An embodiment of the current invention provides a method for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy, comprising: (a) selectively exciting exchangeable solute protons or protons of exchangeable solute-based water molecules within a frequency range in a subject using at least one frequency-selective radio frequency (RF) pulse, wherein the frequency range encompasses characteristic resonance frequencies of the exchangeable solute protons or protons of exchangeable solute-based water molecules, wherein the frequency range is substantially non-overlapping with a characteristic resonance frequency of bulk water protons in the subject, wherein the at least one frequency selective RF pulse performs a substantially minimal excitation on the bulk water protons, and wherein the at least one frequency-selective RF pulse, sometimes in combination with a time period that separates the at least one frequency-selective RF pulse, magnetically labels the exchangeable solute protons or the exchangeable solute-based water molecules; (b) allowing a portion of the magnetically labeled exchangeable solute protons to exchange with the bulk water protons or allowing the magnetically labeled exchangeable solute-based water molecules to exchange with bulk water molecules;

1. Field of Invention
The current invention relates to methods for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. More specifically the field relates to methods for the indirect detection of exchangeable solute protons or protons of exchangeable solute-based water molecules through the water signal that can be used for MRI and to the detection of low-concentration solutes, both exogenous (e.g., contrast agents) and endogenous (e.g., cellular constituents).
2. Discussion of Related Art
Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an established imaging modality, due to inherent limitations in sensitivity, MRI is at great disadvantage to optical and radioactive methods in detecting low concentration of contrast agents. To make matters worse, most of the (super)para-magnetic metals used to enhance relaxation are toxic when not chelated, the only current exception being iron. This limitation of exogenous MRI contrast to relaxation agents was the status quo until 2000, when Ward and Balaban suggested using exchangeable protons for MRI contrast. This suggestion opened up a new range of possible contrast agents and the possibility to turn contrast on and off by using RF saturation. In fact, based on this procedure of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST), the new range of contrast agents have been named CEST agents (Ward, K. M., Aletras, A. H. & Balaban, R. S. A new class of contrast agents for MRI based on proton chemical exchange dependent saturation transfer (CEST). J Magn Reson 143, 79-87 (2000); Ward, K. M. & Balaban, R. S. Determination of pH using water protons and chemical exchange dependent saturation transfer (CEST). Magn Reson Med 44, 799-802 (2000)) as well as U.S. Pat. No. 6,963,769. This chemical exchange saturation transfer may enable large sensitivity enhancements, leading to the detection of CEST contrast agents at low concentrations (μM or even lower) while maintaining the ability to see changes on a 110M water signal (Zhou, J. & van Zijl, P. Chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging and spectroscopy. PROGR. IN NMR SPECTR 48, 109-136 (2006); Sherry, A. D. & Woods, M. Chemical exchange saturation transfer contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Annual review of biomedical engineering 10, 391-411 (2008); De Leon-Rodriguez L M, Lubag A J, Malloy C R, Martinez G V, Gillies R J, Sherry A D. Responsive MRI agents for sensing metabolism in vivo. Acc Chem Res. 21; 42(7):948-57 (2009). Viswanathan S, Kovacs Z, Green K N, Ratnakar S J, Sherry A D. Alternatives to gadolinium-based metal chelates for magnetic resonance imaging. Chem Rev. 12; 110(5):2960-3018 (2010); Aime, S., Delli Castelli, D. & Terreno, E. Highly sensitive MRI chemical exchange saturation transfer agents using liposomes. Angewandte Chemie (International ed 44, 5513-5515 (2005)). Terreno E, Castelli D D, Aime S. Encoding the frequency dependence in MRI contrast media: the emerging class of CEST agents. Contrast Media Mol Imaging. 5(2):78-98 (2010); Terreno E, Castelli D D, Aime S. Challenges for Molecular Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Chem. Rev. 110, 3019-3042 (2010). In addition, several endogenous molecules, including certain protein and peptide fragments (Zhou, J., Lal, B., Wilson, D. A., Laterra, J. & van Zijl, P. C. Amide proton transfer (APT) contrast for imaging of brain tumors. Magn Reson Med 50, 1120-1126 (2003); Zhou, J., Payen, J. F., Wilson, D. A., Traystman, R. J. & van Zijl, P. C. Using the amide proton signals of intracellular proteins and peptides to detect pH effects in MRI. Nat Med 9, 1085-1090 (2003) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,943,033) as well as sugars (U.S. Pat. No. 7,683,617 and van Zijl P C, Jones C K, Ren J, Malloy C R, Sherry A D. MRI detection of glycogen in vivo by using chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging (glycoCEST). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007 Mar. 13; 104(11):4359-64) and many related compounds (e.g. Ling W, Regatte R R, Navon G, Jerschow A, Assessment of glycosaminoglycan concentration in vivo by chemical exchange-dependent saturation transfer (gagCEST). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 19; 105(7): 2266-70 (2008)) can be detected using chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging approaches. There is a large effort for the development of new noninvasive CEST agents for cell labeling and other applications for generating contrast. In addition, several important endogenous substrates and other compounds important for tissue metabolism and function in vivo contain such exchangeable protons, which can be used to diagnose cancer and stroke and potentially other diseases. Currently, radio-frequency (RF) based saturation transfer using either a long low-power RF pulse (Ward, K. M., Aletras, A. H. & Balaban, R. S. A new class of contrast agents for MRI based on proton chemical exchange dependent saturation transfer (CEST). J Magn Reson 143, 79-87 (2000)) or a series of higher power shorter RF pulses (Zhou, J., Lal, B., Wilson, D. A., Laterra, J. & van Zijl, P. C. Amide proton transfer (APT) contrast for imaging of brain tumors. Magn Reson Med 50, 1120-1126 (2003)) is the only available approach to image such CEST compounds. There are several disadvantages for RF saturation, including the need to separately saturate different protons when they occur at different MR frequencies and the need for reference scans to control for the effects of interfering direct water saturation and tissue magnetization transfer effects. Thus, there is a need in the art for improved methods and systems for detecting low concentrations of solute having protons that exchange with water protons.

Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy of low concentration solutes with exchangeable protons using label transfer modules: frequency transfer, inversion transfer, and dephasing transfer

Abstract: (c) repeating (a) and (b) a plurality of times to enhance a population size of the magnetically labeled exchangeable solute protons or the magnetically labeled exchangeable solute-based water molecules; (d) irradiating the subject under observation with a water excitation RF pulse that is adapted to excite the bulk water protons; (e) recording a magnetic resonance (MR) signal from the subject under observation in response to the water excitation RF pulse; and (f) analyzing the recorded MR signal to estimate a quantity associated with the exchangeable solute protons or the exchangeable solute-based water molecules.


A semiconductor structure includes a bulk silicon substrate and one or more silicon fins coupled to the bulk silicon substrate. Stress-inducing material(s), such as silicon, are epitaxially grown on the fins into naturally diamond-shaped structures using a controlled selective epitaxial growth. The diamond shaped structures are subjected to annealing at about 750° C. to about 850° C. to increase an area of (100) surface orientation by reshaping the shaped structures from the annealing. Additional epitaxy is grown on the increased (100) area. Multiple cycles of increasing the area of (100) surface orientation (e.g., by the annealing) and growing additional epitaxy on the increased area are performed to decrease the width of the shaped structures, increasing the space between them to prevent them from merging, while also increasing their volume.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating semiconductor devices, more particularly, to methods of reducing merging of semiconductor epitaxial growth on adjacent fins of a FinFET.
2. Background Information
Three-dimensional field-effect transistors (FinFETs) are currently being developed to replace conventional planar metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) in advanced complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology due to their improved short-channel effect immunity and higher on-current to off-current ratio (Ion/Ioff). As is known, the term "fin" refers to a vertical structure within or upon which are formed, for instance, one or more transistors or other semiconductor devices, such as passive devices, including capacitors, diodes, etc. As the density of semiconductor integrated circuits increases and the corresponding size of circuit elements decreases, significant challenges may arise, due to issues related to, for instance, merging of semiconductor epitaxial growth on adjacent fins of a FinFET, resulting in challenges such as, for instance, contact spiking.
Accordingly, a need exists to reduce merging of semiconductor epitaxial growth on adjacent fins of a FinFET.

