A glaucoma drain for non-penetrating deep sclerotorny is made of non-resorbable and hydrophilic synthetic material. The drain is configured to be entirely covered by the scleral flap and totally inserted in the intrascleral space. It comprises a transverse bar (110) at one front end of the drain and a longitudinal body (120) extending longitudinally from said transverse bar. The transverse bar (110, 10) is configured to run along and cover the Schlemm's canal (CS) and the opposite ends are configured to penetrate beneath the deep sclera inside the Sclernm's canal. A hole (125) between the arms of the bar provides a target for possible YAG laser micro-punctures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glaucoma drain for facilitating the flow of aqueous humor through the trabeculo-descemetic membrane.
Glaucoma is a chronic, progressive and irreversible disease of having excessive intraocular pressure. When there is an obstacle to the evacuation of aqueous humor from the anterior chamber through a filter known as the trabeculum, the intraocular pressure increases and causes the progressive destruction of the nerve fibers. There are medical treatments whose efficacy proves to be insufficient in numerous cases in which solely surgery can enable the intraocular pressure to be reduced.
The purpose of surgical operation for the treatment of glaucoma is to create a mechanism for reducing the intraocular pressure. There are currently two main categories of drainage operation, penetrating and non-penetrating. The commonest surgery is penetrating surgery and is termed trabeculectomy. It consists in creating a fistula between the anterior chamber of the eye and a subconjunctival space. This operation requires, apart from opening the chamber, the formation of an aperture in the sclera using a scalpel, giving rise to complications which lead to a high number of failures.
2. Description of Related Art
The categories of non-penetrating surgical operations include viscanalostomy and deep sclerectomy, also termed ab externo trabeculectomy. Dr Robert Stegmman's viscanalostomy (J Cataract Refract Surg, vol. 25, 1999) comprises preparing a fornix based conjunctival flap and cutting a first parabolic flap of a third of the thickness of the sclera, and a second parabolic scleral flap of a depth of almost two thirds the thickness of the sclera which is later removed, de-roofing Schlemm's canal and injecting high viscosity non-crosslinked sodium hyaluronate into Schlemm's canal and subsequently under the outer flap after suturing. A scleral reservoir filled with sodium hyaluronate is thus formed under the outer flap. The physiological porosity of the juxtacanalicular trabecular meshwork and the descemetic membrane enable aqueous humor to be evacuated and the intraocular pressure to be reduced. However, the sodium hyaluronate is eliminated within five to six days and the reservoir rapidly fills up with fibrosis limiting the duration of effectiveness of the operation.
A development of this technique is presented in the PCT application WO 98/35640 which describes a pre-descemetic sclero-keratectomy implant of crosslinked hyaluronic acid having the form of a prism with a triangular base. This implant is supposed to occupy the surgically created space for a longer duration, but the volume of the implant reduces by half in four months and is totally resorbed subsequently.
According to another variant form of Dr Mermoud's deep sclerectomy, a glaucoma drain of cylindrical form is produced from lyophilized porcine collagen and is sutured in the deep scleral bed. The drain transports aqueous humor by capillarity. The superficial scleral flap does not close the posterior end of the cylindrical drain which is ill-adapted to the configuration of the scleral reservoir. The drain is resorbed in the month following the operation.
All these glaucoma implants and drains produced from crosslinked and non-crosslinked hyaluronic acid or from collagen are resorbable and thus do not constitute a truly long-lasting solution for draining aqueous humor from the anterior chamber so ensuring sustained reduction of the intraocular pressure. Moreover, these implants and drains of animal origin have a high manufacturing cost risk transmitting diseases, in particular viral diseases, and when they are of porcine origin or treated with porcine heparin, surgeons face refusal of patients on religious grounds.
The application WO 95/35078 describes a sclerectomy implant, with or without incision of the trabeculum, made from methylmethacrylate/vinylpyrrolidone copolymer with a high water content of the order of 40% It comprises an intra-scleral part adapted to be positioned against the trabeculum within an opening under the scleral flap and a sub-conjunctival part which emerges from the sclera and is lodged under the conjunctiva. The outer end of the implant pours aqueous humor under the conjunctiva and forms a bleb which is visible through the conjunctiva.


A particle surface-modifying method has the steps of suspending particles in a liquid containing a modifier so as to prepare a suspension, and heating the suspension while it is being transported so that the surface of the particles is modified by the modifier. This method makes it possible to provide surface-modified particles having a comparatively small particle size at low costs for a short time by using simple operations, without causing the particles to be charged.

The present invention relates to a particle surface-modifying method and a particle surface-modifying device which can provide modified particles that have, for example, a superior dispersion property and that are preferably used for ink-jet recording liquid, ball-point pens and marking pens, by modifying (adding hydrophilic groups) the surface of the particles using a modifier such as, for example, an oxidizing agent.
With respect to methods for modifying the surface of various particles, besides those dry-type methods, a method for carrying out polymerization in a liquid phase has been conventionally known, and more specifically, various modifying methods have been put into practice, in which, for example, particles having a hydrophobic property (hydrophobic substance) are treated by a hydrophilic modifier so that a film of the modifier is formed on the surface of the particles so as to impart a hydrophilic property thereto, that is, modifying methods for coating the surface of the particles with a modifier having a hydrophilic property.
With respect to the above-mentioned modifying methods, for example, xe2x80x9cFine Particle Handbookxe2x80x9d (edited by Motoji Jinbo; the first copies of the first edition of which were published by Asakura Shoten K. K. on Sep. 1, 1991), pages 383-394, discloses a surface-modifying method using a kneading and pulverizing method, a spray drying method, etc.
Moreover, for example, xe2x80x9cFine Particle Engineeringxe2x80x94Basics and Application of Dispersionxe2x80x9d (edited by the Japan Powder Industry Technological Association; the first copies of the first edition of which were published by Asakura Shoten K. K. on Jun. 25, 1994), pages 123-136, discloses a method in which: a dissimilar component in powder (surface modifier) is physically bound to the surface of powder particles by using a high-speed rotary impact pulverizer or a dry-type pulverizer, such as a grinding mill, a ball mill, a roll mill, a medium-stirring-type pulverizer, and a jet mill, so that coating-type composite particles the surface of which has been modified in its characteristic are manufactured.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional modifying methods, since, upon treating the particles by using a modifier, the particles are stirred using a stirring device such as stirring blades, the particles are charged through friction, etc. For this reason, the resulting modified particles (hydrophilic particles) tend to adhere to the inner walls of a housing member (hopper) due to its charged state, resulting in a maltransportation; this causes difficulties in handling the particles. Moreover, in the above-mentioned conventional modifying methods, since the modifier is physically bound to the surface of the particles, it takes a very long time to carry out the processes, complex operations are required for carrying out the above-mentioned processes, and expensive devices need to be provided.
In addition, in the above-mentioned conventional modifying methods, the particle size of the resulting modified particles tends to vary depending on the particle size prior to the process, and since particle aggregation, etc. tends to occur upon treating the particles by using a modifier, the resulting modified particles tend to have great particle sizes and become irregular.
Moreover, in the above-mentioned conventional methods, upon carrying out processes in the order of sub-micron, it is difficult to carry out the above-mentioned processes on each of the particles in a stable manner due to the defect that the fine particles are highly susceptible to aggregation.
Furthermore, in the above-mentioned conventional methods, since the surface of the particles is treated using a modifier by stirring the particles and the modifier by using a stirring device, far more amounts of various chemicals, such as a modifier, have to be used beyond what is theoretically required for the surface treatment of the particles, and post processes such as treatment for waste liquid, etc. to a great amount of various residual chemicals. Therefore, another problem of the above-mentioned conventional methods is that the manufacturing costs of the surface-modifying particles (including costs of post treatments) become high.
As described above, any of the above-mentioned conventional modifying methods, that is, the above-mentioned conventional manufacturing method of hydrophilic particles, fails to manufacture uniform hydrophilic particles having a comparatively small particle size at low costs for a short time by using a simple device with simple operations, without causing the particles to be charged.
The present invention has been devised to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its objective is to provide a particle surface-modifying method and a particle surface-modifying method which can manufacture uniform hydrophilic particles having a comparatively small particle size at low costs for a short time by using a simple device with simple operations, without causing the particles to be charged.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the particle surface-modifying method of the present invention has an arrangement in which, after particles have been suspended in a liquid containing a modifier so as to prepare a suspension, the suspension is heated while being transported so that the surface of the particles is modified by the modifier.
Another particle surface-modifying method of the present invention has an arrangement in which, after particles have been suspended in a liquid containing a modifier so as to prepare a suspension, the liquid is evaporated while the suspension is being transported so that the surface of the particles is modified by the modifier.
In the above-mentioned method, by heating the suspension while being transported, the liquid in the suspension can be, for example, partially nuclear boiled during the transporting process with the particles serving as nuclei, or evaporated, successively in a stable manner, while the suspension is being transported. Thus, in this method, the surface of the particles is heated in the presence of the modifier at the portions being nuclear boiled or evaporated so that it becomes possible to efficiently modify the surface of the particles by using the modifier, and consequently to obtain surface-modified particles.
Moreover, in the above-mentioned method, the respective particles tend to aggregate with each other when they have a small particle size (in particular, in not more than the sub-micron order); however, while the respective aggregating particles are being dispersed by applying an external force exerted by an abrupt volume expansion due to nuclear boiling by application of heat, for example, by a volume expansion of 1000 times exerted by evaporated water, the surface of each of the particles is modified by the modifier. For this reason, the above-mentioned method makes it possible to eliminate the conventional stirring process for restricting the aggregation, and consequently, to avoid charging of the particles.
As a result, the above-mentioned method makes it possible to manufacture uniform surface modified particles having a comparatively small particle size at low costs for a short time by using simple operations, while preventing the particles from being charged.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the particle surface-modifying device of the present invention is provided with a particle suspension section for preparing a suspension in which particles are suspended in a liquid containing a modifier and a modifying section for preparing surface modified particles by modifying the surface of the particles by using the modifier, wherein the modifying section modifies the surface of the particles by using the modifier while allowing the suspension from the particle suspension section to boil, and transports the surface modified particles by using a pneumatic transport derived from evaporated gas from the liquid in the suspension.
With the above-mentioned arrangement, the surface modified particles are prepared by modifying the surface of the particles by using the modifier while the suspension, prepared by the particle suspension section, is being allowed to boil; therefore, in the same manner as the above-mentioned method of the present invention, it becomes possible to prepare uniform surface modifying particles having a comparatively small particle size in a more stable manner.
In addition, in the above-mentioned arrangement, the surface modified particles are transported by using the pneumatic transport derived from evaporated gas from the liquid in the suspension; therefore, the transportation of the surface modified particles is simplified, and the modifying section can be provided, for example, as a tube form extending in a perpendicular direction, with a result that the floor space of the modifying section can be reduced.
Consequently, in the above-mentioned arrangement, the application of the pneumatic transport derived from the evaporated gas makes it possible to simplify the device construction and also to miniaturize the device and reduce the occupied space.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the ensuing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method for adding hydrophilic groups to the surface of particles


