A pixel structure having a cladding and tapered core waveguide, the core dimensioned to refract EM radiation through the cladding at differing depth dependent on the wavelength of the radiation, and a plurality of transducers disposed to convert the band of radiation they receive into electrical signals. In some embodiments the transducers are disposed within lateral waveguides, and in some embodiments below the tapered core waveguide. Further disclosed is an image array sensor comprising a plurality of such pixel structures. Further disclosed is an array comprising stacked layered waveguides having transducers disposed therewithin, and a plurality of refractors to refract different bands of EM radiation into differing waveguides.

Image sensors are used extensively in fax machines, still or video cameras, sensors, scanners, telescopes and the like. The image sensor field is dominated by two technologies, namely CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and CMOS (Complementary Metal oxide Semiconductor). Generally, image sensors are equivalently related to as image array sensors, focal plane sensors, and array photosensor. Image sensors convert radiant energy, often but not necessarily, in the visible and IR range, to electrical energy or signal.
Radiant energy extends over a very broad radiation spectrum, and the spectrum to which different aspects of the invention may be applicable ranges from the Ultra Violet (UV), through the visible light portion of the spectrum, to Infra Red (IR) and beyond into the millimeter wave range, also known as Extremely High Frequency (EHF) and in some applications even to the Super High Frequency (SHF) and microwave range. Many applications would need to cover only portions of this spectrum. It is seen therefore that the application at hand determines the spectral range of interest, and that a spectral range of interest may differ by application, an apparatus, or a portion thereof. Regarding lateral waveguides, yet another aspect described below, each waveguide may have its own spectrum of interest, which may differ from the spectral range of interest of an adjacent waveguide. Therefore, the spectral range of interest is defined herein as relating to any portion or portions of the total available spectrum of frequencies which is being utilized by the application, apparatus, and/or portion thereof, at hand, and which is desired to be detected and/or emitted utilizing the technologies, apparatuses, and/or methods of the invention(s) described herein, or their equivalents.
Structure to facilitate conversion of radiant energy to electricity or electrical signals (hereinafter "LE"), or conversion of electrical signals into radiant energy such as light (hereinafter "EL") are known. Collectively, objects, materials, and structures, which perform conversion between two forms of energy, or adjust and control flow of energy, are known by various names which denote equivalent structures, such as converters, transducers, absorbers, detectors, sensors, and the like. To increase clarity, such structures will be referred to hereinunder as 'transducers'. By way of non-limiting examples, the term "transducer" relates to light sources, light emitters, light modulators, light reflectors, laser sources, light sensors, photovoltaic materials including organic and inorganic transducers, quantum dots, CCD and CMOS structures, LEDs, OLEDs, LCDs, receiving and/or transmitting antennas and/or rectennas, phototransistors photodiodes, diodes, electroluminescent devices, fluorescent devices, gas discharge devices, electrochemical transducers, and the like.
A transducer of special construction is the RL transducer, which is a reflective transducer. Reflective transducers controllably reflect radiant energy. Such transducers may comprise micromirrors, light gates, LCD, and the like, positioned to selectively block the passage of radiant energy, and reflect it into a predetermined path, which is often but not always, the general direction the energy arrived from. Certain arrangements of semiconductor and magnetic arrangements may act as RL transducers by virtue of imparting changes in propagation direction of the radiant energy, and thus magnetic forces or electrical fields may bend a radiant frequency beam to the point that in effect, it may be considered as reflected. RL transducers may be fixed, or may be used to modulate the energy direction over time. Passive transducers such as LCD and micromirrors fall into the reflective device when used to reflect incoming energy, but when used in conjunction with at least one light source may be considered LE type transducers.
Presently the most common structures for LE conversion are photovoltaic (PV) which generally use layers of material forming a P-N junction. Charge Coupled Devices (CCD), and Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) are two common type of image sensing technology for the visual range, while HgCdTe (Mercury Cadmium Telluride) is commonly used in infrared sensing applications.
Other types of transducers utilize antennas, and more commonly rectennas, to achieve the energy conversion. The term rectenna relates to an antenna structure having a rectifier integrated with, or closely coupled to, the antenna, such that electromagnetic energy incident on the antenna is rectified and presented as primarily unidirectional (ideally DC) signal. By way of example, rectennas are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,799,998 to Cutler, and in "Nanoscale Devices for Rectification of High Frequency Radiation from the Infrared through the Visible: A New Approach", N. M. Miskovsky, P. H. Cutler, A. Mayer, B. L. Weiss, BrianWillis, T. E. Sullivan, and P. B. Lerner, Journal of Nanotechnology, Volume 2012, Article ID 512379, doi:10.1155/2012/512379, Hindawi Publishing Corporation©. which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Waveguides are a known structure for trapping and guiding electromagnetic energy along a predetermined path. An efficient waveguide may be formed by locating a layer of dielectric or semiconducting material between cladding layers on opposite sides thereof, or surrounding it. The cladding may comprise dielectric material or conductors, commonly metal. Waveguides have a cutoff frequency, which is dictated by the wave propagation velocity in the waveguide materials, and the waveguide width. As the frequency of the energy propagating in the waveguide approaches the cutoff frequency Fc, the energy propagation speed along the waveguide is slowed down. The energy propagation of a wave along a waveguide may be considered as having an angle relative to cladding. This angle is determined by the relationship between the wavelength of the wave and the waveguide width in the dimension in which the wave is being guided. If the width of the waveguide equals one half of the wave wavelength, the wave reaches resonance, and the energy propagation along the waveguide propagation axis stops. The condition where energy is at or close to such resonance will be termed as a stationary resonant condition.
Tapered waveguide directed at trapping radiant energy, as opposed to emitting energy via the cladding, have been disclosed by Min Seok Jang and Harry Atwater in "Plasmionic Rainbow Trapping Structures for Light localization and Spectrum Splitting" (Physical Review Letters, RPL 107, 207401 (2011), 11 Nov. 2011, American Physical Society©). The article "Visible-band dispersion by a tapered air-core Bragg waveguide", (B. Drobot, A. Melnyk, M. Zhang, T. W. Allen, and R. G. DeCorby, 8 Oct. 2012/Vol. 20, No. 21/OPTICS EXPRESS 23906, ©2012 Optical Society of America "Visible-band dispersion by a tapered air-core Bragg waveguide" B. Drobot, A. Melnyk, M. Zhang, T. W. Allen, and R. G. DeCorby, 8 Oct. 2012/Vol. 20, No. 21/OPTICS EXPRESS 23906, ©2012 Optical Society of America) describes out-coupling of visible band light from a tapered hollow waveguide with TiO2/SiO2 Bragg mirrors. The mirrors exhibit an omnidirectional band for TE-polarized modes in the ˜490 to 570 nm wavelength range, resulting in near-vertical radiation at mode cutoff positions. Since cutoff is wavelength-dependent, white light is spatially dispersed by the taper. These tapers can potentially form the basis for compact micro-spectrometers in lab-on-a-chip and optofluidic micro-systems. Notably, Bragg mirrors are very frequency selective, complex to manufacture, and require at least a width higher than ¾ wavelength to provide any breadth of spectrum. In addition to the very narrow band, the Bragg mirrors dictate a narrow bandwidth with specific polarization, while providing however a fine spectral resolution.
A Continuous Resonant Trap Refractor (CRTR) is the name used in these specifications to denote a novel structure which is utilized in many aspects of the present invention. As such, a simple explanation of the principles behind its operation is appropriate at this early stage in these specifications, while further features are disclosed below.
A CRTR is a structure based on a waveguide having a tapered core, the core having a wide base face forming an aperture, and a narrower tip. The core is surrounded at least partially by a cladding which is transmissive of radiant energy under certain conditions. The CRTR may be operated in splitter mode, in a mixer/combiner mode, or in a hybrid mode providing combination of mixer and splitter mode. In splitter mode the radiant energy wave is admitted into the CRTR via the aperture, and travels along the depth direction extending between the aperture and the tip. The depth increases from the aperture towards the tip, such that larger depth implies greater distance from the aperture. The core is dimensioned such that at least some of the admitted frequencies will reach a state where they will penetrate the cladding, and be emitted therefrom. This state is referred to as Cladding Penetration State (CPS), and is reached when energy of a certain frequency approaches a critical width of the waveguide for that frequency. The mechanism at which cladding penetration state occurs may vary, such as by tunneling penetration, skin depth penetration, a critical angle of incidence with the cladding and the like. Generally CPS will occur in proximity to, or at the width, where the wave reaches a resonance, known as the critical frequency for that width, and conversely as the critical width for the frequency, of the wave. Regardless of the mechanism, a CPS is characterized by the wave reaching a frequency dependent depth within the CRTR where it is emitted via the cladding. The decreasing width of the core will dictate that a lower frequency wave will reach CPS before higher frequency waves, and will penetrate the cladding and exit the waveguide at a shallower depth than at least one higher frequency wave. As waves of differing frequencies will be emitted via the cladding at differing depths, the CRTR will provide spatially separated spectrum along its cladding. Notably, in certain CRTR embodiments some frequency components of the incoming energy may be emitted via the tip, in non-sorted fashion.
Conversely, when operated in mixer/combiner mode, a wave coupled to the core via the cladding, at, or slightly above, a depth where it would have reached CPS in splitter mode, will travel from the emission depth towards the aperture, and different waves coupled to the core through the cladding will be mixed and emitted through the aperture. Coupling light into the CRTR core from the cladding, will be referred to as 'injecting' or 'inserting' energy into the CRTR. It is noted that in most if not all practical cladding materials the light will refract when entering and exiting the cladding. Therefore, the light source will be located at a different depth than the point of desired entry into the core. The depth at which the wave would couple into the tapered core is somewhat imprecise, as at the exact depth of CPS the wave may not couple best into the core, thus the term 'slightly above' as referred to the coupling of light into the tapered core in combiner/mixer mode should be construed as the depth at which energy injected into tapered core via the cladding would best couple thereto to be emitted via the aperture, within certain tolerances stemming from manufacture considerations, precision, engineering choices and the like.
The term spectral component will relate to energy portion of the energy at the aperture, which is characterized by its frequency, polarization, phase, flux, intensity, incidence, radiosity, energy density, radiance, or a combination thereof.
The term tapered should be construed as extending beyond a simple linear taper, and should extends to stepped tapers, tapers that follow any desired profile, and even to tapers which are uneven about a width plane. Thus while the width o a tapered core may monotonically decrease, the taper relates to the core as a whole, and does necessitate monotonic width reduction in each direction and/or with each successive width plane.
A round cross section of the tapered core will be polarization neutral under most circumstances. Certain non-symmetrical or multi-faceted symmetrical tapered core forms will however cause separation of the aperture-admitted radiant energy to be polarization sensitive. Thus, by way of example, a square pyramid or frustum CRTR core will separate incoming radiant energy into its component polarizations as well as by its frequency. Thus if two transducers are disposed in a first and a second path of energy emitted via the cladding, the first path exits the core at a first face, and second path exists the core at a second face disposed at an angle to the first face, the first transducer will receive a spectral component which differs from the spectral component received by the second face, at least by different polarization. This behavior will be reversed when the CRTR operates in mixer/combiner mode, such that energy emitted from the aperture will reflect the polarity created by separate sources, and injected into the CRTR at different faces. By way of none-limiting example, if light source A injects modulated energy into one face of the pyramidal core, and light source B injects differently modulated energy into a perpendicular face of core, the light emitted by the aperture will have one spectral component at a first polarization reflecting the modulation of source A, and a second spectral component at 90° to the first spectral component, representing the modulation of source B. Therefore, Placing a plurality of EL transducers at different angular locations about the depth dimension of the CRTR, would result in combined polarized energy corresponding to the location of the transducers, being emitted via the aperture, when the transducers are energized.
