An aircraft performance degradation detection system may include information sources, a central unit connected to the information sources, and a warning device that is connected to the central unit. Using information received from the information sources, the central unit computes the current weight and drag of the aircraft and computes a theoretical drag based on the current weight. The current and theoretical drags are compared, and a determination is made regarding performance degradation based on the comparison.

It is known that, despite certification complying with the regulations, aircraft, in particular transport planes, may encounter situations which significantly degrade the aerodynamics, without the crew being aware thereof. Such a situation may give rise to a surprise effect which may be the cause of an unsuitable reaction from the crew, all the more so since, when the degradation of the aerodynamic performance becomes significant, the flight qualities are modified and the control of the aircraft becomes much more difficult.
The causes of degradation of performance that are best known are in particular icing, the absence of deicing on the ground of an iced-up airframe, snow, freezing rain, the application of deicing or anti-icing fluid, the picking up of insects on leading edges, the loss of a part of a leading edge or of a panel of the flying surface.
When an aircraft is confronted with one of the aforesaid situations causing a degradation of its performance, its resistance to progress through the air increases and the drag grows. In such a case, if the power is not modified, the aircraft loses speed while it is holding altitude, or the rate of climb drops when it is holding speed, which may of course become very dangerous and is not acceptable.

Method and device for detecting degradation of performance of an aircraft


The present disclosure relates to a method of cutting a flexible display device, capable of preventing a generation of a defect at the time of cutting the flexible display device, the method including providing a glass mother substrate having a flexible substrate attached thereon and an insulating layer formed on the flexible substrate; melting the flexible substrate and the insulating layer on the mother substrate by irradiating with a first laser beam; and cutting the mother substrate exposed by the irradiation of the first laser beam using a cutting device.

In recent time, various types of flat panel display devices capable of reducing weights and volumes, which are disadvantages of a cathode ray tube, are being developed. Examples of the flat panel display device include a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a field emission display device, a plasma display panel, an organic light emitting display device, and the like.
Among those flat panel display devices, the plasma display device is focused on as a display device, which is light, thin, short and small and the most advantageous for providing a large-scaled screen, by virtue of simplified structure and fabricating processes. However, the plasma display device also has disadvantages in view of low luminous efficiency and brightness and high power consumption. On the other hand, the LCD device has disadvantages in view of being difficult to implement a large screen due to the use of a semiconductor process and causing high power consumption due to a backlight unit. Also, the LCD device exhibits a great optical loss and a narrow viewing angle due to optical elements, such as a polarizing filter, a prism sheet, a diffusion plate and the like.
On the contrary, light emitting display devices are classified into an inorganic light emitting display device and an organic light emitting display device according to a material of a light emitting layer. The organic light emitting display device is a self-light emitting device, which has great advantages in the aspects of fast response speed, high luminous efficiency, high brightness, and a large viewing angle. The inorganic light emitting display device causes high power consumption and is unable to obtain high brightness, as compared with the organic light emitting display device. Also, the inorganic light emitting display device cannot emit light with various colors of red (R), green (G) and blue (B). On the other hand, the organic light emitting display device is actively being studied by virtue of several advantages, such as being able to be driven by a low DC voltage, which is several tens of volts, having a fast response speed, providing high brightness, and emitting various colors of R, G and B.
Meanwhile, a flexible display device using a flexible substrate, such as a plastic substrate, has been proposed for portability and convenience in use. The flexible display device may be fabricated in such a manner of attaching a plastic substrate, such as polyimide, onto a mother substrate made of glass, forming a plurality of display panels on the mother substrate through various processes, such as a thin film transistor (TFT) process, and cutting the mother substrate into display panel units.
Typically, for a general display device, namely, for an unbendable hard display device, various components, such as a TFT, lines, and the like, are formed directly on the glass mother substrate. Hence, the mother substrate has been divided into the display panel units in such a manner of forming cutting lines, as perpendicular cracks on the mother substrate using a cutting wheel, and applying pressure onto the cutting lines to propagate the perpendicular cracks from an upper surface to a lower surface of the mother substrate.
However, the flexible display device is fabricated by attaching the plastic substrate, such as polyimide, onto the mother substrate. Accordingly, when the mother substrate is cut using the cutting wheel, the plastic substrate and the glass substrate should be cut at once. However, the plastic substrate is not easily cut by the cutting wheel due to its low hardness compared to the glass substrate. In addition, unlike cutting the general display device, for cutting the flexible display device, an increase in a thickness of an object which is to be cut may be caused due to the plastic substrate. Consequently, the perpendicular crack generated by the cutting wheel may not be completely generated on the glass substrate. This may result in the generation of a defect on a cut surface upon cutting the mother substrate.
In addition, for an organic light emitting display (OLED) device, by introduction of impurities such as moisture or air, the OLED device may be defective and reduced in lifespan. Accordingly, various types of insulating layers are formed on an entire mother substrate for preventing the introduction of foreign materials or moisture. When the mother substrate is incompletely cut by the cutting wheel, a crack is propagated along the insulating layers through the cut surface. The propagated crack serves as a path through which the foreign materials or moisture are introduced into the OLED device, thereby causing a fabrication of a defective OLED device and a reduction of a lifespan of the OLED device.

Method of cutting flexible display device and method of fabricating flexible display device using the same


In order to make it possible to easily detect an electrical defect by using an array tester, the present inspection substrate includes: plural scan lines and plural signal lines; plural storage capacitor lines arranged in parallel to the scan lines; storage capacitor elements, each of which uses a part of the storage capacitor line as one of electrodes thereof; storage capacitor upper electrodes formed of the same layer as that for the signal lines and electrically connected to the storage capacitor elements; switching elements arranged on intersection points of the signal lines and the scan lines and electrically connected to the storage capacitor elements; and dummy wiring lines formed by use of at least one of two types of metals constituting electrodes of the switching elements, and electrically connected to any of the scan lines, the signal lines, the storage capacitor lines and the storage capacitor upper electrodes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection substrate to be used for detecting a wiring defect, a failure spot and the like in an array substrate of a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, commercialization of a high-function liquid crystal display device capable of high-definition display though being high-density and large-capacity has progressed. Among such liquid crystal display devices, one of an active matrix type has been frequently used. The active matrix type liquid crystal display device includes an array substrate, in which each of regions individually partitioned by plural scan lines and plural signal lines which intersect each other is defined as a pixel, and a switching element, a pixel electrode and the like are arranged for each pixel. In the active matrix type liquid crystal display device, a crosstalk between adjacent pixels is small, high-contrast display is obtained, transmission display is enabled, and area enlargement thereof is also easy.
In the active matrix type liquid crystal display device, as definition thereof has been increased, microprocessing for wiring lines and contact holes has become necessary, and it has been required to keep a high process level. Therefore, in recent years, a process level chip (hereinafter, referred to as a "PL chip") in which only the wiring lines in the array substrate are provided has been manufactured, and a state of the wiring lines in the PL chip has been electrically measured by means of a tester, or optically evaluated by means of a defect inspection apparatus. Moreover, also for the actual array substrate, an electrical defect thereof is inspected by use of an array tester, a failure thereof is analyzed, and a management and improvement of the process level are achieved.
However, according to the above-described method, there are problems that the defect detected in the PL chip does not always coincide with the defect in the array substrate, and that one regarded as the defect in the array substrate is not detected in the PL chip.
Moreover, according to the above-described method, the defect detectable in the PL chip is limited only to defects in which abnormalities are observed on a planer wiring pattern and an exterior appearance. Therefore, there is a problem that an evaluation for the array substrate must be concurrently used for characteristics as a device, which include characteristics of the switching elements and the contact holes.
Furthermore, also in the case of inspecting the array substrate by means of the array tester, a defect detection capability thereof is insufficient, and a position where the defect occurs cannot be specified in some cases depending on a type of the defect. Therefore, there is a problem that the management and improvement of the process level cannot be performed sufficiently.
This point is described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a wiring pattern in the PL chip. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a wiring pattern with a contact chain structure.
In FIG. 1, a meandering wiring line 181 is formed of a metal film, and to both ends of the meandering wiring line 181, electrode pads 183a and 183b are individually connected. In order to detect a break of the meandering wiring line 181, a voltage is applied between both of the electrode pads 183a and 183b, and it is monitored whether or not a current flows therethrough. When the current does not flow, the break occurs in the meandering wiring line 181.
In FIG. 2, a meandering wiring line 191 is formed with the contact chain structure, in which plural ones formed by alternately arranging first metals 193 and second metals 195 and electrically connecting ends of the respective metals to one another by contact holes 197 are arranged. To both ends of the contact chain structure, electrode pads 199a and 199b are connected. In order to detect a break of the meandering wiring 191, a voltage is applied between both of the electrode pads 199a and 199b, and it is monitored whether or not a current flows therethrough. When the current does not flow, the break occurs in the meandering wiring 191.
However, in both of the cases, for example, when abnormalities are not observed on exterior appearances of the wiring lines, a position where the break occurs cannot be specified.
Moreover, in recent years, used has been a method for managing an occurrence rate of the defect and a state of the malfunction in a manufacturing line in such a manner that a process level chip in which only various lines and spaces (L/S) are arranged for the inspection is fabricated in the manufacturing line, and that the process level chip is electrically measured by means of the tester or optically evaluated by means of the defect inspection apparatus.
In the electrical defect inspection using the array tester, an actual array substrate is used as the inspection substrate, and the respective inspection pins of the array tester are connected to the respective signal lines on the array substrate, thus performing the measurement. In the measurement, the switching elements of the respective pixels on the array substrate are switched on, and thereafter, charges are stored in the storage capacitors of the respective pixels through the respective signal lines, and the amount of stored charges is measured through the inspection pins of the array tester. By performing defect analysis for an obtained measurement result, a leakage defect of the amount of charges stored in the storage capacitors of the respective pixels, characteristic abnormalities of the switching elements, short circuit/break defect of the wiring lines, and the like are detected. Based on a result of the detection, the process level of the manufacturing line is managed and improved.
However, in the detection result by means of the array tester, the smaller the storage capacitor to be inspected is, the larger an influence of noise owing to parasitic capacitance becomes in terms of the configuration of the array tester concerned. In general, the influence from the parasitic capacitance becomes larger as the storage capacitor is moved away from a feeding end of each signal line, and accordingly, an output result is outputted in a state where a gradation is applied thereto in the direction of the signal lines. Moreover, approximately 200 signal lines are processed simultaneously in usual, and there is a problem that the output result is outputted as streak unevenness between the signal lines owing to variations in sensitivity for the input signals of the respective inspection pins of the array tester.
Moreover, there is a problem that the process level chip cannot be accurately evaluated because, owing to the influence from the parasitic capacitance of each signal line and the variations in sensitivity for the input signals of the respective inspection pins of the array tester, an abnormal pixel is not sometimes detected even if there are abnormalities in the characteristics of the switching elements of the pixels.
Meanwhile, in the inspection of the defect by means of the array tester, only the electrical characteristics of the respective pixels can be measured. Accordingly, in order to specify a kind of the defect such as to whether the detected defect is a short-circuit defect or a break defect, it is necessary to use a pattern inspection by means of an optical appearance inspection apparatus in combination.