A vehicle seat having a seat back including an actuatable back panel. The back panel of the seat back may be moved between a normal, or flush position, and an actuated, or spaced position, relative to the seat back assembly. The back panel is provided with clips that may be used to connect the back panel to the vehicle seat assembly or suspension. The back panel is actuated in the event of a rear end collision to provide added clearance for operation of an active head restraint system. Seat accessories, such as an adjustable lumbar system or heating/cooling system may be secured to the back panel as a sub-assembly to facilitate manufacture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat that has a back panel that is movable relative to the seat between a position in which the back panel is flush mounted to the seat and a position in which the back panel is spaced relative to the seat.
2. Background Art
Vehicle seats are relatively complex structures including a combination of sub-systems that may be used to position the seat, provide heating and cooling, provide an adjustable lumbar support, in addition to providing a comfortable seating area for occupants. First and foremost, vehicle seats must provide a safe and comfortable seating area. The size of a vehicle seat must be limited to maximize vehicle interior space. For enhanced safety, vehicle seats may be provided with passive or active head restraints that are partially received within the interior of a vehicle seat. Other sub-systems, such as an adjustable lumbar support, heating system, cooling system, or position adjustment systems may also be required to be accommodated, in the whole or in part, within the body of a vehicle seat. Accommodating all of these elements in a vehicle seat presents substantial packaging problems in the design of the vehicle seat.
Active head restraints may be of different types. One type of active head restraint has a pivoting linkage that is actuated by the penetration of a person's torso into the seat that engages the linkage and, in turn, pivots the head restraint forwardly and also upwardly to reduce the travel of the seat occupant's head in the event of a collision. These types of linkages require clearance to properly function. The amount of clearance may be limited by the shape and position of the back panel of the seat. In particular, the upper link and head restraint armature may be required to move rearwardly depending upon the structure of the linkage. Rearward movement of the linkage may necessitate increased seat back depth to avoid contact with the seat back panel. Providing increased seat back depth runs counter to the need to provide maximum leg room for rear seat passengers.
Assembly of additional systems into a seat back becomes more complicated when more systems are included. Lumbar systems and heating/cooling systems may be attached to the seat frame by specialized brackets that increase the cost of the seat assembly and also complicate the assembly process. Such systems take up space within the seat and reduce the space available for movement of an active head restraint linkage. Assembly is further complicated by requirements that lumbar supports and temperature modification systems are normally designed to prevent non-functional movement of such systems. Non-functional movement of such systems may cause unwanted noise and vibration and may adversely impact performance of the systems.
Seat back panels are normally sculpted to maximize the leg room available for rear seat passengers. Recesses in the back panel further limit the space available for movement of the active head restraint. Back panels are normally tightly secured to a seat with conventional fasteners, such as screws or clip-type connectors. Depending upon design features and constraints, the back panel of a vehicle seat may either be a relatively rigid molded member or may be formed by a fabric, leather or other flexible web that may be stretched across a frame or otherwise secured to the seat back.
There is a need for a vehicle seat having a seat back that provides ample clearance for the operation of active head restraint linkages, provides added support for seat components, and also facilitates assembly of other seating accessories within the seat.

Actuatable back panel for a vehicle seat


A cutting apparatus and method are disclosed to form the preferential fracture line of a capsule for closing containers, in which a rotating carousel carries a plurality of spindles, each of which can engage a respective capsule that is rolled against a contact surface made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and in which a fixed blade with a circular sector performs the cut on the rolling capsule, the cutting apparatus and method being applicable to capsules of different dimensions and types.

The invention relates to a cutting apparatus and method, in particular for cutting or incising products made of plastics and/or a metal material (for example aluminium and/or steel).
Specifically but not exclusively, the invention can be used to produce capsules made of plastics for closing containers, in particular for making the preferential weakening or fracture line, arranged between the closing portion of the capsule and the guarantee ring or band, for defining a safety device that is able to proof that the first opening of the capsule has taken place.
Making the preferential fracture line of a guarantee band of a capsule by a cutting apparatus including a rotating carousel that carries a plurality of spindles is known, each of which spindle is rotatable around its own axis, in which a spindle engages a respective capsule to be cut and, by a movement that includes a rotation around the axis thereof and a rotation around the axis of the carousel, rotates the capsule on an abutting element that carries a shaped blade according to the type of cut that it is desired to perform.
Patent publications WO 2004/004993 A1 and WO 2011/058500 A1 show examples of cutting apparatuses of the type mentioned above.
In cutting apparatuses of known type, in order to rotate the capsules with respect to the cutting tool, the latter is generally fitted to a circular sector provided with knurling that is couplable by meshing with complementary knurling provided on the side wall of the capsule.
Known apparatuses have however some limits and drawbacks.
In the first place, with the varying of the dimensions of the capsule and/or of the shape and/or of the pitch of the knurling, the knurled sector has to be replaced, with a resulting increase in the complication and cost of the machining.
Secondly, in the case of capsules having knurls with teeth spaced far apart from one another, there is a risk that the meshing between the knurling of the circular sector and that of the capsule is irregular or imprecise, in particular with possible complications in the critical step of transition between a tooth of one knurl and another, with a consequent risk of an imprecise and uneven cut being made.
Further, in the case of capsules devoid of knurling, the knurling of the circular sector is not able to engage the capsules effectively. In these cases in general a knurled blade is used that in addition to forming the weakening line between the closing portion of the capsule and the guarantee band should ensure correct rolling of the capsule. This nevertheless involves significant structural complication and high risks of malfunction.


A computer-readable medium has computer-executable instructions for generating a user interface on a display device, the user interface includes a grid having a plurality of cells. The user interface also includes a visual affordance presented on the grid and visually connected to one of the plurality of cells, the visual affordance exposing properties of the one of the plurality of cells to which it is visually connected.

Currently in data entry applications, two-dimensional grids having cells are often used. For example grid level entry of data, for items like time entry, can be easiest to understand when presented in an X-Y grid where columns conform to dates and rows conform to tasks or subjects. This metaphor relies heavily on existing use of a standard calendar format, and currently is a widely used user interface (UI) format for time entry. Similar X-Y grid formats are frequently used in other data entry applications as well.
However, in many systems more information can or must be associated with some or all of the cells of a grid. Using the time entry example, information which may need to be associated with a particular time entry cell could include overtime rates, location, billable or non-billable categories of the time entry, comments, and other variations. As a further example, in some cases start and stop time needs to be recorded for a task/day cell. Currently, this information is often represented in or linked to the cell using icons and additional dialogs to indicate these fields. These techniques have a tendency to overload the cell in some instances. Using dialogs, typically in the form of dialog boxes which pop up and float (are moveable) on the display screen, is especially problematic as it takes the user out of the context of the grid to present additional fields to manipulate.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.