Semiconductor structure with increased space and volume between shaped epitaxial structures


Provided are a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor device includes a gate structure formed on a substrate, a source/drain extension formed at one side of the gate structure while not being formed at the other side of the gate structure, and doped with a first type impurity, a halo region formed at one side of the gate structure while not being formed at the other side of the gate structure, and doped with a second type impurity different from the first type impurity, a first source/drain region formed at one side of the gate structure and doped with the first type impurity, and a second source/drain region formed at the other side of the gate structure and doped with the first type impurity.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to a semiconductor device and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the feature size of a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor has been reduced, the length of a gate and the length of a channel formed therebelow are also gradually decreasing. As the size of the MOS transistor is reduced, power consumption of the MOS transistor is reduced. Accordingly, the density of the MOS transistor can be increased.
In addition, in order to satisfy performance of transistors requiring specific functions as well as general symmetric transistors, research into asymmetric transistors is under way.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same


A flame retardant polycarbonate resin composition that can have excellent scratch resistance and impact resistance includes: (A) about 10 to about 89 wt % of a polycarbonate resin; (B) about 10 to about 89 wt % of a polycarbonate-polysiloxane copolymer; (C) about 1 to about 70 wt % of a modified (meth)acrylic copolymer resin; and (D) about 1 to about 50 parts by weight of a phosphorus-based flame retardant, based on about 100 parts by weight of components (A)+(B)+(C).

Polycarbonate resins exhibit excellent toughness, impact resistance, thermal stability, self extinguishability, dimensional stability and heat resistance and thus have been used in the production of electric and electronic products, automobile components, lenses, glass replacement materials, and the like. However, there can be various problems using polycarbonate resins in the production of products requiring transparency, such as significant deterioration in scratch resistance as compared to glass, and yellowing upon exposure to sunlight for a long period of time.
In contrast, unlike polycarbonate resins, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) resins can exhibit excellent weather resistance, transparency, flexural strength, flexural strain, adhesion, and the like, and thus have been used in adhesives, lighting materials, building materials, and the like. However, due to their low impact strength, PMMA cannot be used in products having less than a certain thickness in order to ensure sufficient impact strength.
It is expected that an alloy of such polycarbonate resins and PMMA resins could ensure both impact resistance and scratch resistance. However, in practice, due to poor compatibility and the large refractive index difference between these resins, the alloy is opaque and has poor appearance and quality, thereby exhibiting low impact resistance and scratch resistance.
Recently, in order to develop products having a luxurious appearance such as a highly glossy texture, resin compositions have been subjected to coating processes. However, these processes have problems in that they involve various steps, can have high defect rates, and can generate large amounts of volatile organic compounds, which can increase costs.
In order to solve these problems, non-painted materials have been developed. In order for a certain material to be used as a non-painted material, the material must have a highly glossy texture and provide scratch resistance upon coating. However, resins developed up to now are not satisfactory in terms of physical properties such as coloring property, impact resistance, heat resistance, scratch resistance, and the like.
The present inventors have developed a resin composition including a polycarbonate resin, a polycarbonate-polysiloxane copolymer, and a modified (meth)acrylic copolymer.
However, transparency and impact resistance of the composition can deteriorate when flame retardants are added for applications requiring flame retardancy such as home appliances and IT and OA devices. Further, when adding rubber components to improve impact resistance, the resin composition can exhibit decreased transparency and scratch resistance, and thus can fail to provide desired physical properties.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a resin composition which satisfies not only coloring property, impact resistance, heat resistance, and scratch resistance, but also transparency and flame retardancy.

Flame retardant polycarbonate resin composition and molded product made using the same


An image forming apparatus manages information regarding the lifetimes of a plurality of photosensitive media or developing units using a single storage. The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive unit comprising a photosensitive medium, a developing unit comprising a developing roller that applies developer to the photosensitive medium and a developing device that is removable and contains the developer supplied to the developing roller. A storage is included in one of the photosensitive unit or the developing unit, whichever has a longer lifetime, and stores information regarding at least one of the photosensitive unit and the developing unit. A controller controls the information stored in the storage. The image forming apparatus has a plurality of photosensitive units and/or developing units.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a single storage to manage the lifetimes of components (such as developing units and photosensitive media) included in an integrated developing unit in the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of a conventional image forming apparatus including a storage in each of a plurality of developing units. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional electrophotographic color image forming apparatus 100 includes a developing unit 110, photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, an optical scanning unit 150, an intermediate transfer belt 155, first transfer rollers 157Y, 157M, 157C, and 157K, a second transfer roller 160, and a fusing unit 165 within a case 101. In addition, the conventional electrophotographic color image forming apparatus 100 includes a paper feed cassette 105 containing paper P, a pickup roller 167 picking up paper P from the paper feed cassette 105, a paper feed roller 169 aligning and feeding paper P, first and second feed rollers 172 and 174 feeding paper P that has an image fused onto it, and a discharge roller 176 discharging the printed paper P from the case 101 onto a discharge tray 103.
The developing unit 110 includes four developing devices 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K. The developing devices are cartridge type devices which are replaced with new ones when developer, or toner, is depleted. Sequentially from the bottom of the case 101, the four developing devices 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K contain yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K) toners, respectively.
The developing devices 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K of the developing unit 110 include developing rollers 113Y, 113M, 113C, and 113K, respectively, to supply toner to the four photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, respectively, which are installed within the case 101 separate from the developing devices 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K. To supply toner to the photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, developing bias is applied to the developing rollers 113Y, 113M, 113C, and 113K. The outer circumferences of the respective photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K face the intermediate transfer belt 155.
The optical scanning unit 150 includes four optical scanners 151Y, 151M, 151C, and 151K corresponding to the photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, respectively. The optical scanners 151Y, 151M, 151C, and 151K scan light beams corresponding to Y, M, C, and K color image information onto the photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, respectively. Laser scanning units (LSUs) using a laser diode as a light source may be used as the optical scanners 151Y, 151M, 151C, and 151K.
The first transfer rollers 157Y, 157M, 157C, and 157K are positioned to face the photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K, respectively, with the intermediate transfer belt 155 interposed therebetween. The second transfer roller 160 is positioned to face the intermediate transfer belt 155.
As shown in FIG. 1, integrated structures A, B, C, and D are implemented for colors K, C, M, and Y, respectively. The integrated structures A, B, C, and D include-storages 130K, 130C, 130M, and 130Y, respectively. Alternatively, although not shown, the photosensitive media 145Y, 145M, 145C, and 145K and the developing devices 112Y, 112M, 112C, and 112K may be implemented in 8 separate structures including 8 storages. Each of the storages 130K, 130C, 130M, and 130Y may be a customer replaceable unit monitor (CRUM) and store information such as the manufacturing date, the serial number, the manufacturing company, the lifetime, and the amount of residual toner in the developing unit 110. The information is provided to a user at a predetermined time.
Such conventional image forming apparatuses have problems. For example, since a storage is installed in each of a plurality of developing devices, the price of the image forming apparatus increases. In addition, since a plurality of storages are installed, the probability of malfunction is high, and, therefore, reliability and processing speed are low, as a whole.
Accordingly, there is a need for an image forming apparatus with an improved storage to increase the reliability and processing speed of the apparatus.

Image forming apparatus and storage thereof


The present invention provides a data processing apparatus comprising a first additional information acquisition unit for acquiring the first additional information with regard to a first processing target data; a second additional information acquisition unit acquiring the second additional information with regard to a second processing target data that is processed in relation to the first processing target data; and a selecting unit selecting at least one second processing target data from among the plural second processing target data on the basis of the first additional information, the second additional information, and a selection condition that has been set in advance. The data processing apparatus can easily select at least one processing target data from among a plurality of processing target data and is excellent in the aspect of a pastime.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an art that is preferable to select specific data from among a plurality of data, and for example, an art for selecting music data to be reproduced in additon to display of a still image and a moving image.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in image display software and presentation software, there is known a function called "slide show" which reproduces a plurality of still images and moving images while sequentially changing over them. Hereinafter, the still image and the moving image may be simply referred to as image data.
Further, according to this slide show, reproduction of music (music data) may be possible as a BGM (Background Music) in addition to display of the image.
In the meantime, as a conventional method of selecting the music data to be reproduced on such a slide show, for example, the following (1) to (3) methods are known.    (1) A user manually selects the music data to be reproduced as the BGM from among a plurality of music data saved in a PC (Personal Computer) in advance and reproduces it, and then, the user starts a slide show during reproduction of the music data.    (2) Relating the image data with the music data in advance, the user reproduces this related music data upon reproduction of the image data (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. HEI9-22416 and 8-101907).    (3) The user manually selects the music data as the BGM and reproduces it during execution of the slide show.
However, according to the above-described conventional method of selecting the music data, for example, according to the methods (1) and (3), the user is required to perform the selection operation with respect to the music data to be reproduced, so that these methods are complicated. Particularly, when there are many music data, it is complicated to select the specific music data from among these many music data. As a result, the user often selects the same music data every time, which leads to a lack of pleasure for a pastime.
In addition, according to the above-described method (2), there is a problem that many operations are required to relate the image data with the music data and the operations are complicated. Further, for example, when new music data is added, in order to reproduce this new music data together with the image data, the operation for relating them should be separately carried out, so that this method is not convenient.

