An integrated circuit for a modem processor includes processing units that are partitioned into “always-on” and “collapsible” power domains. An always-on power domain is powered on at all times. A collapsible power domain can be powered off if the processing units in the power domain are not needed. A power control unit within an always-on power domain powers down the collapsible power domains after going into sleep and powers up these domains after waking up from sleep. Tasks for powering down the collapsible power domains may include (1) saving pertinent hardware registers for these power domains, (2) freezing output pins of the IC to minimally disturb external units, (3) clamping input pins of the collapsed power domains, (4) powering down a main oscillator and disabling the oscillator clock, and so on. Complementary tasks are performed for powering up the collapsed power domains.

I. Field
The present invention relates generally to circuits, and more specifically to techniques for conserving power for a wireless terminal.
II. Background
A wireless terminal (e.g., a cellular phone) in a cellular communication system is only sporadically active and remains in an "idle" mode for significant periods of time when no call is in progress. To ensure that the terminal can still receive messages sent to it by the system, the terminal periodically monitors a paging channel even while it is in the idle mode. These messages may alert the terminal to the presence of an incoming call, carry updated system parameters for the terminal, and so on.
The wireless terminal is typically portable and powered by an internal battery. To conserve power and extend standby time between battery recharges, the system typically sends messages on the paging channel to the terminal at designated times. The paging channel may be divided into "slots", and the terminal may be assigned to specific slots by the system. Thereafter, the terminal enters an "active" state prior to its assigned slot, monitors the paging channel for messages, and transitions to an "inactive" state if additional communication is not required. In the time period between successive active states, the terminal is asleep in the inactive state and deactivates as much circuitry as possible to conserve power. "Sleep" refers to the time during which the terminal is in the inactive state.
Conventionally, the terminal powers down analog circuit blocks (e.g., power amplifiers, oscillators, and so on) and disables clocks to digital circuit blocks while in the inactive state. A digital circuit that is fabricated in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) consumes power via two mechanisms: (1) by dissipating dynamic current when the circuit is active and switching and (2) by drawing leakage current when the circuit is inactive and not switching. In contemporary CMOS fabrication technology, the dynamic current is many times greater than the leakage current. In this case, significant power saving may be achieved for CMOS digital circuits by simply disabling the clocks to these circuits to shut off the dynamic current.
However, leakage current is not negligible and will become a significant portion of the total power consumption as CMOS technology scales to smaller geometry. This is because leakage current increases at a very high rate with respect to the decrease in transistor size. The higher leakage current, coupled with long periods of inactivity, consumes power and reduces standby time for portable devices that use battery power, which is highly undesirable.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to conserve power for a wireless terminal.


A web browser communicates through a secure local proxy to a web server that has an interface for secure communications. The application server has an application program conforming to the CGI programming model that can run continuously as a process and can maintain state information, such as pointers to next records, thus requiring less computational and memory overhead for a succession of requests.

With a commercially available web browser, a user can obtain information, such as a document or records from a database, from a web server over the Internet. The web server can access documents directly, or it can access a database through a common gateway interface (CGI) program. When the web server requests data from the database in response to the user's request, a CGI program is executed to create a query to the database, to format results from the database in HyperText Markup Language (HTML), and to provide the results to the web server for transmission to the user.
To access the database during a succession of requests, the web server creates and executes a separate local CGI program for each request. Each process opens the database, retrieves data specific to the request, and closes the database. Between requests, the web server does not preserve any state information. Consequently, any subsequent request for information from the database requires that a subsequent CGI process perform the same steps, i.e., open database, retrieve data, and close database. Such execution of successive programs for successive requests to access the database is computationally inefficient.
Communications between the web browser and the web server are typically made according to the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). A concern with such transfers of information is that HTTP is generally not secure. With a commercially available "packet sniffer," an intruder can intercept packets transmitted over the Internet. To provide additional security, public-key authentication and encryption can be added to HTTP. Authentication refers to a mechanism by which the transacting parties prove they are who they claim to be; and encryption refers to the altering of data so that it cannot be easily read or modified if intercepted. Such systems, however, do not provide authorization, i.e., the restriction of access to data based on a user's identity.
To provide more security functions, the web browser and web server can use the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) from the Open Software Foundation (OSF) of Cambridge, Mass. With a DCE-based system, requests from the web browser are provided to a secure local proxy (SLP), which tunnels the requests to a DCE-aware web server via DCE Remote Procedure Call (RPC). Security based on RPC communications enables authorization in addition to other security features.

Web application server with secure common gateway interface


A resonance chamber (42) has an outer wall (32) with coolant inlet holes (34A-C), an inner wall (36) with acoustic holes (38), and side walls (40A-C) between the inner and outer walls. A depression (33A-C) in the outer wall has a bottom portion (50) that is close to the inner wall compared to peaks (37A-C) of the outer wall. The coolant inlet holes may be positioned along the bottom portion of the depression and along a bottom portion of the side walls to direct coolant flows (44, 51) toward impingement locations (43) on the inner wall that are out of alignment with the acoustic holes. This improves impingement cooling efficiency. The peaks (37A-C) of the outer wall provide volume in the resonance chamber for a target resonance.

The use of damping devices such as Helmholtz resonators in turbine engines is known to dampen undesired frequencies of dynamics that may develop in the engine during operation. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,221.
One or more resonators can be attached to a surface of a turbine engine component such as a combustor liner by welding. Some resonators include passages through which air can enter and purge the cavity enclosed by the resonator. One beneficial byproduct of such airflow is that the component to which the resonator is attached can be impingement-cooled. That is, cooling air can pass through the passages and directly impinge on the hot surface underlying the resonator housing. One such example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,089,741 which shows resonators having side walls with cooling holes and an outer wall with purge holes.
The operational demands of some engines have necessitated resonators with greater damping effectiveness, which can be achieved by increasing the size of the resonators. However, a tradeoff to larger resonators is that the cooling holes become less effective in cooling the surface below, especially when resonator height is increased. As the distance between the impingement cooling holes and the hot surface beneath increases, the cooling air can disperse within the cavity of the resonator without impinging on the hot surface. As a result, the cooling is less effective. Thus, there can be concerns of overheating of the component and/or the welds between the resonator and the component, which can reduce the life cycle of these components.
Increased cooling air may be directed through larger resonators to improve cooling, but this reduces the amount of air that becomes premixed with the fuel, thereby providing a richer fuel mixture which burns hotter and can adversely affect emissions. Furthermore, increasing the coolant flow through the resonator can detune the resonator so that it no longer damps in its target frequency range. Alternately, additional resonators can be provided on the component. However, adding resonators at sub-optimal locations can provide less damping effectiveness than a larger resonator at an optimal location. Further, other design constraints, including space limitations, may limit the ability to attach more resonators at other locations.