A fuel injection control apparatus and method for an internal combustion engine are provided for appropriately controlling the amounts of fuel supplied from an in-cylinder fuel injection valve and a port fuel injection valve to a cylinder in a simple control approach while satisfactorily reflecting a fuel transport behavior as a whole cylinder. An ECU calculates a required in-cylinder injection amount and a required port injection amount, calculates an in-cylinder injected fuel behavior parameter of a fuel from the in-cylinder fuel injection valve and a port injected fuel behavior parameter of the fuel from the port fuel injection valve, a net in-cylinder injection amount in accordance with the in-cylinder and port injected fuel behavior parameters based on the required in-cylinder injection amount, and a net port injection amount in accordance with the in-cylinder and port injected fuel behavior parameters based on the required port injection amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection control apparatus and method for an internal combustion engine which is supplied with a fuel by an in-cylinder fuel injection valve for injecting the fuel into a cylinder, and a port fuel injection valve for injecting the fuel into an intake system including an intake port.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as this type of fuel injection control apparatus for an internal combustion engine, one described, for example, in Laid-open Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-337102 is known. In this fuel injection control apparatus, the proportion of an in-cylinder injection amount injected from an in-cylinder fuel injection valve to a port injection amount injected from a port fuel injection valve is set in accordance with a detected operating condition of an internal combustion engine. Also, when the proportion of the port injection amount decreases while the proportion of the port injection amount increases, an increased amount of the port injection amount is divided into a primary injection for injecting an amount of fuel in accordance with the operating condition of the internal combustion engine, and a secondary injection which precedes the primary injection. Also, the amount of fuel injected in the secondary injection is set to the amount of fuel sticking to the inner wall of an intake passage, thereby compensating for a lack of fuel supplied to a combustion chamber due to the fuel sticking to the inner wall of the intake passage.
When a port fuel injection valve is provided in conjunction with an in-cylinder fuel injection valve, as is the case with the foregoing conventional internal combustion engine, the sticking of fuel is not limited to a fuel injected from the port fuel injection valve, but is involved in a fuel injected from the in-cylinder fuel injection valve, where the fuel can stick to the inner wall surface of a combustion chamber, for example, the inner wall surface of a cylinder, the top surface of a piston, and the like. However, in the conventional fuel injection control apparatus, a correction against the sticking is made only for a fuel injected from the port fuel injection valve, so that a fuel transport behavior of the whole cylinder, including the sticking of a fuel injected from the in-cylinder fuel injection valve, is not reflected. As a result, the amount of fuel actually used in the combustion in the combustion chamber cannot be appropriately controlled, failing to achieve a desired air-fuel ratio.
Also, in this fuel injection control apparatus, the correction against the sticking is performed exclusively in an operating condition in which the proportion of the port injection amount is increasing, so that an appropriate fuel injection amount reflecting a fuel transport behavior cannot be set in other operating conditions of the internal combustion engine. Further, since fuel injection amounts are set by control approaches different from each other between the operating condition in which the proportion of the port injection amount is increasing and other operating conditions, the entire control logic is complicated, and the air-fuel ratio is more likely to vary before and after switching between the control approaches.

Fuel injection control apparatus and method for internal combustion engine


A parallel traveling control system detects distances to a guide rail provided on a road surface of a traveling lane or set close thereto, and drives the brake pressures in such a direction that the distances between the vehicle and the guide rail coincide with set values. Additionally, the system detects the rotation of the steering wheel, designates automatic parallel traveling in which the brake pressures are driven to correct the vehicle's direction, and terminates automatic parallel traveling when the steering wheel is rotated more than a predetermined angle.

The present invention is directed generally to automatic control over an advancing direction of a vehicle which travels on a road surface, and more particularly, to an advancing direction automatic control system for parallel traveling while automatically keeping constant distances to guide means provided on the road surface of a traveling lane or aside of the lane or set in the air along the traveling lane.
With the intention of attaining high-density traveling in which vehicle intervals are shortened on a highway, there have hitherto been proposed automatic parallel traveling control and automatic acceleration/deceleration control, the arrangement being such that: a guide board is disposed along a traveling lane; distances between a vehicle and the guide board and a distance to a preceding vehicle are measured from on the vehicle; a steering shaft is automatically rotationally driven so that the distances between the guide board and the vehicle come to set values; if the distance to the preceding vehicle is large, the vehicle is accelerated by opening a throttle valve; whereas if small, the vehicle is made to travel in parallel with the guide board by automatically effecting wheel braking; and at the same time the inter-vehicle distance is shortened to the greatest possible degree so as to be more than the set value. There have also been proposed automatic parallel traveling control and automatic acceleration/deceleration control wherein a white line on the road surface is picked up on a video picture while photographing the front road surface by means of a TV camera, the steering shaft is automatically rotationally driven so that a distance between the white line and the vehicle of user's own becomes a set value, and opening/closing of the throttle valve and wheel braking are controlled by detecting a front vehicle and obstacles.
In these proposals of the automatic parallel traveling control, if the distance between the vehicle and guide means such as the guide board and the white line deviates from the set value, the steering shaft is automatically rotationally driven to move forward in such a direction as to obviate this deviation. As a result, the driver feels it strange that a steering wheel rotates, though not intended to make revolutions. For instance, in the case of a curved traveling lane, the driver visually recognizes the curvedness and therefore turns the steering wheel to adjust the vehicle to the curvature of the traveling lane. A driver accustomed to power assist steering is not so amazed at the auto-rotation of the steering wheel with no feeling of strangeness. If the vehicle starts deviating from a straight traveling lane due to, e.g., a heavy sideway wind, and thus the steering wheel is automatically rotationally driven to compensate the deviation, it follows that the driver will be alarmed about the abrupt auto-rotation of the steering wheel unless the driver himself or herself recognizes the possible of disturbance in the advancing direction which is caused by the sideway wind at that time. As is broadly known, mental disturbances induced during highspeed traveling are unfavorable in terms of safe driving.
When the driver changes the traveling lane, the steering wheel is automatically rotationally driven in such a direction that the automatic parallel traveling control functions to hinder a change in course that deviates from the lane along which the vehicle is now traveling, as a consequence of which the driver is not allowed to smoothly change the traveling lane. Hence, there are required release operations of returning a parallel traveling indication switch for indicating the auto parallel traveling control to an open state where releasing is designated or putting a separately provided release indication switch into a closed state where the drivers gives an instruction of releasing.
On the occasion of a change in course or exiting from the highway, the necessity for the above-mentioned releasing operations probably adds a danger to driving of the vehicle, and it is therefore desirable that the parallel traveling control be automatically released without requiring special operations.


A device includes a metal pad, a passivation layer overlapping edge portions of the metal pad, and a first polymer layer over the passivation layer. A Post-Passivation-Interconnect (PPI) has a level portion overlying the first polymer layer, and a plug portion that has a top connected to the level portion. The plug portion extends into the first polymer layer. A bottom surface of the plug portion is in contact with a dielectric material. A second polymer layer is overlying the first polymer layer.

In the formation of a wafer-level chip scale package (WLCSP), integrated circuit devices such as transistors are first formed at the surface of a semiconductor substrate in a wafer. An interconnect structure is then formed over the integrated circuit devices. A metal pad is formed over, and is electrically coupled to, the interconnect structure. A passivation layer and a first polymer layer are formed on the metal pad, with the metal pad exposed through the openings in the passivation layer and the first polymer layer.
Post-passivation interconnect (PPI) is then formed, followed by the formation of a second polymer layer over the PPI. An Under-Bump-Metallurgy (UBM) is formed extending into an opening in the second polymer layer, wherein the UBM is electrically connected to the PPI. A solder ball is then placed over the UBM and reflowed.

Post passivation interconnect structures and methods for forming the same

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A self-standing livestock feeder for holding salt, minerals, grain, and the like. The livestock feeder includes a plurality of leg members constructed of a polymeric material, a circularly-shaped trough constructed of a polymeric material, and a feed storage bin constructed of a tubular polymeric material. The trough and the feed storage bin are supported on the legs by a polymeric support ring. The feed storage bin has at least one feed dispensing opening disposed through the feed storage bin at the lower end thereof to permit gravitational flow of feed from the feed storage bin into the trough via the feed dispensing openings whereby such feed is accessible to livestock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to livestock feeders, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved feeder for feeding livestock salt, minerals, grains, and the like.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
Feeders for feeding livestock salt, grain, minerals and other pellatized foodstuffs are well known. Customarily, such feeders have been constructed of rigid materials, such as wood or metal. Such construction often results in the feeders becoming damaged or permanently deformed when engaged by an animal or during the transport of the feeder. It further results in the rotting of the wood, the formation of rust, the need for metal welding and for continually painting, and the development of sharp edges which can cause serious injury to an animal.
The construction of prior art livestock feeders further poses difficulty in the transport of such feeders and the preservation of feed contained in the feeder. More specifically, prior art livestock feeders are not easily disassembled for storage and transportation because they are either of unitary construction or configured of bulky components which are not easy to store and transport. In addition, such feeders are usually shaped so as to prevent the feeder from being moved from one location to another in a field or pasture by an individual without the feeder being susceptible to damage or permanent deformation. The construction of prior art livestock feeders also results in feed contained in the feeders being exposed to moisture which can cause the feed to solidify or cake and thus be nonconsumable by livestock.
To this end, a need has long existed for an improved livestock feeder which is resilient when engaged by livestock, easy to assemble and disassemble, easy to transport when either assembled or disassembled, and constructed to store and preserve a supply of feed. It is to such an improved livestock feeder that the present invention is directed.