Data processing apparatus, information processing system and computer-readable recording medium recording selecting program


A telecommunications service translates an abbreviated dialing code into a toll free number, routes the call to an interexchange carrier, and manages the billing associated with the call. A billing system processes the billing such that a subscriber of the abbreviated dialing code service is billed for the call rather than a calling party.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to translating an abbreviated dialing code into a ten digit number and managing the billing associated with the call.
2. Acronyms
The written description provided herein contains acronyms that refer to various telecommunications services, components and techniques, as well as features relating to the present invention. Although some of these acronyms are known, use of these acronyms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, acronyms will be defined as follows:                Access Code (AC)        Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)        Automatic Message Accounting (AMA)        Bellcore Automatic Message Accounting Format (BAF)        Carrier Access Billing System (CABS)        Carrier Identification Code (CIC)        Central Office (CO)        Customer Record and Information System (CRIS)        File Transport Protocol (FTP)        Free Billing Table (FBT)        Local Access and Transport Area (LATA)        Integrated Services Digital Network User Part (ISUP)        Interexchange Carrier (IXC)        Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP)        Off-Hook Delay (OHD)        Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)        Public Office Dialing Plan (PODP)        Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)        Service Control Point (SCP)        Service Logic Program Identifier (slpID)        Service Management System (SMS)        Service Switching Point (SSP)        Signal Transfer Point (STP)        Signaling System 7 (SS7)        Transaction Capabilities Applications Protocol (TCAP)        Vertical Service Code (VSC)        Wide Area Network (WAN)
3. Description of Background Information
National advertisers and companies are continually seeking methods to sell their products to consumers. Putting the consumer in contact with the seller is critical to the relationship between companies and consumers. Previously, companies enticed consumers to call them using 800 or 888 toll free telephone numbers, in which the caller was not charged for the telephone call. However, consumers are not likely to remember the complete 800 or 888 numbers for every company they may wish to contact. As a result, it would be desirable to have an abbreviated dialing code that would allow callers to reach national advertisers.
Consumers would be more likely to place calls to an abbreviated dialing code service if they would incur no costs associated with the calls. Such a service would bring advertisers and consumers together to each other's benefit.
However, a significant problem associated with this type of service includes billing calls originating from various states and LATAs. A solution must be offered to see that charges are incurred by the subscriber offering the abbreviated dialing code service based on the number of calls to the service regardless of the billing system used in the state. It would also be advantageous to allow subscribers to provision call routing and billing information via the Internet.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of billing in an abbreviated dialing service


Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system, method, or computer program product structured for generating resource identification strings to avoid electronic misreads. In some embodiments, the system is structured for generating a new technology resource string of characters, comparing the new string to existing technology resource strings, and determining whether the new string is the same as an existing string. The system is also structured for, in response to determining it is not, for each existing string, pairing characters of the strings and determining whether the strings have at least a threshold number of matching character pairs; if there are, for at least one of the existing strings, determining whether characters of the non-matching pairs are commonly misread characters and determining whether there are a threshold combination of matching/commonly misread pairs; and if there are, discard the new string and generate a second new technology resource string.

An entity may receive images, scans, or other electronic documents that contain a series or string of characters representing a technology resource that a user holds at the entity. To identify the technology resource, the entity may electronically extract the series of characters from the image, scan, or other electronic document. However, in some cases, the extraction process may misidentify one or more of the characters in the character string as different characters. As such, there is a need for a system that allows for the generation of new character strings, as well as the evaluation of existing character strings, in such a way so as to avoid electronic misreads.

System for generation of resource identification numbers to avoid electronic misreads


Disclosed is a molding method for powder particles, which is excellent in molding performance, and which makes it possible to obtain a preliminary molded product excellent in strength by enhancing mutual bonding between particles in the preliminary molded product. A molding apparatus for powder particles includes an outer frame die having a mold space with a lower punch and an upper punch to be slidably fitted thereto. Slight clearances exist between the outer frame die and the lower and upper punches. A mixture is prepared by mixing a powdery raw material with a liquid additive to cause an exothermic reaction therewith.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a molding method for powder particles and a molded product obtained by this method. In particular, the present invention relates to a molding method for powder particles for obtaining a molded product having a high particle filling density by chemically reacting a powdery raw material so that the particles are joined to one another, and the molded product obtained by this method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been methods for producing molded products by pressurizing and molding powdery raw materials, including, for example, a molding method based on the use of isostatic pressurization. The present inventors have been already suggested such a molding method based on the use of isostatic pressurization in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-211904. In this method, a mixture obtained by adding a liquid to a powdery raw material is subjected to uniaxial molding under pressure, wherein excessive liquid is removed to mold a preliminary molded product.
However, in the case of the molding method based on the use of the isostatic pressurization as described above, the filling state of particles in the preliminary molded product should be taken into consideration. Namely, it has been confirmed that the particles are joined to one another in a manner of point-to-point contact by the aid of the intermolecular force.


Disclosed is a method of manufacturing a metal oxide nano powder comprising preparing a first dispersed solution by adding a nano-sized metal powder to water and dispersing the metal powder within the water, performing a hydration reaction of the first dispersed solution at a temperature of about 30 to about 70° C. to generate a precipitation, and filtering and drying the precipitation to prepare a metal oxide powder. Also, disclosed is a metal oxide nano powder manufactured by the method described above, and having any one of a bar-form, a cube-form, and a fiber-form.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metal oxide nano powder and manufacturing method of the same, and more particularly, to a nano-sized metal oxide and manufacturing method of the same which has a relatively large specific surface area, is economical to manufacture, and exhibits excellent chemical activity.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a zinc oxide is used for a photocatalytic, a diluted magnetic semiconductor, and the like. Also, a zinc oxide is widely used as a fluorescent pigment and a material for a light emitting diode (LED). A copper (I) oxide (Cu2O) is a p-type semiconductor material and used for a rectifier filter, which is operated using ionization property, together with copper of a transition metal. Also, Cu2O functioning to emit electrons in a photo-cell is used for a material of a photo-cell, a pigment for preventing corrosion, a cathode for a lithium-ion battery, and a catalyst for conversion of a solar energy.
A zinc oxide and a copper (II) oxide (CuO) are manufactured by heating a zinc metal and a copper metal in air. Cu2O may be manufactured by adding hydrazine to a copper (II) acetate solution, by heating a Fehling's solution with glucose added or by performing a chemical reaction using copper hydroxide (Cu(OH)2).
However, conventional methods for manufacturing metal oxide powder as described above are unsuitable for a large-quantity production process due to cost increase and complexity in the manufacturing process. Specifically, the above-mentioned conventional manufacturing methods are suitable for manufacturing a metal oxide powder having a particle size greater than or equal to a micron sized particle. However, the conventional manufacturing method is unsuitable for manufacturing a metal oxide powder having nano-sized particles or having specific shaped particles transformed to a bar-form or a wire-form. Also, a zinc oxide doped with a metal is difficult to be manufactured through the conventional manufacturing methods due to a significantly low melting point and boiling point of zinc.
Generally, since alumina has high thermal resistance, chemical resistance, corrosion resistance, and high strength, it is used, often in a fiber form, as a catalyst for decomposition of organic matters related to environmental pollution, a high functional filter, and a reinforcement agent for composite materials, and also used in the formation of gas separation membranes. An iron oxide having high thermal resistance, chemical resistance, corrosion resistance, and high strength is mainly classified into hematite (α-Fe2O3) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) which are used as a catalyst for a magnetic recording media and petrochemistry due to magnetic properties, and ferrite-based magnetite (Fe3O4), which is applied to a magnetic toner and a drug delivery medium. These iron oxides advantageously have large-energy products, reduced costs of materials, reduced material instability, reduced weight of materials, and exhibit corrosion resistance. Also, these iron oxides are manufactured in a bar-form, a fiber-form, and a wire-form, and thus, applicably used for magnetic materials, printing recording materials, bio-materials, and the like. As methods for manufacturing an alumina fiber or an iron oxide bar described above, a melt spinning method, a sol-gel method, an extrusion method, and the like, are widely used.
The sol-gel method refers to as a method using a phenomenon in which a chain reaction occurring by an alcohol oxide is maintained in a solution, that is, 'sol', where colloidal particles, inorganic particles, and solid particles are dispersed so that the dispersed solid materials are polymerized, and thereby a fluid gel having a consecutive solid retina structure is obtained.
However, conventional fiber manufacturing methods such as the sol-gel method, the melt spinning method, and the extrusion method have problems in that the manufacturing process is complex, and the manufacturing costs are increased. In addition, because alumina fibers and iron oxide bars manufactured by the conventional fiber manufacturing methods have micrometer or sub-micrometer particle sizes, the alumina fiber and iron oxide bars do not advantageously increase in the specific surface areas compared with the nano-sized particles nor increase in the mechanical property value.
Currently, manufacturing methods of powdering various kinds of metals such as aluminum, iron, copper, and zinc in order to get nano-sized particles have been developed. This is because when a metal is powdered to have nano-sized particles, mechanical properties such as hardness, strength, abrasion resistance are improved, and physical properties such as chemical and electromagnetic properties are improved, showing an increase in the thermal expansion coefficient, a reduction in activation energy, and the like, in comparison with the existing materials.
Also, when a zinc oxide or a zinc oxide doped with transition metals such as aluminum, iron, and the like, is manufactured in a bar-form having a particle size of several to tens of nano-meters, the mechanical property value is improved, and a range of the application is expanded due to fine constituting particles of the zinc oxide.
However, conventional manufacturing methods for metal oxide have a shortcoming in that a particle of a nano-sized metal oxide is difficult to be shaped. Also, a conventional composite method of a nano-sized inorganic crystal is difficult to be applied to manufacturing methods of a nano-sized metal oxide having a nano sized bar-form, a nano sized cube-form, or a nano sized fiber-form due to the disadvantages described above. Therefore, there is a need for a manufacturing method of a nano sized metal oxide which is simple, economical, and effective in the manufacturing process.