CRTRs may also operate in reflective mode, by providing light gates which will reflect radiant energy back into the CRTR tapered core. A light gate disposed at the depth where radiant energy is emitted out of the cladding, will cause the emitted energy to be reflected back into the cladding, and thence emitted via the aperture. An array of CRTRs in conjunction with RL transducers which act as light-gates will have variable reflectivity such that at least a portion of the light incident on the array at the associated frequency will be reflected, in accordance with the setting of the light gate reflectors. The term light gate should be construed to extend to the complete spectral range of interest, which is dictated by the application at hand. Therefore, a light gate may reflect energy well beyond the visible light. The broad band capabilities of the CRTR allows modulation of its reflectance over a broad band of frequencies, extending the ability for reflectance into the UV, IR, and even the mm wave spectrum. Reflective mode may also operate in polarization sensitive mode as explained above for EL and LE transducers in polarization sensitive mode.
A CRTR is considered to operate in hybrid mode when energy is both admitted and emitted via the aperture. In certain embodiment this mode involves energy being admitted via the aperture and at least portions thereof being emitted via the cladding, while other energy is being injected via the cladding and emitted via the aperture. In other embodiments a portion of the energy admitted via the aperture is selectively reflected back therethrough. A reflective CRTR is a CRTR cooperating with at least one RL transducer, and is also considered to operate at hybrid mode.
Thus functionally, a CRTR is a device which allows passage of radiant energy therethrough, while                a. imparting a change in the direction of propagation of incoming energy;        b. in one mode a CRTR is operational to spatially disperses incoming energy into spatially separated spectral components thereof, which are outputted via the CRTR cladding, the mode is equivalently referred to as disperser, splitter, or dispersion mode;        c. in another mode a CRTR is operational to combine a plurality of incoming spectral components into emitted energy comprising the components and emitted via the aperture, the mode equivalently referred to as combiner, mixer, or mixing mode; and,        d. in another mode the CRTR is operational to controllably reflect at least a portion of the spectral components admitted via the aperture, the reflected components being reflected via the aperture, thus controllable changing the effective reflectance of the CRTR at selected spectral components, the mode equivalently referred to as reflective mode or reflectance mode.        As presented elsewhere in these specifications, a CRTR may be operated in a combination of these modes, and such mode is considered a hybrid mode.
A simplified view of a CRTR is provided in FIG. 1A. A CRTR comprises a waveguide having a tapered core 73 and a cladding 710; the core having an aperture and a tip. The larger face (denoted Hmax) of the tapered waveguide core will be generally referred to as the CRTR aperture, and the smaller face, which may taper to a point, will generally be referred to as the tip. The axis X-X extending between the aperture and the tip would be referred to as the CRTR depth axis. The width of a two dimensional CRTR is transverse to the depth direction which may be considered a width plane, while for a three dimensional CRTR, at any depth the CRTR has a plurality of widths transverse to the depth direction. The different widths for a single depth form a width plane, which is transverse to the depth direction, and the term in at least one direction′ as related to width, relates to directions on the width plane or parallel thereto. Any given depth correspond with its width plane, and thus there are infinite number of parallel width planes.
Radiant energy 730 admitted via the aperture travels generally along the depth axis; however, the energy may travel towards the aperture in mixer mode, away therefrom in splitter mode, or in both direction in any hybrid and/or reflective modes. In splitter mode a CRTR acts as a spectral splitter by admitting energy within a spectral range of interest via the aperture and emitting it in a frequency sorted fashion via the cladding. A CRTR operating in mixer mode admits radiant energy via the cladding and mixes and emits the energy via the aperture. Notably, a certain angle shift occurs in the process, and thus, energy entering the CRTR from its aperture will be angled away, i.e. refracted, and emitted at an angle to the depth dimension in a splitter mode. In mixer mode energy entering the CRTR via the cladding will couple to the core and would be angled away from the direction in which it was injected, to propagate generally along the depth axis and emitted via the aperture. The core width varies in magnitude so as to be greater at the first end than at the second end. The core width is also dimensioned such that when multi-frequency energy is admitted through the core and propagates along the core depth, it will cause a lower frequency spectral component to reach a cladding penetration state at a first depth, and the core will further taper to a width that will cause energy of a higher frequency spectral component reach a cladding penetration state at a second depth, which is larger than the first depth. In many embodiments, this is achieved by having the width dimension taper to a size smaller than half wavelength of the shortest wave in the spectral range of interest of the CRTR, but in certain embodiments a portion of the spectral range of interest is emitted via the tip.
At its wider base known as the aperture, the CRTR has a width Hmax, which limits the lowest cutoff frequency Fmin. At the tip the tapered core width Hmin dictate a higher cutoff frequency Fmax. Between the aperture wide inlet and the narrower tip, the cutoff frequency is continually increased due to the reduced width. Energy, such as polychromatic light 730 is incident the aperture at an angle which permits energy admission. Waves having a lower frequency than the cutoff frequency Fmin are reflected 735. Waves 740 having frequency higher than Fmax exit through the CRTR core, if an exit exists. Waves having frequencies between Fmin and Fmax will reach their emission width, and thus their cladding penetration state, at some distance from the inlet of the waveguide depending on their frequency. The distance between the inlet and the emission width of a given frequency is the emission depth.
Thus, examining the behavior of a wave of arbitrary frequency Ft, where Fmin<Ft<Fmax, which enters into the CRTR core at its aperture at an incidence angle within an acceptance cone centered about the propagation axis X-X, the angle θ between the wave and X-X will vary as the wave propagates along the X-X axis due to the narrowing of the CRTR waveguide and increase of the cutoff frequency, as depicted schematically by Ft′. As the wave approaches depth X(Ft) where either the tapered waveguide cutoff frequency equals or nearly equals Ft, or the angle θ approaches the critical angle θc, at which the wave can not propagate any further within the CRTR core. The wave Ft is thus either radiated through the dielectric cladding of the CRTR as shown symbolically by 750 and 752, or is trapped in resonance at depth X(Ft) in a metal clad CRTR. At that point the wave of frequency Ft reached its cladding penetration state at the emission depth dictated by the emission width of the tapered CRTR core. For a continuum of entering waves of different frequencies Fmin<F1, F2, . . . Fx<Fmax, entering the base of the tapered core waveguide 71, it becomes a Continuous Resonant Trap Refractor (CRTR) in which the different frequency waves become standing waves, trapped at resonance in accordance to their frequency along the X-X axis. Such trapped waves are either leaked through the cladding by the finite probability of tunneling though the cladding or are lost to absorption in the waveguide. Note that since a CRTR will in general also cause admitted rays (speaking from the perspective of a CRTR operating in splitter mode) to be refracted or otherwise redirected so that the component(s) produced by splitting exit the CRTR at an angle to the CRTR depth axis, this will make it possible to employ a CRTR that has been embedded within stacked waveguides in such a manner that the CRTR directs specific components, e.g., spectral components, of the incoming multispectral radiation to predetermined waveguides.
Therefore, for a given CRTR spectral range of interest Si, ranging between λmax to λmin which represent respectively the longest and shortest wavelengths of the spectral range of interest as measured in the core material, wherein λ′ is at least one wavelength in Si, the dimensions of a frequency splitting CRTR taper are bounded such that    a. the aperture size ψ must exceed the size of one half of λmax;    b. the CRTR core size must also be reduced at least in one dimension, to at least a size ζ which is smaller than or equal to one half of wavelength λ′.
Thus the CRTR dimensions must meet at least the boundary of {ζ≦λ′/2<λmax/2≦ψ} where the CRTR sizes defined above relate to a size in at least one dimension in a plane normal to the depth dimension. In FIG. 4 the aperture size ψ=hmax. It is noted however that not all waves in Si must meet the condition b. above. By way of example, certain waves having shorter wavelengths than hmin/2 may fall outside the operating range of the CRTR. Such waves which enter the CRTR will either be emitted through the tip, reflected back through the aperture, or absorbed by some lose mechanism.
Notably if a third spectral component λ″ is present, and has a higher frequency than λ′, it may be emitted at greater depth than λ′ or be emitted or reflected via the tip, if the tip is constructed to pass a spectral component of frequency λ″.
It was already noted that CRTR use may extend to the millimeter wave range (EHF), or even to the microwave range. Between cm waves and micron IR radiant energy the range of available dielectric constants increases dramatically. By way of example, water has an index of refraction of nearly 10 at radio frequencies but only 1.5 at IR to UV. There are numerous optical materials with low and high index at mm wave frequencies and below. Thus while the principles of operation of CRTRs are similar, the materials and sizes differ.
A millimeter/microwave operated CRTR is a channelized filter integrated into a horn antenna wherein the channelized ports are lateral to the horn and the in-line exit port is a high pass filtered output for a broad band input. Such device may be utilized as an excellent front end for a multiplexer/duplexer, and as a general purpose antenna that has excellent noise figure and improved anti-jamming as those characteristics are determined at the front end of devices which use them.
CRTRs are often disposed within a stratum. In some embodiments stratums comprise a plurality of superposed waveguides equivalently referred to as superposed waveguides, stacked waveguides, or lateral waveguides. Another type of stratum comprises a slab of material that is transmissive of the radiant energy spectral range of interest. The CRTRs are disposed such that the CRTR depth direction is substantially perpendicular to the local plane of the stratum. Radiant energy emitted from the cladding is coupled to transducers within the stratum or via the stratum, and radiant energy from EL transducers within the stratum is coupled to the CRTR via the cladding. A CRTR is considered "embedded' or 'disposed' within a stratum where at least a portion of it is coupled to the stratum, and complete envelopment is not required.
In many embodiments that utilize lateral waveguide based stratum, transducers are embedded within the lateral waveguide. In certain embodiments the transducers are optimized for the frequency which is in the spectral range to which the corresponding waveguide is exposed. Conversely in certain embodiments the dimensions of the lateral waveguide is optimized for a transducer which emits energy of a certain frequency, however those are not requirements to many of the aspects of the present invention.
When combined with transducers, CRTRs are capable of providing a hyperspectral or multi-spectral pixels, which may be arranged in arrays. Those pixels act as a reversible channelized filter of light and other radiant energy, capable of operating from the long IR—and even to the millimeter wave radar and microwave regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum—to the deep UV. CRTRs are further capable of energy harvesting, as the channelized outputs are converted to electrical energy using photovoltaic and related processes.
CRTR based sensing pixels (generally referred to hereinafter as sensing pixels) utilize the CRTR or a portion thereof in splitter mode, to admit a broad bandwidth of energy via the aperture, and selectively channel portions of the admitted spectrum into frequency and/or polarization dependent locations, where the incoming energy may be converted into electrical energy by a plurality of LE transducers, the ordered outputs of which correspond to an image portion sensed by the pixel. Thus the sensing pixel is a combination of a CRTR and at least one EL transducer. Optionally a sensing pixel may also harvest some or all of the incoming energy for powering related circuitry, and/or emit energy.