An image pick-up device and a chromatic aberration correcting method are provided in which a satisfactory correction processing can be performed even when the image pickup device, such as a camera, simultaneously performs shake correction. An output signal from a camera-signal processing circuit is selected by a selector switch and is supplied to a chromatic aberration correcting unit. An angular velocity due to the camera shake is detected using sensors and the detected signal is supplied to a camera shake correcting vector calculating unit. A driving state of a camera lens is supplied to a conversion-ratio calculating unit. An optical axis centered shift vector of camera lens is obtained from the camera shake correcting vector and is supplied to the correcting unit. Accordingly the picture-quality deterioration caused in the miniaturized camera lens can be compensated by processing the captured image signal, and also a satisfactory correction processing can be performed even when the camera shake correction is performed simultaneously.

A video camera, a digital still camera or the like each includes a camera lens, an image pickup means for converting the image light passing through the camera lens into an electric image signal, and a camera-signal processing means for processing the image signal. An output signal from the camera-signal processing means is output to the outside or is recorded in a recording medium.
In this connection, a so-called optical lens is employed for the camera lens. The image light passing through the camera lens from an object is separated into light of three primary colors of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) by, for example, a spectro-filter, and forms an image on a picture making plane of the image pickup means including a CCD, CMOS sensor and the like, and then converted into an electric image signal.
On the other hand, miniaturization of the video camera or digital still camera is rapidly pushed forward and miniaturization of the camera lens is also demanded. Accordingly, in order to miniaturize the camera lens, ones as before in which multiple lenses are combined and used is often replaced with a small one using a single lens or a few lenses. However, with such miniaturized camera lens, it will be difficult to sufficiently suppress the deterioration of picture quality caused in lens due to so-called chromatic aberration and the like.
Specifically, in the optical lens, a refractive index of the lens differs at each wavelength of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) separated by, for example, a spectro-filter, so that a phenomenon occurs in which a red (R) image is formed outside a green (G) image and a blue (B) image is formed inside the green (G) image, as shown in, for example, FIG. 4. Therefore, there is a problem in which even in the case where a monochrome image is taken, for example, a color blurring (color shift) appears at an edge of the image.
Thus, in order to suppress the deterioration of picture quality such as color blurring or resolution lowering due to such chromatic difference of magnification (also called lateral chromatic aberration), conventionally a large number of lenses were combined to perform correction inside the camera lens. However, in the above-described miniaturized camera lens, it becomes difficult to sufficiently suppress such deterioration of picture quality only inside the camera lens.
To cope with this difficulty, an apparatus disclosed in, for example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. H5-3568 is previously proposed as a means for suppressing the above-described deterioration of picture quality such as color blurring or resolution lowering due to the chromatic difference of magnification.
Specifically, the apparatus disclosed in the Patent Gazette is an apparatus in which image signals of each color of R, G, B derived from a CCD (image pickup device) are once converted into digital data and temporarily stored in each individual field memory, respectively. Further, based on a driving state of the camera lens such as a zoom focal length and a focal position, each picture stored in each field memory is enlarged or reduced by moving individually vectors of entire pixels in each field memory and then R, G, B are synthesized again for correcting the color shift occurring in the camera lens of a video camera.
Incidentally, when a picture is taken by a small-sized video camera or digital still camera, for example, held by hand, there is a risk that an image blurring due to so-called camera shake or the like may happen. Thus, for the purpose of removing the disadvantage such as the image blurring, a so-called camera shake correction device is installed in the small-sized video camera or digital still camera. FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the video camera or digital still camera in which the camera shake correction device is installed.
In FIG. 5, image light from an object (not shown) passing through a camera lens 50 forms an image on the picture making plane of an image pickup means 51 including CCD, CMOS sensors and the like and is converted into an electric image signal including, for example, an intensity (Y) signal and two color-difference (Cb, Cr) signals. The image signal is supplied to a camera-signal processing circuit 52, where signal processing such as a so-called γ correction is made to form an ordinary image signal used for general-purpose video equipment. On the other hand, in order to detect the so-called camera shake, angular velocities due to the camera shake in Pitch and Yaw directions are detected using, for example, two gyro-sensors 53P and 53Y in this example. Moreover, for example, a zoom focal length of the camera lens 50 operated by a user is detected from the camera lens 50. Additionally, to detect the zoom focal length, an operational signal from a manual input means 54 operated by a user for example, can be employed.
The angular-velocity signals detected by the gyro-sensors 53P and 53Y are supplied to high-pass filters (HPF) 55P and 55Y, where DC components are removed; on the other hand, data on the above-described zoom focal length is supplied to a table 56 and necessary operational coefficients are found from those data; and the operational coefficients are supplied to multipliers 57P and 57Y, and are multiplied there by signals from the high-pass filters 55P and 55Y. Output signals from the multipliers 57P and 57Y are further supplied to integrators 58P and 58Y, respectively.
Therefore, information on angles of the camera lens 50 varied by the camera shake is derived from those integrators 58P and 58Y. The angular information on the camera shake is supplied to, for example, the image pickup means 51 through limiter circuits 59P and 59Y and a position at which the image signal is taken out from the image pickup means 51 is controlled. Specifically, for example, the image pickup means is provided with a picture making plane wider than a size of the original picture, and a necessary picture is taken out from the picture making plane so as to cancel out the fluctuation due to camera shake.
In this way, the so-called camera shake correction is performed in the small-sized video camera or digital still camera. Additionally, the following methods are practiced as a means for performing the camera shake correction other than controlling the position to take out the image signal from the camera means 51 as described above, in which all image signals captured by the image pickup means 51 are once stored in a memory 60 and then a position at which the image signal is read out from the memory 60 is controlled, or a partial lens position of the camera lens 50 is shifted for correction.
Furthermore, the information on angles of the camera lens 50 varied by the camera shake can also be taken out by the other means than that using the above-described gyro-sensors 53P and 53Y. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, by storing the image signal from the image pickup means 51 in a frame memory 61 and then comparing the image signals prior to and subsequent to the frame memory 61 with each other by a comparator circuit 62, it is possible to calculate the angular information on the camera shake from displacement of an image of the background and the like. In addition, the calculated angular information on camera shake can be utilized in all the above-described camera shake correction means.
However, it is proved that, when such camera shake correction is performed, if the compensation for the picture-quality deterioration such as color blurring or resolution lowering due to the chromatic difference of magnification is attempted, a sufficient correction cannot be made. Specifically, in the above-described device, when vectors of whole pixels in each field memory are moved individually, the center must correspond with an optical axis of the camera lens; however, if the camera shake correction is performed, the position of the optical axis is moved and it is difficult to correspond with the center.
For this reason, the compensation for picture-quality deterioration due to chromatic aberration, for example could not be performed simultaneously with the camera shake correction in the past. However, in conventional kinds of system having a small number of pixels, the picture-quality deterioration, for example, due to chromatic aberration is less noticeable, particularly when taking a picture requiring the camera shake correction. Lately, however, as the result that the increase in the number of pixels of a picture has been demanded, the influence of the picture-quality deterioration due to chromatic aberration or the like becomes conspicuous under every situation.
The present invention is made in view of the above and aims to solve the following problems. Conventionally, as the camera lens is miniaturized, the problem of picture-quality deterioration such as color blurring and resolution lowering is raised due to the chromatic difference of magnification, and it is difficult to sufficiently suppress the picture-quality deterioration only by the camera lens, and particularly when the compensation for such picture-quality deterioration is performed by enlarging or reducing a picture of each color, the problem is posed that the camera shake correction cannot be performed simultaneously therewith.