Metal oxide nano powder and manufacturing method of the same


A pad for wirelessly charging wireless products selected from the group consisting of wireless hair clippers, wireless air compressors, wireless hair curling iron, wireless hair styles, wireless hair trimmer, wireless hair dryer, wireless hair massager, wireless hair straightener, wireless hair brush, wireless razor, wireless hot hair brush, wireless nose trimmer, wherein said pad includes permanent charging ports and temporary charging ports, said permanent charging ports having charging coils embedded in the pad, said temporary charging ports inserted with wireless charging modules to provide wireless charging capability. The size, number and orientation of the permanent and temporary charging ports can vary depending on the users's need.

The typical wireless charger today comes with a single port or more than one port. The challenge is to create a wireless charger that can be scaled to have several ports available for charging multiple devices simultaneously by using electromagnetic induction technology.
The present invention provides a pad for providing wireless charging capability and scaling the wireless charging capability of the wireless charging pad. Once a user purchases additional devices that require wireless charging, a purchase of modular charger modules inserted into modular non-charging ports allows the charging pad to have increased capacity for charging more wireless devices.
This scalable approach has several benefits to the users. With a lower financial barrier of entry, a user may purchase a wireless charging pad with as few as two wireless charging ports. The practical integration of additional wireless charging ports allows the consumer to grow the capability (specifically the number of ports) available to them.

Recharging pad having wireless charging capabilities and modular recharging compartments


By selecting, as a monitoring API, an API which does not involve modifying information when executing a request, from APIs called by an AP to be monitored, transmitting a pseudo-request to the monitoring API, and receiving a response to the request, a monitoring node for determining whether or not the monitoring API is operating normally is created and is included in the AP.

The present invention relates to an application operation monitoring apparatus and an application operation monitoring method for monitoring an operational state of an application program.
A mechanism is known which enables software incorporating necessary functions and data to be readily developed by including an interface for providing functions and data in certain software while enabling other software to be provided with desired functions and data using the interface of the certain software. Software which has an interface and which provides functions and data in this manner is referred to as a service.
In addition, visual programming languages which enable programming to be performed using a combination of visual functional objects are known as software development environments. A developer can create, edit, register, and use a functional object that provides a prescribed function and can develop an application program by associating desired functional objects with each other to visually define data input and output. A functional object may be provided to perform a process of calling an interface of the service described above.
When a developed application program (hereinafter, referred to as an AP) becomes operational, an operational state thereof is desirably monitored to ensure that normal operation continues. Methods of monitoring an operational state of an AP includes a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-208749 in which a monitoring server issues a pseudo-request to each Web service sequentially performed in an application and an operation of a Web service is monitored by confirming a response to the pseudo-request.

Application operation monitoring apparatus and application operation monitoring method


A power generation plant including a solar radiation receiver for heating a medium stream and a turbine assembly being arranged to receive the heated medium stream from the solar radiation receiver, said turbine assembly being coupled to an electric power generator, wherein a combustor is positioned downstream of the solar radiation receiver and upstream of the turbine assembly, an air compressor unit having a compressed air outlet is arranged to supply compressed combustion air to the combustor, and a steam generator is arranged to extract heat from an outlet flow from the turbine assembly, and to produce steam to be transmitted to a medium stream inlet of the solar radiation receiver and subsequently to combustor. The invention also related to a method.

Power generation plants are previously known which include a number of solar radiation reflectors in turn being spread over a reception area, and a solar radiation receiver upon which reflected solar light is concentrated. In particular the solar radiation receiver comprises a steam generator for the production of steam to be passed on to a turbine which in turn drives an electric generator for the production of electrical energy.
The turbine and the associated generator are heavy and bulky and are thus positioned at a site where they are easily installed and accessible, whereas the solar radiation receiver preferably is positioned at a place having best reception conditions for the combined reflectors which most often is at a relatively elevated position. Steam from the solar radiation receiver is conducted over isolated conduits to the turbine and water to be inlet to the solar radiation receiver is correspondingly pumped back to the solar radiation receiver.

Power generation plant and method of operating a power generation plant


A supporting surface is formed on a portion of a base member of a galvanomirror in a direction parallel to the reflection surface of a mirror. A galvanomirror container section opened in a direction parallel to the reflection surface is formed in a carriage and a bearing seat surface is formed inside the galvanomirror container section. The center axes of the supporting surface and of the bearing seat surface are aligned to the direction parallel to the reflection surface. Only by inserting the galvanomirror into the galvanomirror container section from the direction parallel to the reflection surface, the supporting surface abuts on the bearing seat surface 29. As a result, a mounting apparatus for mounting the galvanomirror 20 into the carriage 2 while adjusting the inclination of the reflection surface can be made small and the structure thereof can be simplified.

The present invention relates to a mounting apparatus for mounting a mirror-type deflection apparatus, i.e., a galvanomirror which controls the direction of a luminous flux used in an optical device such as an optical scanner or the like or used in a data recording/reproducing apparatus which records/writes data with respect to an optical recording medium such as an optical disk drive, postscript type disk drive, phase change disk drive, CD-ROM, DVD, optical card, or the like, by adjusting the inclination of the mirror-type deflection apparatus with respect to a fixed member to which the deflecting apparatus is mounted.
Conventionally, a small-size galvanomirror is used in various types of optical devices stated above. If the galvanomirror is mounted to the optical device of this type, it is required to adjust the inclination or the like of the mirror with respect to the light axis of entering light or the like and to accurately position the mirror. As a mounting apparatus for mounting the galvanomirror with the inclination of the mirror adjusted, various types of apparatuses are used. Since the above-stated optical device is strictly required to be small, a mounting apparatus provided with a spherical supporting surface is often used.
According to this mounting apparatus, a spherical supporting surface is formed on the main body, that is, on the base member of the galvanomirror and a bearing seat surface of, for example, spherical shape which abuts on the supporting surface is formed at a fixed member such as a carriage and a frame to which the galvanomirror is mounted. While the supporting surface abutting on the bearing seat surface, the galvanomirror is fixed. During or after mounting, the supporting surface is slid with respect to the bearing seat surface, thereby adjusting the inclination of the galvanomirror in an arbitrary direction, such as, about two axes perpendicular to each other and thereafter fixing the galvanomirror. The mounting apparatus of this type is simple in structure and can be made small, so that the apparatus is appropriate as a small-size galvanomirror mounting apparatus for the optical device stated above.
The front surface side of the galvanomirror serves as an optical path of the optical device. Obviously, therefore, the mounting apparatus cannot be arranged on the front surface side of the galvanomirror. For that reason, the conventional galvanomirror mounting apparatus is provided on the back surface of the mirror.
According to a galvanomirror apparatus disclosed by Jpn. UM Registration Publication No. 2536274, a spherical abutment portion is formed on the back surface of the yoke of the galvanomirror and a concave portion is formed on the front surface of a retainer. The abutment portion abuts on the concave portion, thus fastening the yolk and the retainer using three adjusting screws. In addition, the retainer is structured to be attached to the side surface of the vertical wall portion of a housing. While loosening the adjusting screws, the abutment portion is slid to the concave portion and the angle and position of the mirror are adjusted. Thereafter, the adjusting screws are fastened to thereby fix the yoke.
The conventional structure stated above, however, has the following drawbacks. That is, the housing and the like of the optical device are, in many cases, manufactured integrally by, for example, die-casting and a container section into which the optical components such as the galvanomirror are inserted and mounted is, in many cases, formed to be opened in the direction perpendicular to or crossing the optical path of the optical device. Due to this, if the abutment portion for adjusting the mounting position is formed on the back surface side of the galvanomirror as stated above, the retainer or the like is required to be mounted on the side surface of the vertical wall portion of the container section of the housing.
Due to the need to make the housing of the optical device small, the dimensions of the container section cannot have allowance for the outer dimensions of the optical components to be contained in the container section. Owing to this, after inserting the galvanomirror into such a narrow container section, the galvanomirror has to be mounted on the side surface of the vertical wall portion of the housing while adjusting the position. Thus, working efficiency greatly, disadvantageously deteriorates.
Furthermore, to provide a small-size apparatus, it is preferable that the concave portion is directly formed in the inner surface of the housing, that the galvanomirror-side abutment portion abuts on the concave portion and that the galvanomirror is directly mounted in the housing. Nevertheless, the housing is normally manufactured by die-casting as stated above. The concave portion cannot be, therefore, formed on the side surface of the vertical wall portion, that is, the metal mold leaving direction.
For those reasons, there is no choice but to adopt the structure in which the retainer is provided, a concave portion is provided at the retainer and the retainer is attached on the side surface of the vertical wall portion of the housing as in the above-stated conventional technique. As a result, the resultant structure is complicated, the number of parts increases, the dimensions of the mounting structure become greater, and the optical device is disadvantageously prevented from being made smaller.