CRTR based emitting pixels (generally referred to herein as emitting pixels) utilize the CRTR or portion thereof in mixer/combiner mode, to receive energy of varying spectral components via the cladding. The CRTR or a portion thereof is operated in mixer/combiner mode, where an array of weighted radiant energy sources serve as channelized inputs. Spectral components from the energy sources are fed into the CRTR core via the cladding, and are combined to emit the combined energy via the aperture, the spectral details of which are determined by the weighting of the spectral components of the energy sources. Different spectral components injected into the cladding will mix. Thus, by way of example, light of frequency Fr, injected through the cladding into the tapered waveguide core, will mix with the light of Fp. Therefore, assuming that the core material is equally transparent to components of the CRTR spectral range of interest, and that the optical loses in the core are negligible, the radiant energy emitted from the CRTR aperture would be the summation of the radiant energy injected into the core. The skilled in the art would readily recognize that by placing primary color light sources about the cladding any color light may be emitted through the aperture.
The term "about the cladding" or equivalently about the CRTR or its core, should be construed to mean being coupled to via energy path, which implies that the transducer is disposed about the cladding not only by being physically adjacent to the cladding, but also when an energy path such as beam propagation, waveguide, and the like, exists between the location where energy is transferred in or out of the cladding, and the transducer. Similarly, the disposition about the cladding is set by the location at which the energy exists or enters the cladding. Thus, by way of example if the transducer is coupled to the cladding via a waveguide such that the energy couples at depth A of the CRTR, the transducer is considered to be disposed at depth A regardless of its physical location relative to the RCTR.
A common application of emitting pixels is a display within the visual range, but the spectral content of the radiation emitted by the pixel may range beyond the visual range, ranging from mm wave to UV. Static images may be provided through constant weighting of energy sources in the primary colors range, while photographic, video, and patterns may be provided by actively varying the weights of energy sources in an array of pixels. Thus the emitting pixel is a combination of a CRTR and at least one EL transducer. Optionally an emitting pixel may also harvest some incoming energy for powering related circuitry, and/or sense energy in certain bands. A common application of splitter pixels is image array sensors, solar energy harvesting, and the like.
Pixels may also have variable weighted reflectors located on one or more channelized ports such that at least a portion of the light incident on the CRTR based pixel aperture, at the associated channel frequencies is programmably reflected. The reflectors form the RL type transducers disclosed above.
The path which a spectral component takes between the CRTR and its respective transducer constitute the channel. Channels may take many forms, such as lateral waveguides, paths within a slab stratum, other waveguides, and the like. A channel may also constitute a path between the CRTR core and a RL transducer even if such path is of minute length. In certain application the channel may be to an absorber which absorb the energy for storage, dispensing, as heat, and the like.
Frequency translation of one frequency of radiant energy to another are commonly utilized, such as translation of Infra Red (IR) light into the visible spectrum. Image amplification is also commonly used, by sensing light at certain portions of the spectrum and amplifying the sensed information by analog or digital means such as photon multiplication, on chip gain multiplication, and the like. Regardless of the technology through which an image is detected and redisplayed, there exists an ongoing demand for ever-improving signal to noise ratio, size weight and power (SWAP) reductions, pixel size reductions, and resolution improvements. There is a further need to efficiently combine detection methods in a single apparatus, such that an apparatus might augment low-light images with thermal imaging data and/or active IR illumination. Further needs of vision related devices may include dynamic change of light transmission in all or a portion of the spectrum, in response to certain environments and the changes therewithin.
In some cases, thermal sources might not be imaged with adequate resolution or certainty due to neighboring materials that are reflective to the IR frequencies being imaged. Such IR reflectors are often polarization dependent reflectors due to the Brewster angle associated with one polarization and the efficient reflection of the other. Active and thermal sources will typically emit randomly polarized light while reflected images will exhibit some polarization preferences. Thus, a method of polarization selective detection is also desirable.
Regardless of the technology through which an image is detected and redisplayed, there exists an ongoing demand for ever-improving signal to noise ratio, size weight and power (SWAP) reductions, pixel size reductions, and resolution improvements. There is a further need to efficiently combine detection methods in a single apparatus, such that an apparatus might augment low-light images with thermal imaging data and/or active IR illumination by way of example. In certain applications, incorporating energy harvesting methods is also desired.
For brevity and improved clarity the term 'light' as used herein is directed to being but one example of the frequency within the spectral range of interest, and inclusive thereof, unless specifically limited, such as 'visible light', infra red light, and the like. Thus the term light will be used as equivalent to radiant energy in the spectrum of interest.
Radiant energy of sufficiently high frequency may also be considered as a flow of photons, which are quantized units of energy which increases with frequency. Therefore certain terms that are common to simple electromagnetic energy need to be better specified as relating to the spectral range of interest. Thus, a dielectric material in the above mentioned energy spectrum may be defined as a material having low conductivity, and having a band-gap between a filled valence band and an empty conduction band exceeding the energy of any photon in the spectral range of interest to a specific application. A "semiconductor" refers to a photovoltaicly active material, having a bandgap comparable to or smaller than the photon energy of any photon in the spectral range of interest to a specific application. It is explicitly noted that a material that is a dielectric in one range of wavelengths may be an intrinsic semiconductor in a shorter wavelength region of the spectrum. Therefore the classification of a material as dielectric or semiconductor is determined by the structure and the frequencies at which it is intended to be used. Given the wide range of spectrum of interest in at least some applications the same material may be considered a dielectric in one location and a semiconductor in another.
In contrast, a transparent conductor is a material having a finite but meaningful conductivity due to a partially filled conduction band or partially empty valence band but having a band-gap between the valence band and conduction band exceeding the energy of any photon in the spectral range of interest. These materials act like a dielectric at some frequencies and like a semiconductor at even higher frequencies, but act like a conductor at low frequencies. Transparent dielectric materials also have low optical losses such that photons efficiently transmit through such material, at least at the spectral range of interest or a significant portion thereof for which they are employed.
While transparent conductors may be considered as wide bandgap semiconducting materials, they are used as conductors in most applications. Dielectrics, transparent conductors, and semiconductors, as used in these specifications, refer to materials that have a dielectric constant at optical frequencies; however the distinction between a semiconductor and the remaining materials is that the bandgap of a semiconductor is not substantially larger than the photon energy. As a general and non-limiting guideline, table 1 describes several characteristics of the different conductive, insulating, and semi-conductive materials.
TABLE IMaterialTransparentMetalConductorSemiconductorDielectricBandgap→ 0>>photon≦photon>>photonDChighgoodVaries→ 0ConductivityOpticalreflectivetransparentabsorptivetransparentPropertyDielectriccomplexlow losslossylow lossconstant
The term stationary resonance condition should be construed as relating to a situation in a waveguide where the frequency of the guided wave is sufficiently close to the local cutoff frequency of the waveguide, such that the guided wave reflects repeatedly between opposing surfaces of the guide. The corresponding energy velocity along the waveguide propagation axis is significantly lower than the speed of light in the bulk material of the waveguide and approaches zero at the stationary resonance condition. Notably, complete stationary resonant condition is an ideal limiting case which is almost never achieved.
The term Continuous Resonant Trap Refractor (CRTR) should be construed as relating to a tapered core waveguide having a base face and a tip. The larger face of the tapered waveguide core will be generally referred to as the aperture, and the smaller face, or point, will generally be referred to as the tip. Radiant energy travels along the depth direction extending between the aperture and the tip, however the radiant energy may travel towards the aperture, or away therefrom. For the purposes of these specifications, the depth increases from the aperture towards the tip, such that larger depth implies greater distance from the aperture. The term 'tapered waveguide' requires only that the waveguide core be tapered, and the overall dimensions or shape of the CRTR may be of any convenient shape.
A distance from the aperture along the depth dimension at which the width of the waveguide in at least one dimension would be the critical width which will block light of a given frequency from advancing further down towards the tip, is referred to in these specification as 'emission depth' for this frequency. The width of the CRTR core which causes the energy to be emitted through the cladding for a wave of a given frequency, is termed 'emission width' for that wave. Such emission occur at cladding penetration state. When radiant energy comprising a plurality of spectral components separated by frequency is admitted through the CRTR aperture, lower frequency waves will reach their emission depth before higher frequency waves. Thus, the CRTR will provide spatially separated spectrum along its cladding. In addition the CRTR refracts the spatially separated light away from the axis of the CRTR extending from the aperture toward the tip.
Cladding may comprise a dielectric material with lower refractive index than that of the core, a thin conductive layer with thickness comparable to the skin depth of the conductor, or a conductive layer with perforations. Such cladding and core systems offer total internal reflection for sufficiently thick claddings. As the wave is slowed the equivalent incident angle of the wave against the core/cladding boundary increases and penetration into the cladding increases up to the critical angle. For intermediate cladding thicknesses Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR) occurs just before the critical angle. For sufficiently thick claddings the wave is bound until the critical angle. Metallic claddings with small perforations or with thicknesses at or near the skin depth also have angle dependent reflection coefficients, resulting in a situation analogous to FTIR, and are thus also considered suitable.
Current technology, color sensors are generally obtained by either filtering colors into adjacent pixels, in a technique known as Bayer Filter, by using multi-layered pixels or by utilizing three separate sensors.
Bayer filters utilize pixel filters of different colors laid over adjacent pixels. In the Foveon 3X© system (Foveon© Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., USA), three different layers are stacked on top of each other, each layer being sensitive to one primary color. The stacked transducer layers of the same bandgap or of differing bandgap have been shown to improve efficiency and image quality over filter based image sensors. Detecting higher frequency signals in a first, higher bandgap material and transmitting lower frequency waves with photon energy below the material bandgap allows their subsequent conversion in lower bandgap materials allow better light capture, reduces color artifacts, and simplifies processing.
Three separate transducers are generally used in high end applications. Incoming light is separated to the three primary colors, either by filters, prisms, dichroic mirrors and the like, and each primary color impinges on a single transducer dedicated to that color. The use of three transducers, combined with the color separation system increases camera size, and is expensive using presently available methods.
There is a long felt and heretofore unsolved need for better technology, providing inexpensive, sensitive high quality electromagnetic (EM) energy image array sensors, and preferably sensor technology which may be made broad band, and/or polarization sensitive.