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd.


An unoccupied frequency band (W) is detected in a telecommunications network by obtaining first values relating to a signal received (r(n)) for respective corresponding times, in this frequency band. Next, a compound signal is obtained in the form of vectors (Yn) respectively associated with these first values, each vector having M components resulting respectively from the products of the first value associated with said vector and M second values relating to the signal received respectively for M offset times (ti) shifted with respect to the time corresponding to said first value, M being a greater integer. Next, at least one first and one second energy vector (EL, EH) are determined, each containing M components corresponding respectively to energy values of the compound signal for the M offset times, respectively on a first frequency band and on a second frequency band, which are situated either side of a reference frequency. Finally, a decision is made as to whether said frequency band is unoccupied on the basis of a comparison of a distribution of the energy values of the compound signal over the first frequency band and of a distribution of the energy values of the compound signal over the second frequency band.

The radio frequency spectrum comprises various radio frequency bands which are respectively allocated to different types of use. Thus, for example, the frequency band around 900 MHz, i.e. between around 872 and 960 MHz, has been allocated to the GSM (for Global System for Mobile communications) telecommunications network.
For some periods, for some locations, it is possible that one or more frequency channels on this band remain unused for the type of use to which they are allocated. Measures carried out by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) thus show that the use of these frequency bands is not efficient, as it is highly probable, at a certain moment and a given place, that one or more frequency bands of the radio spectrum remain unused.
In order to optimize use of the radio spectrum, it is foreseen to allow, in some conditions, the use of free frequency bands of the radio spectrum for types of use other than those for which they have been allocated. In these conditions, for a given frequency band, the users of the type of use to which this frequency band has been allocated have priority, but are not the only ones to be able to use such a frequency band. Specifically, when such a frequency band is free, i.e. when it is not being used by any user and only until a priority user once again uses it, other users may also be authorized to use it.
In order to use the free frequency bands of the radio spectrum in this way, it is necessary that a terminal is able to modify its transmission parameters depending on the surrounding radio context. Such a terminal implements the principles of cognitive radio.
The FCC has already permitted such a use of the frequency bands that are allocated to television.
However, in order to avoid any disturbance to the use of the frequency bands by the priority users, the other users of these frequency bands must meet certain requirements. Thus it is required that such a non-priority user is designed to be able to detect whether a frequency band of the radio spectrum is free or if it is already being used.
To this end, it has already been proposed to detect the availability of such a frequency band by determining the location of the terminal so as to access a database that is able to provide this terminal with information relating to the state of the radio spectrum in the surroundings of the place it is. However, such detection remains static and requires an adequate network infrastructure.
Detection of whether a frequency band is available has also been provided on the basis of the known characteristics of the telecommunications signal to be detected in the frequency band considered. Detection of this sort has in particular the disadvantage of being based on a priori information relating to the signal which is supposed to be detected and which is potentially transmitted in the frequency band considered.


An electronic endoscope apparatus which records image data of an object under observation on a recording medium has an image storage memory capable of storing current image data for at least one examination in response to an image capture command and transfers the image data from the image storage memory to the recording medium and erases the image data stored in the image storage memory at the time of the first image capture during the next examination after an electronic scope is turned on. The image data stored in the image storage memory may also be erased at the time of the first image capture after new patient data is inputted or after the number of recorded images is reset.

The application claims the priority of Japanese Patent Applications No. 2003-366903 filed on Oct. 28, 2003 which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic endoscope apparatus. In particular, it relates to a configuration of an electronic endoscope apparatus which forms a digital image of an object under observation based on an output signal from a solid state image pickup device mounted on an electronic scope and can store image data of the digital image on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic endoscope apparatus have a solid state image pickup device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) mounted on the tip of an electronic scope. The CCD images an object under observation illuminated by light from a light source. When imaging signals obtained by the CCD are outputted to a processor unit and subjected to various video processing in the processor unit, it becomes possible to display images of the object under observation on a monitor, record still images and the like on a recording device, and so on.
As also described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-287203, electronic endoscope apparatus of this type perform not only analog processing for output to a regular NTSC (PAL) monitor, but also digital image processing to output images of the object under observation for use on various external digital devices such as a personal computer monitor.
In view of the recent tendency toward higher pixel counts and higher resolution of CCDs which are solid state image pickup devices, it has been proposed to form digital images by making effective use of image information obtained by a CCD with a high pixel count. Specifically, there are standards such as VGA (Video Graphics Array), XGA (eXtended Graphics Array), and SXGA (Super XGA) which differ in display pixel counts. Personal computers and the like can form image signals compliant with such a standard and use them on external digital devices and the like. Recording media for use on such external devices to record and store endoscope image data include PC cards, SmartMedia (registered trademark) cards, CompactFlash (registered trademark) cards, and MO (magneto-optical) disks.
However, since increases in the pixel count and resolution of a CCD increase the size of each image (data volume per image) obtained by the CCD, increasing the time required to transmit the image data, if it is necessary to wait for a recording process to complete each time image data is recorded on a recording medium, endoscopy cannot be conducted smoothly.
Also, endoscopic images can be printed out on a digital printer and the like or stored on an MO disk in a filing apparatus as well as recorded on a PC card and the like, but the operator may sometimes forget to print them out or record them on other recording media. In that case, although the recording medium containing the recorded data can be used, it is troublesome to process prints and copies.

Electronic endoscope apparatus which stores image data on recording medium


The invention includes also a sensor tat includes at least one laser, at least one detector, and at least one lens system that includes a sensor surface having three individual surfaces that are virtually the same, and an object surface having two individual surfaces that are virtually the same. The invention also includes a sensor having at least one source that produces radiation, at least one detector; and a lens system that collimates and focuses the radiation onto at least two different regions of a surface of a reflective object, wherein the reflective object reflects the incident radiation, and the lens system collimates and focuses the reflected radiation onto the detector, thereby sensing the reflective object.