Image pickup device and chromatic aberration correction method


A photoconductive substrate is provided to voltage modulate a liquid crystal layer in response to input light. The substrate is partitioned into electrically isolated pixels to eliminate lateral spread of charge carriers therein, and increase the dynamic range of the liquid crystal light valve while preserving resolution. The substrate is partitioned by forming an interconnecting network of deep trenches in a surface thereof, and filling the trenches with an insulating material such as silicon dioxide. The opposite surface of the substrate is etched away to expose the silicon dioxide in the trenches, thereby providing the substrate with partitions which extend completely therethrough between the opposite surfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of optoelectronics, and more specifically to an isolated pixel photoconductive structure for voltage modulating a liquid crystal layer in a liquid crystal light valve.
2. Description of the Related Art
The silicon photoconductor based liquid crystal light valve (LCLV), or spatial light modulator, performs the function of converting an input light image having a certain wavelength, intensity, and coherence conditions into an output image in which some or all of these parameters are varied. Applications of LCLVs include image amplifiers, wavelength converters, incoherent-to-coherent image converters, and adaptive optics. While image amplifiers find uses in large screen displays such as theaters, flight simulators, and command and control displays, image wavelength converters are used for displaying visible images from infrared scenery and the like. Incoherent-to-coherent image converters are used primarily for optical image processing.
The silicon LCLV to which the present invention constitutes a novel improvement is described in an article by U. Efron et al, entitled "The silicon liquid-crystal light valve", J. Appl. Phys. 57(4), Feb. 1985. The device consists of a high resistivity, .pi.-silicon photoconductive layer or substrate, coupled with a dielectric silicon dioxide layer to form an MOS structure. A unified thin-film structure consisting of a dielectric mirror and a light blocking layer provides the high broadband reflectivity required, as well as optical isolation of the photoconductor from the high-intensity readout beam. The readout beam is reflected by the dielectric mirror through the liquid crystal. The latter is usually operated in a hybrid field effect mode. The MOS mode of operation consists of periodic depletion and accumulation phases. In the depletion (active) phase, the high-resistivity .pi.-silicon is depleted completely, and electron-hole pairs generated by the input light are swept by the electric field, thereby producing the signal current that activates the liquid crystal.
The electric field existing in the depletion region acts to focus the signal charges, and to preserve the spatial resolution of the input image at relatively low photogenerated charge densities. However, at larger charge densities associated with a larger signal dynamic range, the photogenerated charge carriers will diffuse or spread laterally in a potential free region near the silicon back surface where the charge is generated. This is caused by partial collapse of the depletion region as the charge density increases. The signal charge goes through further lateral drift and diffusion as it drifts through the silicon thickness, and most importantly, to an even greater extent at the silicon/dielectric layer interface where the charge resides for a finite length of time. This lateral drift and diffusion of the signal charge results in significant loss in device resolution.
The lateral spread of photogenerated charge at the silicon/dielectric interface has been conventionally limited by means of a grid of "microdiodes" formed by regions of opposite doping polarity implanted into the silicon layer at the interface. The grid acts to focus the incoming charge carriers into the resolution cell defined by it, as well as to form "charge buckets" of carriers already residing at the interface.
Although effective at relatively low levels of photogenerated charge, the microdiode grid cannot contain the signal charge residing at the interface at high excitation levels. Once the potential wells formed by these diodes are partially filled with the signal charge, the surface potential is decreased and the charge can spill over to adjacent pixel areas. In addition, the microdiodes are not operative to prevent lateral spread of charge carriers at the silicon back interface at which the charges are generated, or in the bulk portion of the silicon layer. This limits the liquid crystal voltage swing and thereby the signal dynamic range and image contrast attainable in a LCLV without an accompanying loss of resolution.

Method of fabricating an isolated pixel photoconductive structure


A system for fixing and/or emergency opening of a leaf of a door, a window or other closure comprises a drive having at least one mechanical energy storage device, at least one electric motor having a motor shaft operatively connected to the leaf, and control electronics for controlling the electric motor. The electric motor can be actuated by the control electronics both for damping of the leaf movements and for fixing of the leaf against a force of the mechanical storage device and/or for electric motor-driven emergency opening of the leaf.

The invention relates to a system for the fixing and/or emergency opening of a leaf of a door, a window or the like, comprising a drive with at least one mechanical energy storage device, which is charged by an opening movement of the leaf and is discharged by a closing movement of the leaf, at least one electric motor, the motor shaft of which is operatively connected to the leaf, and open-loop and/or closed-loop control electronics, by means of which the electric motor can be actuated for generator-like damping of the leaf movements.
Drives or door closers for movable door leaves comprising a mechanical energy storage device and hydraulic damping are generally known. When a door leaf is opened manually, the mechanical energy storage device is charged with potential energy, which closes the released door leaf again. The mechanical energy storage device, for example, can comprise a spring, which is tensioned by the manual opening of the door leaf and is relaxed again as the door leaf is closed.
Door closers damped in a generator-like manner comprising at least one electric motor operated as a generator, the motor shaft of which is operatively connected to the leaf and the motor terminals of which can be short-circuited by means of open-loop or closed-loop control electronics in order to damp the leaf movements are also already known. Apart from a housing and a fitting for connection between a transmission and door leaf, such a door closer damped in a generator-like manner generally again also comprises a spring used as a mechanical storage device.
As the door is manually opened, the spring is tensioned, as a result of which potential energy is charged into the spring. At the same time, the transmission usually associated with the electric motor is rotated as the door is opened. The at least one electric motor is generally a brushed or brushless magnetically excited DC motor. On the one hand, electrical energy for the open-loop or closed-loop control electronics is thus generated from the leaf movement. On the other hand, the movement of the door leaf can be damped by means of the open-loop or closed-loop control electronics by short-circuiting of the motor windings. In particular, once the door leaf has been released, the closing movement of the door leaf caused by the relaxing spring can be damped in a controlled or regulated manner by means of the open-loop or closed-loop control electronics respectively, and, for example, this can be implemented by means of a pulse-width modulation of the short circuit according to the current position or the current speed of the door leaf.
Such a door leaf damped in a generator-like manner, similarly to a known hydraulically damped door closer, generally operates self-sufficiently, i.e. it does not require an external electrical energy source, either via the mains grid or via an accumulator.
A fixing device, according to the current guidelines, must cancel the self-closing property of the door closer by means of electrical energy according to the open-circuit principle. In the event of an alarm, triggered, for example, by a fire detector, the trigger device of a fire detector control unit switches the electrical energy off, as a result of which the fixing device is released and the door leaf is closed by the spring constituting the mechanical storage device. If no electrical energy is applied to the fixing device, the door closes after being manually opened. Here, the door is closed in a controlled, i.e. damped, manner.
If a door closer is mounted on a supply air door, said door closer thus normally operates like a conventional door closer. In the case of an alarm, such as in the event of a fire or if there is smoke present, a smoke and heat extraction system supplies electrical energy, as a result of which the supply-air door is opened against the force of the spring of the door closer. Smoke is thus extracted in this manner from the building in question by means of the corresponding exhaust-air windows.
To this end, a supply-air opener is mounted beforehand, in addition to the hydraulic door closer, and generally comprises a motor transmission unit, which opens the door leaf by means of a lever or a roller. Supply-air openers and door closers in this case have to be decoupled to the extent that the door leaf can still be manually opened even if the supply-air opener is closed. In the event of a fire, the smoke and heat extraction control unit supplies electrical energy, as a result of which the supply-air opener opens the door leaf and keeps it open as long as the warning signal of the smoke and heat extraction control unit or the corresponding electrical energy is present.
The previously known door closers or drives damped in a generator-like manner cannot keep the door leaf open against the force of the mechanical storage device, i.e. they cannot fix the door leaf, nor can they open the door leaf against the force of the mechanical storage device, i.e. they cannot perform the supply air function for smoke and heat extraction.

Fixing and/or emergency opening system for a door leaf


A container and closure package includes container material stock formed of a severable material defining an opening therein defining a removable confetti portion and a dispensing member molded to the material stock. The dispensing member is superimposed over the opening to substantially overlie the confetti portion. The confetti portion can be ejected from the material stock when the dispensing member is molded to the container stock and can be integrated into the closure package to form a portion thereof. The dispensing member can be a spout and can include a cover or cap integral therewith. The cap is formed with the confetti portion forming a portion of the top wall thereof. Alternately, the closure package includes a spout, such as a threaded spout which is formed extending from the container stock. The confetti portion is formed integral with the spout to establish a seal therefor. The seal can be gas-impermeable.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to closures and closure membranes. More particularly, the invention relates to closures and closure membranes that incorporate a portion of the container cut-out therein, and methods of forming such closures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Containers having spouts incorporated into the packaging have come into widespread use. Such containers are used for, for example, storing liquid, powdered and granulated goods. These types of containers are commonly used in the food packaging industry.
One type of commonly used package includes a closure having an upstanding, molded spout. These containers will be recognized as those used for packaging juice and the like. Typically, the spout has a threaded body that is injection molded, that is then mounted onto the container and permanently affixed thereto. The container can be of the gable top type, formed of laminated fiber of paper-board like material. Such laminates can include, for example, a metallic foil such as a barrier material, formed as part of the laminate. Other materials that can be used to form such containers include plastics, such as polyethylene and the like.
Various methods are used for forming container spouts. In a commonly recognized method, a cut-out is formed in the container stock. The cut-out defines the opening in the container through which the container contents are poured or dispensed. The cut-out is discarded or otherwise treated as waste from the manufacturing process, and the spout is mounted to the container stock over the opening. The cut-out may be recycled and reused in the container manufacturing process, however, as will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the recycling process can be cost or process prohibitive.
In many food packages, the spouts and the closures attendant thereto are color codes. Color coding may be representative of the contents of the container. Inasmuch as color coding provides numerous advantages over non-colored spouts and closures, such as consumer product recognition and packaging aesthetic appeal, such color coding can significantly increase the cost to manufacture the container components.
Typically, color additives or agents are added to the plastics prior to the spout and closure molding process. Thus, the plastic that is introduced to the injection molding apparatus has coloring agents mixed therewith. If it is desired to change the color of the spout or closure, the apparatus must be taken out of service or otherwise cleaned of any colored plastic residue that remains from the molding process.
Moreover, the color of a spout may be required to match the color of the container or the color of the closure. Such color-for-color matching can be troublesome if the color shades are not within some predetermined tolerance.
It has also become accepted practice, for some products, to incorporate a membrane or like seal across the spout opening. The seal can be used to provide visible discernible indication or evidence of tampering. Such seals can also provide a gas-impermeable seal, if formed of, for example, foil. Typically, the seal extends across the spout opening.
It will be readily apparent that a major cost in the manufacture of such containers is in connection with the container materials. Thus, savings in material costs, while maintaining packaging integrity, can provide a significant advantage over known package configurations and manufacturing methods.
Accordingly, there continues to be a need for a closure package and method of forming such a package in which a portion of the container that is removed or cut out during manufacture is used in forming the closure package. Such a closure package reduces the amount of waste from the manufacturing process and reduces the overall material costs by effectively using all or most of the available material in the closure package construction. A method in which such a package is formed uses commonly accepted manufacturing principles and readily available packaging materials. Such a method integrates the otherwise discarded container material into the closure package.

