A method of manufacturing multi-ply tubular containers for food products is provided including the steps of applying an aqueous adhesive to a surface of a paperboard body ply and then heating the aqueous adhesive to evaporate part of the water content and render the adhesive substantially tacky. The body ply and a polymeric liner ply having a moisture barrier layer are then either fed to a shaping mandrel from opposite sides and bonded together as the container is formed on the mandrel or are first passed through a nip to adhere the liner ply to the body ply and then wrapped around the mandrel as a laminate to create the tubular container. Accordingly, an advantageous tubular container can be manufactured having a body ply formed of paperboard which is wrapped into a tubular shape to define an inner surface. The body ply defines a predetermined circumferential length before being wrapped which corresponds to one revolution of the body ply when wrapped in a tubular shape. A polymeric liner ply is adhered to the inner surface of the body ply and defines a circumferential length equal to that of the body ply prior to being wrapped. Accordingly, the liner ply is circumferentially compressed when the body ply is wrapped into the tubular shape and advantageously has a wrinkled surface finish after being wrapped which is caused by the circumferential compression of the liner ply. Another feature of the invention is a sealed composite container having an end seal formed by a pair of inner and outer beads of a heat flowable polymer forming a part of the liner and membrane-type lid.

Food and drink products and other perishable items are often packaged in tubular containers which are sealed at both ends. These tubular containers typically include at least one structural body ply and are formed by wrapping a continuous strip of body ply material around a mandrel of a desired shape to create a tubular structure. The body ply strip may be spirally wound around the mandrel or passed through a series of forming elements so as to be wrapped in a convolute shape around the mandrel. At the downstream end of the mandrel, the tube is cut into discrete lengths and is then fitted with end caps to form the container.
Tubular containers of this type typically include a liner ply on the inner surface of the paperboard body ply. The liner ply prevents liquids such as juice from leaking out of the container and also prevents liquids from entering the container and possibly contaminating the food product contained therein. Preferably, the liner ply is also resistant to the passage of gasses, so as to prevent odors of the food product in the container from escaping and to prevent atmospheric air from entering the container and spoiling the food product. Thus, the liner ply provides barrier properties and the body ply provides structural properties.
Conventional liner plies most often include aluminum foil which has good barrier properties and also has advantageous strength properties. In particular, the liner is wound onto the mandrel prior to the winding of the body ply and must be sufficiently strong and stiff to be independently wound on the mandrel without stretching or wrinkling. Because of the support provided by the foil layer of the liner, such liners are known as "supported" liners. One or more polymeric layers are normally adhered to the foil to further improve the barrier properties of the liner and it is sometimes the case that the foil layer is not necessary for barrier properties but is included in the liner only to provide support. Such foils are expensive and thus it is desired to provide an "unsupported" liner having the requisite barrier properties without the aluminum foil layer. However, because of the problems associated with winding an unsupported liner on the mandrel, such as stretching, creasing or other misshaping of the liner, it has not been commercially feasible with conventional winding apparatus and methods to manufacture a container having an unsupported liner ply.
Another problem associated with conventional liners is excessive friction between the liner ply and the mandrel as the tubular container is wound. If the amount of friction is too high, the mandrel can suffer from overheating or premature wear. Lubricants are used although the lubricants can be expensive and may present FDA concerns. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a tubular container which does not create excessive friction with the shaping mandrel. In addition, the aluminum foil layer typically includes a kraft paper backing for allowing the foil layer to be adhered to the paperboard body ply. Aqueous based adhesives (or "wet adhesives") are preferably being used to adhere the liner ply to the body ply because solvent based adhesives have become disadvantageous in light of various environmental concerns. However, it has heretofore been difficult to get the aqueous adhesives to stick to the smooth and impervious surface of the aluminum foil layer. Accordingly, a kraft paper backing has been preadhered to the foil layer so that the liner can be adhered to the paperboard body ply with wet adhesives. However, the kraft paper adds further cost and thickness to the liner.
The liner ply is sealed to itself along a helical seam which is typically slightly offset from the helical seam of the body ply. Wet adhesives have typically not been able to adhere directly to the foil layer as discussed above, and thus the liner ply seam is formed with an "anaconda" fold, wherein the overlying edge of the liner ply is folded back on itself and adhered to the underlying edge. The anaconda fold allows the polymeric layers on the surface of the foil layer to be heat sealed together. Alternatively, a hot melt adhesive can be used to seal the anaconda fold of the overlying edge of the liner ply to the underlying edge. An additional advantage of the anaconda fold is that the edge of the kraft paper is not exposed to the interior of the container and thus liquids in the container will not be absorbed by the kraft paper. An example of such a fold is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,284 to McDilda, et al.
Anaconda folds are undesirable, however, because of their increased thickness. The thickness of an anaconda fold seam is equal to three thicknesses of the liner ply and poses difficulties when attempting to hermetically seal the ends of the tubular container. Specifically, the ends of the tube are often rolled outwardly after being cut so as to form a rolled circular bead or flange on one or both ends of the tube and then end caps or covers are sealed to the bead with an adhesive sealant or compound. However, in the area where the thick anaconda fold seam forms a portion of the edge surface, the end surface of the bead or flange can be substantially non-planar thus forming hill-like and/or valley-like irregularities. Accordingly, an extra amount of adhesive sealant must be applied to the edge surface at least in the area of the anaconda fold seam to fill the discontinuities and hermetically seal the tubular container. The additional application of adhesive sealant is disadvantageous because of the extra sealant which must be used and the increased difficulty in removing the seal by the consumer due to the additional adhesive sealant.
Prior tubular containers having a liner without an anaconda fold seam include the container disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,463 to Ahlemeyer. The container disclosed therein includes a liner ply of aluminum foil which is coated on one surface to inhibit chemical attack. The liner ply web is fed to a pair of combining rolls where its uncoated surface is forced into contact with an adhesively coated surface of a body ply web. Solvent based adhesives are disclosed and include animal glue, casein-latex emulsion, vinyl-copolymer emulsion, and sodium silicate. The composite web is then spirally wound into tubular form about a mandrel to create a continuous tube. The overlapping edges of the liner ply are secured together with a hot melt adhesive.
In addition, current commercial containers often have membrane-type lids or end closures heat sealed to a beaded end of the composite container wall. The beaded end is formed by turning out the end of the container liner to position the inner layer of the liner material on the outwardly curved beaded surface. As noted above, the liner material has conventionally been a paper-backed foil liner which is spirally wound inside the composite container, examples of which are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,351 to Johnson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,653 to Elias. The foil liner and paper backing are not inexpensive and have an undesirable thickness.
Certain types of heat sealable coatings have been used in both the lidding and liners of conventional containers. For example, SURLYN.RTM. polymer, a product of Dupont, is a material known in the art and is commonly used as a heat seal coating. SURLYN.RTM. polymer is an ionically cross-linked polymer with limited flow characteristics when heated. Typically, the layer of the container and the layer of the membrane which contact each other are constructed of SURLYN.RTM. polymer, and may be coated with a wax. These two layers of SURLYN.RTM. polymer are heat sealed along the top surface of the container bead. The two SURLYN.RTM. polymer layers create an extremely strong bond layer that remains relatively uniform in thickness across the seal area. Due to the strong cross-linked bond created by SURLYN.RTM. polymer, however, opening the container can require a peel force which is too high for some consumers and usually results in tearing and exposure of the other layers of the container wall, such as the paperboard body wall, as is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,653 to Elias. This gives the top of the container a ragged, undesirable appearance.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide methods and apparatus for manufacturing a tubular container having an unsupported liner ply which does not include a foil layer. In addition, it would be highly desirable to provide such a container wherein the liner ply is securely adhered to the body ply with an aqueous adhesive. Such an aqueous adhesive would avoid the problems associated with solvent adhesives but should be capable of forming a sufficiently strong bond with the liner ply, a construction which has not yet been commercially feasible. In addition, it would be advantageous if the liner ply could be sealed without using an anaconda fold seam. A tubular container which could be wound without generating excessive friction with the shaping mandrel would also be very desirable.
It would also be advantageous to provide a sealed container and a method for sealing a container that combine ease of opening and an attractive appearance after opening with the seal strength and barrier properties required for protection of the products within the container.