An exercise machine includes left and right adjustable resistance exercise mechanisms operated by hand levers linked to pivotal pedals. The machine is positioned before a user seated on a stationary support. To facilitate movement of the machine by a seated user who may be elderly or infirm, a retractable front caster wheel is deployed, elevating the machine off its support posts and onto the front caster wheel and two rear wheels. To stabilize the operating machine against movement when a high resistance is used, retraction of the front caster wheel lowers the machine onto front and rear support posts. Further stability is provided by an anchoring channel which receives the front legs of the user support. A cord attached to front end of the machine connects to the channel and applies tension to anchor the machine against movement. The hand levers are provided with a locking pivotal adjustment to permit the hand grips to be positioned comfortably for the seated user.

The present invention is directed to exercise machines, and more particularly to exercise machines in which a user moves the machine into position for use while seated, with accessories facilitating the movement and operation from the seated position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,573 issued Jun. 26, 1990 to the applicant discloses an exercise machine for elderly or handicapped people. The disclosure and drawings of that patent are hereby incorporated in this application by reference. It provides separately adjustable left and right side mechanisms. Each side includes a hand operated lever to a movable foot pedal, with an adjustable friction mechanism to vary the resistance to motion. The machine is operated by a user seated before the machine in a chair, on a bed or other suitable seating arrangement. This overcomes problems associated with mounting conventional exercise machines which may be awkward, dangerous, or impossible for certain elderly or incapacitated users. The machine is wheeled to the chair by lifting up one end so that the weight of the machine is borne by a pair of wheels at another end. Then the user is seated and the machine pulled up close enough so that the operator can comfortably rest feet on the pedals. The hand levers are height adjusted for convenient reaching and exercise begins by moving the hand levers back and forth against the adjustable frictional resistance. The height adjustment, alone may not bring the handles close enough for some users.
If the resistance is very great, the back and forth lever motion may move the entire machine back and forth and lift it upward as well.
The machine may be too heavy for a seated user to pull it into proper position for use, especially for a weak or incapacitated operator, without assistance because it does not rest on any wheels when not lifted.


A novel integral image recognition/display apparatus includes a pixel matrix, an image sensor and peripheral driving circuits for driving them, has both image recognition function and display function, and is constituted into an “intelligent” configuration. This display apparatus includes a plurality of pixel portions each having an active device and arranged in matrix, an active matrix substrate using an electrode for the pixel portion and a plurality of sensor portions arranged in matrix on the active matrix substrate, wherein the sensor portion has a photoelectric conversion device, and reads information by utilizing the rays of light transmitting through the light-transmitting material when an external image is read.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus integrally having both image recognition function and image display function. More particularly, this invention relates to an apparatus having an active matrix type display functional device comprising a plurality of thin film transistors (TFT) that are arranged in matrix.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing apparatuses such as personal computers have become wide spread in recent years, and the demand for reading a variety of information as electronic information into the personal computers has been increasing. Therefore, a scanner has drawn an increasing attention as means for reading the information printed on sheets of paper, and so forth.
However, the scanner is independent as a peripheral device, and is not free from the problems that the operation is difficult and an appropriate storage place is not easy to find out.
Under such circumstances, a liquid crystal panel having a unitary structure of a color scanner and a touch system panel has been put into practical application. The construction will be hereby explained briefly. A color scanner using a line sensor is put on a liquid crystal panel. When the scanner is used, a document is placed on the screen. The line sensor is allowed to scan to read the document. Therefore, this liquid crystal panel needs a large area and a large capacity.
Recently, a TFT technology using a polycrystalline silicon called "poly-silicon TFT" has been examined intensively. As a result, it has become possible to fabricate a driving circuit having a shift register circuit, etc, by using the poly-silicon TFT, and an active matrix type liquid crystal panel having a pixel unit and a peripheral driving circuit for driving the pixel unit on the same substrate has been put into practical application. Consequently, the liquid crystal panel has become smaller in size and weight, and has been used for the display unit of a variety of information processing apparatuses and portable apparatuses such as personal computers, video cameras, digital cameras, and so forth. Moreover, the development of self-light-emission type display devices such as organic EL has been under way.
Compact portable information processing terminals (or "mobile computers"), that have higher portability and is more economical and smaller in size than the notebook type personal computers, have gained a wider application nowadays, and the active matrix type liquid crystal panel has been used mainly for the display unit. In such information processing terminals, data can be inputted from the display unit by a touch-pen system. To input printed information on sheets of paper such as character and picture information and video information, however, it becomes necessary to connect a peripheral device for reading the image such as a scanner or a digital camera to the information processing terminal. Therefore, portability of the information processing terminal is lost. Also, an economical burden is applied to the user to purchase such a peripheral device.
The active matrix type liquid crystal display device has also been used for the display unit of a TV conference system, a TV telephone system and an Internet terminal. Such systems and terminals include a camera (CCD camera) for taking the picture of the speaker or the user. However, the display unit and the read unit (sensor unit) are produced separately and individually and are modulated together. Therefore, the production cost is high.
In addition, the biggest feature of the portable information terminal is its portability. Therefore, the capacity of the portable information terminals is preferably as small as possible. Various attempts have been made to reduce the capacity by, for example, miniaturizing the components, but scale-down is practically limited to a certain level because the operation time provided by the cell unit as a power source cannot be sacrificed. It has thus been necessary not only to improve the cell but also to restrict power consumption of the terminal itself so as to reduce the capacity of the cell components and to secure a predetermined operation time.
It has been pointed out that the major proportion of this power consumption are occupied by the light source required for the liquid crystal display device.

Semiconductor device and integral image recognition/display apparatus

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A process for preparing a supported catalyst system comprising the following steps:                a. titanating a silica-containing catalyst support having a specific surface area of from 150 m2/g to 800 m2/g, preferably 280 to 600 m2/g, with at least one vaporized titanium compound of the general formula selected from RnTi(OR′)m and (RO)nTi(OR′)m, wherein R and R′ are the same or different and are selected from hydrocarbyl groups containing from 1 to 12 carbon and halogens, and wherein n is 0 to 4, m is 0 to 4 and m+n equals 4, to form a titanated silica-containing catalyst support having at least 0.1 wt % of Ti based on the weight of the titanated silica-containing catalyst support,        b. treating the support with a catalyst activating agent, preferably an alumoxane.        c. treating the titanated support with at least one metallocene during or after step (b).

