive to the comparison so the output signal occurs at the average frequency of the bunched pulse train. The oscillator is formed as a plurality of differential amplifier stages having equal controllable delays. The stages are connected together to form a ring oscillator. The output signal is compared with the bunched pulse train through a FIFO. A signal representative of the state of the FIFO is used as an error signal to control the selection of the phase shifted signal to be used as the output signal. A phase locked loop that synchronizes the phase shifted signal generating oscillator to a frequency reference is nested in the control loop that selects one of the phase shifted signals as the output signal.

This invention relates to synchronization of an oscillator output to a pulse train and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for synchronizing an oscillator to a bunched, i.e., pulse-swallowed, or rapidly jittering pulse train.
In communications systems, there are a number of applications in which it is necessary to generate a smooth, i.e., regularly occurring, pulse train from a bunched, i.e., pulse-swallowed, or rapidly jittering pulse train. For example, pulse-swallowed data might result after error correction of a data stream or removal of framing codes. Recovering a low-jitter clock from such pulse-swallowed data can be a challenge, particularly in applications that require the capability of generating a range of clock frequencies. If CMOS technology is used in a communications system, clock recovery is additionally hampered by the high self-noise inherent in CMOS oscillators.


A MEMS element includes: a substrate; a first electrode formed above the substrate; and a second electrode having a support portion and a beam portion, the support portion being formed above the substrate, the beam portion extending from the support portion, being formed in a state of having a gap between the first electrode and the beam portion, and being capable of vibrating in a thickness direction of the substrate. The width of the beam portion decreases with distance from a base of the beam portion toward a tip of the beam portion. The central length of the beam portion is larger than the lengths of ends of the beam portion. The width of the base of the beam portion is larger than the central length of the beam portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a MEMS element and an oscillator.
2. Related Art
MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems), which are one of techniques for forming a minute structure, mean a technique for making a micro electro mechanical system on the order of microns, or the product thereof, for example.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0279140 discloses, as a MEMS element, a MEMS vibrator including a first electrode and a second electrode having a beam portion arranged with a gap between the first electrode and the beam portion. The MEMS vibrator disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0279140 is a cantilever-like vibrator in which one end of the beam portion is fixed and the beam portion has a shape whose size in its width direction is larger than in its extension direction. By making the beam portion large in the width direction in this manner, an electrostatic force between the beam portion and the first electrode can be increased without changing a vibration frequency. When such a MEMS vibrator is used for an oscillator, it is desirable to cause the MEMS vibrator to oscillate at a frequency of the first vibration mode in view of an output signal, for example.
On the other hand, the MEMS vibrator has a plurality of vibration modes, and the frequency of each of the vibration modes depends on the shape of the vibrator. When a vibrator is used as an oscillator in general, it is ideal that differences in frequency between a vibration mode to be used and other vibration modes are large. For example, in the case of using the first vibration mode as an oscillator, when a difference between a frequency of the first vibration mode and a frequency (spurious) of the second vibration mode is small as shown in FIG. 14, there is a problem in that the vibrator oscillates in an oscillation condition satisfied by the second vibration mode.
Especially in the case of the MEMS vibrator having the beam portion larger in the width direction than in the extension direction as described above, a difference in frequency between the first vibration mode and the second vibration mode is small. Therefore, oscillation is likely to occur at an unintended frequency.


A display package includes a container that defines a first row between a base panel and a first top panel and a second row between the base panel and the second top panel. A first article set is disposed within the first row. A backing card is coupled to the container to define an interior volume including the first and second rows. A flap of the backing card extends into the interior volume at a predetermined angle. A top edge of the flap is positioned between the base panel and the second top panel. A second article set is disposed within the second row and is secured between the top edge and the second top panel. The second article set is positioned higher than the first article set, such that sides of the second article set are visible over the first set of articles.