Pixel structure using a tapered core waveguide, image sensors and camera using same


A drive current output unit outputs a drive current to an actuator, for moving a head to an intended position on a disk. A drive current adjusting unit adjusts the drive current based on a speed of the head, and a distance of a position of the head from the intended position when the drive current is output to the actuator.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a positioner that positions a head swiftly and precisely on an intended position on a disk, with the aid of an actuator.
2) Description of the Related Art
An external storage device of a computer, which may be a disk device, moves a head to an intended track of a rotating disk to read/write data. This method calls for swift and precise movement of the head on the intended track to improve the speed with which data is accessed.
In the disk device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. H9-139032, a feed forward current required for moving the head to the intended position surveys the position to which the head is to be moved, and by correcting the position of the head beforehand so that it coincides with the intended position, the head is moved to the intended position swiftly and precisely.
However, every manufactured magnetic disk device has a VCM (Voice Coil Motor), control system, etc., which have unique characteristics and the conventional technology does not have measures to address the variation in the characteristics. Besides, the characteristics of the VCM vary with aging and temperature as well.
Thus, due to the variation in the characteristics of the VCM, control system etc., with the magnetic disk device, it is not easy to determine beforehand the correction value for the characteristics of voice coil motors and control systems to be used for controlling the magnetic head. If a predetermined correction value is still used, while ignoring the effect of aging or temperature variation on the characteristics of the VCM, there is a danger that the settling of the magnetic head may become unstable.
Thus, the issue is one of addressing the unique characteristics of the VCM and the effect of aging and temperature variation on the characteristics of the VCM, as well as moving the magnetic head swiftly and precisely to the intended position.

Positioner for positioning head on a disk


The present invention is a method and system of load balancing in a group of one or more servers connected to one or more subnetworks. Two or more independent servers are bound into a group, with one of the servers elected to serve as a leader. The leader acts as a load balancer for the group while the remaining servers act as slaves. This functionality eliminates the need for one or more dedicated load balancing devices and lowers the hardware requirements necessary for performing such load balancing.

An "Intranet" is a private network that uses protocols and standards similar t o the public Internet, but instead is used only by authorized users. These Intranet networks utilize protocols such as the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol TCP/IP, the User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol UDP/IP, Real-time Transfer Protocol RTP, or multicasting to establish the communication between computers. This communication link may be established by means such as an Internet browser, an HTTP server, an FTP server or the like.
With the popularity of Intranet networks increasing, service providers such as cellular operators, satellite communication operators, Internet Service Provider (ISP) and application service providers are using more than one server in a "server farm site" to accommodate the heavy load of users, and thus, improve reliability in the network. Such a configuration, however, requires a load balancing mechanism to divide the aggregate bandwidth and load among the servers in the site. Additional load balancing units are then used to add redundancy and to improve reliability of a site.
While load balancing mechanisms are heavily utilized to accommodate the explosive growth of network usage, the prior art load balancing technology has several limitations. One such limitation is the requirement of additional hardware. Load balancing techniques, as they exist in the prior art typically cannot operate without adding additional hardware components to the network, which makes such procedures a costly endeavor. Additionally, the existing equipment used for load balancing cannot be used in sites operating tunneling communication, which enables one network to send its data via connections on another network. One tunnel may carry many TCP sessions, which may originate from different sources to several destinations. Current load balancing equipment replaces the source IP address or the destination IP address with the IP address of the load balancing equipment. This creates a problem in sites operating tunneling communication because several clients with different IP addresses are using the same tunnel. Thus, a packet in the tunnel segment may have the destination address of the slave and not the final destination address. Therefore the receiver of the message, in the internet side, misses the original identity of the client and it can not give customize services, additionally in some cases the source IP is used for security mechanism so its important to keep the original source IP.
Moreover common load balancing mechanisms cannot be used with a connection that has been initiate from the Internet side via the "server farm site" to a client.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and a method for a server that will be able to perform load balancing processes that can accommodate sites operating tunnel communication by maintaining the same packet address on the client side and on the network side (transparent operation) and perform load balancing in both directions.