Semiconductor lasers emit radiation with spatial and temporal coherence. Radiation from semiconductor lasers is highly monochromatic and produces highly directional beams of light. Semiconductor lasers are generally very compact in size, and are efficient. Radiation is formed in a semiconductor laser within the active region of the laser and emitted vertically with respect to the laser surface.
Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) are a type of semiconductor lasers that have a very low threshold current, a high beam quality, and high speed operation. VCSELs are formed by placing the active region between two highly reflective mirrors, called Bragg mirrors, formed from alternating layers of semiconductor materials with high and low indices of refraction. The configuration of the active region and the Bragg mirrors allows for a standing wave to be formed between the lower and upper mirrors, which increase the efficiency of the VCSEL.
Semiconductor lasers, especially VCSELs are used in numerous applications where efficient sources of radiation are desired. VCSELs are often configured with different types of photodetectors and optical systems for use in various applications, such as for example, object detection, velocity measurement, and length measurement.
Systems for accomplishing such tasks as object detection, velocity measurement, and length measurement can often require very expensive components, including optical systems, and multiple lasers. Such systems are also often quite large, and generally require the system to be configured very specifically with the object to be detected in order to maintain alignment for proper detection. Examples of some such devices include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,201, Yamaguchi et al., discloses a device that includes a linear array laser diode and an optical path rotating device designed to convert the dotted line output of the linear array laser diode into an output that has a structure similar to ladder rungs for rotating the optical path of a laser. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,413, Komma et al., discloses a device that includes a semiconductor laser, an elaborate lens system, and a photodetector designed to shift the relative position of the information medium and the optical head in a magnetic read/write system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,748, Izawa, discloses a system that includes a laser beam divided into a number of beam sections along the horizontal direction, and a beam converging guide that focuses the laser beam into a more circular cross section. U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,360 discloses a system that includes a laser beam, and an optical intensity converting means, which is generally an objective lens, that functions to condense the laser beam to create a smaller beam for use in optical recording heads.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,345, Bartunek et al., discloses a system for detecting the edge of an object that includes two light sources positioned so that the respective beams are focused at the same point on the object, and two detectors which monitor the reflected light from the object. U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,437, Cerney et al., discloses an improvement to the above edge detection system that includes a transmitter, associated optical elements, and a receiver for detecting the edge of an object. This system provides a wider angle of detection than Bartunek does.
Although systems such as these can accomplish the required tasks, they can be expensive and often must be exactingly aligned. As a result, there remains a need for low cost, compact, reliable systems that are capable of accomplishing tasks such as object detection, velocity measurement, and length measurement.

Compact VCSEL sensor with multiple sensing capabilities


The method according to the invention is suitable for determining a powder quantity in a container and for determining a change in powder quantity, i.e. the powder quantity that is supplied from the container(s). The powder is fluidized in the container, the pressure of the fluidized powder in the container is measured to determine the pressure of the fluidized powder or the change of the pressure between two measurements, wherein the powder quantity in the container, or which was supplied from the container between two measurements is calculated from the pressure or the change in pressure. By the method according to the invention it is possible by a simple pressure measurement to determine the powder quantity which is supplied per time unit from the container and which is sprayed by the coating apparatus, and therefore to determine the supplied powder mass flow.

The present invention refers to a method and a device for determining a powder quantity or change in powder quantity in a container. The invention can in particular be applied to the field of powder coating to determine and control a powder mass flow which is supplied to a coating device and which is sprayed by same.
To supply powder coating devices, e.g. in electrostatic coating apparatus, with coating powder, the powder is fluidized, i.e. the powder is interspersed with a gas, preferably air, to form a powder-air mixture, and this powder-air mixture is supplied to the coating apparatus via supply lines. It may become necessary to determine the actually transported and supplied powder quantity per time unit, i.e. to determine the powder-mass flow (in g/min), during the operation of the coating apparatus, for instance to adjust the powder mass flow to a desired value or to maintain an adjusted value by means of a control.
Means for measuring a powder mass flow are known from the prior art which serve for determining the powder quantity discharged by a coating apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,778 describes a method and a means for measuring and controlling the powder quantity which is supplied per time unit to a spray coating means in a powder coating apparatus. In the method described, the density (c) of the powder is measured in the powder-gas flow by a beam measuring means, the gas quantity per time unit (b) in the powder-gas flow is determined and the powder quantity per time unit (c) is determined by the equation c=bxc2x7a.
A further example for the measurement of a powder mass flow that is supplied to a coating apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,739. The device described in this specification measures two parameters, namely the speed V of the powder-air mixture in the supply line in m/sec and the powder mass per volume unit Mv in the supply line in g/cm3. The powder mass flow and therefore the powder quantity which is supplied to the coating apparatus and which is sprayed by same can be calculated from the product of powder density and speed of the powder-air flow. The measurement of the speed is made by means of measuring electrodes that are spaced from each other and detect charge fluctuations at the supply line generated by the supplied powder-gas mixture. The measurement of the powder mass per volume unit is made by means of a resonator, which determines a change of the dielectricity constant and/or of the absorption in a resonance volume of the supply line as a shift of the resonance frequency.
A different type of measurement of the sprayed powder quantity is based on the determination of the change in weight of a powder reservoir. The weight of the powder reservoir is determined by means of scales, and while the powder is supplied from the powder reservoir to the coating apparatus and is sprayed by same, the weight of the powder container is continuously measured to determine the powder quantity over time. Such a measurement of the powder ejection at powder spray apparatus is known from DE 43 44 701 A1.
The known measuring methods require measuring means, such as scales or a resonator and measuring electrodes, which are relatively expensive.
DE 30 39 210 C3 describes a device for the indication of a bulk density and filling level of grained catalysts in a fluidized bed reactor, wherein a plurality of measuring tubes of pressure difference measuring devices are arranged at the reactor. By means of a first pressure differential measuring device the bulk density is calculated and indicated and by means of a second pressure differential measuring device and the previously detected bulk density the filling level is calculated and indicated.
Thus, it is the object of the invention to provide a device and a method of measuring a powder quantity which provide reliable results at the smallest possible expenditure.
The method according to the invention is suitable for determining a powder quantity in a container and for determining a change in powder quantity, i.e. the powder quantity that is supplied from or to the container. The powder is fluidized in the container, the pressure of the fluidized powder in the container is measured to determine the pressure of the fluidized powder or the change of the pressure between two measurements, wherein the powder quantity is calculated from the pressure or the change in pressure which is located in the container, or which was supplied from the container between two measurements.
The method according to the invention enables by a simple pressure measurement to determine the powder quantity which is supplied per time unit from a container and which is sprayed by a coating apparatus to thereby determine the supplied powder mass flow. Scales or other expensive measuring means are not necessary for this purpose.
The invention utilizes the fact that a so-called fluidization pressure builds up in the container above the fluidization means due to the fluidized powder. Since fluidized powder basically has the characteristics of a liquid, the physical properties of liquids also partially apply. As in a liquid, a certain pressure prevails in the fluidized powder which is proportional to the depth; this fluidization pressure only depends on the type of powder and the powder quantity provided in the container. If the powder quantity or the depth of the fluidized powder rises or falls, the pressure in the container also rises or falls proportionally thereto. This effect can be utilized for determining the filling quantity or for determining the change of filling quantity in a powder container.
Thus, the powder quantity in a powder reservoir container can be calculated by the method according to the invention in absolute figures or the change of the powder quantity in the powder container can be calculated on the basis of pressure conditions within the container. Furthermore, the method according to the invention when being used accordingly is also suitable for determining the height or change in height of the fluidized powder in the container.
The measurement of the powder quantity in the container on the basis of the fluidization pressure can be calibrated in a simple manner in that a known powder quantity is given into the container and the increase in pressure that results from the addition of the known powder quantity is measured. From the relation of known powder quantity and pressure increase at a subsequent measurement of the pressure, the powder quantity or powder quantity change in the container can be derived from the measured pressure.
The invention also provides a device for determining a powder quantity in a container, which comprises a fluidization means in the container, a supply means for supplying powder from the container, a pressure measuring means for measuring the pressure of the fluidized powder in the container and a calculation means for calculating a powder quantity in accordance with the pressure of the fluidized powder in the container. This device can be used for determining the powder quantity or the change of powder quantity in the container.

Method and device for determining a powder quantity or change in powder quantity in a container


An exhaust pipe includes a metal base material and a surface coating layer formed on a surface of the metal base material. The surface coating layer contains an inorganic glass base material and has a concave portion and a convex portion on a surface of the surface coating layer. The concave portion is lower than a first reference surface. The first reference surface has an average height of the surface of the surface coating layer. The convex portion is located on a peripheral edge portion of the concave portion and surrounds the concave portion. The convex portion is higher than the first reference surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust pipe.
2. Discussion of the Background
In order to treat injurious substances such as injurious gases contained in exhaust gases discharged from an engine, a catalyst converter is installed in an exhaust gas passage including an exhaust pipe.
In order to improve the conversion efficiency of injurious substances by the catalyst converter, it is necessary to maintain the temperature of exhaust gases and the temperature of the exhaust pipe and the like through which the exhaust gases is allowed to pass at temperatures suitable for activating the catalyst (hereinafter, referred to also as a catalyst activating temperature).
However, at the time of high speed operation of the engine, the exhaust gas temporarily has such a high temperature as to exceed 1000° C. Therefore, the temperature of the exhaust gases sometimes becomes higher than the upper limit value of the catalyst activating temperature. As a result, problematically, efficient purification of exhaust gases may be difficult and the catalyst may deteriorate.
For this reason, an exhaust pipe connected to an automobile engine needs to be capable of externally radiating heat of the exhaust gases passing through the exhaust pipe at the time of high speed operation of the automobile engine.
JP-A 2009-133213 and JP-A 2009-133214 have disclosed an exhaust pipe having a structure in which a layer composed of a crystalline inorganic material and an amorphous inorganic material is formed on a surface of a cylindrical base material made of a metal.
JP-A 2009-133213 has disclosed an exhaust pipe having a structure in which a layer composed of a crystalline inorganic material and an amorphous inorganic material has infrared-ray emissivity higher than that of the base material so as to provide the exhaust pipe with an excellent heat releasing characteristic.
Moreover, JP-A 2009-133214 has disclosed an exhaust pipe having a structure in which the amorphous inorganic material located on the outer peripheral side from the crystalline inorganic material has an average thickness of 20 μm or less so as to provide the exhaust pipe with an excellent heat releasing characteristic.
The contents of JP-A 2009-133213 and JP-A 2009-133214 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.