Tubular container with a heat seal having an inner and outer bead and method of manufacturing said container


A machine tool is controlled using a pointing device coupled to two rotatable hand wheels. The pointing device tracks movement of the two hand wheels and communicates the movement to a control system which controls a moveable element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to machine tools. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device for controlling a hand wheel of a machine tool and to a method for using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer numerically controlled ("CNC") machine tools use various cutting tools, such as drills, end mills, reamers, and taps, to manufacture a workpiece into a final part. The cutting tools are held by a movable, rotating spindle under the control of a part program to selectively contact the workpiece and remove material from the workpiece. The result is a manufactured part having a desired shape.
The machine tool itself may be provided with a control system for automatically positioning the workpiece and the cutting tool. For example, the control system may include a computer software program for automatically operating the machine tool. Machine tools may also be provided with devices for manually positioning the workpiece and the cutting tool. For example, the machine tool may include a hand wheel. A user may rotate the hand wheel to indicate a desired motion, position, and/or velocity of the machine tool.
Currently, when a user manually positions the workpiece and/or the cutting tool using the hand wheel, the machine tool receives information from the hand wheel using an optical glass code system. The system includes a glass code wheel, an LED, and an optical detector. The glass code wheel has etched portions that block light from the LED from passing through to the optical detector and clear portions that permit light from the LED to pass through to the optical detector. The glass code wheel must be precisely machined and etched, and the optical detector must be precisely aligned with the glass code wheel. Additionally, the glass code system may require dedicated software to interpret signals from the optical detector.

Mouse-based hand wheel control for a machine tool


A semiconductor device having recess gates and a method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having inverse triangular recesses formed therein; a gate insulating film having a designated thickness formed on the semiconductor substrate; gate electrodes formed on the gate insulating film so that the gate electrodes fill the inverse triangular recesses and protrude from the surface of the semiconductor substrate; and first and second junction regions formed in the semiconductor substrate and opposed to each other so that the corresponding one of the gate electrodes is interposed therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a recess gate type transistor, which increases saturation current, and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As semiconductor devices are highly integrated, widths of gates are gradually decreased and formation of high-density junctions and channels is required. However, intervals of channels are decreased and electric fields applied to sources and drains are gradually increased. The increased electric fields accelerate electrons between the sources and the drains and generate hot carriers, which damage to the surfaces of the gates, thus causing degradation of the semiconductor device.
Particularly, in cells, since the increase of the electric fields generates a leakage current, it is difficult to refresh the cells. Accordingly, in order to improve refresh characteristics, a recess gate type transistor is used instead of a planar gate type transistor having gate electrodes formed on the plan surface of a substrate. Such a recess gate type transistor is structured in that a gate insulating film is formed on side walls and bottom surfaces of recesses formed in a substrate and the recesses are filled with a conductive film, such as a polysilicon film. The recess gate type transistor improves refresh characteristics and reduces the generation of hot carriers and the generation of punch through, but still has an increased length of channels.
When the channel length is increased, a saturation current (Idsat) decreases, thus causing difficulty in fabricating a high-speed semiconductor device.
In order to fabricate the recess gate type transistor, ion implantation for adjusting threshold voltage (Vt) is performed. However, in this case, the adjustment of the threshold voltage (Vt) may be limited. In order to solve the problem, in the ion implantation, ions are implanted at a designated tilt angle. However, it is difficult to implant ions at a designated tilt angle due to a shadow effect of recessed areas. Accordingly, general recess gates cannot use all channels.
FIG. 1 is a schematic, sectional view of a conventional recess gate type transistor.
With reference to FIG. 1, recesses 11 formed in a semiconductor substrate 10 have a general shape. Here, in order to adjust threshold voltage, ions are implanted into the recesses 11 at a right angle. When ions are implanted into the recesses 11 at the right angle, the ions are implanted into the bottom surfaces of the recesses 11, but are not implanted into the side surfaces of the recesses 11. Here, reference numeral 12 represents an anti-etching film.
Here, in order to adjust the threshold voltage, ions are implanted into the recesses 11 at a designated tilt angle. However, in this case, ion implanted areas of the side walls of the recesses 11 are still limited due to shadow effect. That is, sides of the recesses 11, in which a source or a drain is formed, are covered with a mask, and then ion implantation is performed so that a punch through margin only at the sides of the recesses 11 is assured. This method requires an additional step, thereby causing time and economic losses.
Accordingly, a semiconductor device for improving the above characteristics and a method for fabricating the same are required.


The disclosure describes devices and methods of providing a DC bias voltage in a microphone assembly. Particularly, one implementation of such a device may be implemented on an integrated circuit that includes a direct current (DC) bias circuit. The DC bias circuit may be coupled to a transducer and configured to supply a DC bias signal to the transducer. The DC bias circuit includes a multi-stage charge pump and a low pass filter (LUFF) circuit. The multi-stage charge pump includes transistors that are fabricated with deep trench isolation (DTI).

Microphones having a transducer that convert sound into an electrical signal conditioned or processed by an integrated circuit are commonly integrated with cell phones, personal computers and internet of things (IoT) devices, among other host devices. Some such transducers require the application of a direct current (DC) bias voltage for operation. Increased bias voltages are required to enable the continued evolution of transducer technologies.

Microphone assembly having a direct current bias circuit with deep trench isolation


A ticket providing access to a zone with controlled access when it is presented without contact in front of a scanner authorizing access to the zone, the ticket having an Edmonson format and including a paper ticket body covered on both surfaces with a protective coating. The paper ticket body is provided with a through recess where is located an electronic module including an integrated circuit and an antenna. The latter is formed by at least one turn obtained by screen printing with silvery powder in a polymerisable composition before being heat-cured. The ticket provides the advantages of being inexpensive to produce compared to a contactless access card and is highly biodegradable, which is essential for a disposable ticket.

The present invention relates to the access to zones with controlled access in which a contactless access support is used in a controlled zone, and relates particularly to a disposable contactless ticket and its manufacturing process.
The access media providing access to zones with controlled access in public transport networks such as the French RATP subway or SNCF railway networks increasingly use xe2x80x9ccontactlessxe2x80x9d techniques as opposed to standard contact-type media. The latter must be inserted into a ticket reader to make the contact enabling the validity of the support to be checked. Over time, the ticket reader""s brushes become dirty resulting in a lack of contact which requires the user to execute the operation several times, resulting in a significant loss of time.
The exchange of information between a contactless medium and the ticket reader is generally accomplished by remote electromagnetic coupling between the first antenna provided within the contactless medium and a second antenna located in the ticket reader. Furthermore, the support is equipped with an electronic module featuring the first antenna connected to a semi-conducting disk or chip which contains, among other components, a radio-frequency (RF) part, a memory in which the information to be provided to the ticket reader is stored and the logical functions required to compile the information to be transmitted and to process the information received.
There are, in fact, two groups of transport network users, the permanent users and the occasional users. For the first group, the ISO format contactless smart card is the best solution insofar as the cost of the card distributed over the total number of trips made over a long period of time will always remain low for the user. But the cost of the card becomes excessive in relation to the cost of the trip for the second group made up of occasional users who would be required to buy a card for a single trip.
This is why one of the objects of the invention is to supply a medium providing access to a controlled access zone, such as a public transport network, in the form of a disposable ticket which is highly biodegradable and very inexpensive although featuring the same functionality as a contactless access card despite the small dimensions.
A second object of the invention is to provide a process for manufacturing a disposable contactless access ticket having the same functionality as a contactless access card despite the small dimensions.
The invention relates therefore to a ticket providing access to a zone with controlled access when it is presented without contact in front of a ticket reader authorizing access to the zone, said ticket having an Edmonson format and comprising a paper ticket body covered on both surfaces with a protective coating. The paper ticket body is provided with a through-hole wherein is an electric module comprising an integrated circuit and an antenna. The latter is formed by at least one turn obtained by screen printing with silvery powder in a polymerisable composition before being heat-cured.
Another object of the invention is a process for manufacturing contactless tickets consisting in preparing a paper strip or multi-band having a width corresponding to several ticket widths, to make the holes in the band designed to receive the electronic ticket modules, slice the band into several single strips, each corresponding to a reel of tickets, and consecutively placing on both sides, the first layer of protective coating then the second layer of protective coating after having installed the electronic modules in the holes.
According to a characteristic of the invention, an overlay having the same thickness as the integrated circuit and featuring a through-hole at the location of the integrated circuit is placed on the electronic module, and the electronic module covered by the overlay is hot-laminated to reduce the resistance of the antenna.