Cut-out integrated closure and forming method therefor


Receiving an input authentication pattern, the input authentication pattern including non-alphanumeric input data. Determining if the input authentication pattern matches a previously stored authentication pattern. Providing access to a computing resource if the input authentication pattern matches the previously stored authentication pattern.

This invention relates generally to processing within a computing environment, and more particularly to advanced authentication technology for computing devices.
Traditional text password based security systems often fail because users need to memorize multiple complicated passwords. Even the most complex passwords are vulnerable to keyloggers, which can intercept legitimate passwords and render them useless. Even less sophisticated techniques can be used to determine a password. Phishing, for example, which involves deceiving someone by providing them with a link that purports to be a legitimate site, but is instead a cleverly conceived fraudulent copy of the original site which is designed to capture their password, can compromise even a secure password. In some instances, even someone looking over one's shoulder in a crowded space to obtain a password may compromise a secure password.
Attempts by application developers and device manufacturers to add security to their systems often require obscure combinations of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. Although these techniques may be effective against brute force techniques of password discovery, they are still vulnerable to the methods described above. Furthermore, the addition of these requirements makes passwords more difficult to remember, which often leads to a user writing the password down, leaving them more vulnerable then they would otherwise have been.

Advanced authentication technology for computing devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A lens array fabrication method for fabricating a lens array includes: receiving pins of a film attaching instrument (jig) in second guide holes of a film-containing base plate; bonding a placement area and an adhesion layer (F); removing the pins; causing a detachment between a first detachment film (C) and a pressure-sensitive adhesive optical film (D); separating three layers (D) to (F) from two layers (B) and (C); receiving the pins in first guide holes of a lens array main unit; fitting a film holding protrusion in a depression part; bonding the film (D) to a bonding region (i); removing the pins; and causing a detachment between the film (D) and a second detachment film (E).

In recent years, the application of the so-called optical interconnection is widespread as the technology for transmitting signals at high speed in a system device, between system devices or between optical modules. The optical interconnection is the technique that treats an optical component like an electrical component, and allows the optical component to be implemented in a motherboard or a circuit board used in a personal computer, a vehicle or an optical transceiver.
The optical module for use in such optical interconnection has a variety of applications such as an internal connection of the media converter and switching hub, as well as component connection in a device or between devices (e.g., optical transceivers, medical equipment, test equipment, video system, and high-speed computer cluster).
There is an increasing demand for an lens array, in which a plurality of small-diameter lenses are arranged, as an optical component which is applied to the above-mentioned type of optical module. The lens array may be able to realize a compact structure for multichannel optical communications.
Conventionally, a photoelectric conversion device equipped with a plurality of light emitting elements (for example, VCSEL: Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) can be attached (or coupled) to the lens array, and a plurality of optical fibers can be coupled to the lens array as optical transmission medium.
With the photoelectric conversion device and the optical fibers being coupled to the lens array, the lens array can optically connect (couple) the light emitted from the light emitting elements of the photoelectric conversion device to the ends of the optical fibers respectively to perform multichannel optical transmissions.
Conventionally, in the optical communication using an optical fiber (or optical fibers), it is required to attenuate an amount of light coupled into the optical fiber for the reasons of communication standard and safety. Such requirement is also applied to the lens array.
Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4644218) and Patent Literature 2 (PCT International Publication No. WO 2010/050183 A1) disclose the technique to cause the two optical connectors to abut onto each other, with an adhesive connecting member being interposed, and connect these optical connectors by means of the adhesiveness of the adhesive connecting member. More specifically, the technique of Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4644218) and Patent Literature 2 (PCT International Publication No. WO 2010/050183 A1) prepares a jig for adhering the adhesive connecting member. The jig has an insertion hole, and a detachment film and the adhesive connecting member are stacked on a bottom face of the insertion hole. The optical connector is inserted into the insertion hole of the jig, and the front end face of the connector is joined to the adhesive connecting member by means of its adhesiveness. Upon pulling out the optical connector from the insertion hole, the adhesive connecting member that is now attached to the optical connector is peeled (detached) from the detachment film. In this manner, the optical connector having a front end face to which the adhesive connecting member is attached is caused to abut onto the mating optical connector to couple the two optical connectors. A stress generated upon the abutting can cause the adhesive connecting member to appropriately attach (adhere) between the two optical connectors, without adhesion failure such as wrinkles, bubbles, rolling up, and floating.
If the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent No. 4644218) and Patent Literature 2 (PCT International Publication No. WO 2010/050183 A1) is applied to an adhesive light attenuation film to attach the light attenuation film to a given lens array, it can be expected that a particular optical feature (optical attenuation in this specification) is imparted to the lens array at low cost.

Lens array fabrication method, and film containing base plate and film attaching instrument employed in same


The present invention relates to reusable bulk transport containers having four wheels attached thereto forming a dolly for easy movement of the containers by a single person. The containers are further equipped with four legs for supporting the containers upright wherein the four wheels are all spaced above the ground surface. Two of the legs are in the form of a kick-stand which can be rotatable to a raised position after which the container can be tilted onto the four wheels and the center of gravity spaced between the main and rear wheels such that when tilted to a wheeled position, the container is inherently stable and will not tip over.

The present invention relates to reusable bulk transport containers and in particular to transport containers having wheels attached thereto forming a dolly for easy movement of a container by a single person.
Liquid material in bulk form is commonly stored and transported in a variety of large containers. The most common container being the conventional 55 gallon drum. The disadvantages of the conventional drum involve the cylindrical container's inefficient use of storage space and the difficulty in transporting a filled drum. To move a filled drum it is first necessary to tilt the drum and insert a dolly beneath the drum. Considerable effort is required to tilt the drum when full and, when tilted, the drum is not stable and can easily fall over, presenting a safety hazard.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reusable transport tank overcoming the above disadvantages of a conventional 55 gallon drum.
It is an advantage of the transport container of the present invention that four wheels are mounted to the container to provide a dolly for easy movement of the container without requiring that the container be tilted to an unstable position prior to moving.
It is a feature of the container of the present invention that when the container is tilted to a movable position, placing the four wheels on the ground surface, that the center of gravity of the container is between the two wheel axles such that the container is inherently stable during movement.
It is still a further feature that the container is formed with a rectangular shape having planar walls so that multiple containers can be placed side-to-side with minimal waste of storage space.
A rotatable kick-stand is provided to form a pair of pivot legs to support the container upright during use. When it is desired to move the container, the kick-stand is raised and the container tilted onto its four wheels for movement. When the kick-stand is raised and before the container is tilted, the container remains upright with the container center of gravity between a pair of fixed legs and pair of main wheels. When tilted, the center of gravity is moved over the axle of the main wheels and is placed between the main and secondary wheels whereby the container remains stable.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.


A game or puzzle comprising a plurality of polyomino pieces, each piece having on opposite faces one or more squares, said squares on each said piece and on opposite faces having markings wherein such said markings of said squares in total on both faces of said pieces comprise four or more different markings such that the pieces are capable of being assembled using their obverse faces only into a first set of one pattern comprising squares with the markings of the squares on the obverse faces of the assembled pieces forming a checkerboard pattern of two alternating markings which may be used for playing a checkers or chess type game, and the pieces may be further assembled into a second set of one or more patterns using the reverse faces of some of the pieces and the obverse faces of the remaining pieces, each pattern in the second set comprising squares forming a further checkerboard pattern of four or more markings, one of said markings being in an alternating checkerboard pattern with the remaining markings; the pieces may be further assembled into a third set of patterns using the reverse faces only of the pieces such that each pattern in the third set comprises thee different markings on the reverse side which can be arranged into a pattern such that one of the markings forms a checkerboard pattern with the other two markings; and wherein the assembly of pieces forming the first set of patterns is different from the assembly required of pieces forming the second set of patterns.