Typically, the common practice for displaying small and lightweight retail items, such as batteries, cosmetics, toys, hardware items and the like, is to package the items in thermoformed blister packages and place the packages on shelves or hang the packages on hooks on various display racks. Conventional battery packages include a display card which provides a generally stiff, supportive backing, usually composed of cardboard, and a thermoformed polymeric blister that is bonded to the display card. The display card provides for displaying the merchandise for sale and contains print with suitable indicia such as advertising and instructions. The thermoformed blister generally includes a clear polymeric material, e.g., plastic, that, together with the display card, defines a cavity, generally having a shape to fit over and cover the products contained within a package. The blister isolates the products from the purchaser and prevents inadvertent damage that can result from repeated handling prior to sale, while further allowing for the orderly display of products for sale to purchasers.
With battery display packages, batteries of the same size are commonly made available to consumers for purchase in a package containing a predetermined number of batteries. The batteries are displayed and sold in blister-type packages which usually contain four, eight, sixteen, or twenty batteries, and other numbers of batteries, commonly packaged in each display package. According to one approach, the blister is heat-sealed on one side of the cardboard display card. According to another approach, the display card is made of two layers of cardboard with an aperture formed in one of the cardboard layers. The polymeric blister typically has a peripheral flange that is disposed (and optionally glued) between the two layers of cardboard of the display card. Additionally, each display package typically has a through-hole formed in the display card near the top so that the package can be hung on a hook on a display stand in a retail store for display to consumers. The packages containing larger numbers of batteries can include multiple through-holes within the display card of the package where additional support may be beneficial. Within many packages, multiple sets of batteries can be positioned within the cavity defined between the display card and the blister. Generally, where multiple batteries are disposed within the same package, such as packages containing eight, ten, sixteen or more batteries, the batteries are positioned in two or more sets within the cavity of the display package. Generally, display packages having larger numbers of batteries include packages containing smaller types of batteries, such as AAA(R03)-, AA(R6)-size batteries, and the like, although large packs of larger batteries can be provided.
It is desirable to provide a display package that provides visibility for a back row of product to be displayed above a front row of product, where multiple rows of products, such as batteries, are disposed within a single display package. It is also desirable to create a package that provides this added visibility to a back row of product without creating a display package that includes geometries that may be cost-prohibitive or otherwise uneconomical to manufacture.

Blister package with tiered rows of products


A hybrid optical/electrical circuit module comprising: a radiation fin assembly (3); an electric circuit (4) which includes no or substantially no optical parts, and is secured to said radiation fin assembly (3) by a first securing means superior in heat conductivity, such that heat from said electric circuit (4) may be effectively removed; and an optical/electrical converter and/or electrical/optical converter (5) to be electrically connected with said electric circuit (4), which includes a decoder and/or coder, and is secured to said radiation fin assembly (3) by a second securing means with no or only a small amount of heat generated thereby, so as not to thermally influence each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid optical/electrical circuit module designed so as to provide a communication between a communications apparatus and a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, light is used for transmitting signals between communications apparatuses or computers because signals are effectively electrically processed within each of the apparatuses or computers. Thus hybrid optical/electrical circuit modules that have an optical/electrical conversion function are increasingly employed in communication apparatuses and computers.
The hybrid optical/electrical circuit modules are generally classified into two types: an E/O (electrical/optical) module that converts an electric signal to an optical signal and delivers it to the transmission line and an O/E (optical/electrical) module that receives an optical signal from the transmission line and converts it to an electric signal.
The E/O and O/E modules will be described below.

Hybrid optical/electrical circuit module with thermal insulation


Provided is a hot-rolled thin steel sheet having a thickness of less than 6 mm and having high strength showing a tensile strength of 440 MPa or more, excellent formability, and excellent strength and toughness after heat treatment and a method of manufacturing the same. A steel base material containing 0.10 to 0.20% of C, and Si, Mn, Al, P, S, and N adjusted to suitable amount ranges, and 0.01 to 0.15% of Ti and 0.0005 to 0.0050% of B is hot rolled so as to have a finishing temperature of finish rolling of 820 to 880° C.; after the completion of the rolling, the hot-rolled thin steel sheet is cooled to a surface temperature range of 550 to 650° C. at a surface cooling rate of 15 to 50° C./s; and the hot-rolled thin steel sheet is coiled at the temperature range.