Contactless access ticket and method for making same


A power saving operation control method and device for a phase comparator unit are provided. The control device includes: a reference signal frequency dividing unit which divides the frequency of a reference signal to generate a reference frequency divided signal; a comparison signal frequency unit which divides an input signal to generate a comparison frequency divided signal; a phase comparator which compares the phases of the reference frequency divided signal and the comparison frequency divided signal; a canceling signal generator which generates a power saving state canceling signal in accordance with the reference frequency divided signal and the comparison frequency divided signal; a first initializing signal generator which generates a first initializing signal for initializing the reference signal frequency dividing unit in accordance with the power saving state canceling signal; and a second initializing signal generator which generates a second initializing signal for initializing the comparison signal frequency dividing unit in accordance with the power saving state canceling signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to PLL frequency synthesizers, and, more particularly, to a method of controlling a phase comparator for performing a power saving operation and a semiconductor circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional PLL frequency synthesizer. The PLL frequency synthesizer comprises a voltage control oscillator 102, a phase comparator unit 101, a low pass filter 106, and a microcomputer 108. The phase comparator unit 101 receives a comparison signal through an input terminal Fin and a reference signal through an input terminal OSCin. A capacitor 105 removes the DC component from the output of the voltage control oscillator 102 to obtain the comparison signal. A capacitor 104 removes the DC component from a reference frequency signal 103 to obtain the reference signal. The frequencies of the comparison signal and the reference signal are divided at respective frequency dividing rates, and the phases of both signals are compared. The phase comparator unit 101 then outputs through an output terminal Do a signal representing the phase difference between the comparison signal and the reference signal. The low pass filter 106 removes the high-frequency component from the phase difference signal and then inputs the phase difference signal into the voltage control oscillator 102 so as to control the oscillation frequency of the voltage control oscillator 102. The output signal 107 of the PLL frequency synthesizer is the output signal of the voltage control oscillator 102. The frequency of the output signal 107 can be varied at will by varying the frequency dividing rates inputted from the microcomputer 108 into the phase comparator unit 101 through its input terminals CLK, DT, and LE.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the phase comparator unit 101 of the conventional PLL frequency synthesizer of FIG. 1. The phase comparator unit 101 comprises a reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, a frequency divider 204, a comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205, a phase comparator 208, a charge pump 209, a power saving operation control circuit 212, and a control circuit 213. A reference signal 221 is inputted into a reference counter 203 of the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202 via an input buffer 201. After the frequency of the reference signal 221 is divided at a predetermined frequency dividing rate, the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202 supplies the divided reference signal to one of two input terminals of the phase comparator 208. After the frequency divider 204 divides the frequency of a comparison signal 222 at a predetermined frequency dividing rate, the comparison signal 222 is inputted into a swallow counter 206 and a main counter 207 of the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205. The frequency of the comparison signal 222 is then divided again at a predetermined frequency dividing rate, and is inputted into the other input terminal of the phase comparator 208. The phase comparator 208 compares the phases of the two signals, and in accordance with the phase difference, outputs a phase difference signal 227 through the charge pump 209 and the output terminal Do. The output of the phase comparator 208 is also inputted into a digital lock detector 210, so that a lock signal 228 representing the phase synchronization state of the PLL frequency synthesizer is outputted through an LD terminal. An output select circuit 211, under the control of the control circuit 213, selects a monitor signal 229 from the two signals inputted into the phase comparator 208, and outputs the monitor signal 229 through an Fout terminal. The power saving operation control circuit 212 receives the output signal of the input buffer 201 and the output signal of the frequency divider 204, and controls the power saving operations of the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205, the phase comparator 208, and the digital lock detector 210.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart of signals inputted into the control circuit 213. In this timing chart, Data DT is control data for controlling the phase comparator unit 101, and a clock CLK is a clock signal in synchronization with the bits of the data DT. The data DT is stored in the control circuit 213 only when a latch enable signal LE becomes high in synchronization with the clock CLK.
FIG. 4A shows an example structure of the control data inputted into the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, and FIG. 4B shows an example structure of the control data inputted into the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205. In both control data shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, CN1 and CN2 indicate control bits for distinguishing between the control data for the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202 and the control data for the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205. In FIG. 4A, bits 3, 4, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23, each marked with ×, are dummy bits. In FIG. 4B, a bit 5 marked with × is a dummy bit. Both control data shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B are inputted one bit at a time, starting from the uppermost bit 23, at the timing shown in FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 shows the contents of the control bits CN1 and CN2. When both control bits CN1 and CN2 are "0", the bits 3 to 23 represent the control data for the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202. When the control bit CN1 is "0" and the control bit CN2 is "1", the bits 3 to 23 represent the control data for the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205.
The bits 5 to 18 in FIG. 4A represent the control data for setting a frequency dividing rate "R" in the reference counter 203. The bits 6 to 12 in FIG. 4B represent the control data for setting a frequency dividing rate "A" in the swallow counter 206 of the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205. The bits 13 to 23 in FIG. 4B represent the control data for setting a frequency dividing rate "N" in the main counter 207 of the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205. The bit 4 in FIG. 4B represents the control data for setting a frequency dividing rate "P" in the frequency divider 204. Accordingly, the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205 shown in FIG. 2 divides the frequency of a comparison signal at (P×N+A). The bit 3 in FIG. 4B represent control data for the digital lock detector 210 and the output select circuit 211.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the conventional power saving operation control circuit 212 shown in FIG. 2. A power saving restriction signal PSR is inputted into an inverter 601. When the power saving restriction signal PSR is low, a power saving operation is performed. When the power saving restriction signal PSR is high, the power saving operation is not performed. The output of the inverter 601 is inputted into an inverter 602. The output of the inverter 602 is inputted into one of the two input terminals of a NAND gate 603, the set terminal SET of a D-flip-flop 616, the reset terminal RESET of a D-flip-flop 617, and one of the two input terminals of a NAND gate 620 included in a set/reset flip-flop 621. NAND gates 619 and 620 constitute the set/reset flip-flop 621. An inverted signal XFPAR of the output signal of the frequency divider 204 is inputted into the D-input terminals of the D-flip-flops 616 and 617, and a first input terminal of a 3-input NAND gate 618. A reference signal FRAR is inputted into the other input terminal of the NAND gate 603.
Inverters 604-1 to 604-7 are cascaded, and the output terminal of the NAND gate 603 is connected to the input terminal of the inverter 604-1. The output terminal of the inverter 604-7 is connected to one of the two input terminals of a NAND gate 608. The output terminal of the NAND gate 608 is connected to the input terminal of an inverter 609, and the output terminal of the inverter 609 is connected to the input terminal of an inverter 610 and the clock input terminal CK of the D-flip-flop 616. The output terminal of the inverter 610 is connected to the inverted clock input terminal XCK of the D-flip-flop 616 and the input terminal of an inverter 611-1. Inverters 611-1 to 611-14 are cascaded, and the output of the inverter 611-14 is inputted into the input terminal of an inverter 615 and the inverted clock input terminal XCK of the D-flip-flop 617. The output of the inverter 615 is inputted into the clock input terminal CK of the D-flip-flop 617. The reset input terminal of the D-flip-flop 616 and the set input terminal of the D-flip-flop 617 are connected to a power source Vcc.
The inverted output XQ terminal of the D-flip-flop 616 is connected to a second input terminal of the 3-input NAND gate 618, and the output Q terminal of the D-flip-flop 617 is connected to a third input terminal of the 3-input NAND gate 618. The output of the 3-input NAND gate 618 is inputted into one of the two input terminals of the NAND gate 619 included in the set/reset flip-flop 621. The output of the NAND gate 620 included in the set/reset flip-flop 621 is inputted into the other input terminal of the NAND gate 608, the other input terminal of the NAND gate 619, and the input terminal of an inverter 622. The inverter 622 outputs an internal power saving restriction signal PSRS.
FIG. 7 is a timing chart of signals in the operation of the conventional power saving operation control circuit 212 of FIG. 6. When the power saving restriction signal PSR is low, the D-flip-flop 616 is set, the D-flip-flop 617 is reset, and the output of the NAND gate 620 is high. Ten gates after the reference signal FRAR rises as the power saving restriction signal PSR becomes high, the output CK1 of the inverter 609 rises from the low-level to the high-level. At the rise of the output CK1 of the inverter 609, the D-flip-flop 616 stores the inverted signal XFPAR of the output of the frequency divider 204, and outputs a high-level signal XQ1 through the inverted output terminal XQ. Sixteen gates after the rise of the output CK1 of the inverter 609, the output CK2 of the inverter 615 rises. At the rise of the output CK2, the D-flip-flop 617 stores the inverted signal XFPAR of the output of the frequency divider 204, and outputs a high-level signal Q2 through the output terminal Q. The output A of the 3-input NAND gate 618 becomes low, when the inverted signal XFPAR and the signals XQ1 and Q2 are all high. Accordingly, the output B of the NAND gate 619 becomes high, and the output C of the set/reset flip-flop 621 becomes low. As a result, the internal power saving restriction signal PSRS becomes high, thereby canceling the power saving state.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a power saving state canceling operation of the power saving operation control circuit 212. In step S1-1, the power saving restriction signal PSR rises to the high level. In step S1-2, it is determined whether the inverted signal XFPAR is high or low at the rise of the output signal CK1 of the inverter 609. If the inverted signal XFPAR is low, the operation moves on to step S1-3, in which it is determined whether the inverted signal XFPAR is high or low at the rise of the output signal CK2 of the inverter 615. If the inverted signal XFPAR is high, the operation moves on to step S1-4, in which the internal power saving state is canceled. In step S1-5, the power saving state is canceled in the reference counter 203 of the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, the swallow counter 206 and the main counter 207 of the comparison signal-frequency dividing unit 205, and the phase comparator 208. The phase difference signal 227 is then outputted through the charge pump 209.
However, there are problems with the prior art described above. FIG. 9 illustrates a first problem of the power saving operation control circuit 212 of the prior art. The first problem is that a power saving state might be wrongly canceled due to noise. The noise is caused when a power saving state is canceled as the power saving restriction signal PSR is changes from the low level to the high level. The noise enters the reference signal FRAR and the inverted signal XFPAR of the output of the frequency divider 104. Because of this, the internal power saving restriction signal PSRS outputted from the power saving operation control circuit 212 becomes high, thereby promptly switching on the internal circuits of the phase comparator unit 101 including the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, the comparator signal frequency dividing unit 205, and the phase comparator 208. As a result, the phases of the reference signal FRAR and the inverted signal XFPAR of the output of the frequency divider 204 are greatly shifted in relation to each other.
FIG. 10 illustrates a second problem of the power saving operation control circuit 121 of the prior art. The second problem is that, when the power saving restriction signal PSR changes from the low level to the high level to cancel a power saving state, the phase difference between the reference signal FRAR and the inverted signal XRPAR becomes constant. With the phase difference between the two signals being constant, the internal power saving restriction signal PSRS can never become high. As a result, the internal circuits of the phase comparator unit 101, including the reference signal frequency dividing unit 202, the comparison signal frequency dividing unit 205, and the phase comparator 208, are not actuated.