Damping resonator with impingement cooling


An engine control system and an engine control method are disclosed wherein a combustible component quantity of intake air, reflecting combustible components in a crankcase of an engine, is calculated on the basis of a deviation between basic injection quantity for a target rotational speed to be attained and an actual injection quantity during operation to perform idling stabilizing control. A ratio of the combustible components mixed to engine oil is calculated on the basis of the combustible component quantity of intake air and a temperature of engine oil. During a status of the engine with a given temperature of engine oil and the mixing ratio of the combustible components in engine oil, a fuel injection affect eliminating operation is executed.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to engine control devices for controlling internal combustion engines and, more particularly, to an engine control system and an engine control method having a function to detect or calculate a combustible component quantity of intake air of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, attempts have heretofore been made to provide an internal combustion engine having a combustion chamber supplied with intake air containing fresh air and fuel components such as evaporative fuel delivered from a fuel tank or blow-by gas ejecting from a crankcase. As such fuel components increase in intake air drawn to a combustion chamber of the engine, these fuel components results in an increase in a total volume of fuel in an air/fuel mixture to be prepared in the combustion chamber and, thus, the air/fuel mixture becomes too rich, causing a deterioration in control accuracy of an output of the engine. Thus, a need arises to correctly detect or calculate a combustible component quantity of intake air drawn to the combustion engine and take appropriate measures against such defective control accuracy.
To address such an issue, an internal combustion engine has been proposed with a structure having a canister connected between a fuel tank and an intake air passage through a purge passage incorporating a purge control valve (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-288107). The opening degree of the purge control valve is controlled to vary a flow passage area between the fuel tank and the intake air passage. With such a structure, a concentration of evaporative gas in intake air is detected on the basis of the amount of displacement of the purge control valve operated in feedback control of an air/fuel mixture at stages in fore and aft movements of the purge control valve.
With such a control device, however, it is hard to detect a combustible component quantity of intake air resulting from combustible components contained in blow-by gas ejected from the crankcase. The presence of the combustible components in intake air is caused by an increase of combustible components coming from the combustion chamber into the crankcase. As the combustible components increase in the crankcase in volume, the amount of combustible components increases in intake air of the engine. In addition, the presence of the combustible components causes a dilution of engine oil in the crankcase, resulting in a lubrication defect between a cylinder wall surface of the engine and a piston. Thus, a need arises detecting or calculating a combustible component quantity of intake air resulting from the combustible components in the crankcase.