A contact for electrically connecting two electric components, includes a first end portion which contacts an object to be contacted; a second end portion for passing a signal from the first end portion; an elastic portion which connects the first end portion with the second end portion while pushing the first end portion and the second end portion in an opposing direction, the elastic portion having a meandering shape from the first end portion to the second end portion and having a curved/bent structure provided with an open portion where a width of the open portion is different from the maximum inner width of the curved/bent structure of the elastic portion when seen from the opposing direction; and a housing portion which surrounds the elastic portion, wherein the first end portion, the second end portion, the elastic portion and the housing are formed by bending a single conductive plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact and a connector including the contact.
2. Description of the Related Art
A test device for measuring or testing electric characteristics of the semiconductor integrated circuit or the like formed on a wafer is used when manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit or the like, for example. With such a test device, contacts are contacted with electrode pads or electrode terminals formed on the wafer for electrically connecting the test device with the semiconductor integrated circuit or the like to conduct an electrical measurement.
Patent Document 1 discloses a coil spring probe including a contact pin and a tubular housing, as such a contact. The contact pin includes a contacting end which contacts an electrical pad of a semiconductor integrated circuit and a guide member which is inserted in the housing. Further, a part of the housing is formed as a coil spring.
In this coil spring probe, by providing the coil spring, the contacting end of the contact pin is extensible and the electrical connection with the electrode pad can be ensured.
By including plural of such contacts in an insulating body, a connector for electrical connection can be structured.
However, the coil spring probe disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes many components such as the contact pin and the housing, and it is necessary to manufacture each of the components and to assemble the components. Thus, a manufacturing process becomes complicated, leading to higher cost.


One aspect of the invention provides a method of evaluating semantic differences between a first item in a first semantic space and a second item in a second semantic space. The method includes: calculating a first ordered list of N nearest neighbors of the first item within the first semantic space; calculating a second ordered list of N nearest neighbors of the second item within the second semantic space; and computing a plurality of similarity measures between the first n nearest neighbors of the first item and the first n nearest neighbors of the second item, wherein n and N are positive integers and 1≦n≦N.

The semantics of words and phrases in any language can be digitized in the form of real-valued vectors, i.e. bounded-dimensional vectors with only a finite number of nonzero entries. Such representations of words and phrases are called "semantic vectors" and the collection of all such vectors is called a "semantic space."
Researchers and practitioners have used such representations in information retrieval, semantic similarity analysis, scoring of text quality, and analyses of discourse cohesion. Over the past 20 years, needs have grown to the point where a systematic method is necessary to evaluate and optimize semantic spaces.

Methods of evaluating semantic differences, methods of identifying related sets of items in semantic spaces, and systems and computer program products for implementing the same

The University of Memphis Research Foundation


Herein disclosed are organic thin film EL element having layer structures each of which comprises at least one organic thin film sandwiched between two electrodes, at least one of which is a metal thin film or one of which is a metal thin film and the other of which is a transparent conductive inorganic thin film, and an optional thin film of an inorganic semiconductor positioned between the transparent conductive thin film and the organic thin film, wherein an interfacial layer is fromed between the organic thin film and the metal thin film adjacent to the organic thin film by treating the organic thin film and/or the metal thin film with an organic phosphorus atom-containing compound; and/or wherein an interfacial layer is formed between the organic thin film and the inorganic thin film adjacent to the inorganic thin film by treating the organic thin film and/or the inorganic thin film with a silane-coupling agent. In the EL element, the metal thin film formed on the organic thin film has low unevenness, the metal thin film is strongly adhered to the organic thin film.

1. (Field of the Invention)
The present invention relates to an element for display
device and more specifically to a high quality EL element comprising an organic thin film.
2. (Description of the Prior Art)
There has increasingly been desired for the development of high quality parts for displaying information along with the recent remarkable development of the information-oriented society. Electroluminescence elements (EL elements) which make use of the phenomenon of electroluminescence (EL) have been attracting much attention from the industrial standpoint because of their excellent properties such as visibility.
There have been developed, for instance, so-called intrinsic EL elements such as elements comprising organic substances in which inorganic fine particles are dispersed and elements in which inorganic thin films of, for instance, ZnS are sandwiched between insulating thin films and they have already been put into practical use. However, these elements suffer from various problems. For instance, they require high driving voltages and it is difficult to obtain elements capable of emitting lights of certain colors such as lights of blue color. On the other hand, there have also been known carrier injection EL elements in addition to these intrinsic EL elements. The carrier injection type EL element comprises electrons and holes injected in a p-n junction of, for instance, a semiconductor and emits light through recombination of the electrons and holes. The element is, for instance, characterized in that it can be operated by a direct current at a low driving voltage and that it can convert a current into a light in a high efficiency. In these elements, inorganic crystalline semiconductors such as GaP are mainly used. However, these elements likewise suffer from various problems. For instance, colors of emitted lights are limited to specific ones and it is difficult to obtain any element having a large area. There has accordingly been desired for the development of a technique for producing elements having a low driving voltage and capable of emitting light of various colors, which permits production of an element having a large area.
Recently a novel carrier injection type EL element which makes use of an organic thin film has been reported (see C.W. Tang, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1987, 51(12), p. 193) and has been attracted much attention since it is anticipated that colors of emitted lights can freely be selected through appropriate selection of organic compounds, that such element can be operated at a low driving voltage and that an element having a large area can easily be prepared by the application of method for forming thin films such as vapor-deposition and coating methods. Such EL elements produced from organic thin films are described in, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,356,429; 4,539,507; 4,720,432; 4,769,292 and 4,885,211. In addition, the inventors of this invention developed an EL element comprising laminated organic and inorganic thin films (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (hereinafter referred to as "J.P. KOKAI") Nos. Hei 2-196475 and Hei 2-207488). However, it has been reported that these EL elements comprising organic thin films suffer from so-called deterioration or reduction in luminance of emitted lights when they are operated over a long time period.
The foregoing element which makes use of the organic thin film has a layer structure comprising a hole-transport organic thin film and a emitted organic thin film formed between two electrodes. The first electrode mainly comprises ITO, while the second electrode comprises a metal thin film of, for instance, Mg. On the other hand, the element which comprises laminated organic and inorganic thin films has a layer structure comprising a hole-transport inorganic thin film and a luminous organic thin film formed between two electrodes. In this case, the first electrode likewise mainly comprises ITO, while the second electrode comprises a metal thin film of, for instance, Mg. The following deterioration phenomena are, for instance, observed in these elements: (i) if they are allowed to stand in the air, the driving voltage thereof increases and as a result, the elements are broken down; (ii) there are Observed an increase of the driving voltage and formation of dark spots which do not have capability of emission of light during the continuous operation thereof; and (iii) when increasing the current load for operation, the luminance thereof is substantially reduced due to generation of heat.


A surgical stapling instrument having a staple fastening assembly including a curved cartridge device. The device has at least one curved open row of staples having a first and second ends and having a concave side and a convex side. Opposite to the cartridge device there is a curved anvil for forming the ends of the staples. The instrument also includes a moving device adapted to move the anvil with respect to the cartridge device in a parallel relationship. The instrument also includes a staple driving device adapted to drive the staples out of the cartridge device towards the anvil, and a knife. The knife has opposing first and second sides and is contained in the cartridge device. There is also a knife actuating device adapted to move the knife towards the anvil. The instrument includes staple fastening assembly having a retaining pin which moves between the cartridge device to align them. The retaining pin is located on the second side of the knife in an intermediate region between the first end and second ends of the curved row of staples.