Phase comparator and method of controlling power saving operation of the same, and semiconductor integrated circuit


A filing book with bag sheets comprising a cover sheet and a plural number of bag sheets made of plastics and fixed tightly at the central part of the inside of the cover sheet by heat sealing to form a singly bound book has a structure that the central parts of all of a number of bag sheets are tightly fixed with the cover sheet of paper by heat sealing through an intermediate laminate of paper and plastics film, an intermediate plastic bonding tape or a plastic sheet laminated to the cover sheet.. The filing book with bag sheets stands upright firmly, gives comfortable feeling to hands by providing stiffness and smoothness to the cover sheet because the cover sheet is made mainly with paper and, at the same time, can be prepared easily by fixing the bag sheets tightly with the cover sheet by heat sealing even though the cover sheet is mainly made of paper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to filing books with bag sheets. More particularly, the present invention relates to filing books with bag sheets which have a cover sheet with excellent stiffness and smoothness and can be prepared easily.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Filing books with bag sheets in which a number of plastic bag sheets are bound together to a form of book are widely used as filing books to keep documents, samples and the like.
There are three kinds of structures in the filing book with bag sheets. One has openings at the upper side of the book (upper opening). A second one has openings at the sides facing a folding part at a central part of the book (inside opening) and a third one has openings at both of opposite sides to the folding part of the book (outside opening). The structure of the inside opening is most widely used because this structure has less danger of losing the contents from the book.
Filing books with bag sheets entirely made of plastics are widely used. When these books are composed of bag sheets made of a thermoplastic film and a cover sheet also made of a thermoplastic film, the bag sheets can be fixed together with the cover sheet by heat sealing at the central part to the form of a book and fabrication of filing books can be performed easily.
Thus, it is necessary for the efficient fabrication of filing books in conventional practices that both of the cover sheet and the bag sheets are made of thermoplastic materials.
However, when cover sheets at the both sides of the front cover and the back cover of the book are made of plastic materials, filing books do not stand by themselves because of insufficient stiffness. This makes it difficult to store these filing books by standing them upright on desks, shelves and the like. Moreover, when a number of filing books are arranged in a row for storage, covering sheets of adjacent books do not move smoothly because they stick to each other. This creates another problem for storing filing books, particularly when the books are stored by standing in a row on desks, shelves and the like. The cover sheets of plastic creates still another problem in that the feeling to hands during the handling is rather uncomfortable and people do not like it.


A process for the etherification of isoolefins with alcohols is provided wherein the reaction occurs simultaneously with separation of the ether product and reactants. To assure proper alcohol concentration in a catalytic distillation column, the oxygen concentration derived from alcohol is measured at a point below the catalyst bed and controlled to that which maximizes ether production while preventing alcohol from leaving the reactor with ether product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the etherification of isoolefins, particularly C.sub.4 and C.sub.5 isoolefins, with an alcohol such as methanol, ethanol or mixtures thereof, to produce the corresponding tertiary ethers. More particularly the invention relates to a process wherein a catalytic distillation process is used in the process and wherein the concentration of the alcohol below the catalyst bed is controlled to prevent the concentration of the alcohol from becoming too low (and thus reducing the conversion) or too high (and thus contaminating the ether product).
2. Related Information
The reaction of an alcohol and an olefin and concurrent separation of the reactants from the reaction products by fractional distillation has been practiced for some time. The process is variously described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,232,177; 4,307,254; 4,336,407; 4,504,687; 4,987,807; and 5,118,873 all commonly assigned herewith.
Briefly the alcohol and isoolefin are fed to a distillation column reactor having a distillation reaction zone containing a suitable catalyst, such as an acid cation exchange resin, in the form of catalytic distillation structure, and also having a distillation zone containing inert distillation structure. As embodied in the etherification of iC.sub.4.sup.= 's and/or iC.sub.5.sup.= 's with methanol the olefin and an excess of methanol is first fed to a fixed bed reactor wherein most of the olefin is reacted to form the corresponding ether, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) or tertiary amyl methyl ether (TAME) . The fixed bed reactor is operated at a given pressure such that the reaction mixture is at the boiling point, thereby removing the exothermic heat of reaction by vaporization of the mixture. The fixed bed reactor and process are described more completely in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,803 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The effluent from the fixed bed reactor is then fed to the distillation column reactor wherein the remainder of the iC.sub.4.sup.= 's or iC.sub.5.sup.= 's are converted to the ether and the methanol is separated from the ether which is withdrawn as bottoms. The C.sub.4 or C.sub.5 cut generally contains about 10 to 60 per cent olefin, the remainder being inerts which are removed in the overheads from the distillation column reactor.
As noted above in the etherification of olefins with an alcohol there is preferably an excess of the alcohol available in the reactor. This means that there is an excess of methanol in the reaction distillation zone of the distillation column reactor. In the distillation column reactor the alcohol forms a minimum boiling azeotrope with either of the olefins. In the case of C.sub.4 's and methanol the azeotrope is only slightly more volatile than the C.sub.4 's, and therefore the methanol tends to remain in a relatively constant concentration with the C.sub.4 's throughout the column. Because the concentration of the methanol in the C.sub.4 azeotrope is only about 4% (depending upon the composition of the C.sub.4 mixture), it is necessary to operate with a methanol concentration somewhat below 4% to avoid exceeding the azeotrope, in which case the, excess will first accumulate in the column and then leave with the MTBE bottoms.
In the case of the C.sub.5 's, the azeotrope contains about 12 wt% methanol or about 8 wt% ethanol, and the boiling point of the azeotrope is 10 to 15 degrees F. below that of the corresponding C.sub.5 's. Thus, if the net flow of alcohol into the column (allowing for that reacting in the column) is less than the azeotrope concentration in the distillate, the alcohol concentration in the reaction distillation zone will be relatively quite low, about 1%. If the net alcohol flow into the column is higher than the azeotrope, the alcohol concentration will increase (60% has been measured) until alcohol leaves with the ether bottoms product. Neither case is desirable, because at low alcohol concentration the conversion of isoamylene to ether is low, whereas at high alcohol concentrations the ether purity is affected by the presence of the excess alcohol.
In addition to the considerations of azeotopes discussed above, when two or more different alcohols are fed at the same time, other factors affect the operation of the etherification. For example, in the case of etherification of iC.sub.5.sup.= with a mixed methanol/ethanol stream to produce TAME and tertiary amyl ethyl ether (TAEE) , there are two different azeotropes. The first is methanol with the C.sub.5 's which is 12% methanol. The second is the azeotrope between the C.sub.5 's and the ethanol which is 8% ethanol. The different alcohols also react at different rates with the isoolefins, e.g., methanol reacts more rapidly than ethanol with isopentenes.
It as an advantage of the present invention that the alcohol-hydrocarbon azeotrope is maintained throughout essentially all of the reaction distillation zone, maximizing conversion of the reactive olefins.
It is a second advantage of the present invention that the control of the alcohol concentration in the liquid leaving the reaction distillation zone insures an alcohol free ether product.
It is another advantage that a truncated alcohol concentration profile improves controllability of the column.
Finally, it is another advantage that the concentration of either methanol or ethanol is controlled by a single variable to assure adequate alcohol concentration and an alcohol free product.

Method for controlling catalytic distillation etherifications


The present invention relates to a new method and apparatus for improvement of High Frequency Reconstruction (HFR) techniques using frequency translation or folding or a combination thereof. The proposed invention is applicable to audio source coding systems, and offers significantly reduced computational complexity. This is accomplished by means of frequency translation or folding in the subband domain, preferably integrated with spectral envelope adjustment in the same domain. The concept of dissonance guard-band filtering is further presented. The proposed invention offers a low-complexity, intermediate quality HFR method useful in speech and natural audio coding applications.