Recently, from the viewpoint of conservation of the global environment, exhaust emission standards for vehicles have been regulated strictly, and a reduction in weight of automobile body is promoted for improving fuel consumption. Accordingly, automobile members are also strongly required to be reduced in weight. Among automobile members, components with complicated shapes, such as an air bag component, have a problem that a difficulty in forming is steeply increased by using a highly strengthened steel sheet (steel sheet) for reducing the weights of the components.
Because of the problem, the steel sheet used as a material of the air bag component has a tensile strength of about 540 MPa even in the highest, unlike in other automobile components.
Recently, die quenching in which hardening is carried out while forming is in practical use as means for highly strengthening automobile members. However, since the air bag component has a very complicated shape, in general, the final shape cannot be formed by one-step forming and is, therefore, formed through a plurality of steps. Accordingly, it is difficult to apply the die quenching, which forms a final shape by one-step forming, to production of the air bag component. In addition, the air bag component is required to retain excellent low temperature toughness, but, the die quenching can not provide sufficient toughness by itself.
However, the automobile members are highly required to be reduced in weight, and, at the same time, automobile members such as an air bag component are desired to be highly strengthened. Accordingly, it has been recently tried to highly strengthen and also toughen the automobile members such as the air bag component by treating the members with heat by, for example, hardening after the formation of the shapes of the members. Therefore, a thin steel sheet that is used as a material for the automobile members such as the air bag component is required to have excellent strength and toughness after heat treatment, which is applied to the members after the formation of the shapes of the members.
To such requirements, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-309344 discloses a method for manufacturing a thin steel sheet of which the average grain size of BN as precipitate in steel being 0.1 μm or more and the prior austenite grain size after the hardening being 2 to 25 μm by hot rolling a steel containing 0.10 to 0.37% of C and appropriate amounts of Si, Mn, P, S, and Al and further B and N so as to satisfy a (14B/10.8N of 0.50 or more at a coiling temperature of 720° C. or less. It is said that the thin steel sheet produced by the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-309344 can have excellent properties in hardening at low temperature for a short period of time after forming and excellent toughness after the hardening and also is low in variation of properties depending on hardening conditions.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-309345 discloses a method for manufacturing a thin steel sheet with impact toughness after hardening of which the average grain size of TiN as precipitate in steel being 0.06 to 0.30 μm and the prior austenite grain size after the hardening being 2 to 25 μm by hot rolling a steal containing 0.10 to 0.37% of C and appropriate amounts of Si, Mn, P, S, Al, and Ti and further B and N so as to satisfy an effective B amount of 0.0005% or more at a coiling temperature of 720° C. or less. It is said that the thin steel sheet manufactured by the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-309345 can have excellent properties in hardening at low temperature for a short period of time after forming and excellent impact toughness after the hardening and also be low in variation of properties depending on hardening conditions.
Although the thin steel sheets manufactured by the methods disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-309344 and 2002-309345 have excellent strength characteristics after heat treatment, the toughness after the heat treatment is insufficient and cannot satisfy the levels of recent requirement for toughness. Furthermore, the strength before the heat treatment is low, which causes a problem that the strength at the portion to which the heat treatment is not applied may be insufficient. In particular, this problem is significant when the portion without receiving heat treatment is required to have a strength of 490 MPa or more.
Accordingly, it could be helpful to solve the above-mentioned problems in conventional technology by providing a hot-rolled thin steel sheet having high strength and excellent formability, i.e., a tensile strength of 440 to 640 MPa and preferably 490 to 640 MPa and an elongation of 20% or more (gauge length GL: 50 mm) as the characteristics before forming/heat treatment that are required as an air bag component, and also having excellent strength and toughness after the heat treatment, and providing a method for manufacturing such a hot-rolled thin steel sheet.
In this description, a hot-rolled thin steel sheet with "excellent strength and toughness after heat treatment" means a hot-rolled thin steel sheet having high strength showing a tensile strength of 980 MPa or more and high ductility showing an elongation of 15% or more (GL: 50 mm) after usual water hardening and tempering treatment (water hardening at about 950° C. and tempering at from room temperature to 200° C.) and having high toughness showing a ductility-brittle fracture transition temperature vTrs of −100° C. or less in a Charpy impact test. Since the hot-rolled thin steel sheet is mainly used in functional or driving components of automobiles, the thickness thereof is less than 6 mm.

Hot-rolled thin steel sheet with excellent formability and excellent strength and toughness after heat treatment, and method for manufacturing the same


An orifice shield for distributing water flowing from an orifice in a pipe and preventing blockage of the orifice. The orifice shield includes a housing including a cage, the cage being defined by a first plate joined to a second plate via fins, the fins being joined via a plurality of lateral members, the cage including a plurality of openings or slots defined between the fins and the lateral members, the first plate including a central shaft extending downwardly toward the second plate. A freely rotating fan is mounted on the shaft. The fan is adapted to evenly distribute the water flowing from the orifice via the openings or slots. The housing may also be a box housing including a plurality of openings or slots defined therein. The housing includes a first clamp and a second clamp that are adapted to be removably secured to the pipe.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a septic system fluid control. In particular, the present invention is directed to a diffuser that attaches over a lateral orifice in a septic system subterranean pipe that diffuses filtered wastewater to the soil surrounding the pipe and prevents plugging of the orifice by the soil. The diffuser may also be used on water distribution pipes of soil irrigation systems.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In typical septic system designs, orifice shields are used to evenly distribute effluent, prevent soil erosion around the orifices, and prevent blockage of the orifices from the surrounding soil.
Typical orifice shields employ a box-like structure that fits over the orifice. As a result, typical orifice shield designs generally do not allow for dispersion of effluent over a 360° area of soil. Also, typical orifice shield designs are only adapted to fit on either the top or bottom portion of a pipe and not both. Many typical orifice shield designs are also limited in the number of sizes they will adhere to, thereby requiring a plurality of model sizes. Finally, many typical orifice shield designs do not adequately protect orifices from becoming blocked by surrounding soil and blocks.