Such a surgical stapling instrument is known from WO 01/91646 A1. WO 01/91646 A1 discloses a surgical stapling instrument having a staple fastening assembly located in the distal end region of the stapling instrument, a shaft, and a handle extending from the shaft in the proximal end region of the stapling instrument. The staple fastening assembly includes a curved cartridge device, which comprises several curved open rows of staples having a concave side and a convex side. A curved anvil is arranged opposite to the cartridge device. The anvil has a staple forming face and is adapted to cooperate with the cartridge device for forming the ends of the staples exiting from the cartridge device. The anvil can be moved relatively with respect to the cartridge device from a spaced position for positioning tissue therebetween to a closed position for clamping the tissue. Moreover, a knife is contained in the cartridge device and is positioned on the concave side of at least one row of staples.
The surgical stapling instrument disclosed in WO 01/91646 A1 can be used to excise tissue, e.g. polyps, and to stop bleeding virtually immediately. In a surgical procedure, the stapling instrument is introduced, e.g., into the anal canal and moved to the site of the tissue to be resected. The tissue to be excised can be pulled into the area between the anvil and the cartridge device, when the cartridge device and the anvil are in a spaced or open position, by means of a separate gripping instrument. Afterwards, the cartridge device is moved relatively with respect to the anvil in order to clamp the tissue. When the cartridge device and the anvil have reached the closed position, the surgeon can "fire" the instrument, which means that the staples are driven out of the cartridge device, penetrate the tissue, whereupon the ends are bent by the anvil, and the knife is moved towards the anvil in order to cut the tissue. When the instrument is retracted, the completely excised tissue stays in the staple fastening assembly and can thus be safely removed from the patient's body.
A particular advantage of the surgical stapling instrument disclosed in WO 01/91646 A1 is the shape of the staple fastening assembly in which the cartridge device and the anvil have a generally arc-like shape in a cross-sectional plane. This allows for unobstructed view and access towards the concave inner faces of the cartridge device and of the anvil.
In the surgical stapling instruments known from WO 01/91646 A1, the anvil is supported by means of an arm extending from an end of the anvil and generally running in parallel to the direction of relative movement of the anvil with respect to the cartridge device. The other end of the anvil is not supported. Thus, under load when the tissue to be resected is clamped, the anvil might distort, leading to a misalignment of the ends of the staples and the staple forming face of the anvil. For small surgical stapling instruments designed to be inserted through a small-diameter channel, this is a particular problem as there is not space enough for a sufficiently dimensioned, strong support arm at the end of the anvil.
In order to overcome this drawback, it has been proposed to use a retaining pin, which does not impede the free access to the space between the anvil and the cartridge device, but which is moved, after clamping the tissue, between the cartridge device and the anvil in order to align the cartridge device and the anvil. Such retaining pin is disclosed in PCT/EP03/06352. The retaining pin is located close to the free end of the anvil/cartridge device. In the cases when the length of the tissue to be excised is less than the arc length of the device, the known retaining pins do not cause risks of unwanted piercing of tissue.
It is possible, however, that tissue to be excised is longer than the arc length of the device. In those cases the stapling instrument must be applied more than once, substituting the spent staple cartridge with a loaded one. The problem of current stapling instruments with a retaining pin at the free end of the cartridge device is that their retaining pin leaves a hole in the tissue outside the excision line defined by the knife length.
It is the object of the invention to improve the clinical benefits of a surgical stapling instrument as generally known from WO 01/91646 A1, without jeopardizing its technical performance.
This problem is solved by a surgical stapling instrument having the features of claim 1. Advantageous versions of the invention follow from the dependent claims.
The surgical stapling instrument according to the invention comprises a staple fastening assembly including a curved cartridge device and, opposite to the cartridge device, a curved anvil. The cartridge device comprises at least one curved open row of staples having a first end and a second end and having a concave side and a convex side. The anvil has a staple forming face and is adapted to cooperate with the cartridge device for forming the ends of the staples exiting from the cartridge device. Moreover, a moving device is adapted to move the anvil relatively with respect to the cartridge device, essentially in parallel relationship, from a spaced position for positioning tissue therebetween to a closed position for clamping the tissue. A staple driving device is adapted to drive the staples out of the cartridge device towards the anvil. In the cartridge device, there is contained a knife having a first side and a second side opposite to the first side. The knife is positioned on the concave side of at least one row of staples, the first side of the knife facing to said row of staples. A knife actuating device is adapted to move the knife towards the anvil. According to the invention, the staple fastening assembly comprises a retaining pin adapted to move between the cartridge device and the anvil to align the cartridge device and the anvil. The retaining pin is located on the second side of the knife in an intermediate region between the first end and the second end of the curved row of staples.
In other words, the retaining pin is not located at an end of the curved row of staples, but it is situated in an area where tissue which might be penetrated by the retaining pin upon movement of the retaining pin will be excised when the knife is actuated. Consequently, there is no risk that healthy tissue or tissue remaining in the patient's body will be injured by the retaining pin. The importance of the position of the retaining pin will be better understood by means of the description of an embodiment of the invention following further below.
Preferably, the stapling instrument according to the invention comprises a shaft device and a handle, the staple fastening assembly being located in the distal end region of the stapling instrument and the handle extending from the shaft device in the proximal end region of the stapling instrument. In a preferred version of the invention, the staple fastening assembly is removably mounted in the distal end region of the shaft device. In this way, the shaft device, which can include many components of the moving device, the staple driving device, the knife actuating device and members used to move the retaining pin, can be designed as a single-patient reloadable device, whereas the staple fastening assembly can be designed as a single-fire disposable article which is replaced after its staples have been delivered. Preferably, the movement of the retaining pin is actuatable via an actuating member located at the handle. In a preferred embodiment, the direction of movement of the retaining pin is essentially in parallel to the direction of relative movement of the anvil with respect to the cartridge device.
The staple forming face of the anvil can be generally planar, but other shapes, e.g. an undulated shape, are conceivable as well.
In an advantageous version of the invention, the staple fastening assembly is adapted to allow unobstructed access towards concave inner faces of the cartridge device and of the anvil. Such design, which is generally known from WO 01/91646 A1, largely facilitates the handling of the stapling instrument in a surgical procedure.
Preferably, the cartridge device and the anvil have a generally arc-like shape in a cross-sectional plane, the arc extending over an angle in the range 10° to 350°.
In a preferred version of the invention, the anvil is supported by means of an arm extending from an end of the anvil and generally running in parallel to the direction of relative movement of the anvil with respect to the cartridge device. This kind of support allows for a large unobstructed area between the cartridge device and the anvil but has the general disadvantage that it is less rigid than, e.g., a design using a support arm in the center of the cartridge device and the anvil or using more than one support arm. However, this disadvantage is compensated by the presence of the retaining pin by means of which the cartridge device and the anvil are aligned during the steps of the procedure when an alignment is critical, i.e. in particular when the cartridge device and the anvil are moved toward one another to force the tissue to compress to a thickness such to be stapled across and when the staples are then "fired" from the cartridge device and are formed by grooves in the staple forming face of the anvil.
Preferably, the distance between the cartridge device and the anvil in the closed position is adjustable. For example, the moving device can comprise an adjustable stop in order to prevent the cartridge device (or anvil) from moving beyond the stop position and from clamping the tissue too much. Or a series of cartridge devices with different built-in tissue stops can be used according to the tissue thickness. It is also conceivable to use a series of cartridge devices which have different longitudinal dimensions which are adapted to the desired distance between the cartridge device and the anvil in the closed position. By adjusting the distance between the cartridge device and the anvil in the closed position, the instrument can be matched to the thickness and type of tissue to be stapled and excised.
In an advantageous version of the surgical stapling instrument, the cartridge device comprises a replaceable cartridge containing staples. In this way, a used cartridge without staples can be replaced with a fresh one, if required. This is particularly beneficial when the instrument is to be used several times during the same surgical procedure.
Some of the features discussed above are already known from WO 01/91646 A1, in particular an arc-like shape of the cartridge device and the anvil and a support arm extending from an end of the anvil, which enables an easy access to the site of surgery, e.g., for endoscopic optics or additional surgical instruments. The retaining pin of the present invention allows for a greater precision of the surgery without involving the risk of injury to tissue that may not be removed from the patient in the form of a specimen.
Herein, the term "staple" is used in a very general sense. It includes metal staples or clips, but also surgical fasteners made of synthetic material and similar fasteners. Synthetic fasteners usually have a counterpart (retainer member) held at the anvil. In this sense, the terms "anvil" and "staple forming face" also have a broad meaning which includes, in the case of two-part synthetic fasteners, the anvil-like tool and its face where the retainer members are held, and similar devices.
Generally, the stapling instrument according to the invention can be used in all kinds of surgery disclosed in WO 01/91646 A1, which is incorporated by reference herein.


The invention provides a block member and a panel structure which are of a relatively simple construction, which may permit reduction in production and fabrication costs, which may be easily assembled with a sufficient strength, and which may have superior appearance when assembled. A block member comprises a block body 21 of a rectangular configuration having a center point and four sides, the block body including a flange portion 24 in the outer peripheral surface 21c of each of the four sides, the flange portions being formed integrally with the block body and protruding outwardly from the outer peripheral surface, the flange portions having a thickness less than that of the outer peripheral surface, each of the flange portions having a deformed portion 25 which restricts the amount of protrusion of the flange portion 24, the deformed portions being formed in the flange portions disposed at corner portions of the block body at which the adjoining sides of the block body meet together. The block members are clamped by the pair of support members disposed along the front and rear surface of the flange portions 24, through the use of a space defined by the deformed portions 25 and attachment holes in the support members.