Schemes where the original audio information above a certain frequency is replaced by gaussian noise or manipulated lowband information are collectively referred to as High Frequency Reconstruction (HFR) methods. Prior-art HFR methods are, apart from noise insertion or non-linearities such as rectification, generally utilizing so-called copy-up techniques for generation of the highband signal. These techniques mainly employ broadband linear frequency shifts, i.e. translations, or frequency inverted linear shifts, i.e. foldings. The prior-art HFR methods have primarily been intended for the improvement of speech codec performance. Recent developments in highband regeneration using perceptually accurate methods, have however made HFR methods successfully applicable also to natural audio codecs, coding music or other complex programme material, PCT patent [WO 98/57436]. Under certain conditions, simple copy-up techniques have shown to be adequate when coding complex programme material as well. These techniques have shown to produce reasonable results for intermediate quality applications and in particular for codec implementations where there are severe constraints for the computational complexity of the overall system.
The human voice and most musical instruments generate quasistationary tonal signals that emerge from oscillating systems. According to Fourier theory, any periodic signal may be expressed as a sum of sinusoids with frequencies f, 2f, 3f, 4f, 5f etc. where f is the fundamental frequency. The frequencies form a harmonic series. Tonal affinity refers to the relations between the perceived tones or harmonics. In natural sound reproduction such tonal affinity is controlled and given by the different type of voice or instrument used. The general idea with HFR techniques is to replace the original high frequency information with information created from the available lowband and subsequently apply spectral envelope adjustment to this information. Prior-art HFR methods create highband signals where tonal affinity often is uncontrolled and impaired. The methods generate non-harmonic frequency components which cause perceptual artifacts when applied to complex programme material. Such artifacts are referred to in the coding literature as "rough" sounding and are perceived by the listener as distortion.
Sensory dissonance (roughness), as opposed to consonance (pleasantness), appears when nearby tones or partials interfere. Dissonance theory has been explained by different researchers, amongst others Plomp and Levelt ["Tonal Consonance and Critical Bandwidth" R. Plomp, W. J. M. Levelt JASA, Vol 38, 1965], and states that two partials are considered dissonant if the frequency difference is within approximately 5 to 50% of the bandwidth of the critical band in which the partials are situated. The scale used for mapping frequency to critical bands is called the Bark scale. One bark is equivalent to a frequency distance of one critical band. For reference, the function
                              z                                (            f            )                          =                              26.81                          1              +                              1960                f                                              -                      0.53                                                              [            Bark            ]                                              (        1        )            can be used to convert from frequency (f) to the bark scale (z). Plomp states that the human auditory system can not discriminate two partials if they differ in frequency by approximately less than five percent of the critical band in which they are situated, or equivalently, are separated less than 0,05 Bark in frequency. On the other hand, if the distance between the partials are more than approximately 0,5 Bark, they will be perceived as separate tones.
Dissonance theory partly explains why prior-art methods give unsatisfactory performance. A set of consonant partials translated upwards in frequency may become dissonant. Moreover, in the crossover regions between instances of translated bands and the lowband the partials can interfere, since they may not be within the limits of acceptable deviation according to the dissonance-rules.
WO 98/57436 discloses to perform frequency transposition by means of multiplication by a transposition factor M. Consecutive channels from an analysis filter bank are frequency-translated to synthesis filter bank channels, but which are spaced apart by two intermediate reconstruction range channels, when the multiplication factor M is 3, or which are spaced apart by one reconstruction range channel, when the multiplication factor M equals two. Alternatively, amplitude and phase information from different analyser channels can be combined. The amplitude signals are connected such that the magnitudes of consecutive channels of the analysis filterbank are frequency-translated to the magnitudes of subband signals associated with consecutive synthesis channels. The phases of the subband signals from the same channels are subjected to frequency-transposition using a factor M.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a concept for obtaining an envelope-adjusted and frequency-translated signal by high-frequency spectral reconstruction and a concept for decoding using high-frequency spectral reconstruction, that result in a better quality reconstruction.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Spectral translation/folding in the subband domain


An autotransfusion system for collecting blood from a patient and reinfusing the blood back into the patient is disclosed. The system includes a collection unit, a manually operable portable suction evacuator removably connected to the collection unit, and a blood reinfusion bag removably connected to the collection unit. The collection unit includes a collection chamber that is oversized relative to the volume of blood that the unit is intended to contain, and an airflow port located and oriented in the collection chamber to prevent blood from leaking into the port when the collection unit is oriented upright or on its side. When connected to the patient, the collection unit and portable suction evacuator are maintained free of blood by enclosing them within a substantially transparent, flexible envelope. The envelope enables the unit and evacuator to be connected and set-up for proper operation while preventing blood from contacting the outer surfaces of the unit and evacuator.

Blood autotransfusion involves the collection, filtration, and reinfusion of a patient's own blood. Autotransfusion is a common post-operative practice in those surgical procedures in which it can be expected that there will be post-surgical bleeding. It has become a widely accepted practice in surgical procedures because it avoids the numerous risks associated with transfusion of blood from a third party donor. It is common practice at the end of a surgical procedure to place a drainage tube within the patient at a location where fluids can be expected to pool. The drainage tube exits the surgical wound and is connected to a collection chamber where the blood is collected. Depending on the type of device used, blood may be reinfused into the patient directly from the collection chamber or can be transferred to an intermediate chamber, such as a blood bag, from which it can be reinfused into the patient.
Blood flow into the collection chamber can be induced either by suction developed within the chamber or by positioning the chamber below the wound site to create a gravity head. The suction source may be external, such as directly from the hospital suction system, or from a portable suction device such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,652 (Weilbacher). Typically, such autotransfusion devices can be expected to remain connected to the patient during the early part of the patient's recovery, until the surgical site has healed sufficiently so that the volume of recoverable blood is substantially reduced, preferably no more than about six hours in most cases. Depending on the rate at which the patient's fluids may become pooled, it may be necessary to repeat several cycles of collection and reinfuision.
Many autotransfusion devices are designed to operate in an upright position to prevent blood within the collection chamber from being ingested into the suction inlet or leaking out of the collection chamber. Such ingestion or leakage can be expected to affect proper operation of the device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,964 (Cotter) illustrates an autotransfusion device having a collection chamber in direct communication with the suction inlet in which blood can be expected to come into direct contact with the suction inlet if the device is placed on or falls on its side. The risk of a vertically placed device being tipped on its side is increased when the patient is being moved from one location (the operating room) to another (the recovery room). It is a common practice with such devices for an attendant to manually carry the autotransfusion device, to maintain it upright while the patient is being moved.
Devices have been proposed and developed to reduce such difficulties. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,585 (Olson) discloses an autotransfusion system in which the blood collection chamber and suction chamber are isolated from each other. The device has a rigid outer receptacle and a flexible blood collection chamber within the outer receptacle to define an intermediate space between the two. The collection chamber has a blood inlet for receiving blood through a drainage tube from the wound site. The outer receptacle has a port to communicate the intermediate chamber either with ambient air at atmospheric pressure or suction from a suitable suction source. Another approach is incorporated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,257 (Drainville) in which an autotransfusion device is provided with a hydrophobic filter between the suction port and the collection chamber to prevent blood in the chamber from being exhausted into the suction source should the container accidentally tip over. That can result in a clogged filter that may impair the efficiency of operation of the device. It is among the general objects of the invention to provide an autotransfusion device having a collection chamber and airflow system that employs a simple, inexpensive arrangement to reduce the risk of blood becoming ingested into the airflow system, not only when the device is upright, but when it is horizontal.
It is desirable that the patient and his surroundings be clean after the conclusion of the surgery when the patient is transferred to his hospital room, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also to avoid disease transmission. A clean appearance is desirable, not only for the patient's comfort, but also for those who visit the patient. It is expected, therefore, that surgical attendants will change the bedding and otherwise clean the patient and his surroundings before returning the patient to the hospital room. When an autotransfusion device has been connected to the patient, the handling of the device during its placement often results in bloody residual fingerprints or smears on the device. That adds to the difficulty in cleaning the patient for optimum post-surgical presentation. It also presents some risk of disease transmission should an unprotected individual come into contact with such residual blood. It would be desirable to provide a blood collection device that simplifies post-surgical presentation of a patient by preventing the unsightly and unsanitary presence of blood on the device.


An apparatus for use in measuring a parameter is provided that includes a pry end, a handle, and a sensor that detects a parameter imparted onto the apparatus when the handle is grasped and the pry end is between a tire and a wheel. An output member is also included that outputs the parameter received from the sensor. The handle, the sensor and the output member are part of an electronic torque wrench.