Embodiments of an adjustable panel assembly are disclosed. According to one embodiment, at least one adjustable articulating arm assembly connects a support elements having a plurality of equal sized side apertures to adjustable panel ends, providing an adjustable panel assembly with pivot hinges to rotate the adjustable panel about a common longitudinal axis for paired pivot hinges. Fixed top and side panels may be provided for each pair of corresponding support elements. Adjustable modular lighting and heating elements may be adapted between corresponding support elements to provide light or heat to a surface area below or within the panel assembly. The adjustable panel assembly components can be disassembled and/or collapsed into substantially flat shipping containers for ease of distribution and portability.

Portable, adjustable panel assemblies having fixed, adjustable or a combination of fixed and adjustable panels with associated support or bracketing are well known in the art and typically comprise a limited degree of range of motion for at least one supported panel.
Designing and assembling portable, adjustable panel assemblies using these various elements is ordinarily complicated since dimensions, load factors, code requirements, and aesthetics converge to present brackets which are labor and component intensive. Often bracketing assemblies will have many component parts and require several tools for assembly. Moreover, with current technology, bracket assemblies, particularly those providing one of more panel assemblies, require much broader ranges of adaptability than what is provided in the art, and even when a custom design is presented, packaging, shipping, installing, transporting, positioning and using the bracket assemblies are cumbersome and overly time consuming.
Various types of adjustable panel assemblies with adjustable and/or lockable hinges are used for securing bracketing components or bracketing assemblies integrally or to other external structures, and/or immobilizing and/or adjusting one component with respect to another component about a common axis. Many ready to assemble bracket assemblies utilize location dependent uprights or support members that multiply the effort needed to design and assemble the adjustable and lockable hinge assemblies and that intensify the complexity of the process. The ease of shipping, assembling, using, and maintaining these panel assemblies is at best marginal, and can vary considerably between installation environments.
Presently, most adjustable and lockable bracketing assemblies for bracketing are initially assembled or installed by the seller because of the complexity of assembling. Thus, many bracketing assemblies are handled fully or most fully assembled which presents bulky cargo that takes up considerable amount of space and is difficult to transport. These assemblies do not provide any portability or rapid adjustment or operation.
Additionally, when one part of a piece of an adjustable bracket assembly is damaged, often the entire product must be returned instead of simply replacing the damaged part. For example, when a support or pivot element for an upright bracketing assembly fails or is defective, generally the entire bracketing assembly must be disassembled and replaced.
Finally, the adjustable bracket assembly needs to be supported by adequate and aesthetically pleasing attachment components for securing one or more integral hinge elements of the panel assembly to one or more adjustable panel assemblies or portable support structures.
Further, an adjustable bracket assembly should embody adjustable pivot hinges and reversible end panels to allow for easy and quick conversion from a pass-over assembly to a self-serf assembly.
There is, accordingly, a need for a modular adjustable bracket assembly that provides a simple to assemble and adjust support elements with assemblies to adjust at least one panel, and support for at least one fixed panel.
Likewise, there is a need for an adjustable bracket assembly that provides modular attachment capabilities for adjustable lighting and/or adjustable heating fixtures.
Further there is a need for an adjustable bracket assembly that provides modular replacement components for hinge or bracketing elements of the adjustable bracket assembly.
There is also a need for an adjustable bracket assembly that provides adjustable and pivot hinge assemblies that enhance the ease of assembly or installation, rapid adjustment, and ease of operation of the adjustable bracket assembly, and allows for easy component replacement.
A further need exists for adjustable bracket assemblies that in disassemble, manufactured components can be shipped in flattened containers, thus eliminating the need for forklift equipment to receive the boxed assemblies at the end user site.


A guide extension catheter includes a push member and a distal shaft coupled to and extending distally from the push member. The distal shaft includes a shaft wall and a passageway. The shaft wall includes a helically-shaped proximal end and a distal end. The helically-shaped proximal end coils helically about a first central longitudinal axis of the passageway of the distal shaft. The helically-shaped proximal end of the shaft wall defines a helically-shaped entry port of the distal shaft. The distal shaft may include a helically-shaped collar coupled to the helically-shaped proximal end of the distal shaft, the collar defining the helically-shaped entry port of the distal shaft.

Arteries of the heart, and more specifically coronary arteries, may sometimes be occluded or narrowed by atherosclerotic plaques or other lesions. These afflictions are generally referred to as coronary heart disease or a stenosis, and result in inadequate blood flow to distal arteries and tissue. Heart bypass surgery may be a viable surgical procedure for certain patients suffering from coronary heart disease. However, attendant with traditional open surgery, significant patient trauma, discomfort, extensive recuperation times, and life threatening complications may occur due to the invasive nature of the surgery and the necessity for stoppage of the heart during such a surgery.
To address these concerns, efforts have been made to perform interventional cardiology procedures using minimally invasive techniques. In certain efforts, percutaneous transcatheter (or transluminal) delivery and implantation of interventional coronary devices are employed to solve the problems presented by traditional open surgery. Typically, a guide catheter is first inserted through an incision into a femoral (transfemoral), or radial (transradial) artery of a patient. Transradial access is increasingly accepted as a method offering lower post-operative bleeding complications and quicker recovery times for patients. However the smaller diameter of the radial artery requires a smaller diameter guide catheter. The smaller diameter guide catheter has less back support than a similarly configured femoral guide catheter. For example, the Seldinger technique may be utilized in either method for percutaneously introducing the guide catheter. In such methods, the guide catheter is advanced through the aorta and inserted into the opening of an ostium of a coronary artery. A guidewire, or other interventional coronary devices such as a catheter mounted stent and/or balloon catheter, may be introduced through the guide catheter and maneuvered/advanced through the vasculature and the stenosis of the diseased coronary artery. However, when attempting to pass through a difficult stenosis, or when conducting a radial intervention using a small diameter guide catheter, the guide catheter may not have adequate back support, and continued application of force to advance the interventional device though the stenosis may cause the distal end of the guide catheter to dislodge from the opening of the ostium of the coronary artery, resulting in potential damage to the surrounding tissue.
In order to prevent the guide catheter from dislodging, interventional cardiologists sometimes would deep seat the guide catheter into the coronary artery. The term "deep seat" or "deep seating" means that the guide catheter would be pushed farther downstream into the coronary artery. However, deep seating the guide catheter risks the guide catheter damaging the coronary artery wall (dissection or rupture), occluding the coronary artery, and interfering with blood flow to the coronary artery.
One attempt to provide additional back support to a guide catheter that has gained acceptance is the use of a guide extension catheter. The guide extension catheter is deployed within a lumen of the guide catheter and extends distally from the distal end of the guide catheter into the coronary artery. Their smaller size, as compared to the guide catheter, allows the guide extension catheter to be seated more deeply in the coronary artery with less potential damage. This provides additional back support to the guide catheter to aid in delivery of interventional coronary devices. In cases with a difficult stenosis or radial interventions, the use of the guide extension catheter reduces the risk of dislodging the guide catheter from the opening of the ostium of the coronary artery during treatment. However, with their smaller size, guide extension catheters may pose difficulty in receiving an interventional coronary device within the passageway of the distal shaft of the guide extension catheter. As an example, an interventional coronary device such as a catheter with a stent mounted on an outer surface of a balloon may catch, snag, or otherwise become snared on the entry port of the distal shaft of the guide extension catheter. While efforts have been made to ease the introduction of interventional coronary devices into the passageway of the distal shaft of the guide extension catheter by angling or skiving the entry port of the distal shaft, these methods are only in a single plane and have not eliminated the instances of catching and snagging of interventional coronary devices on the entry port of the distal shaft of guide extension catheters.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved guide extension catheter distal shaft entry port design that provides easier entry into the passageway of the distal shaft and reduces catching and snagging of interventional coronary devices advancing into the passageway of the distal shaft.

Guide extension catheter with helically-shaped entry port


A computer system has a managing server for managing one or more managed nodes. The managed nodes have media encoded with test executables executable on their respective nodes. The test executables can check configuration data for the node and/or check whether external resources are accessible from the node. The managing server issues commands to run the test executables and collects test results returned by the test executables.