Conventionally, a panel structure of the above-mentioned type has been constructed by stacking glass blocks for example within an aluminum frame, with the aid of adhesive such as joint cement interposed between the glass blocks. Another panel structure has been constructed by stacking glass blocks directly on a portion of an architectural construction, with the aid of adhesive such as joint cement interposed between the glass blocks.
It is noted, however, that, according to such conventional construction methods, adhesive must be used in order to secure or fix glass blocks together. This requires a prolonged period of time both for curing and fabrication. In addition, an architectural construction to which such panel structure is applied and its periphery may frequently and undesirably be contaminated, when joint cement is used as an adhesive. It should be specifically noted that, when the above frame is used, alteration or change in size of a panel structure, in relation to a given architectural construction, could not be easily performed.
In order to solve the above problems, various proposals have been made heretofore. For example, a partition using glass panels is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 50-3384, and a glass block panel is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-30739.
In the construction of a panel unit in the former publication, the panel unit includes a pair of grids of a resin material. The pair of grids define an internal recess. A glass plate is fitted into the recess so as to be clamped by the pair of grids. The opposite ends of the panel unit are engaged in their corresponding engagement grooves respectively formed in upstanding two support columns disposed on opposite sides of the panel unit.
According to this proposal, the glass plate is supported by the pair of grids since it clamped between the pair of grids. Thus, adhesive such as joint cement may be completely obviated. This contributes to reduction in fabrication period. It is also possible to prevent an architectural construction and its periphery from contamination.
It is noted, however, that the size of the above-mentioned panel unit is fixed. Thus, although alteration in size of the panel unit itself is possible, more fine adjustment in size is not possible. This is problematic since use or application field of the panel unit is restricted. It is also noted that, since the glass plate is simply clamped by the pair of grids, support strength for the plate glass at the central portion of the panel unit is undesirably decreased. This causes dislodgment of plate glass from the panel unit due to strong vibrations or mechanical shock.
The pair of grids could be formed from a casting, in place of resin material. This might be effective in solving the above problem, but such grids would become extremely heavy, so that new problems such as restriction during fabrication may occur.
In the construction of a glass block panel for daylighting purpose in the latter publication, vertical and horizontal bars having a groove are disposed within an aluminum frame. Glass blocks having flange portions in their outer peripheral surface are disposed in spaces between the frame and the horizontal and vertical bars, and between the horizontal bars and the vertical bars. A rubber packing is disposed between each groove and each flange portion. The frame, the horizontal bars and the vertical bars are fixed together at their connections by means of screws.
According to this proposal, adhesive such as joint cement may be completely obviated, as in that of the former publication. Reduction in fabrication period may be obtained, and contamination of an architectural construction and its periphery may be prevented. It is also possible to prevent breakage of the glass blocks due to vibrations and mechanical shock.
It is noted, however, that, during fabrication stage, a rubber packing should be placed between the grooves of the frame, the vertical bars and the horizontal bars and the flange portions of the glass blocks. This causes assembling operation cumbersome, so that fabrication efficiency may be undesirably decreased. It is specifically noted that, since the portions of the frame, the horizontal bars and the vertical bars disposed oppositely to the glass blocks are formed into a grooved configuration which corresponds to the profile of the glass blocks (the shape of the flange portions), another glass blocks of the same outer dimension but having different profiles cannot be used. This is problematic in terms of interchangeability.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the applicant previously proposed a panel structure shown in FIGS. 9 to 15. In these Figures, reference numeral 1 designates a first or vertical support member formed from a metal material, such as aluminum or steel member, into an elongated form. The vertical support member 1 includes a top plate 2, for example, of a planer configuration, a pair of side plates 3, 3 extending from the opposite side edges of the top plate in the same direction, and a pair of flange portions 4, 4 extending from the side edge of the respective side plate in a direction perpendicular thereto. The side plates 3, 3, together with the top plate 2, form a substantially U-shaped configuration. It is noted that the top plate 2 is formed with a plurality of holes 2a spaced apart from one another at a predetermined distance. Each of the side plates 3, 3 adjacent to the top plate 2 is formed with a plurality of slits 3a for receiving therein a second or horizontal support member which will be explained later. The slits 3a are spaced apart from one another at a distance the same as that of the holes 2a. Each of the flange portions 4, 4 is formed with a plurality of holes 4a for attachment thereof to a third support member which will be explained later. Although the slit 3a, which is disposed at one end of the side plate, is formed so as to have an open end, it may be formed into a configuration substantially the same as that of the slits 3a disposed in the central portion of the side plate.
The vertical support members 1 are so disposed that the top plates 2 of each pair of the support members 1 are oppositely disposed, and so that the pairs of the support members 1 are spaced apart from one another at a predetermined distance. A horizontal support member 5 is inserted in each slit 3a of the vertical support member 1, so as to form a grid-like configuration. The horizontal support member 5 is formed, for example, from a metal material, such as aluminum or steel, into an elongated web-like configuration. Holes 6 are also provided which correspond to the holes 2a of the vertical support member 1 spaced at a predetermined distance. The vertical support member 1 is formed first by forming the holes 2a, 4a, and slits 3a, for example, in a sheet metal by stamping operation, and then, bending the sheet metal in a predetermined direction, for example, by rolling or press operation, so as to obtain the configuration shown in FIG. 14.
Reference numeral 7 designates block members. The block member may include a glass block, a glass brick, a glass panel and so on. The material for the block member may include, other than glass, resin material, for example. The block member 7 is supported by the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 which are arranged in a grid-like configuration, as mentioned above. More specifically, the front and rear surfaces of the block member 7 are supported, at the opposite ends thereof, by the flange portions 4, 4 of the vertical support members 1, and the opposite side surfaces of the block member 7 are supported by the side plates 3, 3 of the vertical support members 1. The top surface and bottom surface of the block member 7 are supported by the upper edges 5a and lower edges 5b of the horizontal support members 5.
The vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5, having been assembled into a grid-like configuration as mentioned above, are tightly clamped by means of an attachment means 8, 9. More specifically, the attachment means 8 such as a bolt is inserted sequentially into the hole 6 of the horizontal support member 5, the hole 2a of the vertical support member 1, the hole 2a of the opposed vertical support member 1, and the hole 6 of the horizontal support member 5. Then, the attachment means 9, such as a nut, is threadingly engaged with the attachment means 8 (bolt). Thus, the pair of support members 1, 1 are brought into closer with each other, whereby the front and rear surfaces of the block member 7 are tightly clamped at their end portions by the flange portions 4, 4. Thus, the vertical and horizontal support members 1, 5 are unified.
Next, the way how the above-mentioned panel structure is assembled will be explained below. A plurality of vertical support members 1, being oriented in their substantially upright position, are arranged in forward and rearward rows and disposed spaced apart from one anther in each row at a distance substantially corresponding to the width of a block member 7. Horizontal support members 5, 5 are inserted in the respective lowermost slits 3a of the vertical support members 1. Then, a bolt 8 is inserted through a hole 6 of the horizontal support member 5 in the forward row, the hole 2a of the vertical support member 1, the hole 2a of the vertical support member 1 in the rearward row, and the hole 6 of the horizontal support member 5. The bolt is then threadingly engaged with a nut 9 for temporary securement thereof. The block member 7 in this state is inserted between the vertical support members 1, 1 from the above until the lower surface of the block member 7 is rested on the upper edge 5a of the horizontal support members 5, 5. An additional block member 7 is disposed adjacent to the first block member 7 in the above manner. A further additional block member 7 is disposed adjacent to the above additional block member 7, whereby the block member in a first stage (a first horizontal row) are all disposed in a proper manner. Then, a horizontal support member 5 is inserted into a slit 3a next to the lowermost slit 3a in the vertical support member 1. A bolt 8 is inserted in each hole 2a in the vertical support member 1. Each bolt 8 is temporarily and lightly tightened by means of a nut 9. An appropriate arrangement and adjustment operation is performed so that the opposite end portions of the front and rear surfaces of the block member 7 are engaged with the flange portions 4, 4 of the vertical support member 1, while the opposite side surfaces of the block member 7 are engaged with the side plates 3, 3 of the vertical support member 1. Then, the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 in the forward and rearward row are tightened together by means of pairs of bolt 8 and nut 9 in the lowermost stage.
Subsequently, block members 7 in a second horizontal row are inserted between the pair of vertical support members 1, 1 from the above, so that their lower surfaces are mounted on the upper edges 5a of the pair of horizontal support members 5, 5. The above-mentioned operation is repeated in a similar manner. By this, a new block member 7 is disposed adjacent to the first block member 7 in the second horizontal row. Similarly, a further additional block member 7 is disposed adjacent to the new block member 7. In this manner, all block members 7 in the horizontal second row are properly arranged. Then, a horizontal support member 5 is inserted into the third slit 3a from the lowermost one. A bolt 8 is inserted into a respective holes 2a and 6 of the vertical support members 1. Each bolt 8 is temporarily and lightly tightened by means of a corresponding nut 9. As in the case of the first horizontal row of block member, an appropriate arrangement and adjustment operation is performed so that the opposite end portions of the front and rear surfaces of the block member 7 are engaged with the flange portions 4, 4 of the vertical support member 1, while the opposite side surfaces of the block member 7 are engaged with the side plates 3, 3 of the vertical support member 1. Then, the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 in the forward and rearward row are tightened together by means of pairs of bolt 8 and nut 9 next to the lowermost stage. Similar operation will be repeated, so as to obtain a panel shown in FIG. 10.
According to the above-mentioned proposal, the vertical support members 1 having slits 3a in their side plates 3, 3, and the horizontal support members 5 are formed into a grid-like configuration, by inserting the horizontal support members 5 into the slits 3a in the vertical support members 1. The block members 7 of a rectangular configuration are disposed in their respective grid-like portions. The opposite end portions of the front and rear surfaces and the opposite end surfaces of the block members 7 are supported by the flange portions 4, 4 of the pair of vertical support members 1 and the side plates 3, 3. The lower and upper surfaces of the block members 7 are supported by the horizontal support members 5. Thus, the panel may be easily assembled, regardless of a given profile of the block member 7. It is also noted that adhesion such as joint cement is unnecessary, and contamination of an architectural construction and its periphery may be prevented.
The vertical support members 1 and horizontal support members 5 are integrally tightened, at their overlapped portions, by means of the attachment means 8, 9. Thus, supporting ability for the block members 7 and mechanical strength of the panel are improved and increased, respectively. Accordingly, dislodgment of the block members 7 from the vertical support members 1 or the horizontal support members 5 due to vibrations or mechanical shock may be prevented.
The block members 7 are supported by the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 which are arranged in a grid-like configuration. Thus, panel size may be desirably changed by the size of the block member, when an appropriate length is selected for the vertical support members 1 and/or the horizontal support members 5. Accordingly, applicable field may be expanded, flexibility during fabrication may be enhanced, and reduction in fabrication period may be achieved.
Recently, it has been noticed that the panel structure advantageously provides design effects. Thus, the panel structures have various applications, other than partitions or screens for an architectural construction. Demand for the panel structure is increased, and, thus, easy applicability and cost reduction are highly required.
According to the above-mentioned proposal, the block members 7 are supported by the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 of a web-like configuration which are combined into a grid-like configuration. It is noted, however, that the block members 7 are actually clamped and supported, at their front and rear surface on right-hand side and left-hand side, by the flange portions 4 of the vertical support members 1. Thus, the flange portions 4 are exposed only at the right-hand side and the left-hand side on the front and rear surface of the block members 7. This is disadvantageous in terms of providing good appearance.
The vertical support member 1 includes slits 3a and formed into a substantially C-shaped configuration. Thus, its shape or configuration is different from that of the horizontal support member 5 which is of a web-like configuration. This inevitably increases the type of the support members and requires cumbersome production process. Reduction in manufacturing cost is also difficult. It is specifically noted that, as the panel structure increases in size, more complicated process for fabricating the vertical support members is required, thus increasing manufacturing cost.
It is also noted that the block members 7 are supported in a following manner. First, the vertical support members 1 and the horizontal support members 5 of a web-like configuration are combined into a grid-like configuration by inserting each horizontal support member 5 into a slit 3a of a corresponding vertical support member 1. Then, block members 7 are mounted on the horizontal support members 5. Consequently, each block member 7 is clamped, at its left-hand and right-hand sides on front and rear surfaces, by the flange portions 4 of the vertical support members 1. Thus, such panel structure may be efficiently fabricated or constructed at site as compared to conventional one. It is noted, however, that further improvement is required for such panel structure, since more efficient and readily applicable panel structure is desired.