Engine control system and engine control method


A working range setting method of a bonding device includes identifying a model of a first substrate, extracting a set value corresponding to a working range of working elements according to the identified model, and setting the working range of the corresponding working elements with the extracted set value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and more particularly, a working range setting method for a bonding device for manufacturing an LCD device.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In response to an increasing demand for various types of display devices, liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display panel (PDP), electro-luminescent display (ELD), and vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) have been developed. In particular, LCD devices are commonly used because of their high resolution, light weight, thin profile, and low power consumption. In addition, LCD devices have been implemented in mobile devices, such as monitors for notebook computers, and have been developed for monitors of computers and televisions. Accordingly, efforts to improve image quality of LCD devices contrast with the benefits of their high resolution, light weight, thin profile, and low power consumption. In order to incorporate LCD devices as a general image display, image quality such as fineness, brightness, large-sized area, for example, must be improved.
LCD devices are provided with an LCD panel for displaying image data and a driving unit for applying a driving signal to the LCD panel. The LCD panel is provided with first and second glass substrates bonded at a certain distance with liquid crystal material injected therebetween. A plurality of gate lines are formed along a first direction at fixed intervals on a first glass substrate (TFT array substrate), and a plurality of data lines are formed along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, thereby defining a plurality of pixel regions. Then, a plurality of pixel electrodes are formed in a matrix arrangement at the pixel regions, and a plurality of thin film transistors (TFT) are formed at the pixel regions. Accordingly, the plurality of thin film transistors are enabled by signals transmitted along the gate lines and transfer signals transmitted along the data lines to each pixel electrode.
In order to prevent light leakage, black matrix films are commonly formed on a second glass substrate (color filter substrate) except at regions of the second glass substrate corresponding to the pixel regions of the first glass substrate. Also, a red, green, and blue color filter substrate is formed on the second glass substrate to generate colored light, and a common electrode is formed on the color filter substrate to produce images.
Processes for manufacturing LCD devices include injection and drop methods. The injection method, according to the related art, includes steps of forming a sealant pattern on one of the first and second substrates to form an injection inlet, bonding the first and second substrates to each other within a vacuum processing chamber, and injecting liquid crystal material through the injection inlet. The drop method according to the related art, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 11-089612 and 11-172903,includes steps of dropping liquid crystal material on a first substrate, arranging a second substrate over the first substrate, and moving the first and second substrates to be adjacent to each other, thereby bonding the first and second substrates to each other.
However, the injection method required a considerably long process time since liquid crystal material is injected by osmotic pressure in a vacuum state. Accordingly, the injection method is inadequate for fabrication of large-sized LCD devices. On the other hand, the drop method is a considerably shorter process time since the liquid crystal material is deposited on a first substrate and then bonded with a second substrate.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a bonding device for a liquid crystal display device according to the related art prior to a bonding process. In FIG. 1, a substrate bonding device includes a frame 10, an upper stage 21, a lower stage 22, a sealant dispenser (not shown), a liquid crystal material dispenser 30, a processing chamber including an upper chamber unit 31 and a lower chamber unit 32, a chamber moving system 40, and a stage moving system 50. The chamber moving system 40 includes a driving motor driven to selectively move the lower chamber unit 32 to a location at which the bonding process is carried out, or to a location at which outflow of the sealant and dropping of the liquid crystal material occur. The stage moving system 50 includes another driving motor driven to selectively move the upper stage 21 along a vertical direction perpendicular to the upper and lower stages 21 and 22.
A receiver-stopper system temporarily supports a substrate 52, which is attached to the upper stage 21, at both diagonal positions of the substrate 52 when an interior of the chamber is in a vacuum pressure state. At this time, the receiver-stopper system includes a rotation shaft 61, a rotation actuator 63, an elevation actuator 64 and support plates 62 for supporting corners of the substrate 52.
A process of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device using the substrate assembly device according to the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which is a cross sectional view of a bonding device for a liquid crystal display device according to the related art during a bonding process, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a substrate support system of a bonding device for a liquid crystal display device according to the related art.
First, a second substrate 52 is attached to the upper stage 21, and a first substrate 51 is attached to the lower stage 22. Then, the lower chamber unit 32, having the lower stage 22, is moved by the chamber transfer means 40 to a working position for dispensing sealant and dropping liquid crystal material, as shown in FIG. 1. After the sealant dispensing process and the liquid crystal material dropping process are completed on the first substrate 51, the lower chamber unit 32 is moved again by the chamber transfer means 40 toward another working position for bonding between the substrates, as shown in FIG. 2. Then, the upper and lower chamber units 31 and 32 are coupled together by the chamber transfer means 40 to enclose a space where the stages 21 and 22 are positioned, and the elevation actuator 64 and the rotation actuator 63 constituting the receiver-stopper system are actuated to place the support plates 62 under two corners of the second substrate, which is attached to the upper stage 31. From this position, adsorptive force fixing the second substrate 52 is released to drop the second substrate 52 onto each of the support plates 62 of the receiver-stopper means as shown in FIG. 3.
At this time, pressure in an interior of the processing chamber is reduced to produce a vacuum state by a vacuum system. When the interior of the processing chamber is evacuated, an electrostatic force is applied to the upper stage 31 to attach the second substrate 52 while the rotation actuator 63 and the elevation actuator 64 are actuated so that the support plates 62 and the rotation shaft 61 do not obstruct bonding of the substrates. In the vacuum state, the upper stage 21 is moved downward by the stage transfer means 50, and bonds the second substrate 52, which is attached to the upper stage 21, and the first substrate 51, which is fixedly settled on the lower stage, thereby completing manufacturing processes of an LCD device.
The bonding device according the related art includes a number of working elements, specifically, working elements that require a considerable degree of precision, such as the stages and the substrate support means within the processing chamber. Accordingly, it is necessary to maintain the working elements at a precise distance according to the size and configuration of the first and second substrates. Moreover, since the first and second substrates may be different in their overall size and configuration and the substrates may have different cell configurations, it is necessary to carry out a selective operation according to the size and configuration of each substrate.
Considering that overall size of substrates are gradually increasing, there is a need to prevent drooping of the substrate by supporting an inside of the substrate rather than by supporting the corners during bonding processes. Accordingly, the working position of each working element preferrably should be changed according to the size and configuration of each substrate. Moreover, it is necessary to prevent any damage in the cell area by the working elements supporting dummy areas rather than the cell area including the color filter or TFT arrays.
However, as overall size and configuration of the substrates changes, positions and overall size of the cell area on the substrate is altered. Thus, once the working element is reproducibly positioned for a substrate having a first type of configuration, the working element may need to be repositioned to a substrate having a second type of configuration different from the first configuration. The bonding devices according to the related art are disadvantageous since different configurations of substrates require changing the configuration of the working elements. Specifically, when bonding substrates have a configuration different from a previously processed set of substrates, the bonding device must be reconfigured to establish a new set of working ranges corresponding to the new bonded substrates. Accordingly, in order to perform the bonding process with a new configuration of substrates in the conventional bonding process the working range of the each working element must be reconfigured. Thus, a significant increase is production processing time is required.

Working range setting method for bonding device for fabricating liquid crystal display devices