In a managed computer system, a managing server can manage a plurality of managed nodes, e.g., servers. A managing server can have access to a database that includes configuration and other information about the nodes and their hardware and software environment. Entry of the information into the configuration database can be automated or manual or both.
In either case, a problem can occur where the database information is not up-to-date or is otherwise inaccurate. For example, some centrally managed systems provide for a "fail-over", where, in the event of a failure of a managed node, its functionality is migrated to a still working managed node. The managing server may identify a suitable fail-over node based on the configuration information in the database. If the configuration information in the database is inaccurate, the fail-over may itself fail, causing an extended interruption in service.
A managing server can use a procedure that checks the configuration database against the actual configuration of the nodes and their hardware/software environment. There may be various aspects to be checked for each node including what operating system or systems are running, what applications are installed, are the installed applications active or inactive, what is the hardware configuration, what external hardware and software resources are accessible, etc. The procedure can check each item in the configuration database and run a test on each managed node to determine if the database needs updating or other corrective action needs to be taken.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


This invention relates generally to the stabilization of watercraft, such as kayaks and canoes, and especially to the stabilization of a kayak to allow an individual to stand or move in a kayak without the kayak rocking or rolling over. The pontoon assembly is mounted to a kayak which allows for extending a stabilizing pontoon individually on each side of the watercraft and locking the pontoon at an operative position. Each pontoon can be rapidly raised to a rest position for paddling the kayak or canoe.

This invention relates generally to the stabilization of watercraft, such as kayaks and canoes, and especially to the stabilization of a kayak or canoe to allow an individual to stand or move therein without the kayak or canoe rocking or rolling over. More particularly, the invention relates to a pontoon assembly which is in a raised rest position for paddling but which can be rapidly extended alongside the kayak or canoe to provide stabilization.
Floats and pontoons for stabilizing watercraft which are positioned alongside of the watercraft are old and well known in the art. Devices are presently available to address stabilization through the addition of floatation devices. In more recent times these devices have been provided with clamping supports and allow floatation to be clamped to a canoe and are generally held on a fixed extended position from the side of the watercraft. These devices are used to prevent sudden overbalance movement by an occupant in the canoe which can quickly tip or capsize the canoe. Most prior art pontoon assemblies are somewhat cumbersome. Many are attachable but at the same time are large and very unwieldy and are difficult to add or remove from the water.
It is desirable not to have the pontoons extended when one is paddling a kayak or a canoe and then to rapidly extend the floatation device as needed to stabilize the canoe when the canoe is not in motion and when the occupant desires to stand, such as while fishing or to move around in the kayak. It is an object of the present invention that a floatation assembly can be rapidly and removably attached and removed to and from a kayak or canoe and which can be extended to use as a flotation device either on one or both sides of the kayak. The floatation on both sides can be raised for paddling a kayak with greater ease.
In the past, there have been a large number of outboard floatation devices especially for adding to a canoe and these include the Birkett U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,594 for a canoe conversion kit for use alone as an iceboat or for easy mounting on a canoe to convert the canoe to a sailboat. In the Nielsen U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,233, a self-adjusting boat outrigger is provided. The Morriseau U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,216 is a canoe pontoon assembly which has side runners which are attached adjacent to the canoe to prevent the canoe from tipping over. Pontoons are adjustable for height and width and deploys a ballast to stabilize a canoe. The Hall U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,355 is a stabilized watercraft having an elongated V-type hull and stabilizers mounted in outrigger fashion. Each stabilizer has an elongated floatation member that can be extended and retracted with a pantographic-type extension mechanism. The Grzybowski U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,306 is a watercraft stabilization system for a canoe which has a pair of floatation devices. The Barker, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,090 is a stabilization pontoon system for a small watercraft which has a pair of adjustable outriggers connected by a linkage system to an actuator so that each pontoon can be lowered into the water to stabilize the watercraft.
The present invention, on the other hand, is directed primarily to watercraft, such as a kayak or canoe, and to an outrigger floatation system which is in a raised or storage position while paddling the kayak or canoe and which can be rapidly extended to add stabilization to the watercraft so that the occupant can stand for fishing or doing other functions without the watercraft tipping over and capsizing. A pontoon can be extended from one or both sides, as desired.


This device can detect an obstacle in a railroad crossing or similar setting by way of image processing independently of a height and a width of an obstacle. The image data read from a video, camera 11 into a multi-valued image memory 13 is compared with background data stored in a background-data creating unit 15 in a data comparator 16. Based on the compared result, a still-object detector 17 detects if an obstacle exists. If it is detected that an obstacle exists and a rod of a crossing gate is down in a gate state detector 18, an alarm output unit 19 serves to output an alarm signal.

The present invention relates to an obstacle-detecting apparatus which is adapted to detect an obstacle such as a vehicle stopped in trouble at a railroad crossing.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional obstacle-detecting apparatus installed at a railroad crossing. As shown, a numeral 51 denotes a control unit. A numeral 52 denotes a beam emitter. A numeral 53 denotes a beam receptor. A numeral 54 denotes a processing unit. A numeral 55 denotes a signal conditioning that a train comes closer to the crossing, which signal is entered into the control unit 51. A numeral 56 denotes a laser beam emitted from the beam emitter 52. A numeral 57 denotes an information indicating that an obstacle is detected. A plurality of pairs of the beam emitter 52 and the beam receptor 53 are installed at one railroad crossing.
Next, the description will be directed to how the obstacle-detecting apparatus shown in FIG. 5 operates. In response to the conditioning signal 55, the control unit 51 issues a command to the beam emitter 52 so that the beam emitter 52 may output the laser beam 56. In response to the laser beam 56, the beam receptor 53, installed in opposed relationship to the beam emitter 52 with the railroad laid therebetween, operates to output a signal to the processing unit 54. The processing unit 54 has a function of determining whether or not the beam receptor 53 outputs the signal. If no signal is received from the beam receptor 53 for a certain length of time, the processing unit 54 determines that any obstacle standing on the railroad between the beam emitter 52 and the beam receptor 53 impedes the laser beam 56 and thereby outputs the obstacle-detected information 57 to a next stage (not shown).
As set forth above, the conventional obstacle-detecting apparatus may have an arrangement that several pairs of the beam emitter and the beam receptor are installed at a railroad crossing for the purpose of detecting as an obstacle a vehicle stopped in trouble at the railroad crossing.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A showerhead including a connection base and a surface cover assembly, with a water outflow cavity formed therebetween. The surface cover assembly has a water discharging hole, and includes a surface cover body and a water outflow surface cover that are mounted and connected on the connection base. The water outflow surface cover has a water outflow hole, the lower periphery of which extends downward to form a water outflow port. The water outflow surface cover is attached against the upper face of the surface cover body, and the water outflow port passes through the surface cover body. The upper periphery of the water outflow hole extends upwards to form a water blocking peripheral wall. The showerhead also includes a valve that cooperates with the water discharge hole to close and open the water discharge hole when the water supply is on and off, respectively.

Existing showerheads of discharging residual water, such as CN102366739A, which was first applied by applicant, include connection base, surface cover assembly and valve. The connection base and surface cover assembly are assembled together and formed a water outflow cavity between them. The surface cover assembly is provided with a water discharging hole and comprise a surface cover body and water outflow surface cover which are mounted and connected on the connection base; the water outflow surface cover is provided with a water outflow hole of which the top surface and bottom surface are in communication, the lower periphery of the water outflow hole extends downward to form a water outflow port, the water outflow surface cover is attached against the upper face of the surface cover body and the water outflow port passes through the surface cover body; the valve cooperates with the water discharging hole to close the discharging hole when the water is flowing, and open the water discharging hole when the water is off. In the process of discharging residual water, the residual water above the water outflow surface cover is discharged not only through the water discharging hole, but also through the water outflow port. Because the water outflow port has a smaller outlet section and has elasticity, the resistance is larger. Therefore, most of the water from the water outflow port is discharged by slow dropping, which leads to a long time of discharging residual water.

Showerhead capable of discharging residual water

XIAMEN SOLEX HIGH-TECH INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.


A CNC tungsten steel cutting machine suitably used to cut a metal material, such as tungsten carbide steel, includes an operational platform, a cutting mechanism, a feeding mechanism, a delivering mechanism, and a control panel. When a metal material to be cut is received in a feeding tray of the feeding mechanism, lifting control rods of the feeding mechanism lift the metal material until the metal material is temporarily positioned. Once the latest metal material is completely cut, the lifting control rods push the next metal material, so that the next metal material moves into the V-shaped guiding groove. Then, the delivering mechanism delivers the metal material forward until the metal material is located at a press location of the V-shaped guiding groove. After this, the metal material is cut by a grinding wheel of the cutting mechanism, and then dropped into a collection device adjacent to the operational platform.

Generally, a conventional cutting machine is provided with a fixture for manually positioning a metal material to be cut, and then the metal material can be manually cut by hand. However, the manually cutting process is not economical in consideration of manpower and time, while the operation efficiency thereof is relatively low. Meanwhile, after cutting, the metal material only has an imprecise size, so that it is necessary to further process the cut metal material to reduce the size imprecision resulting in substantially increasing the manufacture cost. Therefore, there is a need to improve the conventional cutting machine for solving the foregoing problems.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a CNC tungsten steel cutting machine to solve the problems existing in the conventional cutting machine, as described above.