Tires include beads that function to securely grip the tire onto a wheel that has a specific geometry for receiving the tire thereon. Although capable of holding the tire onto the wheel, the bead and wheel arrangement makes it difficult to remove the tire from the wheel and place the tire onto the wheel. Tires can be mounted onto wheels through automated machines, such as at an automotive factory, in which the tire is placed onto the wheel and is inflated through the opening between the wheel and the tire. Other methods of mounting a tire to a wheel, or demounting the tire from the wheel, include the use of a dedicated tire mounting machine. These dedicated tire mounting machines may be found at tire repair shops and spin the wheel and tire and have an overhead arm that removes the tire or pushes it onto the wheel as desired.
Manual methods are also known for the demounting of tires. These manual methods involve the use of two tire irons that are driven between the bead of the tire and the wheel. The tire irons are elongated metal members that may be forced between the tire and the wheel. Hammers may be used to strike the tire irons and drive them between the tire bead and the wheel. The pressure forces causing the tire to be held onto the wheel may require a hammer be used to position the pry end between the bead of the tire and the wheel. Once inserted, both tire irons are manually pushed in order to lift the bead over the rim of the wheel. Next, one of the tire irons is held in place while the second tire iron is pushed around the bead to remove the bead from the wheel. Although manual methods exist for the removal of a tire from a wheel, there are no manual methods in place that allow one to determine forces or other parameters associated with the manual demounting of a tire from a wheel. As such, it is not known how much force is needed to manually demount different types of tires from different types of wheels.
The use of identical or similar reference numerals in different figures denotes identical or similar features.

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin


A device and method for heart performance characterization and abnormality detection is disclosed herein. The device and method analyze and characterize cardiac electrophysiological signals which help in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia in advance of a heart attack.

Identifying acute myocardial infractions early on and treating them promptly significantly improves the clinical outcomes. Studies have shown that the most irreversible myocardial damage occurs in the first 30 to 90 minutes of coronary occlusion. It has been demonstrated that providing reperfusion therapy within two hours of occlusion has the greatest chance to save the myocardium. Also, evidence exists that even in cases of the most severe type of myocardial infarction (MI) called ST elevation MI (STEMI), rapid restoration of blood supply after onset of symptoms is a key factor in determining the short and long term outcomes. Therefore, it is very clear that early arrival at the hospital for prompt diagnosis and treatment is the key to increasing the odds of a better outcome.
Despite wide-spread public campaigns and education on this matter, the average time for a patient to reach the hospital from the onset of the symptoms is more than three hours in urban areas and can be longer than 20 hours in rural areas. The cause of the delay is mostly due to the ignoring or the misconception of the symptoms experienced by the patient and their confusion with their attributes. Most of the heart attacks are silent and cause little to no pain. In case of diabetic patients, it is even worse because they do not feel the attack at all. FIG. 1 is a schematic representation that captures the overall view of the American Heart Association regarding the delay in symptom recognition and reaching the hospital as the leading causes of death in coronary heart diseases (both sudden cardiac deaths and heart attacks). This scenario clearly states the need for a device that can warn the patient when they go through the myocardial infarction and prompts them to seek immediate attention. Such a device can save lives and can also save billions of dollars in costly after care treatment.
Taking a look at the current state of the art in surveillance of coronary heart diseases, the options available are (i) 12 lead ECG machines, which are not portable and mostly available in hospital settings; (ii) Holter machines, which have no real time prediction capability to forewarn an impending heart attack; (iii) Contemporary monitoring solutions that can detect only simple arrhythmias by measuring RR intervals and cannot detect impending heart attacks because lethal arrhythmias are presented after the start of the attack; and (iv) implantable devices that can monitor ST-elevation or depression and provide warning. The drawback of the implantable device is that it requires surgery and caters only to the high risk population.
Clearly none of the options set forth in the above list can satisfy the current unmet need, i.e., an accurate early warning system for heart attack and sudden cardiac death. Such an early warning system should also be capable of being used easily and by a larger segment of the public. The claimed invention is directed to the development of such a method and device.

Method and device for early detection of heart attack

The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System


The invention relates to a voltage converter (100), including: a plurality of two-way conversion cells (303), each cell comprising a primary circuit (307, Wp), and a secondary circuit (308, Ws) that is insulated from the primary circuit, wherein each circuit can be separately activated in order to supply an output voltage from the converter; and at least one control circuit (306) configured to, in a first operating mode, control the activated cells in order to transfer electrical energy from the primary circuit to the secondary circuit, and control the inactivated cells in order to transfer electrical energy from the secondary circuit to the primary circuit.

The present disclosure relates to D.C.-to-D.C. voltage converters, and more particularly aims at a configurable converter comprising a plurality of elementary conversion cells capable of being individually activated to take part in the provision of an output voltage. Converters where the operation of the elementary conversion cells is based on the carrying out of cycles of power transfer between the primary and secondary windings of an insulating transformer are here more particularly considered.

Method and apparatus for a voltage converter having bidirectional power conversion cells

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique


An organic EL light-emitting apparatus includes a base, an organic EL device, a prism member, a polarizing member, and a phase member. The prism member, the polarizing member, and the phase member are adjacent to a light extraction side of the organic EL device. The prism member includes a plurality of unit prisms each having a triangular-column shape. The unit prisms are arranged such that their longitudinal directions are parallel to one another. The polarizing member is disposed further from the base than the prism member. The prism member has an apex angle between 90° to 140°.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent (EL) light-emitting apparatus including a prism member, a polarizing member, and a phase member disposed at a light extraction side.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a self-light-emitting device (e.g., an organic EL device), light incident at an angle larger than a critical angle on an interface having a larger index difference, such as that between a substrate of the device and air, is totally reflected. Therefore, actually only approximately 20% of the total amount of emitted light can be extracted to the outside. To address this problem, a technique to increase the efficiency of light extraction by providing projections and depressions to a light-extraction surface of the device is proposed.
One technique to increase brightness in a known display apparatus is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-67016 and No. 6-308485. The technique causes light from a backlight source to efficiently converge to the front observation direction via a prism member having an optimal shape (e.g., triangular column, quadrangular pyramid) inserted in a path over which the light is guided to a liquid crystal display panel.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-55481 discloses an organic EL panel, which has a self-light-emitting light source. With the aim of sufficiently improving brightness, the organic EL panel is provided with a prism member.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-216947 discloses another organic EL panel, which has a self-light-emitting light source. With the aim of providing the organic EL display apparatus with bright display conditions with low power consumption, the organic EL panel is overlaid with a circular polarizer and a microlens sheet.
Japanese Patent No. 3,543,951 discloses another organic EL panel, which has a self-light-emitting light source. With the aim of providing an image display apparatus that can increase brightness observed from the front of a display screen without distorting a displayed image, the organic EL panel is overlaid with a prism sheet and a circular polarizing filter.
However, the above patent documents do not sufficiently study an application of a prism member to a light emitting apparatus that projects less glare of outside light. For an arrangement that has a prism member and a circular polarizer, the prism member contributes to an improvement in the efficiency of light extraction and the circular polarizer contributes to a reduction in reflection of outside light. However, the prism member affects the reflection of outside light and that property must be taken into account when reduction of glare is desired. Japanese Patent No. 3,543,951, which is mentioned above, discloses an arrangement that has a prism sheet and a circular polarizing filter, but does not describe the influence of the prism sheet on the reflection of outside light. It is necessary to consider the positions and the structures of components in an arrangement that has the prism member and the circular polarizer.

Organic electroluminescent device provided with a polarizing plate, a prism member and a phase member in a stacked arrangement


A decorative molded body can be structured such that an inside thereof looks three-dimensional from a surface thereof, the decorative molded body being a substituted for a decorative molded body of the related art. An example of a decorative molded body can include a three-dimensional base pattern layer having, on a bottom surface of a transparent molded body, a transparent printing layer and a brilliant layer containing brilliant particles, in which the brilliant layer is raised brightly and three-dimensionally on the transparent printing layer as a background. The decorative molded body is excellent in design, and structured so that irregular shapes formed of portions where the transparent printing layer is provided and other portions can look three-dimensional from a surface of the molded body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decorative molded body for use in a variety of electronic instruments such as a cellular phone, a mobile information terminal, and an AV instrument. More specifically, the present invention relates to a key top for a pushbutton switch for use in an operation portion of the variety of electronic instruments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Required of a variety of electronic instruments such as a cellular phone, a mobile information terminal, and an AV instrument, are not only functions thereof but also excellent exterior designs. In particular, the cellular phone is significantly required to satisfy those. Not only of a body of the cellular phone but also of decorated molded bodies such as a pushbutton switch and a liquid crystal display plate, high-quality designs are required. For example, there are provided such the decorations that a surface, in which even a resin material is used, of the molded body is finished in a specular gloss tone, that the surface is finished in a matte metallic color tone in which the specular gloss tone is suppressed on the contrary, and that characters and symbols are made to look three-dimensional.
As a technology for making the characters, the symbols, and the like look three-dimensional, JP 2003-109450 A discloses a technology of forming an irregular surface so that display portions formed on a resin outer side surface and a peripheral portion thereof can be different from each other in surface roughness. Further, JP 11-320570 A discloses a technology of forming a three-dimensional irregular pattern on an inside of a molded body, in which the irregular pattern is formed on a surface of a resin film by printing in advance, and the surface is covered with a different resin so that irregularities of the irregular pattern can be filled therewith.
However, in the method described in JP 2003-109450 A, the difference of the surface roughness is made by using a metal mold or by transferring marks so that the display portions are made to emerge. Accordingly, it is difficult to form complicated designs and patterns. Further, it is pointed out that, when the metal mold is used, there is an economical problem that a variety of metal molds are necessary according to types of the display portions, and when the marks are transferred, there is such a problem that breakage and deformation of the molded bodies are prone to occur. In the method described in JP 11-320570 A, since the irregularities sealed in the inside of the resins are visually recognized by using a difference in optical reflectance, there are problems in that the resins which can be used are limited, and that the irregularities are difficult to be seen even if selection is made among the resins.