A shelving system includes components that are easily retrofit on existing shelves for improved product presentation, stocking and maintenance. The shelves may include adjustable product stops and dividers, and rollers for automatic advance of product.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to display systems and shelf systems, for example systems used for displaying product in refrigerated display cases.
2. Related Art
Conventional shelving systems, for example those used in refrigerated display cases, have a number of configurations, including fixed or adjustable wire shelves, gravity feed shelving systems, and the like. Many of these shelving systems are relatively difficult to use and are costly to make.
In refrigerated display cases, wire shelves are common and may be stainless steel or plastic or rubber-coated wire. Wire shelves are strong, sturdy and easy to clean. They also permit ventilation of cold or refrigerated air so that all locations in the display case are preferably at the same temperature.
A gravity feed shelving configuration positions one or more shelves on an incline downwardly from the rear to the front of the display case. Inclined or slanted shelving reduces the need for stocking personnel to regularly inspect the shelves and advance product to the front of the shelves. Slanted shelves, at predetermined angles, allow gravity to move product to the front of the shelf. These slanted, gravity-fed shelving arrangements are convenient, but are sometimes difficult to properly position for different product to achieve the appropriate product movement. For example, for beverage containers which are relatively heavy compared to similarly sized packages of dry goods, a lesser incline may be used to adequately advance product on a slanted shelf. However, too much of an incline may apply too much pressure from rearwardly stocked product on the forward-most product, making that product more difficult to remove, and also possibly unintentionally removing or ejecting following product.
Some shelving systems include shelf divider arrangements to improve product alignment on the shelf and to insure proper advancement of product toward the front of the shelf either manually or through gravity feed. These divider arrangements may differ from one shelf system to another, and may not serve the intended function uniformly for different shelf systems.
A shelving system and shelf are disclosed that can be easily assembled and have product guides and gravity advance mechanisms. They may include dividers or product stops to improve product presentation and stocking procedures, and the apparatus may be easily retrofit onto existing shelves.
In one preferred embodiment of one aspect of the present inventions, a shelf assembly is provided which helps to support, guide and insure the desired positioning of product on a shelf The assembly is sturdy and can be used with a number of different types and sizes of product, including beverage-filled containers such as cans, bottles and cartons, as well as multiple packs of product. In one preferred embodiment, a shelf assembly includes a front product stop having side elements extending rearwardly. The side elements preferably include support portions extending at least partly forwardly for engaging support elements mounted on the shelf. The support portions on the side elements extend at least partly forwardly so that product hitting the front product stop will tend to keep the front product stop engaged with the support elements on the shelf. The shelf assembly is easy to assemble and reliably supports and guides product.
In another embodiment of one aspect of the present inventions, a shelf includes first and second supports supported by the shelf wherein each support includes at least one receiver. A product guide is positioned above the shelf and includes at least one support element for engaging at least one receiver in the support. The at least one support element extends at least partly forwardly relative to the shelf for engaging the receiver. In a preferred embodiment, the first and second supports are removable so they can be used to retrofit existing shelves. Additionally, the first and second supports include multiple receivers so that the product guide can be supported at any number of different levels above the shelf. In another preferred embodiment, a shelf includes four supports so that the product guide is supported on the shelf at four different locations. Each of the supports are preferably removable and include multiple receivers so the product guide can be supported at the same level at each of the four points around the shelf. The supports are preferably held in place on a shelf through fasteners and a backing plate which sandwich a wire or other element on the shelf between the backing plate and the support. Each support preferably includes oval or other eccentric openings for the fasteners to accommodate different-sized wires on the shelf. In a still further embodiment, the shelf assembly can include a divider extending rearwardly from the front product stop to a rear product stop. Preferably, the divider engages the front product stop from behind and engages the rear product stop from behind. In this configuration, it is more difficult for product movement to disengage the divider.
In accordance with another aspect of one of the present inventions, a roller assembly for a shelf or other product or item support includes a roller support having at least one wall forming an axle support wall and having an outwardly extending projection for engaging a surface of a shelf. A roller has an axle that rests in and is supported by the axle support wall. The roller support preferably retains the roller and is in turn held in place on a shelf in part through the engagement of the projection with the surface of the shelf. Preferably, the projection engages an underside of the shelf surface and inhibits the roller assembly from lifting off of the shelf.
In one preferred aspect of one of the present inventions, the roller support is a roller tray supporting a number of rollers so that product placed on the shelf can easily move toward the front of the shelf on the rollers. In many instances, the shelf is a wire shelf and the roller tray has projections on each side of the tray for contacting respective portions of the shelf, and the projections extend a substantial portion of a length of the tray.
In another aspect of one of the present inventions, an opening is formed in the tray to allow the tray to fit over support wires or other support elements formed in the shelf. More than one opening may be formed in the tray, for example in regular intervals, to accommodate multiple support elements, or to allow positioning of the tray on different shelves having support elements located at different positions.
In another aspect of one of the present inventions, a shelf and roller assembly are provided wherein the shelf has at least first and second side elements defining at least one longitudinally extending opening. A roller support includes a first roller support side having an inner and outer sides, the outer side including at least one projection extending outwardly away from the roller support for contacting a lower surface of the first side element of the shelf. The roller support also includes a first shelf contact surface such as a flange, lip, ledge or shoulder for contacting the first side element of the shelf for helping to prevent the roller support from passing completely through the opening. The projection on the roller support helps to keep the roller support in the opening in the shelf.
Where the shelf is a wire shelf, the first shelf contact surface rests on top of a wire and the projection contacts a lower portion of the wire to help keep the roller support in place. In one preferred embodiment, the first shelf contact surface and projections extend the length of the roller support. Where the roller support is a closed-bottomed tray, channels or openings are formed in a bottom of the tray to accommodate support structures of the shelf. In another embodiment, the rollers include axles that are supported below the first shelf contact surface and in the region of the projections. This allows the rollers to be positioned relatively high in the tray, while keeping the rollers in place and reducing the possibility that the rollers work loose.
In another aspect of one of the present inventions, rollers are used in the tray having grooved or slotted circumferential surfaces. Such rollers can be placed closer together so that product or other items can more easily roll over the tops of the rollers.
Such inter-fitting rollers would present less of a gap or a shorter gap between rollers, reducing the likelihood that the edge of a product might dip down between rollers, causing the product to tip or fall. Grooved rollers are preferably supported on axles above a flange resting on the surface of the shelf.
In another aspect of the inventions, a shelf is provided for supporting and displaying products. It includes a substantially planar shelf portion and a laterally extending element extending across the front, rear or other portion of the shelf and having a number of engagement surfaces for engaging the product support. The laterally extending element may be an aperture bar extending across the front of the shelf, and the product support may be a divider or other bar or wire for positioning product or making it easier to move product on the shelf The aperture bar may be adjustably fixed to the shelf so that the bar may be raised, lowered or otherwise repositioned as desired. The aperture bar preferably accepts and holds in position one or more dividers having hooks, prongs or other mounting elements for engaging the aperture bar. The aperture bar can also serve as a product stop at the front of the shelf. An aperture bar can also be placed at the rear of the shelf for holding one or more dividers and also for minimizing the possibility of product being pushed off the rear of the shelf. In one preferred embodiment, the product stop is mounted so that movement of product will tend to ensure that the product stop and any dividers remain engaged.
These and other aspects of the present inventions will be more fully understood after a consideration of the brief description of the drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