A method for determining at least one of distortion and de-focus for an optical imaging system. The method includes determining wavefront aberrations in a pupil plane of the optical imaging system by a wavefront measurement method, determining focus offset measured values in an xy-direction and/or z-direction for one or more different illumination settings by a test pattern measurement method with imaging and comparative evaluation of test patterns for the optical imaging system, and determining values for one or more aberration parameters that relate to the distortion and/or image surface from a prescribed relationship between the determined wavefront aberrations and the determined focus offset measured values. By prescribing a relationship between the wave aberrations and the focus offset measured values, it is possible for the results of the wavefront measurement method and of the test pattern measurement method to be linked to one another so as to enable an improved precision in the determination of distortion and/or image surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for determining distortion and/or image surface for an optical imaging system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to describe aberrations of optical imaging systems, use is currently being made of the Zernike coefficients (Z2 to Z37), for the definition of which reference may be made to the literature. It is not important here as to whether the literature employs somewhat different definitions, that is to say all these definitions are to be viewed as covered by the invention. The Zernike coefficients Z2 and Z3 characterize an aberration denoted as distortion which describes a wavefront tilt in the pupil plane of the optical imaging system referred to an x-direction or y-direction of an orthogonal xyz coordinate system whose z-direction is parallel to the optical axis of the imaging system. The Zernike coefficient Z4 characterizes an aberration denoted as image surface or defocus in the z-direction. Various methods are known for determining distortion and image surface.
In one of these known method types, a test pattern is imaged and evaluated by comparison, in order to determine an offset of the focal position relative to a nominal position. This offset depends in general on the illumination setting used when imaging and on the test pattern used. The distortion and the image surface are reconstructed from the focus offset measured values at several field points.
An optimization, following the measurement, of the imaging characteristics of the optical imaging system with reference to distortion and image surface is restricted in this pattern-dependent method type to the illumination setting used in imaging the test pattern. If other illumination settings are required in the imaging mode, the imaging system is possibly not in an optimally adapted state. A so-called MIS method has been proposed as remedy, in the case of which a plurality of test pattern measurements are carried out at different illumination settings and focus offset measured values dependent on the illumination setting are determined therefrom as described, for example, in Hans van der Laan et al., "Aerial image measurement methods for fast aberration set-up and illumination pupil verification", Proc. SPIE 4346 (2001), pages 394-407. However, the accuracy of the determination of distortion and image surface with the aid of this method is limited.
A second, pattern-independent method type is based on the direct measurement of the wavefront aberrations or Zernike coefficients, for example, by means of shearing interferometry methods as described in the laid-open patent publications WO 0163233 A2 and DE 101 09 929 A1, or by means of a Shack-Hartmann method as specified in N. R. Farrar et al., "In-situ measurement of lens aberrations", SPIE vol. 4000, page 18 (2000). In the case of such a determination of the distortion and/or the image surface, that is to say of Z⅔ and/or Z4, the accuracy of the wavefront measurement is mostly markedly dependent on the accuracy of the absolute calibration of the measurement system.

Method for determining distortion and/or image surface


An extendible or adjustable length level is provided. The level includes a locking mechanism allowing the user to fix the level at a selected or desired level. The locking system allows the user to lock the level at the desired length and provides more effective and robust locking than conventional expanding levels. In some embodiments the locking mechanism is designed such that translational movement of the user-actuated control (as opposed to rotational motion) is used to move the locking mechanism into the locked position.

The present invention relates generally to the field of tools. The present invention relates specifically to a tool, such as a level or a spirit level, that is extendable such that its length may be adjusted as needed by a user. Levels, such as spirit levels, are used to determine the levelness of a structure, surface or workpiece. In use, the level is placed on or in contact with a surface to be measured, and the user views the location of a bubble within a vial (or other levelness indicator) relative to markings that indicate the levelness of the structure, surface or workpiece.


4-Aminodiphenylamines are prepared by hydrogenating nitrosobenzene or mixtures of nitrosobenzene and nitrobenzene with hydrogen in the presence of fluorides and heterogeneous catalysts in inert aprotic solvents at temperatures from 0 to 200.degree. C. and pressures from 0.1 to 150 bar.

The invention relates to a process for the preparation of 4-aminodiphenylamine (4-ADPA) by hydrogenation of nitrosobenzene with hydrogen in the presence of hydrogenation catalysts and fluorides.
4-ADPA is an important intermediate for antioxidants and stabilisers in the rubber and polymer industry (Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th Edition, 1992, Vol. 3, p 424-447 and p 448-456; Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th Edition, Vol. A3, 1985, p 91-111).
4-Aminodiphenylamine may be prepared by various methods. One possible route to 4-ADPA is the two-stage (intermediate: 4-nitrodiphenylamine) reaction of aniline or aniline derivatives with p-nitrochlorobenzene in the presence of an acid acceptor or a neutralising agent and optionally in the presence of a catalyst. The preparation by this method is described, for example, in DE-A 35 01 698, DE-A 18 56 63, U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,595, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,249, U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,248. A disadvantage of such a process is that the salts thereby obtained have to be disposed of at considerable cost. Consequently, aniline or corresponding aniline derivatives have been reacted with nitrobenzene in the presence of tetraalkylammonium hydroxides and in the presence of controlled quantities of protic materials. 4-ADPA was obtained in a satisfactory quantity in this case (see WO 95/00 324 and WO 93 24 450). According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,420,354, 4-ADPA may be obtained by reaction of aniline, nitrobenzene and hydrogen in the presence of a hydrogenation catalyst, hydrogenation inhibitor and acid cocatalyst, albeit in rather unsatisfactory yields. U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,187 describes a method for obtaining 4-ADPA by reacting aniline with nitrosobenzene or phenylhydroxylamine in the presence of acids.
These processes have the disadvantage, however, that two different starting products are used which have to be prepared in upstream, separate process stages, this being rather uneconomic.
It is also known that the hydrogenation of nitrosobenzene by way of heterogeneous catalysts yields chiefly aniline and hydrazobenzene. 4-ADPA is not mentioned as a product (Chem. Ind. 1994, Catalysis of Organic Reactions, p 137-149).
Surprisingly, it has now been found that 4-ADPA may be obtained in industrially useful yields by hydrogenation of nitrosobenzene in the presence of fluorides and heterogeneous catalysts.
The present invention therefore provides a process for the preparation of 4-aminodiphenylamine which is characterised in that nitrosobenzene or mixtures of nitrosobenzene and nitrobenzene are hydrogenated with hydrogen in the presence of fluorides and heterogeneous catalysts and in the presence of inert aprotic solvents at temperatures from 0 to 200.degree. C. and pressures from 0.1 to 150 bar.
Fluorides suitable for the process according to the invention are inorganic fluorides, such as alkali metal fluorides, alkaline earth metal fluorides and the corresponding fluorides of the elements 58 to 71 of the periodic system of elements (according to IUPAC, new). Examples include: the fluorides of sodium, potassium, lithium, caesium, rubidium, magnesium, calcium, barium, lanthanum and/or cerium, particularly the fluorides of lithium, sodium, potassium, caesium, more particularly preferably potassium fluoride, caesium fluoride, sodium fluoride.

Process for the preparation of 4-aminodiphenylamine


A deep sleep wakeup signal is received at a first memory bank. A first gated memory array supply voltage is increased in response to the receiving the deep sleep wakeup signal at the first memory bank. The first memory array supply voltage is applied to a first memory array. The deep sleep wakeup signal is forwarded to a second memory bank in response to determining the first gated memory array supply voltage has reached a specified voltage.

The present disclosure relates to computer memory systems, and more specifically, to switching between power states in a multi-bank memory.
Memory arrays can be put into a deep sleep mode where the power supply is removed from the memory arrays. Waking up the memory arrays from deep sleep involves powering the arrays back to full power. Powering up multiple memory bank arrays simultaneously can result in drawing excessive current from the power grid.

International Business Machines Corporation


A vibration-absorbing device for an artificial lower limb includes a knee-connecting tube attached to a prosthetic knee unit, an ankle-connecting member attached to a prosthetic foot and ankle unit, and an upright connecting rod having an upper end disposed movably within the tube, and a lower end connected fixedly to the ankle-connecting member. A coiled compression spring is sleeved on the connecting rod between the knee unit and the foot and ankle unit so as to bias the connecting rod to move downwardly relative to the tube to a predetermined position, thereby retarding movement of the connecting rod in an axial direction of the tube. A cushion member is made of a resilient material, is sleeved on the ankle-connecting member, and is disposed within the tube so as to retard movement of the connecting rod in a transverse direction of the tube.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a vibration-absorbing device for an artificial lower limb, and more particularly to a vibration-absorbing device that is disposed between a prosthetic knee unit and a prosthetic foot and ankle unit and that includes a longitudinal damping unit and a transverse damping unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional artificial lower limb is shown to include a foot rod 10 and a prosthetic foot and ankle unit 11. No vibration-absorbing device is disposed on the lower limb, thereby giving discomfort to a prosthesis wearer while walking.