Conductive balls (44), preferably solder balls, are attached to pads (32) on a substrate (30) using a vacuum pick-up tool (34). The pick-up tool lowers the conductive balls into a bath of flux (48) without allowing the balls to touch the bottom of a recess (47) in a flux plate (46), thereby reducing the likelihood of dislodging the solder balls from the pick-up tool. The pick-up tool withdraws the balls from the flux, and aligns the balls with the respective pads on the substrate. Once positioned, the balls are released from the pick-up tool. A reflow operation metallurgically bonds the balls to the pads.

In an effort to alleviate handling problems and difficult surface mounting procedures associated with fine-pitch leads of semiconductor devices, some semiconductor manufacturers are building devices in packages which do not employ conventional leads. One such device is the over-molded pad array carrier (OMPAC) device. OMPAC devices have conductive balls, typically solder balls, which are arranged in an array configuration on a bottom surface of a circuitized substrate. The solder balls serve as the external electrical terminals of the device, similar to conventional leads or pins.
One method to manufacture OMPAC devices begins with a semiconductor die mounted to a circuitized substrate. The circuitized substrate typically includes conductive traces on both a top and a bottom surface of the substrate and conductive through-holes or vias which electrically couple the top and bottom traces. The die is electrically coupled to conductive traces on the top surface by, for instance, wire bonds. The die, wire bonds, and a portion of the top surface of the substrate are encapsulated with a resin molding compound. After encapsulation, a solder ball is attached to a terminating end of each of the conductive traces on the bottom surface of the circuitized substrate. The terminating ends of the traces are often formed in the shape of pads and are typically arranged in an array configuration, thus the name "pad array" device.
An existing process for attaching solder balls to the pads on the bottom of a circuitized substrate involves using a vacuum pick-up tool to transfer the solder balls onto the substrate. The pick-up tool picks up a plurality of solder balls such that the balls are arranged in the final array configuration corresponding to the pad configuration on the bottom of the substrate. The pick-up tool then transfers the balls to a flux bath and the balls are partially immersed in the flux. After being coated with flux, the solder balls are transferred to the bottom surface of the substrate such that the balls are aligned with the pads. The solder balls are released from the pick-up tool and reflowed to form a metallurgical bond between each ball and a respective pad.
In practicing the solder ball attachment method described above, a problem of loosing solder balls sometimes occurs during the fluxing procedure. Upon withdrawing the pick-up tool and the solder balls from the flux bath, some solder balls can become dislodged from the tool. If a solder ball is displaced from the pick-up tool, remaining solder balls must be released from the pick-up tool. The pick-up tool then picks up a new set of solder balls and the attachment procedure begins again.
Repeating solder ball attachment operations wastes a significant amount of manufacturing time, thereby increasing costs of OMPAC devices. One solution to the problem of displaced solder balls is to slow the rate at which solder balls are immersed into a flux bath, and also to slow the rate at which the solder balls are withdrawn from the flux bath. While this solution reduces the chance of dislodging a solder ball from the pick-up tool, the slower manufacturing step undesirably increases manufacturing time which in turn increases device cost. Therefore, a less costly and time-consuming solution to the problem of displaced solder balls would be useful.

Method for attaching conductive balls to a substrate


A method and system are provided for implementing intercommunication between an Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPV4) network and a new network. The new network adopts an addressing format different from that of the IPV4 network. The method includes an IPV4 network host sending a message to a new network host and a new network host sending a message to the IPV4 network host. The system includes an IPV4 network host, an intercommunication functional unit and a new network host. A method is also provided for implementing intercommunication between a first network and a second network.

At present the IPV4 public network addresses are almost exhausted, and it is predicted in the industry that they will be completely exhausted in a few years, so migration to IPV6 is inevitable. During the process of migration to the IPV6, it is crucial to ensure the intercommunication between the host and network of the IPV4 and those of the IPV6. Currently, the addressing modes of NAT (Network Address Translation) and 6 to 4 are generally adopted in the industry to solve the intercommunication between IPV4 host and IPV6 host. According to this method, address format translation is implemented depending on a gateway device between the two networks, each IPV4 address needs to be mapped to a unique IPV6 address, the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) specially distributes an IPV6 address prefix 2002:0000::/16 to indicate that the 32 bit thereafter is an IPV4 address, and the source address and destination address of a message sent from the IPV4 network to the IPV6 network, after being added with the IPV6 prefix at the gateway, is then sent to the IPV6 network, while the prefix is deleted from the reverse message at the gateway.
The problem of the method is that the IPV6 host participating in intercommunication also must occupy an IPV4 public network address and always occupies the address during the whole process of migration from the IPV4 to the IPV6, this migration process seems to be very long at present, and since the IPV4 address space is rather rare, the number of addresses required in this intercommunication scheme cannot be supported.
In addition, this intercommunication problem does not only lie between the IPV4 and IPV6 networks, but also lie in the intercommunication between a network with novel addressing provided by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and the IPV4, for example, the representatives of identity/location separation technology, LISP (Locator/Identifier Separation Protocol) and HIP (Host Identity Protocol), both define a new identifier format, which will also be regarded as an IP address with a new format by the network and host of the IPV4 when the network with novel addressing communicates with the IPV4 network, so the new network has the same problem in intercommunication with the IPV4 network as the IPV6 network.
Another problem of intercommunication lies in the support of traditional applications for a new IP (Internet Protocol) address format. During the process of migration to a new IP network, network upgrading, host operation system/protocol stack upgrading are relatively easy, but applications can hardly be synchronous with the network upgrading due to their diversity, so compatibility with the old applications is also one of the crucial problems in the period of network transition.