Shelving, shelf assembly and components thereof


A new compact-size, light-weight and low-cost zoom lens system having a high optical quality with a very simple structure including, from the object side to the image side, a front lens group having a positive refractive power and a rear lens group having a negative refractive power. The zoom lens system is operated by changing the axial air distance between the front and rear lens groups during a zooming operation. The zoom lens system uses aspherical surfaces whose low-cost manufacturing has been enabled by the recent progresses in plastic molding technology and glass molding technology. Many embodiments of the lens compositions according to the present invention, and further more specific examples of the embodiments are described with figures and data that show compactness and high optical performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compact size zoom lens system, especially suitable to be installed in a compact lens shutter camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A lens system installed in a lens shutter camera is required to be compact, lightweight and low cost. When a zoom lens system is used in a lens shutter camera, the requirements are just the same. For making a zoom lens system compact, including the lens shifting space for zooming, refractive power of every lens group must be strong. In order to obtain a strong refractive power of a lens group while maintaining a high quality, the number of lenses in the lens group should increase. The increase in the number of lenses naturally increases the weight and the cost.


To provide a semiconductor memory device including an oxide semiconductor that can deal with instability of a threshold characteristic, in which writing is possible by a simple method. The semiconductor memory device functions by utilizing a characteristic that a threshold shifts when a thin film transistor including an oxide semiconductor is irradiated with ultraviolet light. Readout can be performed by setting a readout voltage between the threshold before the ultraviolet light irradiation and the threshold after irradiation. The threshold characteristic of an initial characteristic can be controlled by providing a back gate or by using two thin film transistors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technique of forming a thin film transistor (TFT) by using a semiconductor thin film formed over a substrate with an insulating surface has attracted attention. Thin film transistors have been used in display devices typified by liquid crystal televisions. Silicon-based semiconductor materials such as amorphous silicon and low temperature crystallized silicon are known as materials for semiconductor thin films that can be applied to thin film transistors, and as another material, an oxide semiconductor has also attracted attention.
As a material for the oxide semiconductor, zinc oxide or a material containing zinc oxide as a component are known. Also, a thin film transistor made of an amorphous oxide (an oxide semiconductor) with an electron carrier concentration of lower than 1018/cm3 is disclosed (see Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 3).
Meanwhile, memory devices utilizing thin film transistors have been applied to semiconductor devices with various names such as RFIDs (radio frequency identification), ID tags, IC tags, wireless tags, electronic tags, and wireless chips. Using this semiconductor device, an individual object or product is given an individual identification number (that is, identification: ID), with which the object is identified, cross-checked with history or the like by wireless communication with a wireless readout device in each step or the like, and this identification can be utilized in various fields such as production management, inventory management, and merchandise management. Many of these semiconductor devices each include a circuit using a semiconductor substrate of silicon or the like (referred to as IC (integrated circuit) chip) and an antenna, and the IC chip includes a memory device, a wireless circuit, a control circuit, and the like. Regarding the memory device, the identification number needs to be written in every IC that is to be produced only once during manufacturing, and after that, there is a method of holding information of every step that corresponds to the identification number on a management system side, and a method of writing or rewriting information of every step on an IC chip side, in addition to during manufacturing of the IC chip. For the method of writing only once, there is an example of using an organic memory and an example of using a mask ROM (Read Only Memory) during an exposure step during a semiconductor process. Also, there is an example of utilizing a memory element that utilizes a characteristic that is obtained when a thin film transistor including an oxide semiconductor is irradiated with ultraviolet light.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A processing apparatus is provided that receives and processes an anterior segment three-dimensional image of a subject's eye. The apparatus includes a first SS position specifying unit that accepts identification of at least three SS positions of the subject's eye, using at least two representative images from among two-dimensional tomographic images constituting the three-dimensional image, a true circle calculating unit that calculates a reference true circle passing through the at least three SS positions, and a second SS position specifying unit that identifies the SS positions in non-representative images other than the representative images, based on the reference true circle.

The present invention relates to an anterior segment three-dimensional image processing apparatus, and an anterior segment three-dimensional image processing method.
In recent years, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) apparatus for photographing a tomographic image of an anterior segment of an eyeball of a subject (subject's eye) by means of optical coherence tomography (hereinafter "anterior segment OCT") has been provided as an inspection apparatus used for ophthalmic examination.
Specifically, the anterior segment OCT has come to be used, for example, in glaucoma clinics, largely for angle analysis in the narrow angle eye, mainly including primary closed angle diseases and primary closed angle glaucoma together with the suspected (for example, see "Application to glaucoma of anterior segment OCT: Present" written by Koichi Mishima, new ophthalmology Vol. 28 No. 6 P. 763˜768 (issue June 2011)).
Generally, in the anterior segment OCT, one-dimensional scanning by a measurement light is performed on the subject's eye to acquire a two-dimensional tomographic image of one slice plane (B-scan). Further, the two-dimensional tomographic image is repeatedly acquired while shifting a scanning position of the measurement light (in other words, while changing the slice plane) on the subject's eye (C-scan) to obtain an anterior segment three-dimensional image.
As a method of scanning, there is, for example, a method called raster scan, as shown in FIG. 4A. In the raster scan, one-dimensional scanning (B-scan) along a scanning line extending in a horizontal direction is repeated while the scanning position is shifted in a vertical direction (C-scan), and thereby it is possible to obtain a two-dimensional tomographic image along each scan line, as shown in FIG. 4B.
There is also, for example, a method called radial scan, as shown in FIG. 5A. According to the radial scan, one-dimensional scanning (B-scan) along the scanning line extending in a radial direction is repeated while the scanning position is shifted in a circumferential direction (C-scan), and thereby it is possible to obtain a two-dimensional tomographic image along each scan line, as shown in FIG. 5B.
In a conventional anterior segment three-dimensional image processing apparatus, an operator inputs a scleral spur position (SS position) by pointing in a two-dimensional tomographic image of the slice plane obtained as above. Thereby, it was made possible to display an angle portion (portion where a corneal posterior surface and an iris anterior surface are in contact with each other) that is closed beyond the SS position on a chart as an iridotrabecular contact (ITC).