The invention provides methods and compositions for maintaining a state of wellness in a human by providing a dietary supplement comprising L-arginine, alone or in combination with ginseng and ginkgo biloba and/or additional nutritional supplements. The invention provides a unique blend of components that, in combination, synergistically bestow sexual wellness upon a human when taken regularly as a dietary supplement.

Quality of life is increasingly valued in today's society. Proper nutrition and exercise, and healthy sexual function contribute to maintain an overall state of wellbeing, which can serve to manage stress, maintain a properly functioning immune system, protect against disease, maintain a positive mental outlook, and generally to enable one to feel good and enjoy life.

Method and composition for improving sexual fitness


In a displacement pick-up for detecting the displacement of an actuator driven by a rotating drive element, which has an indexing mechanism (11) with a first indexing wheel (13), driven by the drive element and having an indexing cam (19), and a rotatable second indexing wheel with encompassing teeth (20), and which also has a device (12) for detecting the rotary position of the second indexing wheel (15), for the sake of achieving high freedom from noise the teeth (20) on the second indexing wheel (15) and the indexing cam (19) meshing with them on the first indexing wheel (13) are embodied with large surface areas, and the two indexing wheels (13, 15) are magnetized in such a way that their respective immediately adjacent faces repel one another.

The invention relates to a displacement pick-up for detecting the displacement of an actuator driven by a rotating drive element, in particular a transmission output pinion, particularly for a sliding roof in motor vehicles, of the generic type.
Such displacement pick-ups are used in the control and detection of position of drive units, in order to detect the displacement of the actuators, driven by the drive units, inside the drive units. With the integrated indexing mechanism, high positioning accuracy is attainable. In a conventional indexing mechanism, when the indexing cam disposed on the first indexing wheel strikes the tooth flanks of the teeth of the second indexing wheel, in order to slave it rotationally in increments, the result is clearly-audible clicking sounds, which if the indexing sequence is rapid cause considerable noise. Because of this noise, some kinds of applications in which extensive noiselessness is demanded are closed to such displacement pick-ups.

Displacement pick-up for detecting of actuator with two indexing wheels


A two cycle, preferably diesel, engine has a turbocharger with an exhaust driven turbine and supplemental mechanical drive maintaining a fixed minimum turbine/engine speed ratio with fuel efficient freewheeling (fully exhaust sustained) turbine operation at higher speeds and loads. A turbo boost system provides freewheeling turbine operation at intermediate speeds where it might or will not otherwise occur. When an intermediate speed is reached at which freewheeling can be sustained but is not occurring, the system. 1) temporarily increases engine speed to a predetermined higher level to accelerate the turbine and increase engine air flow,. 2) increases engine fuel input to a higher level capable of sustaining freewheeling, and. 3) reduces engine speed to the selected intermediate speed while maintaining a fuel input level adequate to maintain turbine freewheeling. Methods and means for providing and controlling intermediate speed freewheeling operation are disclosed.