Method and system for implementing interconnection between internet protocol version 4 network and new network


A real-time MPEG video coding system with information look-ahead for constant bit rate (CBR) applications, such as, for example, Video-on-Demand (VoD) over ADSL. This scheme employs two MPEG encoders. The second encoder has a buffer to delay the input by an amount of time relative to the first encoder to create a look-ahead window. In encoding, the first encoder collects the information of statistics and rate-quality characteristics. An on-line information processor then uses the collected information to derive the best coding strategy for the second encoder to encode the incoming frames in the look-ahead window. The second encoder uses the encoding parameters from the processor as the coding guide to execute the coding strategy and generate the final bitstream.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of data compression, and more specifically to a method and system for real-time multiple-pass data encoding, and particularly, for encoding video signals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Digital video compression is an essential technology in video communications, broadcasting, and storage. MPEG video coding standards have been successfully used to reduce the transmission bandwidth and storage space requirements in many applications, such as digital TV broadcast through satellite and cable, Digital Video Disk (DVD), Video on-Demand and video streaming over the Internet, etc. However, emerging applications and new services become increasingly demanding for less transmission bandwidth and storage space. For example, in Video-on-Demand service over Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), live news and sports events are transmitted in real-time to the subscribers using MPEG-2 video coding standard (ISO/IEC 13818-2) at a constant bit rate (CBR) in the range of 0.6 to 2 Mbits/second. For MPEG CBR video encoding at such a bit rate range, it is very challenging for the conventional MPEG encoders available on the commercial market to produce acceptable picture quality. Conventional MPEG encoders employ a single encoder scheme as depicted in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional video encoder device 110 implements a coding strategy which is based on the information retained in coding only the previous video frames 100 to provide coded video output 120. These encoders 110 routinely adopt a coding strategy that is only based on the information obtained in coding of the previous video frames 100 and/or rely on some assumed signal models to predict or estimate the signal properties of the current input frame to guide the encoding process of the current frame. However, natural video is a statistically non-stationary signal source. Prediction and estimation based on the past signal will not correctly describe the current input signal. In addition there is no known robust signal model that can describe the natural video signal reliably. Such encoders will not be able to determine and apply the best coding strategy to encode the incoming video frames for lack of the information about the current and future input frames. In order to meet the challenges from more demanding emerging applications, more sophisticated schemes for MPEG-2 video coding are needed to improve the performance and to ensure the quality of services.
Research efforts have been made to improve the variable bit rate (VBR) MPEG video coding, e.g., for DVD applications, by employing two-pass and re-encoding schemes. However, there are no published research results for multi-pass CBR coding in the literature.
It would thus be highly desirable to provide a real-time MPEG CBR video coding method and associated system that are able to jointly determine and apply the best coding plan to encode input video frames based not only on the information of the previous and current frames, but also the information about the future input frames.

Method and system for multiple pass video coding

International Business Machines Corporation


A cooling fluid reuse system for a turbine engine for capturing spent cooling fluids from row one turbine vanes and directing those fluids into a mixing chamber to be mixed with liner cooling fluids and used in a combustor. The cooling fluid reuse system may be formed from a fluid channel extending from the a cooling fluid collection channel in the first row of turbine vanes, through a rotor cooling fluid collection chamber in the rotor assembly, through a cooling fluid manifold, and into the at least one mixing chamber.

Typically, gas turbine engines include a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for mixing the compressed air with fuel and igniting the mixture, and a turbine blade assembly for producing power. Combustors often operate at high temperatures that may exceed 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Typical turbine combustor configurations expose turbine blade assemblies to these high temperatures. As a result, turbine blades and turbine vanes must be made of materials capable of withstanding such high temperatures. Turbine blades, vanes and other components often contain cooling systems for prolonging the life of these items and reducing the likelihood of failure as a result of excessive temperatures.
Typically, turbine vanes extend radially inward from a vane carrier and terminate within close proximity of a rotor assembly. The turbine vanes typically include a plurality of cooling channels positioned in internal aspects of the turbine vanes. Cooling fluids, such as air, are passed through the cooling channels in the vanes. The cooling fluids are then exhausted from the turbine vanes into the combustor gases.
The turbine engine also includes a mixing chamber that receives cooling fluids used to cool the liner of the combustor. These cooling fluids are feed from the combustor, through cooling channels in the liner, into the mixing chamber, and into the combustor. Use of cooling fluids from the compressor reduces the efficiency of the turbine engine. Thus, a need exists for more efficient use of cooling fluids extracted from the compressor of a turbine engine to increase the overall efficiency of the turbine engine.

Closed loop turbine cooling fluid reuse system for a turbine engine


This invention provides a fluid therapeutic placental product comprising placental cells and a placental dispersion comprising placental factors. The placental cells and the placental dispersion are derived from placental tissue. A placental tissue can optionally be an amnion, chorion, or a trophoblast-depleted chorion. The placental product of the present invention is useful in treating a patient with a tissue injury (e.g. wound or burn) by applying the placental product to the injury. Similar application is useful with ligament and tendon repair and for engraftment procedures such as bone engraftment.

The structural integrity of tissue is achieved, in part, by a dynamic interaction of the tissue with bioactive molecules, extracellular matrix, and a host of circulating cell types. Such interactions are also pivotal during tissue aging, injury, restorative and regenerative treatments. For example, burns produce local tissue damage as well as systemic consequences. Currently, treatment of burn wounds is focused on promoting healing and decreasing the risk of infection. Burn wounds continue to be a frustrating and serious problem in the clinic, and these wounds are often accompanied by high morbidity and mortality rates. The standard of care for burns includes the use of antiseptics and gauze wound dressings. However, for severe and large surface area burns, this treatment is not satisfactory. The gold standard for severe burn treatment continues to be autologous living skin grafts. However, the amount of skin available for grafting is often extremely limited, and this procedure always results in donor site wounds.
Attempts to improve burn wound care have included the use of a single growth factor or cocktail of growth factors as well as biological skin substitutes. Growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and other singular factors have been tested in burn wound healing; however, with varying results.
The use of placental membranes for burns and other types of wounds originated more than 100 years ago (reviewed by Kesting et al., 2008). Placental membranes contain components that are present in skin and required for wound healing such as extracellular matrix, growth factors, and cells, including MSCs that are responsible for orchestrating the process of wound healing. The effectiveness of placental membranes such as amniotic membranes for burns was recorded in a number of published reports; however, the use of placental membranes for large surface area burns is limited due to challenges in providing sufficient placental membranes to cover large areas.
What is needed in the art is a therapeutic product that provides the benefits of placental membranes yet can be applied in fluid form. Moreover, needed is a product that provides dynamic therapy throughout more than one, optimally all, of the phases of wound repair: inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of manufacture of therapeutic products comprising vitalized placental dispersions


A method is described that entails operating enabled cores of a multi-core processor such that both cores support respective software routines with a same instruction set, a first core being higher performance and consuming more power than a second core under a same set of applied supply voltage and operating frequency.

Field of Invention
The field of invention relates generally to computing system architecture, and, more specifically, to an asymmetric performance multicore architecture with same instruction set architecture (ISA).
Background
FIG. 1 shows a typical multi-core processor 100_1. As observed in FIG. 1, the multi-core processor 100_1 includes a plurality of processor cores 101_1 to 101_N on a same semiconductor die 100_1. Each of the processor cores typically contain at least one caching layer for caching data and/or instructions. A switch fabric 102 interconnects the processor cores 101_1 to 101_N to one another and to one or more additional caching layers 103_1 to 103_N. According to one approach, the processors 101_1 to 101_N and the one or more caching layers have internal coherency logic to, for example, prevent two different cores from concurrently modifying the same item of data.
A system memory interface (which may also include additional coherency logic) 104 is also included. Here, if a core requests a specific cache line having a needed instruction or item of data, and, the cache line is not found in any of the caching layers, the request is presented to the system memory interface 104. If the looked for cache line is not in the system memory 105_1 that is directly coupled to interface 104, the request is forwarded through system network interface 106 to another multi-core processor to fetch the desired data/instruction from its local system memory (e.g., system memory 105_X of multi-core processor 100_X). A packet switched network 107 exists between the multi-processor cores 100_1 to 100_X to support these kinds of system memory requests.
Interfaces to system I/O components 108_1 to 108_Y (e.g., deep non volatile storage such as a hard disk drive, printers, external network interfaces, etc.) are also included on the multi-processor core. These interfaces may take the form of high speed link interfaces such as high speed Ethernet interfaces and/or high speed PCIe interfaces.
Some multi core processors may also have a port 105 to the switch fabric 102 to scale upwards the number of processor cores associated with a same (also scaled upward) caching structure. For example, as observed FIG. 1, multi-processor cores 101_1 and 101_2 are coupled through the switch fabric port 105 to effectively form a platform of 2N cores that share a common caching structure (processor 100_2 is coupled to processor 100_1 through a similar port to its switch fabric).

Asymmetric performance multicore architecture with same instruction set architecture