Anterior segment three-dimensional image processing apparatus, and anterior segment three-dimensional image processing method


A DC-DC converter includes: an error amplifier for outputting an error between an output voltage and a predetermined voltage; a phase compensation impedance element for accumulating the error across one end to generate an error phase; a determination unit for determining whether the voltage output by the error amplifier is higher, or lower than a reference voltage that is consonant with the predetermined voltage, and outputting a determination signal indicating determination results; and a voltage setting unit for setting a voltage for one end of the phase compensation impedance element higher than a lower output voltage limit for the error amplifier when the determination signal indicates that the voltage output by the error amplifier is lower than the reference voltage, or for canceling setting of the voltage when the determination signal indicates that the voltage output by the error amplifier is higher than the reference voltage.

Recently, as global awareness of environmental preservation has increased, environmentally-friendly vehicles have been actively introduced to the automobile market. Above all, attentions have been drawn to energy-efficient green vehicles, equipped with idle reduction systems, that provide higher fuel efficiency at lower costs than hybrid vehicles.
The idle reduction system is a system that automatically shuts off the engine of a vehicle when the vehicle stops at traffic lights or railroad crossings, and that improves fuel efficiency by about 10%. Further, it is predicted that automobiles practically equipped with the idle reduction mechanism will be increased in order to cope with global warming and emission regulations.
For the idle reduction equipment vehicle that includes the idle reduction system, the engine starts while the electrical system is currently operated, and a voltage drop at the battery occurs due to the generation of the initial inrush current of the cell motor that is used to start the engine.
That is, in the idle reduction system, since the cell motor requires a large amount of current of the battery for starting the engine, a battery voltage may be dropped to cause erroneous operation of the electronic devices.
In order to supply a voltage and a current necessary for the operation of the electronic devices even in the voltage drop condition of the battery, a boost DC-DC converter is required.
Furthermore, in order to increase efficient energy use for an on-vehicle DC-DC converter, it is required that a battery and an alternator (electrical generator) be employed as power supplies. In other words, it is requested that as a power supply, the on-vehicle DC-DC converter employ the alternator when the engine is operated, or employ the battery during the idle reduction period. The alternator performs power generation by employing the revolutions of the drive shaft when the engine is operated, and generates a voltage higher than the voltage of the battery.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram for a conventional DC-DC converter.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional DC-DC converter 100 is a DC-DC converter that sets either bypass mode in which, when an input voltage VIN is higher than a predetermined voltage, the input voltage VIN is output, unchanged, as an output voltage VO, or sets boost mode in which, when the input voltage VIN is lower than the predetermined voltage, the input voltage VIN is increased to the predetermined voltage level, and the obtained voltage is output as an output voltage VO. That is, the conventional DC-DC converter 100 sets the bypass mode when an alternator is employed as a power supply, or sets the boot mode when a battery is employed as a power supply.
The DC-DC converter that switches between the bypass mode and the boot mode in this manner is described in, for example, patent literature 1.
In the conventional DC-DC converter 100, when the input voltage VIN is higher than a predetermined voltage that is a desired output voltage, a comparator 102 outputs an active-low signal as a reset signal to a latch circuit 112, which then outputs an active-low signal to an NMOS. Sequentially, the NMOS is rendered off to establish an electrical connection between the input terminal and the output terminal, and the input voltage VIN is output unchanged as the output voltage VO.
Furthermore, when the input voltage VIN is lower than the predetermined voltage, the latch circuit 112 outputs to the NMOS a PWM signal having a duty cycle that corresponds to a load RL, and the NMOS performs switching. Since a current having a triangular waveform flows across a coil L, the voltage across a sense resistor RS becomes a voltage with a triangular waveform (a ramp waveform). An error amplifier 103 outputs an error between a voltage FB, obtained by dividing the output voltage VO by using resistors R1 and R2, and a reference voltage V—FB—REF that corresponds to the predetermined voltage, and a phase compensation impedance element Z accumulates the error and generates an error voltage. Further, the phase compensation impedance element Z also performs phase compensation for the feedback loop of the DC-DC converter. The comparator 102 receives the error voltage, and compares this voltage with the triangular wave voltage. Then, the comparator 102 outputs a reset signal, for which the active-low period is consonant with the error voltage, and the latch circuit 112 outputs a PWM signal having a duty cycle that is consonant with the error voltage.


In order to allow a particularly small construction of a scissors-like tool for a surgical instrument with two interconnected arms which are pivotable elastically between a spread open position and a virtually closed position by engagement of a sleeve over the outside to a greater or lesser extent, this sleeve being axially displaceable relative to and engaging around the scissors-like tool, it is suggested that for forming the arms a rod consisting of elastic material have a diametric, front recess starting from its free end and followed by an additional, diametric, rear recess which is turned through 90.degree. about the longitudinal axis of the rod in relation to the diametric front recess, that the two diametric recesses be connected to one another by transverse recesses extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the rod, these transverse recesses each extending over oppositely located quadrants of the cross section between the two diametric recesses whereas the two quadrants located therebetween have no such transverse recesses, and that the two arms be bent up permanently into the spread open position in the plane of the front, diametric recess. In addition, a process for the production of such a scissors-like tool is described.

The invention relates to a scissors-like tool for a surgical instrument with two interconnected arms which are pivotable elastically between a spread open position and a virtually closed position by engagement of a sleeve over the outside to a greater or lesser extent, this sleeve being axially displaceable relative to and engaging around the scissors-like tool.
Furthermore, the invention relates to a process for the production of such a scissors-like tool.
A scissors-like tool of this type is known, for example, from WO94/08521. In order to be able to use such scissors-like tools in endoscopic operations, it is necessary for very small dimensions to be met; it is, for example, desirable to design the shaft of a corresponding surgical instrument, in which such a scissors-like tool is used, with an external diameter of 2 mm.
It is then practically impossible to use customary, scissorslike tools which comprise two parts articulatedly connected to one another by a closure means.
In the case of the known scissors-like tool of WO94/98521, this scissors-like tool is constructed from two separate parts which are designed like the blades of scissors and are connected permanently to one another in a rear part by means of welding or form-locking. The production is therefore extremely complicated since two individual parts with very small dimensions have to be produced and carefully connected to one another. Moreover, it is almost impossible, in practice, to produce scissors blades of the type shown in this publication with dimensions which are, for example, less than 1 mm in the transverse direction.