Decorative molded body, key top for a pushbutton switch, and key sheet for the pushbutton switch


An all purpose utility vehicle supporting rescue efforts especially directed toward servicing disable airplanes being an entry tube having a cab section and a tail end section. Mechanisms are provided for inclining the tube so that the cab section is elevated to the level of an airliner permitting personnel to enter the lower end of the tube and walk up to the cab section and into the stricken airplane. A gangplank design for joining the cab section to the tail section provides that the floor of the cabin section is always horizontal regardless of inclination of the tail section.

Dealing with catastrophic events involving airplanes has become much more challenging in recent years.
Certainly, the present crises regarding terrorist activities have broadened the scope of the disasters that can befall the airplane and it passengers.
Progress in the evolution of air travel has included the development of airplanes that are much larger than counterparts of former times in keeping with the requirement to carry hundreds of passengers. In particular, the access from ground level to the largest of these planes is a doorway near the cockpit that is 26 feet off the ground. In addition, there is also in service, smaller planes that still carry a substantial number of people where the door to the plane near the cockpit) is only a few feet off the ground. The problem of getting out of airplane where the doorway is only a few feet off the ground is different than when the doorway is 26 feet off the ground.
The problem of ventilating a disabled plane containing 250 passengers is more difficult than ventilating a plane with one-tenth that number.
The circumstances vary from one situation to another and are unanticipated by the rescuing personnel. One situation may be a passenger suffering from a heart attack who must be removed as quickly and gently as possible. Another situation could be where the plane has come under the control of a band of terrorists. Another situation might be a fire that has broken out in the cockpit.
Vehicles have been designed to deal with each of these various catastrophes. Ambulances have been designed to transport victims of heart attacks. Fire engines have been designed to fight fires. Military vehicles have been designed to support swat teams.
New advances in aircraft design have included the increase of size of the latest airliners where the doorways are up to 26 feet off the ground. The differing nature of all of these situations have left the protection of airplanes in a situation where none of the utility vehicles presently on the market can accommodate all of the events that can befall the modern airplane.
An important requirement for large utility trucks is to include sufficient power to drive both the truck and the added equipment required to deal with the catastrophe. Additional equipment can include pumps to pump water to fight fires. According to the present trend in the state of the art, utility trucks are provided with larger and larger engines whose size requires that the engine be located on the truck frame ABOVE axle level. In order to accommodate both the requirement to move the truck AND power the auxiliary equipment, a power transfer device is coupled to the motor that delivers part of the engine power to driving the truck and another part of its power to powering the auxiliary equipment when required. The large engine and transfer case on top of the frame occupies space on top of the frame that would otherwise be used for carrying additional auxiliary equipment.
The uncertain nature and disparity of events and the unusual power requirement of utility trucks of the present art suggests that there exists a profound need for a more versatile and less costly utility vehicle.


A wavelength monitoring device for monitoring a beam of light is disclosed having a beam splitter, with opposing first and second spaced apart faces, for receiving optical radiation from the beam of light to be monitored. In operation the first face reflects a first portion of the optical radiation to a first photodiode. The second face includes a grating for reflecting a second portion of the optical radiation to the first photodiode. The grating also reflects a third portion of optical radiation to a second photodiode. The light received by the second photodiode corresponds proportionally to optical power of the incident beam of light. The first photodiode is for detecting a wavelength characteristic of the composite beam and is located so as to receive the first portion and the second portion of optical radiation after the first portion and the second portion of optical radiation have optically interfered to form a composite beam. The first face and the grating are oriented and spaced from one another so that the first and second portions of the optical radiation optically interfere with one another along a path toward the first photodiode.

With the growth of optical communication systems, the need for laser sources operating at well defined spectral frequencies or wavelengths has arisen. Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) systems employ several laser systems, each of them modulated at a unique working wavelength. The modulated optical signals are subsequently multiplexed, and spectrally separated channels are combined and delivered through one or more optical fibers. At a receiver end the channels are separated by way of their wavelengths being demultiplexed and routed to individual detectors.
Although WDM systems significantly increase the capacity of a single optical fiber, it comes at a price; control of the wavelength accuracy of each individual laser source must be maintained. Any significant wavelength drift of any channel will cause signal degradation of that channel, or perhaps other adjacent channels at the receiver end. The wavelengths of semiconductor laser sources used in optical WDM systems should be controlled to within a fraction of the channel spacing defined by the ITU grid.
A wavelength monitor (WM) is commonly used in conjunction with laser systems to monitor changes in the wavelength or frequency of the emitted radiation. The WM can be used as an independent device, or can be combined with a laser system forming a wavelength locker (WL) to stabilize and maintain the operational wavelength of one or more lasers by detecting the relative change in the operating wavelength, then generating a feedback signal proportional to the deviation of the working wavelength from its nominal value. The feedback signal is further used to adjust the operating wavelength until the feedback signal is reduced to an acceptable level.
Different wavelength monitoring and locking technologies have been used in the past. One type of wavelength locker is based on thin-film interference filters as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,309,671; 6,122,301; 6,144,025; 6,411,634. A common deficiency of a filter-based approach is that a plurality of filters are required, wherein each filter can be used for locking a relatively small number of neighboring ITU channels. To cover a broad spectral range, such as C and L telecommunication bands, a large inventory of different filters is required; this increases the cost, inventory required, and manufacturing complexity. The problem becomes even more difficult with reduction in channel spacing due to increased filter fabrication cost and complexity.
Another commonly used type of WM employs Fabry-Perot etalons and is based on multi-beam interference, as disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,825,792; 6,005,995 and US Patent Application US 2003/0063871, all incorporated herein by reference. The thickness of an etalon and the refractive index of the material define the free spectral range (FSR) that corresponds to the spacing of wavelength locked channels. The etalon surface reflectivities should be controlled to achieve a required finesse that defines desired amount of wavelength discrimination.
There are several problems associated with etalon-based wavelength monitors. An etalon-based WM in a front-facet configuration usually requires a beam splitter or tap to redirect part of the output beam onto the WL. This leads to increase in cost, complexity and packaging spatial requirements of the laser system.
To achieve an etalon response function with a desired contrast, operation at a nearly normal incidence angle is required. Because the set point is positioned in the middle of the etalon amplitude modulation response curve, a significant amount of light is reflected and can potentially be coupled back to the laser source. If not rejected, that light will cause performance degradation. To reject the fed-back light, an optical isolator is positioned between the laser diode (LD) and the WL, increasing the product cost, package complexity and spatial requirements.
A third group of wavelength lockers employs wavelength-selective devices based on two-beam interference, such as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,548). This type of WL has a sinusoidal spectral response and, for a given ITU channel spacing, exceeds the capture range and the contrast of the etalon-based WL counterpart. At the same time, the WL disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,548 is based on a complex birefringent waveplate filter system that uses several components and requires precise fabrication and assembly. It also requires a beam-splitter to redirect part of the output beam onto the WL. This type of WL is expensive, complex and adds significant cost to the laser system as a whole.
It would be, therefore, desirable to provide a simple WL device that overcomes the disadvantages of the existing wavelength lockers while providing inexpensive fabrication and reduced packaging complexity.


Toughened polyester compositions are obtained by blending from 60% to 90% by weight of a modified star block copolymer with from 10% to 40% by weight of a polybutylene terephthalate polyester. The modified star block copolymers are free-radically grafted with an effective amount of an epoxy containing compound such as glycidal acrylate or glycidal methacrylate to give a ductile composition having a 1/8 inch notched Izod impact strength of at least 10.0 ft-lb/in at -20.degree. C.

Polyesters have excellent mechanical properties, but are relatively brittle at low temperatures. U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,971 discloses the use of modified, hydrogenated block copolymers of styrene and conjugated diolefins as impact modifiers for polymer blends containing polyesters. The block copolymers may be modified with a variety of acid groups or derivatives of the acid groups.
Blends of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) polyester and modified elastomers were shown to have excellant room temperature properties in European Patent Application 211,467. However, the blends described in the reference do not have good impact strength at -20.degree. C. which precludes using the blends in automobiles and other items exposed to extreme cold temperatures.