Metallocene catalyst systems are extensively used in a variety of polymerisation systems, including the polymerisation of olefins. Generally, in order to obtain the highest activity from metallocene catalysts, it has been necessary to use them with an organoaluminoxane activating agent, such as methylaluminoxane (MAO). This resulting catalyst system is generally referred to as a homogenous catalyst system since at least part of the metallocene or the organoaluminoxane is in solution in the polymerisation media. These homogenous catalyst systems have the disadvantage that when they are used under slurry polymerisation conditions, they produce polymers which stick to the reactor walls during the polymerisation process (generally referred to as "fouling") and/or polymers having small particle size and low bulk density which limit their commercial utility.
Various methods have been proposed in an effort to overcome the disadvantages of the homogenous metallocene catalyst systems. Typically, these procedures have involved the prepolymerisation of the metallocene aluminoxane catalyst system and/or supporting the catalyst system components on a porous carrier (also known as a "particulate solid" or "support"). The porous carrier is usually a silica-containing support. Another important consideration in the development of metallocene catalysts is the yield of solid polymer that is obtained by employing a given quantity of catalyst in a given amount of time. This is known as the "activity" of the catalyst. There is an ongoing search for metallocene catalysts and techniques for preparing such catalysts which give improved activity for the polymerisation of olefins. An improved activity means that less catalyst needs to be used to polymerise more olefins, thereby reducing the costs considerably, since metallocenes are more expensive than Ziegler-Natta and chromium catalysts.
Several attempts have been made to titanate silica supports for use in metallocene catalysed ethylene polymerisations. Jongsomjit et al. (Molecules 2005, 10, 672, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2005, 44, 9059 and Catalysis Letters Vol. 100, Nos. 3-4, April 2005) discloses the titanation of silicas for zirconocene catalysed ethylene polymerisation, wherein the support is allegedly prepared according to Conway et al. (J. Chem. Soc., Faraday Trans. J, 1989, 85(1), 71-78), such that (without being bound to theory) the titania is mixed throughout the catalyst support. Without being bound to theory it is thought that the activity is limited, because the catalyst grains are not rendered fragile enough to burst during polymerisation and free up active sites. In addition, the interaction of the Ti with the actives sites is not optimized. Moreover, the interaction of the MAO with the TiOH and/or SIOH is different.
EP 0882 743 discloses a titanation procedure wherein the titanium compound is pumped as a liquid into the reaction zone where it vaporises to titanate a supported chromium-based catalyst. This procedure is strictly applicable to chromium catalysts (Philipp's type catalysts) i.e. only supported chromium catalysts are titanated in this way in order to obtain shorter polymer chains during polymerisation of olefins. There is no incentive to titanate a support (which does not contain any chromium) in the same way for use in metallocene catalysed olefin polymerisations with the hope of increasing the catalyst system's activity. Chromium catalysts are an entirely different class of catalyst from metallocenes, the latter being single-site and much more sensitive to poisons. They undergo such completely different reaction mechanisms that polyolefins prepared with chromium catalysts and metallocene catalysts have very different molecular structures, notably metallocenes provide polyolefins with narrower molecular weight distributions. In addition, chromium catalysts after being titanated require severe activation conditions, e.g. activation temperatures of at least 700° C., so that the titanium compounds ignite to yield at least partially TiO2.
Thus, a catalyst support is needed for metallocene catalysts with improved activity, without requiring severe activation conditions or long residence times.
An object of the present invention is to provide a new improved silica-containing catalyst support for metallocenes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide supported metallocene catalyst systems having a higher catalytic activity.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to obtain polyolefins with a lower catalytic residue.


A magnetic disc cartridge has a magnetic disc medium contained for rotation in a casing having a magnetic head insertion opening for giving a magnetic head access to the magnetic disc medium and a shutter member for opening and closing the magnetic head insertion opening. The casing has a first distinguishing hole which is formed in the vicinity of a corner of the casing and represents a reference storage capacity and at least one second distinguishing hole formed with its center positioned on a second straight line which is parallel to a first straight line passing through the center of the first distinguishing hole in parallel to a side edge of the casing and is off from the first straight line inward or outward by a predetermined amount. A disc drive system can distinguish the storage capacity of the magnetic disc medium contained in the casing on the basis of the first and second distinguishing holes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a magnetic disc cartridge which contains a magnetic disc medium having a storage capacity different from those of conventional magnetic disc cartridges and is provided with one or more holes for distinguishing the magnetic disc cartridge from other magnetic disc cartridges.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known a magnetic disc medium, a so-called floppy disc, which comprises magnetic layers formed on opposite sides of a flexible disc base of a polyester sheet or the like. Information is recorded on the floppy disc by a magnetic head while rotating the floppy disc. The floppy disc is generally contained in a thin casing and is used in the form of a magnetic disc cartridge. Such magnetic disc cartridges have been mainly used as recording media for computers because they are easy to handle and can be produced at low cost.
Recently the storage capacity of the magnetic disc medium of the magnetic disc cartridge has been increased by change in the recording system, improvement of the magnetic layer and the like. When a magnetic disc cartridge having a larger storage capacity is provided and introduced into the market, it is necessary for the larger capacity magnetic disc cartridge to be provided with a function of distinguishing itself from the magnetic disc cartridges having the conventional standard storage capacity (e.g., 3.5-inch floppy disc cartridge having a storage capacity of 1 MB to 2 MB).
As a means for distinguishing magnetic disc cartridges of different storage capacities from each other, there has been known a system involving one or more through or blind holes formed in the casing to be detectable mechanically or optically. For example, in the case of 3.5-inch magnetic disc cartridges, a distinguishing hole for distinguishing those of 2 MB from others is formed in a rear corner of the casing (one of the corners on the edge of the casing remote from the shutter). In the case of magnetic disc cartridges of 10 MB and 21 MB, such a distinguishing hole is formed adjacent to the shutter.
In the case of novel magnetic disc cartridges of a large storage capacity such as of 100 MB or more, the vicinity of the space where the distinguishing hole for 10 MB or 21 MB is to be formed is too narrow to form a distinguishing hole for the large storage capacity and accordingly it is preferred that the distinguishing hole for the large storage capacity be formed on a rear (as seen in the direction of insertion of the magnetic disc cartridge) edge portion of the casing remote from the shutter.
Further in order to prevent accidental erasure of recorded information on the novel magnetic disc cartridge when the novel magnetic disc cartridge is loaded in a disc drive system for conventional magnetic disc cartridges, a first distinguishing hole is formed in the part corresponding to the part of the conventional magnetic disc cartridge (e.g., of 2 MB) where a write protector is provided, and the first distinguishing hole functions as a distinguishing hole representing a reference storage capacity different from the storage capacity of the conventional magnetic disc cartridges.
In view of assembly of disc drive systems and the manufacturing cost, it is advantageous that sensors for detecting the distinguishing holes of the magnetic disc cartridge are collectively provided in the disc drive systems.
Further a disc drive system is generally provided with a medium sensor which extends in parallel or perpendicular to the direction of insertion of a magnetic disc cartridge near the write protector or the first distinguishing hole and the disc drive system detects that a magnetic disc cartridge is loaded therein.
The distinguishing holes for distinguishing the novel magnetic disc cartridge having a larger storage capacity should be provided not to interfere with the medium sensor. Otherwise malfunction of the disc drive system can be caused.


A method and implementing computer system is provided in which a user program-linking interface is presented on a computer screen to enable a user to select an input or source program, as well as one of several available functional operators. The linking program is effective to receive data from the input program, perform a selected functional operation on the data as may be selected by a user, and deliver the resulting information in a manner chosen by the user. In one exemplary embodiment, the resulting information is delivered to a selected output or target program which may be coupled to the linking program. In another example, the linking program is effective to provide a display window to show the results of the functional operation performed on the source program as selected by the user.

The present invention relates generally to information processing systems and more particularly to a methodology and implementation for enabling a user interface and data flow between different applications in a computer system.
Current computer workstations and PCs have the ability to have a plurality of programs open at a given time, and to run any selected one of them by merely xe2x80x9cpointing and clickingxe2x80x9d a pointer on a screen to an icon of the desired program. Such programs include browser programs, text processing programs, and xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d programs among others. Text processing programs are able to receive input from a user, process words and text in accordance with the user input and selectively provide an output such as a printed document or saved file at the direction of the user. So called xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cinstant messagingxe2x80x9d programs are used to allow many users to share a common session on a network, such as the Internet. Inputs from the participants are xe2x80x9cpostedxe2x80x9d in a viewable area on each user""s screen, and the other participants are able to respond. All user inputs are presented on the screens of all of the participants. Browser programs are run to enable users to access the resources of the Internet or World Wide Web. By using a browser program, a user is able to connect to any of a great number of available web sites for any of any purposes, including conducting research and/or business transactions. Users are also able to download other programs from web sites and run the programs on the user""s terminal.
In all of these programs, a user may work and perform program functions only within the framework of the individual programs. Typically, the programs are user-friendly and menu-driven, and the user is limited to functions specified in the menus which may be presented on the user""s display screen. For example, in a word or text processing program, a user may input and manipulate text in a document but would not be able to send that text to another terminal without using another program such as an email program included within a browser program. Even in working with several documents within one word processing program, if it is desired to transfer text between the programs, the user must cut-and-paste within the framework of the word processing menu system. Users have been unable to reap synergistic results which may be available from combining the functions and operations of the several programs which may be open at any given time on a user""s terminal.
Thus there is a need for an improved methodology and implementing system which enables a more advantageous use of available programs on a user terminal by enabling a user to combine the various functions of the programs and providing for selective operational and functional relationships between programs during user terminal sessions.
A method and implementing computer system is provided in which a user program-linking interface is presented on a computer screen to enable a user to select an input or source program, as well as one of several available functional operators. The linking program is effective to receive data from the input program, perform a selected functional operation on the data as may be selected by a user, and deliver the resulting information in a manner chosen by the user. In one exemplary embodiment, the resulting information is delivered to a selected output or target program which may be coupled to the linking program. In another example, the linking program is effective to provide a display window to show the results of the functional operation performed on the source program as selected by the user.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method, program and system for displaying the consequence of an input in a graphical user interface (GUI) are provided. The invention comprises displaying a GUI including a plurality of interaction control mechanisms (controls) having a selected or a deselected state. An input to a first control may cause a change in state to at least one other of the plurality of controls. Responsive to a first input at the first control (e.g., holding down a mouse button with the pointer on the first control), the invention displays a preview of the change in state of the plurality of controls that would occur if a second input is made at the first control (e.g., releasing the mouse button with the pointer still on the first control). If the user does not want the previewed change in state to occur, the user has simply to avoid making the second input (e.g., move the pointer off the first control before releasing the mouse button).