Checkerboard puzzles of many types have been demonstrated in the past, the inventors being of the view that the main reference giving details of checkerboard puzzles is the "Compendium of Checker Board Puzzles" by Jerry Slocum and Jacques Haubrich published August 1993. Many puzzles may be constructed using the theory of combinatorial geometry upon which the puzzles shown in this Compendium are based. However, no relationship had been established between the obverse side and the reverse side of such puzzles until the '388 patent emerged in which a puzzle was taught having a plurality of polyomino pieces, each of which has on opposite sides one or more squares, the squares on each piece having markings such that the pieces are capable of being assembled using their obverse sides only into a first set of one or more solutions comprising a square checkerboard pattern with the markings of the squares on the obverse side, and wherein the pieces may be further assembled into a second set of one or more solutions comprising a further checkerboard pattern of two alternate markings, the markings on both sides of the pieces comprising three or more different markings and wherein the solutions of the first set are different from the solutions of the second set.
The '388 patent also provided a description of how this principle could be carried further to three-dimensional puzzles, in particular, a cube having, of course, square sides, but each side having a checkerboard pattern such that two opposite sides have the same features of the two sided puzzles of that invention, and pieces being so marked that the sides of the cube when assembled may have a checkerboard pattern comprising the markings carried by the obverse and reverse sides.
However, using the system proposed in the '388 patent, it is not possible to produce some particular checkerboard patterns using only two alternating colours per side to get, for example, diagonal stripes, particularly as applied to twelve pentomino plus one tetromino checkerboards. Where letters, numbers or other symbols having linguistic properties are provided in the place of coloured markings, there is no teaching of a paradigm for the production of particular non-exclusive solutions having a comprehensible statement or message.
It is an object of the present invention to provide advanced games and puzzles which alleviate one or more of the shortcomings of prior art. Other objects and advantages of the invention may become apparent from the following description.


A new type of guard cartridge has been provided to prevent contamination of liquid chromatography (LC) columns by particulate and soluble contaminants. The cartridge is prepared by packing an empty tube with a chromatographic stationary phase and the packed tube is then sealed on both ends with porus sheets held in place by two collars. The cartridge gives minimum disturbance on column performance and significantly decreases the cost of production.

Liquid chromatography (LC) is a technique which employs a stationary phase and a liquid mobile phase to separate the solubilized components of a mixture into its various parts. A separation column generally consists of uniformly-packed small particles of stationary phase in a tube and the separation power of a separation column depends on the uniformity of the stationary phase. Particulate from the mobile phase and or samples can block flow passages formed from the interspaces of the packed stationary particles, causing high backpressures and disturbing the uniformity of stationary phase. Stationary phases have different surface chemistries and can irreversibly absorb some soluble components. The irreversible absorption will degrade the column capacity, disturb the uniformity of stationary phase, and increase column backpressure. Both irreversibly-absorbed soluble components and insoluble particulate will degrade column performance and reduce column life. A means for protecting liquid chromatography columns from contamination of particulate and soluble contaminants is critical for good performance and long service life of a separation column.
The most effective means to prevent column contamination is to place a guard device in front of a separation column. The guard device should allow analytes to pass through while retaining both particulate and soluble contaminants which would be adsorbed onto the column stationary phase irreversibly. For this reason, the guard device should have the same properties as the separation column. Though many types of guard devices exist in the market, they can be generally viewed as one special type of LC column packed with various stationary phases similar to that of the separation column. The guard device is a semi-disposable component of the liquid chromatography system and should be much less expensive.
Guard devices in liquid chromatography may be classified as guard columns, guard cartridges and guard discs according to the shape and the embodiment of the devices. A guard column refers to a device containing a short packed tube, a pair of frits on each end of the tube to hold the packing material in the tube white allowing liquid mobile phase to pass through, and two endfittings for fixing the frits and the tube together and for installation of the guard column between an injector and a separation column in a LC system. A guard cartridge contains a packed tube, a pair of frits on the ends of the tube to prevent the packing material from leaking out, and a means to keep the frits and the tube together. A guard cartridge usually contains no end fittings and a cartridge holder is needed in order to install the guard cartridge into chromatography flow line. A guard disc refers to a short guard cartridge and its commercially available form is a protection pad of stationary phases impregnated in PTFE (Teflon) matrix.
A guard column contains the same stationary phase as a separation column and is manufactured in the same way as the separation column. The only difference between a guard column and a separation column is the length-guard columns are short and separation columns are long. The production cost of a guard column is comparable to that of a separation column and renders guard columns the most expensive and the lest favorable protection means for separation columns.
Besides cost, guard columns may degrade the separation efficiency of separation columns. Column efficiency may be affected by the flow path taken when a guard column is used. Typically, the liquid mobile phase travels from a sample injection valve through a tube having a small inside diameter to the guard column which has a relatively large inside diameter, and then back to a connecting tube having a small inside diameter and finally to the separation column which again has a relatively large inside diameter. This change in diameter of the flow path produces a broadening effect on the sample zone and decreases overall column efficiency. The only way to overcome this effect is to place a guard device of the same diameter as the separation column in direct contact to the stationary phase of the separation column. The general configuration of guard columns makes this option impossible.
Guard columns contain chromatographic stationary phase and can retain samples slightly. This effect will change the retention time of the sample components. The change in retention time is a serious problem, especially for chromatography systems employing computer data acquisition systems. These systems rely on peak time windows to locate particular peaks. It also increases the difficulty of identifying certain components by matching their retention times to the published retention times in literature, which is an important technique for the characterization of unknown compounds.
In order to maintain their performance it is not recommended that guard columns be opened by users, The only way to determine the effectiveness of a guard column is by observing the chromatographic separation, such as peak broadening or retention time shifting. But chromatographic separations do not always indicate whether a guard column is adequately protecting a separation column. Contamination of a separation column can take place well before there are noticeable changes in plate number, pressure and resolution. Well-defined criteria for guard column replacement are missing.
Guard cartridges were developed as cost effective protection devices for separation columns. Guard cartridges need cartridge holders for in line installation. The functions of a guard device are divided between a guard cartridge and its cartridge holder. The guard cartridge removes contaminants and is a disposable part. The cartridge holder accommodates the cartridge and connects the cartridge in-line with the chromatography flow path. The cartridge holder is considered as a permanent part. In this way guard cartridges are simpler than guard columns and usually have no endfittings on their ends. However, they must have frits on both ends to retain the packing material. The frit design and its incorporation onto the packed cartridge is one of the most important considerations for guard cartridges. The frits should prevent packing material in the cartridge from leaking out; The frits should be permeable to the liquid mobile phase; The frits should be assembled onto the cartridge in such a way that once the guard cartridge is placed in a cartridge holder and installed in-line under high pressure, the liquid mobile phase should not leak out.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,628 describes a typical guard cartridge system which consists a cartridge and a holder. To prepare a guard cartridge, a tube of a given length is packed with the stationary phase. Two specialized frits, which comprise a porous center section and a plastic outer ring, are placed on the ends of the packed tube to hold the stationary phase in the tube and to permit the liquid mobile phase to pass through. The frits and the tube should have the same outer diameter. To fix the frits on the ends of the packed tube, a housing tube, or sleeve, is required. The housing tube has an internal diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the packed tube. The two frits and the packed tube are forced and crimped into the housing tube. Though many types of frits have been used for guard cartridges, they all contain a porous center section permeable to liquid and a nonporous outer section for adequate sealing of the interface between the packed tube and the frits.
Though guard cartridges are more advantageous than guard columns from cost point of view, they still have many of the same limitations. Most guard cartridges are installed in the LC flow line in the same way as guard columns and suffer the diameter changes in flow path of liquid mobile phases as previously described; A used guard cartridge can not be opened to examine its effectiveness and no clear criteria or guidelines about when a guard cartridge should be replaced; Due to their configuration most guard cartridges are prepared 10 millimeters or longer in length and as such interfere with performance and retention time as previously described; The crimping process increases the possibilities for frit damage and leakage. Guard cartridges require relatively expensive frits of specific configuration which renders them more costly than a disposable item should be.
To overcome the limitations of guard columns and guard cartridges, a guard disc was invented and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,448. The guard discs are circular pads made of packing materials immobilized by membrane and are relatively inexpensive. The design allows the disc to be placed on the head of a separation column to eliminate flow disturbance. The stationary phase is the pad itself. The guard holder can be opened and the stationary phase can be visualized directly. If contaminants have color, the color change of the disc is an indication of its effectiveness. The disc is so thin that retention time for an analyte on a separation column will not be influenced. However, these discs are too thin, and a large portion of the disc mass is the impregnating membrane material itself. For this reason, the capacity of a guard disc is limited, which is a major disadvantage as a protection device. More importantly, the stationary phase of the disc has completely different physical structure from that of a packed guard column or a guard cartridge. In the case of the guard column or guard cartridge, the stationary phase is packed in a tube and the packed bed has microporous pores inside stationary particles and macro channels at the interspaces of the particles. The interspaces will range up to several micrometers. Particulate and soluble contaminants will stay on the surface of stationary particles and in the interspaces. Since the interspaces are large and will not be blocked completely by contaminants, the backpressure will not change very much after prolonged use. The pad disc is prepared by impregnating stationary particles into a PTFE membrane and the interspaces between the particles are filled with membrane polymer and are not available for liquid mobile phase to pass through. The only pores available for liquid flow are the micropores on the membrane which are very easily blocked. The consequence of the pad disc structure is rapid pressure build-up when contaminants block the surface pores of the pad membrane and cut off the flow passage for the liquid mobile phase. Though the pad disc still retains a large percentage of its initial adsorption capacity, it is not usable due to the resulting high backpressures. A special experiment showed that when the pad disc was placed in front a column and eluted with 50% acetonitrile, the pad backpressure increased from 1 bar to 100 bars within a few hours. However, a packed guard cartridge showed no significant change in backpressure under the same conditions.
As discussed above, there is a need to provide a guard device which does not significantly affect the efficiency or retention time of a chromatography column. The guard device should be able to be placed on the head of a chromatography column to minimize flow disturbance. It should be easy to examine the effectiveness of the guard device to ensure adequate protection of the separation column. Yet as a protection means the guard device must also have a reasonable capacity. Lastly, as a disposable element a guard device should be relatively inexpensive.