It is known in the art relating to two cycle diesel engines for use in locomotives and other applications to provide a turbosupercharger (turbocharger) having a rotor including both compressor and turbine wheels and connected with the engine crankshaft by a gear train for driving the turbine, i.e. the turbocharger rotor, at a fixed minimum speed ratio relative to the engine (crankshaft) rotational speed. It should be understood that reference to an operating condition of the turbine, as is common among those skilled in the art, also applies where appropriate to the complete rotor including both turbine and compressor wheels.
The gear train includes an overrunning clutch that allows the turbine to freewheel, i.e overrun the mechanical drive and be driven solely by exhaust gas energy, at speeds higher than those of the fixed ratio. This provides for supercharging of the engine cylinders at higher engine speeds and loads where the energy in the exhaust gas is adequate for exhaust sustained turbocharger operation.
In one line of well known current production two cycle diesel engines used for railway, marine, powerplant and industrial applications, a gear and exhaust driven turbocharger similar to those of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,667,214 granted Jun. 6, 1972 and 4,719,818 granted Jan. 18, 1988 is provided for supplying scavenging and charging air to the engine air box for delivery through ports to the engine cylinders.
As used in railway road locomotive (as opposed to switcher) applications it is common to provide a throttle control having eight engine speed settings from idle to full speed. A load control system controls the load applied to the engine by an engine driven generator to normally provide predetermined engine power settings for each power throttle speed setting from 1 to 8. The power settings are preselected to match the engine output with a desired power curve within scavenging and charging air pressure levels provided by the turbocharger. In general, these increase with the engine and turbocharger speed, but the charging pressure or pressure ratio increases significantly when the exhaust gas energy becomes sufficient to drive the turbine above the mechanically driven speed. Above this point, the air flow and pressure available are controlled by the combustion fuel energy which is limited by the full rack injector fuel injection capacity and the ability of the charging air supplied to cleanly burn this fuel (without significant exhaust smoke).
Thus at the full engine speed and in throttle setting 7, the turbocharger operation is almost always fully exhaust sustained and the full power setting takes account of the high pressure level provided in the engine cylinders. At throttle setting 6, ambient conditions of temperature, pressure, etc. may allow free wheeling (exhaust sustained) operation and, at lower throttle settings, the turbocharger operates at the speed determined by the mechanical drive ratio. The engine load at these lower throttle settings is substantially derated by matching fuel input to the limited charging air available during mechanically driven turbocharger operation and by the necessity of avoiding smoke during engine acceleration from lower to higher throttle settings.

Engine and method for turbo boosted operation of a mechanically assisted turbocharger in a two cycle engine


An extraocular muscle support sling and a method for surgically implanting the sling to reinforce a weak or ineffective extraocular muscle. The sling includes a semi-flexible anchor base and a pair of elastic arms which extend from the anchor base and are held together to create a loop. During implantation, the anchor base of the sling is attached to a movable target tissue of the patient, and the looped elastic arms are attached to an immobile base tissue. A pulling or tensioned force applied to the elastic arms causes the patient's movable target tissue to which the anchor base is attached to be pulled towards and oriented with respect to the immobile base tissue with the same force and in the same direction as would be the case had the muscle been normal. According to preferred embodiments, the extraocular muscle support sling has particular application for treating ptosis and strabismus.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an implantable surgical muscle support sling to reinforce a weak or ineffective extraocular muscle for ideally treating ptosis and strabismus. The muscle support sling is sutured between a movable target (i.e., insertion) tissue and an immobile base (i.e., origin) tissue to orient and hold the target tissue relative to the base tissue as would have been the case had the extraocular muscle been normal.
2. Background Art
It is sometimes necessary to overcome the effects of a weak or ineffective ocular muscle which is known to cause ptosis or strabismus. To treat these problems, a movable target tissue of a patient is repositioned relative to an immobile base tissue to correspondingly reposition the patient's eyelid or realign the patient's eyeball. Repositioning the eyelid to treat ptosis is typically accomplished by one or more thin threads which are sutured between the target and base tissues. However, the conventional threads tend to migrate or "cheese wire" through the patient's tissues over time. Consequently, the patient's eyelid will droop once again or the eyeball becomes misaligned so that the original problem recurs in a few months. What is more, using the conventional threads to treat ptosis often causes unsightly peaking or notching of the eyelid when the patient's target tissue below the eyelid is pulled towards the base tissue near the eyebrow. In this same regard, no elastic thread implant system is readily available that effectively repositions the eyeball to treat strabismus. Accordingly, a more effective and cosmetically acceptable means and procedure for treating ptosis and strabismus are desirable.


Mannequin for the surface treatment of pants. Mannequin for the surface treatment of pants, comprising an upper support structure from which two legs extend, wherein each of said legs has an inflatable balloon arranged at its rear part. Each of said inflatable balloons has its outer lateral section folded upon itself at least once around a folding line extending from the upper edge to the lower edge of the balloon. The upper edge is fixed to the rear upper end of the corresponding leg and the lower edge is fixed to a rear intermediate point of the corresponding leg, such that the parts of the edges corresponding to the outer lateral section are also fixed to the leg of the mannequin.

Mannequins such as those indicated above are known. One of its applications is for the surface treatment of the pants by laser. Examples thereof can be found in patent applications US 2003/0146194 A1 and WO 2014/120105 A1.
However, laser treatment is very sensitive to differences in distance between the focus of the laser light beam and the surface to be treated. In addition, it requires the surface to be treated to be devoid of folds. Furthermore, the high temperatures reached during the treatment can negatively affect the life span of the balloon.
On the other hand, there is always an interest in increasing the productivity of the laser treatment process.