Scissors-like tool for a surgical instrument and process for its production


A method and apparatus adapted to calibrate signal path of a signal analysis system such that loading effects of additional probes are substantially removed from the measurement. A signal under test from a device under test is coupled to a test probe and used with selectable impedance loads in the test probe to acquires sets of samples for characterizing transfer parameters of the device under test and compute open circuit voltages at the test probe. Other probes are coupled to the device under test and a set of measurement samples are acquired via the test probe. An equalization filter in either the frequency or time domain is computed from the open circuit voltage and measurement samples for reducing signal errors attributable to the measurement loading of the device under test by the test probe and other probes.

Typical probes used for signal acquisition and analysis devices such as digital storage oscilloscopes (DSOs) and the like have an impedance associated with them which varies with frequency. For example, a typical probe may have an impedance of 100K to 200K Ohms at DC, which impedance drops towards 200 ohms at 1.5 GHz. Higher bandwidth probes drop to even lower impedance values. This drop in impedance as frequency increases, coupled with the fact that many circuits being probed have a relatively low output impedance in the range of 25-150 ohms, results in a significant loading of the circuit under test by the probe. As such, an acquired waveform received via a probe loading such a circuit may not accurately represent the voltage of the circuit prior to the introduction of the probe.
When more than one probe is coupled to the device under test, each probe may contribute to the loading of the device under test resulting in an inaccurate representation of the voltage of the circuit prior to the introduction of the probes. There is a need for a method of de-embedding test probes so that the loading effects of one probe on the device under test is not reflected in the voltage representation of an acquired waveform signal from another test probe coupled to the device under test

Signal analysis system and calibration method for multiple signal probes


The invention relates to a process for the removal of selectable marker gene sequences, in particular antibiotic gene sequences, from nucleic acid molecules. The invention further relates to the application of this process in the unlabelled integration and deletion of chromosomal genes and in controlling gene expression.

Antibiotic resistance genes or other selectable marker genes are routinely used to select for the chromosomal insertion of heterologous genes or the deletion of native genes to create new strains of bacteria. These selectable marker genes are also routinely used to select for the presence of plasmids in bacterial cells. However, the retention of selectable marker genes in bacterial host cells, whether they are integrated into the chromosome or present on plasmids, gives rise to a number of problems.
Firstly, the presence of selectable marker genes in the host chromosome reduces the variety of plasmids that can be propagated in a cell, as these also rely on selectable marker genes for their selection and maintenance. Furthermore, genetically modified bacteria containing chromosomal antibiotic resistance genes are undesirable for biotherapeutics production, in particular for DNA vaccine and gene therapy applications, as the chromosomal DNA will represent a low-level contaminant of the final product and carry the risk of antibiotic gene transfer to pathogenic bacteria in the patient or the environment. Antibiotic resistance genes on plasmids are also undesirable, as they constitute a metabolic burden in recombinant protein production and a biosafety concern when the plasmid is being manufactured for use in gene therapy and DNA vaccine applications.
It is thus highly desirable to be able to insert genes into or delete genes from bacterial cell chromosomes without leaving antibiotic resistance or other selectable marker genes behind and to be able to remove these selectable marker genes from plasmids when they are no longer required. To date, a couple of strategies have been developed for unlabelled (i.e. selectable marker gene-free) chromosomal gene insertions and deletion in bacterial cells and for deletion of marker genes from plasmids.
One strategy for unlabelled gene insertion and deletion relies on integrating a plasmid containing a selectable marker gene into the bacterial host cell chromosome via a single homologous recombination event, followed by the removal of the plasmid by a second recombination event (resolution) to hopefully produce the desired genotype (Leenhouts et al. 1996; Link et al., 1997). A major disadvantage with this approach is that if the insertion or deletion reduces the fitness of the cell in terms of its ability to survive, the resolution event will invariably regenerate the wild type rather than the mutant genotype. This approach is therefore highly inefficient.
An alternative strategy is to use a double recombination event to efficiently integrate an antibiotic resistance gene cassette flanked by regions of chromosomal homology into the bacterial chromosome. Recognition sites for a site-specific recombinase (SSR) immediately flank the antibiotic resistance gene. Following chromosomal integration, a recombinase expressed in trans excises the antibiotic resistance gene. Examples of site-specific recombinases/target sites used for antibiotic gene excision include Cre/loxP from the bacteriophage P1 (Dale and Ow, 1991), FLP/FRT (Datsenko and Wanner, 2000) and R/RS (Sugita et al., 2000) from yeast. Alternatively, flanking antibiotic resistance genes with internal resolution sites enables excision by a transposase expressed in trans (Sanchis et al., 1997). The disadvantage of this strategy is that it requires an exogenous recombinase or transposase to be expressed in the target cell. The cell must therefore be transformed twice.
Selectable marker genes are currently also removed from plasmids using site-specific recombinases as described for the chromosomal applications above, or, more commonly, by restriction endonuclease digestion. The recombinase approach requires an additional site-specific recombinase gene to be present in cis or on a helper plasmid in trans. The restriction digest approach requires several extra stages of plasmid DNA manipulation. Both these approaches involve a number of complex manipulations.
Given the increasing importance of generating nucleic acid molecules without selectable marker genes, in particular antibiotic resistance genes, there is a need to develop improved and simpler processes for unlabelled gene insertion and deletion and for removing selectable marker genes from plasmids.