Single-moment alignment of imprecise overlapping digital spatial datasets, maximizing local precision, is described. In an embodiment, the process receives points of association that each have a location in a first coordinate system and a corresponding location in a second coordinate system, the latter misaligned relative to the first. The disclosed process in three steps determines and reports parameters to precisely align the followSpace the leadSpace. The parameters to align the followSpace may include a new origin location, or an equivalent translation, and a new orientation, generally in 3D space, of the followSpace coordinate system. Where needed, the parameters may include a scaling factor. Among many applications of the alignment process are augmented reality systems.

Augmented reality (AR) or "mixed reality" presents an illustrative example of a computer vision application. Augmented reality often uses SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Modeling) or similar algorithms. This is a base technology for augmented reality applications where a device has some means of looking at a physical area, for example, cameras, accelerometer and the gyroscope, or other sensors, and "seeing" a physical volume based on a set of "feature points," i.e., high contrast points that are in view.
What is a feature point? It's a distinctive location in images—for example corners, blobs or T-junctions are usually good candidates. This information alone wouldn't be enough to distinguish one from another, or to reliably find feature points again. Therefore, generally also the neighborhood is analyzed and saved as a descriptor. Feature points can be identified or selected in image data and matched using known algorithms. One of the most influential algorithms is called "SIFT" ("Scale Invariant Feature Transform"). It was developed by David G. Lowe and published in 2004. Another "traditional" method is called "SURF" (Speeded up robust features) by H. Bay, et al.
Feature points can be used to help locate and align one image to another, especially in 3D space. Three-dimensional surfaces and objects can be described and stored in digital form as a set or "cloud" of feature points. An "object" in the sense of a physical chair or speaker for example, may be represented digitally as a collection or "cloud" of feature points. During an AR session, for example, SLAM determines that the device (camera, etc.) has moved over, for example, a quarter of an inch since the last frame. So, it is continuously collecting and processing information about the scene based on feature points.
Feature points are useful in many applications, including but not limited to augmented, altered, mixed or virtual reality systems where two coordinate systems are sometimes used in tandem. In some applications, or at certain times during execution, a single, fixed coordinate system, sometimes called a global or world coordinate system, can be used to identify and align objects that have counterpart or corresponding feature points in two different contexts or "spaces," using the common world coordinate system. The world coordinate system provides an understanding of "location" in 3D space for the objects defined in both contexts. A challenge arises when utilizing data sources that do not share a common coordinate system. A "location" of an object in a 3D space, be it digital or real (physical), has little meaning except relative to other objects described in the same space, i.e., using the same coordinate system. If image data, for example, feature point data, is presented from two different sources or "spaces," each using its own coordinate system, matching or aligning them becomes difficult. "Which way is up" becomes a serious question.
The present disclosure is directed to improvements in processes to quickly and accurately align two different coordinate systems. We assume for illustration that both coordinate systems utilize cartesian coordinates—the familiar [x,y,z] orthogonal axis arrangement to describe locations. Other coordinate systems, for example, cylindrical coordinates, may be used with the appropriate conversions. The necessary conversions can be accomplished programmatically in software.


A cage assembly is provided to protect a battery pack in a vehicle. The cage assembly includes a top sub-assembly and a bottom sub-assembly that are secured together to protect the battery pack. U-shaped frames and base frames are connected together by tubular members.

Battery cells for Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Partial Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) are packaged in locations that are spaced away from crash zones to minimized any risk of damage during a collision event.
The tunnel that runs longitudinally along the middle of the floor may be a suitable package space for the battery because it is spaced away from the extremities of the vehicle. Under floor packaging of a typical battery pack may include cells arranged longitudinally and transversely in the vehicle. The entire battery pack may be housed within the tunnels laid out longitudinally and transversely in the floor of the vehicle. The area under the tunnels is a relatively a safe zone for the battery cells and performs well in full frontal and rear barrier crash tests.
However, in side crashes Moving Deformable Barrier (MDB) and Side Pole crash tests the vehicle has a tendency to bend and wrap around the impacting barrier or pole causing the tunnel to collapse laterally. The floor wraps around the pole and forces the tunnel to collapse on itself since the body side and underbody do not provide sufficient resistance. As a result of the tunnel collapsing, battery cells can suffer damage in such a crash mode.
Strengthening the rocker, the cross members and underbody do not provide effective and weight efficient protection for the battery cells in the tunnel space. Up gauging of all underbody structural components including the tunnel, cross-members, and adding tunnel reinforcements and bulk heads can mitigate tunnel collapse to some extent. However, resulting weight penalty generally out-weighs the benefits and does not provide an acceptable solution.
This disclosure is directed to solving the above problems and other problems relating to securing a battery pack in a BEV, HEV or PHEV type of vehicle.

Protective vehicle battery cage and method of making a battery cage


An efficient random access procedure is provided for reduced control overhead of connections in random access systems. A base station transmits one or more synchronization signal (SS) blocks. A UE detects and determines a preferred SS block. The UE transmits multiple random access signals (e.g., PRACH signals) in a RACH occasion. Each PRACH signal is transmitted on a different beam and includes a RACH preamble. The base station receives one or more of the PRACH signals. The RACH occasion and optionally the RACH preamble identify the preferred SS block. The base station determines a preferred PRACH signal. The base station sends a RAR to the UE using the transmit beam of the preferred SS block. The RAR indicates the preferred PRACH signal and an uplink resource allocation. The UE receives the RAR and transmits a message using the transmit beam of the preferred PRACH signal and the uplink resource allocation.

Wireless radio links connect mobile phones and other devices to cellular networks, which also connect to the internet, providing basic voice communications and a wide variety of other services such as short messaging, email, internet access and other business applications. The radio coverage of a typical mobile phone application varies from a few hundred meters in small cell applications to several miles in macro-cell applications in rural areas. Wireless local area networks, referred to as "WiFi," enable portable computing devices such as laptop and smart phones to connect seamlessly to the internet. The coverage of WiFi is up to a hundred meters. Bluetooth is a wireless technology with even smaller coverage up to 10 meters. Bluetooth technology is widely used in mobile phones for wireless connection between peripheral devices and a mobile device nearby.
Wireless communication systems at each side of the radio link, regardless of coverage sizes, typically have at least one transmitter antenna and at least one receiver antenna. Typical antenna configurations include receiver diversity (two or more receiving antennas), transmitter beamforming (two or more transmitting antennas), and MIMO (Multiple Input and Multiple Output) (multiple transmitter and receiver antennas).
In mobile phone communications, one side of the communication link is a mobile station or user equipment while the other side is a base station. In the GSM-based 3GPP family, both GMSK (2G) and EDGE (2.5G) use receiver antenna diversity, while WCDMA (3G) and LTE (4G) use beamforming and/or MIMO. GMSK/EDGE typically involves time division multiple access (TDMA) (physical layer link) technology, WCDMA uses code division multiple access (CDMA) technology, and LTE uses orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technology for the downlink and single channel-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) technology for the uplink.
Communication systems that utilize the microwave and millimeter-wave bands (e.g., 6 GHz to 100 GHz) are being designed as part of the ongoing 5G effort. Communication signals at such high frequencies are subject to very high path-loss. In order to overcome the high path-loss, beam-forming techniques are used. Since beam-forming focuses transmitted energy into a narrow beam, only receivers within the angular span of the beam are able to receive the transmitted signal.

Radio communications using random access in wireless networks