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces (GUI), and more specifically to a method for previewing the results of possible user selections within a GUI.
2. Description of Related Art
Many applications provide graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that contain "sticky" pushbuttons that are used to navigate through the data represented by the matrix. The buttons can be in up (deselected) or down (selected) state. Some buttons interact with currently selected buttons, others buttons deselect the currently selected buttons and become the only ones selected. Yet others, when deselected, cause another button to become selected. In other words, selecting or deselecting a button can have varying effects based on what else is currently selected. When the user moves the mouse pointer over any button and clicks on it (mouse button pressed and released with the pointer still over the on-screen "button"), the state will change as defined in the state table. This change is visually represented by zero or more buttons becoming selected ("down"), and zero or more buttons becoming deselected ("up"), depending on the current state and which button is clicked.
Currently, there is no way for users to preview the next state that would result from clicking on one of the on-screen buttons. The act of showing a button visually down when the mouse button is held down is widely known in the art. However, previewing the states of the other affected objects in the GUI (to show the results of completing the click) is not. Instead, the user must execute the click in order to discover what the next state will be. If the resulting state is not what the user wants, the user must return to the previous state and try another selection.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method for previewing the results of clicking on an on-screen object before actually executing the selection.

Previewing next state based on potential action in current state

International Business Machines Corporation


A portable light is provided having a reflector assembly configured to create multiple modes of light reflection. The reflector assembly surrounds a light source and has first and second reflectors that together define a substantially continuous reflective surface. The second reflector is mounted for axial movement relative to the first reflector. Thus, different modes of light reflection can be produced. In an exemplary embodiment, the second reflector is disposed within a central opening defined by the first reflector, and the reflectors combine to define a substantially parabolic reflective surface, with the light source disposed at a focal point.

The present invention relates generally to portable lights such as spotlights, flashlights, and the like, and, more particularly, to portable lights having a multi-mode reflector.
Portable lights such as spotlights and flashlights typically include a light source, such as a lamp bulb, surrounded by a concave reflector to reflect the light from the lamp bulb and direct the light through a lens covering the open end of the reflector. In general, the light source can be selected from a number of different types of sources, including incandescent, halogen, xenon, or light emitting diode (commonly referred to as "LED"). In such portable lights, the reflector can have a parabolic or non-parabolic shape and the positional relationship between the lamp bulb and the reflector can be fixed or variable.
When the relationship between the lamp bulb and the reflector is fixed, a parabolic reflector may be used to achieve a focused spot beam of light. In that case, the lamp bulb—or more specifically, its light emitting element, such as the filament in the case of an incandescent source—is disposed at the focal point of the parabolic reflector, so that the light rays project generally parallel to each other from the reflector. Since the light is concentrated, spot beams are useful for illuminating a particular object. For other applications, it is desirable to provide broader, more dispersed light pattern than that provided by a spot light pattern. To that end, for example, flashlights have been provided that include a non-parabolic reflector configured to achieve a broad, dispersed light pattern.
For purposes of achieving a variable light pattern, the lamp bulb and reflector can be movable relative to one another along an optical axis of the reflector. This focusing adjustment can be accomplished by mounting either the lamp bulb or the reflector in a fixed position on the portable light, and providing means to move the other component relative to it, or the lamp bulb and reflector can be mounted so that both move. Whatever the arrangement, when the lamp bulb and reflector are displaced relative to one another so that the lamp bulb is not at the focal point of the reflector, the light rays diverge from the central axis, creating a comparatively broader beam as compared to having the lamp bulb at the focal point. Although such flashlights provide different modes of light patterns, shortfalls exist. For example, when the lamp bulb is not at the focal point, an un-illuminated, or dimly illuminated spot typically results at the center of the light pattern, which is undesirable in most uses. Moreover, the size of the un-illuminated center becomes exacerbated with distance.
It should, therefore, be appreciated that there exists a need for a portable light that solves that aforementioned problems. The present invention fulfills this need and others.

Portable light having multi-mode reflector


A loop member for a mechanical fastener comprises a nonwoven web, the nonwoven web having a pattern of intersecting bond lines. The pattern is characterized in that at least a portion comprises a first plurality of non-intersecting continuous bond lines and a second plurality of non-intersecting continuous bond lines, each non-intersecting continuous bond line of the first plurality intersecting each non-intersecting continuous bond line of the second plurality. The intersecting bond lines define unbonded pattern elements, each of the pattern elements being at least partially bounded by non-linear segments of the bond lines. The bond pattern for a nonwoven web is suitable for use as a loop member of a mechanical fastener. The bond pattern comprises intersecting bond lines having a uniform width and defining a number of bond pattern elements per unit area, wherein at least one of the bond lines is nonlinear, and wherein the ratio of contour to overall bonded area of the bond pattern is greater than a bond pattern comprising all straight lines having the same uniform line width and defining the same number of bond pattern elements per unit area.

Mechanical fasteners are known in the art. Such fasteners are often called "hook and loop" fasteners. One popular type of mechanical fastener is sold under the trade name Velcro®. Mechanical fasteners permit repeated fastening and unfastening of components having the fastener. In practice, one portion of the component to be fastened has the "hook" members, referred to as the "male" fastener component. Another portion of the component to be fastened has a mating "loop" member, referred to as the "female" fastener component. The hooks and loops are flexible and resilient, such that when pressed together the hooks of the male fastener component engage the loops of the female fastener component in a manner that provides for a certain resistance to release by shear and/or peel forces. The actual amount of resistance depends on a variety of design factors, such as type of loop material, type of hook material, number of hooks (e.g., per unit area), number of loops available for catching by hooks, and the like.
Mechanical fasteners find use in a wide variety of articles, including clothing, sports equipment, industrial equipment, consumer goods, and virtually any item that benefits from repeated opening and closing. One example of clothing, for example, is shoes, where mechanical fasteners often replace shoelaces as a means for secure closure. Mechanical fasteners are also used on disposable articles, such as packaging, medical gowns and disposable diapers as a means for providing for repeated opening and closing.
Much effort has been expended in an effort to provide a more consumer-acceptable mechanical fastener. Consumer acceptability depends on the end use, but in general consumer acceptance for disposable articles can be improved by reducing the cost of the fastener and increasing its reliability. However, a technical contradiction exists between such cost reduction and the desire to increase reliability. For example, woven, knit, and nonwoven webs are known materials useful for female fastening components. Woven and knit materials can be made to provide relatively high reliability due to the ability to make effective loop structures but are relatively high cost materials. Nonwoven materials are significantly less costly to produce, but exhibit significantly less reliability for use as the loop portion of a mechanical fastening member. That is, in general, even with optimized mating hook portions, nonwoven web loop materials exhibit less resistance to peel and shear forces than those exhibited by woven or knit loop materials, and thereby exhibit relatively less reliability as a fastener.
One reason nonwoven webs are less reliable than woven or knit materials as a hook component of a mechanical fastener is the lack of integrity of the "loops" in a nonwoven, that is, the fiber portions available for engaging with a hook member. In a woven or knit material each loop is substantially anchored to resist pulling apart when a mating hook member is disengaged. However, for nonwoven webs, the loops formed by randomly distributed fibers are not necessarily anchored to resist such pulling apart. Therefore, upon disengaging of a hook member, the hook tends to pull fibers loose. The ease with which the fibers can be pulled loose is one factor in determining the peel and shear forces necessary to unfasten the fastener. The number of fibers that get pulled loose is also a factor in determining whether the fastener can be used repeatedly. This problem is especially significant for low basis weight nonwoven webs.
One way to improve the integrity of a nonwoven web is to increase the amount of bonding of the constituent fibers. For example, a nonwoven web can be bonded to a backing layer in known ways, such that constituent fibers are bonded, or anchored to the backing layer. By increasing the bond area, more fibers can be anchored to the backing. However, increasing the bond area also increases the number of fibers that are not available for hook engagement. At 100% bond coverage, for example, each fiber would be anchored to avoid pulling away from the web, but there would be no fibers available for hook engagement.
Attempts have been made to make hook members that are less costly and work well with nonwoven web loop members. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,247, issued Oct. 22, 1991 to Thomas et al., teaches engaging means in the form of hook-shaped tine for securing in engaging means having strands and fibers. However, there is no teaching in Thomas et al. directed to the optimization of the engaging means, such as a nonwoven web loop member.
Attempts to optimize the nonwoven web loop member have also been made. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,567 teaches utilizing predetermined patterns of bonding pattern elements on the nonwoven that intersect predetermined construction bonds that join the nonwoven to an elongatable backing. However, this structure requires an elongatable backing, which must have a relaxed orientation, such as an elastomeric material, for example. Therefore, while reliability may be increased, cost is not sufficiently decreased for many applications of disposable articles.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a nonwoven loop member for a mechanical fastener with increased fastening reliability.
Additionally, it would be desirable to have a nonwoven loop member for a mechanical fastener with increased fastening reliability that can be made in a commercially viable manner.
Further, it would be desirable to have a nonwoven loop member for a mechanical fastener with increased fastening reliability that does not require a backing material having relaxed orientation.
Finally, it would be desirable to devise a nonwoven loop material for a mechanical fastener having a bond pattern that bonds relatively more fibers without a corresponding significantly increased bond area.