Low temperature toughening of polyesters with a modified block copolymer


A method of manufacturing an optical fiber having a core portion doped with a dopant and a surrounding optical cladding portion is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of drawing a fiber from a molten extremity of a silica preform and moving the fiber along towards a device for coating it with a protective sheath. Prior to the coating step, the moving fiber is irradiated with irregularly modulated actinic radiation, thereby causing corresponding irregular variations in the refractive index of its core portion as a function of longitudinal position. The resulting fiber demonstrates a significantly reduced polarisation mode dispersion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical fiber comprising a core portion with a dopant and a surrounding optical cladding portion, comprising the steps of drawing a fiber from a molten extremity of a silica preform and moving the fiber along means for coating it with a protective sheath. In particular, the invention relates to an optical fiber having reduced polarisation mode dispersion.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The term "polarisation mode dispersion" (PMD) refers to the dispersion of signals carried by an optical fiber (particularly a single mode fiber), as a result of birefringence in the fiber's core portion. This birefringence is caused by imperfections in the fiber, such as slight non-circularity of its core cross section, asymmetrical lateral stress, etc., and manifests itself in dissimilar refractive indices for a carried signal's two orthogonal polarisation modes. In the case of a perfect fiber devoid of PMD, these two modes propagate independently of one another at a common velocity. However, in the presence of PMD, the relative phase of the two modes changes continually, returning to a particular configuration at certain spatial intervals along the fiber. The average such interval is referred to as the beat length L.sub.p of the fiber, and has a typical magnitude of the order of 1 m (meter).
A method as stated in the opening paragraph is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,047, wherein, subsequent to the fiber coating step, the moving fiber is caused to pass over a series of pulleys. By continually canting the rotational axis of at least one of these pulleys back and forth in an irregular manner (i.e. with a variable frequency), the fiber is subjected to an oscillatory torque which causes the entire length of fiber between the canting pulley and the preform to twist back and forth. Such twisting of warm, uncoated fiber impresses an oscillatory axial spin upon its constituent material, and this spin subsequently becomes "frozen" into the fiber as it cools. The deliberate presence of such variable spin-related stress in the fiber produces continual mode-coupling between the orthogonal polarisation modes of a carried signal, thereby inhibiting the accumulation of a significant phase lag between the two modes, and consequently causing a significant reduction in the fiber's PMD.

Method of randomly irradiating an optical fiber core with a laser


A library of material samples is provided in a condition suitable for imaging using infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The samples are provided to one or more detection cells, each of the cells including or containing a reflective surface. Preferably, for imaging, an energy source (e.g. a source of infrared radiation) provides energy to the detection cells to interact with the samples. Thereafter, images (e.g., spectra) related to the samples are created based upon the interaction.

Currently, there is substantial research activity directed toward the discovery and optimization of reactions and reactions products for a wide range of applications. Although the chemistry of many reactions has been extensively studied, few general principles have emerged that allow one to predict with certainty a composition or structure of a material that will exhibit a desired characteristic or to predict reaction pathways that will result in a desired synthesis of a desired material. As such, there exists a need in the art for a more efficient, economical and systematic techniques and apparatus for the synthesis of materials and for the screening of such materials and for screening reactions that form such materials.
Combinatorial material science refers generally to methods for synthesizing a collection of chemically diverse materials and to methods for rapidly testing or screening this collection of materials for desirable performance compositions, characteristics, properties or the like. Combinatorial materials science approaches have greatly improved the efficiency of discovery of useful materials. For example, material scientists have developed and applied combinatorial chemistry approaches to discover a variety of novel materials, including for example, high temperature superconductors, magnetoresistors, phosphors and catalysts. See, for example, with respect to inorganic materials such as heterogeneous catalysts, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,004,617, 5,985,356, 6,326,090 and 6,410,331 to Schultz et al. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,764 to Willson. In comparison to traditional materials science research, combinatorial materials research can effectively evaluate much larger numbers of diverse compounds in a much shorter period of time. Although such high-throughput synthesis and screening methodologies are conceptually promising, substantial technical challenges exist for application thereof to specific research and commercial goals.
Of particular interest to the present invention are combinatorial methods and apparatuses for screening of materials, including especially screening of catalysts for catalytic activity and/or selectivity. The art includes several approaches that are effective for screening catalysts, including for example, parallel thermal imaging (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,333,196 to Willson), parallel sorbent trapping (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,332 to Schultz et al. and PCT Application No. WO 00/51720 of Bergh et al.), and analysis by parallel gas-chromatography following reaction in a parallel fixed bed reactor (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,882 to Guan et al., and U.S. Published Application No. 2002-0048536 of Bergh et al.). Although such approaches are effective, it is desirable to develop other, complementary analytical techniques for evaluating materials such as catalysts, and in particular, for evaluating catalytic activity and selectivity. Spectroscopic techniques, such as infrared spectroscopy (e.g., Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy—FTIR spectroscopy) are of particular interest in view of their universal application for detecting chemical species that are present as reaction products or unreacted reactants of a chemical reaction. Other techniques, such as non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) techniques are also of particular interest for some applications.
Several approaches are known in the art for screening combinatorial libraries of materials such as catalysts, by characterization of reaction products or unreacted reactants using infrared spectroscopy. As one example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,271 to McFarland et al. discloses a methodology for characterizing samples on a common substrate preferably using infrared imaging techniques, including infrared spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR spectroscopy. As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,970 (and corresponding European Patent No. EP 0883806) to Willson discloses general methods and reactor apparatus for evaluating diverse catalysts by detecting reaction products or unreacted reactants using spectroscopy, including infrared spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR spectroscopy. As a further example, International Publication Number WO 01/06209 to Lauterbach et al. is directed toward the creation of Fourier Transforms by operating a spectrometer in either a step scan or rapid scan mode. However, additional challenges remain for more effectively applying infrared spectroscopy to the analysis of materials such as reaction products or unreacted reactants resulting from parallel combinatorial reactions, such as catalyzed reactions. In particular, some of the present approaches are limited with respect to sensitivity for measuring small amounts of reaction constituents. Also, some of the approaches are limited with respect to their ability to be effectively integrated with highly parallel reaction systems, such as massively parallel microreactors.

Parallel infrared spectroscopy apparatus and method


A low voltage multipole circuit breaker having a double housing, each pole including a single-pole breaking unit having a parallelepipedic plastic box having two extended side faces. Contacts are further provided and are associated with an extinguishing chamber housed within the single-pole breaking unit. Several units are mounted side by side in the parallelepipedic box to form a multipole circuit breaker.

The invention relates to a low voltage multipole circuit breaker with double housing, each pole of which comprises a single-pole breaking unit having a parallelepipedic box made of molded plastic material and having two large side faces, and contacts associated with an extinguishing chamber housed in the unit, wherein several units are mounted side by side in a molded case to form the multipole circuit breaker.
A circuit breaker of the kind mentioned comprises for each pole an individual unit formed by a box made of molded plastic material containing the contacts and extinguishing chambers. The advantages of modular systems of this kind are well-known, in particular the reductions in manufacturing and assembly costs. They do however impose constraints as to the respective positioning of the different modules, namely involving the connection between the movable parts of the different single-pole units. A state-of-the-art circuit breaker comprises a rotating shaft which passes through all the single-pole units to drive all movable contacts in rotation simultaneously. The presence of this rotating shaft imposes constraints of positioning and architecture.

Multipole circuit breaker with single-pole units


An electrical connector includes an insulative housing and two rows of power contacts received in the insulative housing. The insulative housing includes a main body and a mating port extending from the main body. Each power contact includes a mating portion protruding into the mating port, a Z-shaped intermediate portion extending rearwardly from the mating portion and a termination portion. The insulative housing includes a first heat dissipation path extending along a first direction, a second heat dissipation path extending along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and a third heat dissipation path extending along a third direction perpendicular to the first direction and the second direction. The first heat dissipation path, the second heat dissipation path and the third heat dissipation path are surrounding the power contacts for heat dissipation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, more particularly to an electrical connector mounted on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
2. Description of Related Art
With the miniaturization of electric products, electrical connectors with low-profile, high-current are adopted by customers gradually. The structures of conventional electrical connectors cannot fulfill the requirements of low-profile, and high-current. The height of the electrical connector is higher, the total height of an electronic product in which the electrical connector is assembled is higher. Hence, the inner space of the electronic product is limited by the height of the electrical connector, and cannot be designed and utilized flexibly. In addition, with the light and thin trend for electric products, how to utilize the limited space inside of the electrical product to position contacts of the electrical connector is a technical difficulty to be solved.
Besides, how to solve the heat-dissipation issue of such low-profile and high-current electrical connector is another technical challenge.
Hence, it is necessary to improve the conventional electrical connector to address problems mentioned above.

Electrical connector with robust heat-dissipation structures