Vibration-absorbing device for an artificial lower limb


A display device includes a first region and a second region adjacent to the first region. A display element included in the first region has a function of reflecting visible light and a function of emitting visible light. A display element included in the second region has a function of emitting visible light. In an electronic device including the display device, the first region is located on a first surface (e.g., top surface) on which a main image is displayed, and the second region is located on a second surface (e.g., side surface) on which an auxiliary image is displayed.

It is known that active matrix liquid crystal display devices are classified into two major types: a transmissive type and a reflective type.
In a transmissive liquid crystal display device, a backlight such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp or a light-emitting diode (LED) is used, and optical modulation action of liquid crystal is utilized to select one of the two states: a state where light from the backlight passes through liquid crystal to be output to the outside of the liquid crystal display device and a state where light is not output to the outside of the liquid crystal display device, whereby a bright or dark image is displayed. Furthermore, those images are combined to display an image.
In a reflective liquid crystal display device, a state in which external light, that is, incident light is reflected at a pixel electrode and output to the outside of the device or a state in which incident light is not output to the outside of the device is selected using optical modulation action of liquid crystal, whereby a bright or dark image is displayed. Furthermore, those images are combined to display an image. Compared to the transmissive liquid crystal display device, the reflective liquid crystal display device has an advantage of low power consumption since the backlight is not used.
Patent Document 1 discloses a flexible active matrix light-emitting device in which a transistor and an organic EL element are provided over a film substrate.


An inertia sensing module is connected to a portable electronic device. The inertia sensing module includes an accelerometer unit for generating at least one of acceleration sensing signals ax, ay, az corresponding to the directions of X, Y, Z respectively; a gyroscope unit for generating at least one of angular rate sensing signals ωx, ωy, ωz corresponding to the axes of X, Y, Z respectively; and a connector module having a plug that is inserted into a docking connector of the portable electronic device. With the inertia sensing module being connected to or disconnected from the portable electronic device, a user can control a specific cursor or graphic user interface on a picture of an electronic game player via his/her own motions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inertia sensing module, and in particular to an inertia sensing module connected to a portable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
When a conventional inertia sensing element is used to sense the motions of a user in order to operate a cursor on a display screen, the user has to wear or hold the inertia sensing element to generate some motions, such as inclining, swinging or rhythmic motions. In this way, the inertia sensing element can sense these motions to generate corresponding signals.
On the other hand, with the fast development of electronic technology, many portable electronic devices or handheld devices such as a mobile communication device (mobile phone), personal digital assistant, satellite navigation device, or smart phone have been made more compact with a reduced weight. Further, these current portable electronic devices are each equipped with a high-performance microprocessor control unit. For example, in order to carry more software tools or multi-media functions, a mobile phone or personal digital assistant is usually provided with a high-performance microprocessor control unit to process data. Furthermore, such a portable electronic device usually comprises a wireless transmission device such as Bluetooth to exchange data signals.
However, since a later stage of 1980s, graphic user interfaces were well-developed and widely used in various electronic products, such as a desktop computer, notebook computer, mobile communication device, personal digital assistant, satellite navigation device or the like, thereby providing a convenient, user-friendly, and quick manner of operation for the user. However, when the user uses a graphic user interface to operate a computer system or interact with the computer system, a keyboard, mouse, touch panel or other devices also has to be used to input signals, which becomes the restriction of the development of the graphic user interface. Furthermore, it cannot provide an operating environment for simulating the actual situations.
In the graphic user interface operated by means of sensing the motions of the user, the user still has to wear or use some specific input devices, such as a handle, remote controller or the like. Usually, based on the motions of the user, these input devices can generate sensing signals, and then the sensing signals are transmitted to a computer system. After a series of processes such as decoding, conversion, calculation or the like, control signals can be generated. Such a complicated process cannot respond to the specific motions of the user very accurately, so that the control of the graphic user interface of the portable electronic device or computer system and a specific cursor on a display of an electronic game player will not respond to the motions of the user sensitively or even may delay.
Consequently, because of the above limitation resulting from the technical design of prior art, the inventor strives via real world experience and academic research to develop the present invention, which can effectively improve the limitations described above.


The present invention discloses a stator of a motor including a circular stator core formed by stacking a plurality of sheets, a plurality of bobbins fixed to the inner circumferential surface of the stator core at predetermined intervals and rotatably connected to each other, and stator coils wound around the outer circumferential surfaces of the bobbins to be connected to each other, and a method for manufacturing the same. The stator of the motor can reduce an assembly time by omitting a process for wiring the stator coils, and also reduce a number of components and manufacturing expenses by omitting a wiring PCB.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor of a stator and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to, a stator of a motor which can reduce manufacturing expenses and simplify a manufacturing process, by omitting a wiring process after a winding process, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional stator of a motor, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the conventional stator on which a wiring PCB has been mounted.
The conventional stator of the motor includes a stator core 110 and 112 formed by stacking a plurality of circular sheets to be insulated, a plurality of stator coils 114 mounted on the inner circumferential surface of the stator core 110 and 112 at predetermined intervals, and a wiring PCB 118 for wiring the stator coils 114.
Here, the stator core 110 and 112 consists of a yoke 110 formed by stacking the circular ring-shaped sheets to be insulated, and teeth 112 mounted on the inner circumferential surface of the yoke 110 in the radial direction at predetermined intervals.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the conventional stator core, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional bobbin around which the stator coil has been wound.
Fastening grooves 120 to which the teeth 112 are fastened are formed on the inner circumferential surface of the yoke 110 at predetermined intervals. The teeth 112 are formed by stacking a plurality of sheets, and fixed to the yoke 110, by inserting their one-side portions into the fastening grooves 120 of the yoke 110. Bobbins 124 around which the stator coils 114 are wound are fixed to the outer circumferential surfaces of the teeth 112.
The bobbins 124 are made of insulators. The stator coils 114 are wound around the outer circumferential surfaces of the bobbins 124, and through holes 126 into which the teeth 112 are inserted are formed on the inner circumferential surfaces thereof. In addition, two connection pins to which both ends of the stator coil 114 are connected respectively are mounted on each of the bobbins 124.
The wiring PCB 118 is disposed on one-side surface of the yoke 110. The connection pins 128 mounted on each bobbin 124 are connected to the wiring PCB 118 by soldering. The stator coils 114 are electrically connected by circuit patterns 130 formed on the wiring PCB 118.
The assembly process of the conventional stator of the motor will now be explained. The stator coils 114 are wound around the plurality of bobbins 124, respectively. The teeth 112 are inserted into the through holes 126 of the bobbins 124 around which the stator coils 114 have been wound. The teeth 112 inserted into the bobbins 124 are fastened to the fastening holes 120 of the circular yoke 110 formed by stacking the plurality of sheets. The connection pins 128 of the bobbins 124 to which the stator coils 114 are connected are connected to the wiring PCB 118 by soldering. Thus, assembly of the conventional stator is finished.
However, in the conventional stator of the motor, the stator coils must be wired after mounted on the stator core. In addition, the conventional stator of the motor requires the wiring PCB for wiring the stator coils, which increases a number of components, an assembly time and manufacturing expenses.
Since the yoke of the conventional stator is a circular ring-shaped single body, a lot of scraps are formed in production. As a result, a large amount of sheets are wasted, to incur additional expenses.

Stator of motor, and method for manufacturing the same


An organic EL display includes an insulating layer with light-transmission property, an organic EL element located on a back side of the insulating layer, a diffraction grating located on the back side of the insulating layer, and an optical film disposed on a front side of the insulating layer and including optically isotropic first portions and optically anisotropic second portions, the first and second portions forming boundaries inclined with respect to a main surface of the optical film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent (EL) display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic EL displays are of a self-emission type, and they can achieve a wide viewing angle and high-speed response. Further, the organic EL displays do not require backlights, and therefore they can be made low-profile and lightweight. For these reasons, the organic EL displays attract attention as displays that may replace liquid crystal displays.
An organic EL element, which is the main part of an organic EL display, includes a light-transmitting front electrode, a light-transmitting back electrode facing the front electrode, and an organic layer interposed therebetween and including a light-emitting layer. The organic EL element is a self-emission element of charge-injection type, which emits light as electric current flows through its organic layer.
In order to display an image on an organic EL display, it is necessary to make light emitted by the light-emitting layer output from the front electrode. However, of the light traveling toward the front surface side within the element, light components traveling in wide-angle directions are totally reflected on a surface of the front electrode. For this reason, a great portion of the light emitted by the organic layer cannot be extracted from the organic EL element. In other words, the conventional organic EL display entails a problem of a low outcoupling efficiency.
As a solution to such a problem, Japanese Patent No. 2991183 discloses a technique which utilizes a diffraction grating. With this technique, the outcoupling efficiency of the organic EL element can be raised. However, the present inventors have found through the process of achieving the present invention that the viewing angle is significantly narrowed if a diffraction grating is used to raise the outcoupling efficiency in the organic EL element.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.