Nonwoven loop member for a mechanical fastener


The toy figure includes a plurality of telescoping sections mounting a head portion and base portion for extension and retraction relative to one another. A body portion is mounted on the telescopic sections between the head and base portions and is moveable along the figure and retained in selected adjusted positions therealong independently of the telescoping action of the sections whereby the body portion can be disposed at any elevation between the head and base portions for any height of the figure.

The present invention relates to play toy figures extensible and retractable to enable the figures to grow or shorten in height, and particularly relates to toy figures having upper head and neck portions and lower leg and base portions wherein the neck and leg portions may be extended and shortened to heighten or shorten the play toy figure in combination with a body portion moveable along the neck and leg portions.
Many different play toys, such as dolls, are extensible and retractable to vary the height of the play toy figure. The mechanisms by which these figures are extended and retracted have included telescopic sections within the toy figure having friction devices engageable with the telescopic sections whereby the telescopic sections may be retained in selected adjustable positions, i.e., a selected height for the play toy figure. Toy figures of this type have, of course, brought interest and pleasure to small children and have been variously colorfully adorned and padded to simulate characters of various types.
According to the present invention, toy figures of the adjustable height type described above are provided an added feature, i.e., a body portion which is slidable along the figure between its base and head portions independently of the magnitude of the extension or shortening of the body of the figure itself. The toy figure of the present invention may therefore comprise an upper portion characterized by a head and a neck, a lower portion characterized by base and leg portions and a body portion which is moveable along the figure between positions adjacent the head and base portions independently of the degree of extension or shortening of the neck or leg portions. Additionally, by moving the body portion along the figure, the neck or leg portions afford the appearance of being extended or shortened without altering or changing the overall height of the toy figure. In a play toy figure, the body portion may be simulative of the stomach or "tummy" of a character. Its addition to and independent movement along the play toy figure which is adjustable in height adds considerable interest in and color to the toy figure and pleasure to children playing with the toy figure.
It will be appreciated that the various parts comprising the play toy figure hereof can be decorative. For example, the head portion may comprise a stuffed head with various characteristic facial features, for example, eyes, ears, nose or mouth, while the base portion, likewise can be decorative by simulating the feet of the figure. Similarly, the neck and leg portions may be covered with decorative overlays, respectively, preferably a fabric material, there being sufficient fabric to accommodate the movement of the telescopic sections of the figure and the movement of the body portion. The body portion, likewise, can be provided in a decorative material, preferably fabric, with or without enclosed stuffing, and may be provided with other appendages, such as arms or wings, similarly provided in decorative fashion. By securing the fabric of the neck portion between the head and slidable body portions and the fabric of the foot portion between the slidable body and the base portion, the mechanism within the play toy figure by which its height may be varied and the body portion moved up and down the figure are completely hidden from view.
To accomplish the foregoing, the toy figure is comprised of a plurality of structural sections telescopically receivable one within the other. The upper ends of the sections are provided with stops so that the sections cannot be withdrawn from their telescopic relation one to the other. Also, friction pads are provided between adjacent telescopic sections so that the sections can be extended or retracted relative to one another with the friction pads maintaining the sections in the selected telescopically adjusted position. More particularly, there is provided at least an upper telescopic section having a flange at its upper end on which the head of the figure may be mounted. The upper section is telescopically receivable within a lower section carrying the base portion of the figure. Additional sections may be telescopically disposed between the upper and lower telescopic sections as desired.
It is a significant feature of the present invention that the body portion intermediate the head and base portions may be moveable along the figure independently of the height of the figure, i.e., independently of the number and telescopic extent of the telescopic sections by which the height of the figure is adjusted. Thus, the body portion is moveable and maintained in a selected position along the figure between positions directly adjacent the head and base portions and any intermediate position therebetween and without regard to the height of the figure. To accomplish this, the body portion is comprised of an inner sleeve which is not attached to but is biased radially inwardly into frictional engagement about the telescopic sections. The radial inward bias of the sleeve about the telescopic sections enables the body portion to be frictionally maintained in selected positions along the figure.
To provide this inward bias, the body portion may have a stuffing, formed of resilient material, about the sleeve, which, not only forms part of the decorative portion of the figure, but functionally serves to maintain the sleeve compressed about the telescopic sections. Alternatively, the sleeve may be formed of an elastic material or may only have portions about the sleeve formed of an elastic material whereby the elastic material causes the sleeve to frictionally bind along the telescopic sections to frictionally retain the body portion in selected adjusted positions.
In one form of the present invention, the telescopic sections are generally cylindrical in nature. Alternatively, the sections may comprise non-cylindrical cross-sections which provide additional structural strength and avoid crimping of the telescopic sections when extended. For example, the telescopic sections may have the cross-sectional shape of a star. Additionally, the friction pads by which the telescopic sections are maintained in selected position relative to one another may comprise shoes on diametrically opposite sides of the sections and which shoes are biased radially outwardly by a spring engaging between the pads. The spring may comprise a resilient plastic shaped part, for example, a Z-shaped plastic element or a helical spring.
It is a further significant feature of the present invention that the body portion is movable along the toy figure and that the toy figure may be adjusted in height while maintaining its decorative overlay of the telescopic sections between the body and head portions on the one hand and the body and base portions on the other hand. To accomplish this, two discrete decorative overlays are provided, respectively, one connected between the body and head portions and the other between the base and body portions. Each overlay, preferably in the form of a sheath of decorative fabric material, has sufficient material to enable movement of the body portion a maximum distance from the associated portion, i.e., either the head or base portion. Thus, the preferred decorative fabric sheath between the body and the head portions has sufficient extent in the direction of the height of the play toy to overlie the entire neck portion when the body portion is moved a maximum distance from the head portion, i.e., to a position adjacent the base portion. Likewise, the preferred decorative fabric sheath between the body and base portions has sufficient extent in the direction of the height of the play toy to overlie the entire leg portion when the body portion is moved a maximum distance from the base portion, i.e., to a position adjacent the head portion. Conversely, the decorative fabric sheaths are simply gathered or compressed when the body portion is moved toward the sheath and to a position directly adjacent the respective head and base portions.
In another form of the present invention, it is desirable to pivot the leg and base portions of the figure outwardly when the legs are in their extended position. To accomplish this, the leg portions are provided with elongated or rod-like elements which extend through ball and socket joints carried by the base section. When the figure is fully extended, the upper ends of the elongated elements are located in the ball joints enabling the leg portion and feet to pivot outwardly relative to the remaining portion of the figure. When the base section is lowered relative to the elements, the leg elements pass through the ball joints to extend into the upper telescoping sections.
In a preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a play toy comprising a toy body having a plurality of generally upright sections telescopically receivable one with the other, one of the sections having a base portion at its lower end and another of the sections having an upper portion whereby, upon telescopic movement of the sections, the upper portion and the base portion are movable toward and away from one another to render the play toy shorter or taller, respectively, means engagable between the sections for releasably retaining the sections in selected telescopically adjusted positions relative to one another whereby the upper portion and the base portion are disposable in selected adjusted distances relative to one another, a body portion moveable along the sections independently of the telescopic movement of the sections and toward and away from each of the upper portion and the base portion. Means are provided cooperable between the body portion and the sections for releasably retaining the body portion in selected adjustable positions along the sections.
In a further preferred embodiment according to the present invention, there is provided a play toy comprising a toy body having upper, lower and intermediate sections, the intermediate section connecting between the upper and lower sections and including a biased bellows whereby the upper and lower sections are moved toward and away from one another, with the bellows maintaining the upper and lower portions at selectively adjusted positions relative to one another, a body portion movable along the intermediate bellows portion independently of the movement of the head and base portions toward and away from one another whereby the body portion may be displaced into a selected adjusted position along the bellows of the intermediate portion and means cooperable between the body portion and the intermediate portion for releasably retaining the body portion in selected adjustable positions along the intermediate portion.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved play toy figure which may be extended or shortened to selectively adjust the height of the figure and which play toy figure has a body portion moveable along the figure independently of its height.
These and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the following specification, appended claims and drawings.

Adjustable height play toy with movable body portion