Process for the removal of selectable marker gene sequences


An electronic apparatus comprises a main body, a front frame mounted on the main body, a transparent elastic press panel disposed between the main body and the front frame, a plurality of contacts beneath the elastic press panel, and a plurality of stop pieces disposed between the contacts respectively. The stop pieces divide the elastic press panel into portions corresponding to the contacts. Each portion of the elastic press panel can be pressed down independently for activating the corresponding contact.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to electronic apparatuses and, particularly, relates to an electronic apparatus with a press panel.
2. General Background
Electronic apparatuses usually have input devices. There are two typical input devices: buttons and touch panels. The buttons have the benefit of providing tactile feedback when pressed, such as a clicking sensation, or an arresting of motion when the button has been pressed far enough. But the appearance of buttons on an electronic device is not very aesthetic. Whereas a touch panel blends in better and need not detract from the appearance of an electronic apparatus. However, a touch panel does not provide tactile feedback and may feel unsatisfactory to user as the user cannot be sure if an input operation has succeeded based on their sense of touch.
That's, what is needed is an electronic apparatus with an input device, the input device has an aesthetic appearance and providing tactile feedback when pressed.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A board-and-rope exercise assembly includes a curved board made up of an arc-shaped middle portion integrating with two terminal pedals, and two elastic ropes. Each of the ropes is attached to a corresponding one of the pedals. The ropes are pullable in an upper direction, so that an exerciser can exercise his/her limbs by rocking the curved board with his/her legs while pulling the ropes with his/her hands.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a board-and-rope exercise assembly.
2. Related Prior Art
In our daily routine work, those who are seated all day long such as office people, students and the like, who seldom exercise their limbs because they are seated or lie down for most of the time. They don't often exercise outdoors, even in the holidays, owing to the heavy traffic or bad weather.
Very often our activities are limited to those indoors which are not able to train bodily balance and to exercise limbs, so, sedentary workers are limited in health.
In general, indoor exercise equipment is not only expensive but also occupies much space, so that it is not available to everyone, especially to those who are seated all day long. What they need is exercise equipment which is easy to carry and of small volume so that a user is able to exercise limbs and to train bodily balance.
The present invention provides exercise equipment occupying a small space and with which people can exercise their limbs and train bodily balance so as to achieve the object of enabling the ordinary office people seated all day long or the students studying hard to exercise limbs and to improve bodily balance.
The prior art being typically large in volume, complex in structure and expensive, can not exercise limbs and train bodily balance, so the present invention focuses on a board-and-rope exercise assembly having lighter weight and smaller volume, to exercise limbs effectively and to train bodily balance.

3rd Fl., No. 2, Alley 2, Lane 88, Sec. 2, Shui Yuan Rd., Hsi Chih Chen


The present invention relates to a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same. More specifically, the film structure may include a barrier material made from EVOH, nylon or other thermally sensitive barrier material encapsulated by a first adhesive material. The barrier material and the first adhesive material form a barrier layer and a first set of adhesive layers when coextruded. The barrier layer and the first set of adhesive layers may be coextruded at the same or a similar temperature to form a first extrudate. The extrudate may be encapsulated by or otherwise coextruded with a second adhesive material to form a second extrudate at a higher temperature than the first extrudate that then may be formed into a flat sheet via a die. The first set of adhesive layers protects the barrier layer from high temperatures and long residence times related to the coextrusion/lamination process that may degrade the barrier layer. In addition, acid terpolymer consisting of ethylene/methyl acrylate/acrylic acid adheres a barrier material of EVOH to outer layers of the film structure.

The present invention relates to an encapsulated barrier film structure and a method of making the same. More specifically, the present invention relates to a thermoplastic, multilayer packaging film having a barrier layer consisting of a thermally sensitive polymer material, preferably ethylene vinyl alcohol. The material acts to prevent the passage of gases such as, for example, oxygen and/or water vapor, from one side of the film to the other. The barrier material is encapsulated by one or more layers of a relatively thermally stable material that acts to protect the barrier material from high temperatures and/or long residence times present during coextrusion, lamination or coating that may destroy or otherwise degrade the barrier material. The one or more thermally stable encapsulating layers aid in binding the thermally sensitive barrier layer to outer layers having relatively higher melt and/or extrusion temperatures thereby maintaining optical clarity of the film produced therefrom. In addition, the present invention relates to using an acid terpolymer as an adhesive to bind the thermally sensitive barrier core material to high temperature outer layers while eliminating clarity problems associated with using other adhesives.
It is, of course, generally known to utilize a polymeric material as a barrier material in films to prevent the passage of molecules such as, for example, gases and water vapor. Films may have these barrier properties to protect foods or other gas-sensitive materials that may be contained within bags or other containers made from the films. In particular, food articles are subject to the deleterious effects of gases and water vapors.
A known film structure that prevents the passage of molecules therethrough uses polyvinylidene chloride (xe2x80x9cPVdCxe2x80x9d) or polyvinylidene chloride/methyl acrylate copolymer (xe2x80x9cPVdC/MAxe2x80x9d), commonly known as MA-Saran and manufactured by Dow Chemical Company. These barriers are generally useful in preventing molecules such as oxygen from passing therethrough but are fairly unstable at the high temperatures needed to produce many multilayer films from a molten resin. Typically, PVdC degrades at high temperatures forming polyenes reducing the optical clarity of films made therefrom. A suitable, albeit more costly, substitute for MA-Saran is ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (xe2x80x9cEVOHxe2x80x9d).
Another film that is commonly used as a barrier layer, especially for food products such as cheese, is a PVdC coated oriented polypropylene (xe2x80x9cOPPxe2x80x9d) layer. Structures made using this barrier material have good barrier characteristics. Specifically, barrier layers of PVdC coated OPP adequately restrict the movement of oxygen molecules or water vapor through packaging made therefrom. However, PVdC coated OPP is cost prohibitive.
Generally, EVOH is thermally stable at higher temperatures relative to PVdC or MA-Saran. However, EVOH is still sensitive to high temperatures, particularly when adhered to a layer of polyethylene (xe2x80x9cPExe2x80x9d) having maleic anhydride functional groups. While EVOH may be extruded at higher temperatures relative to PVdC, the temperature of extrusion may still be too low for coextrusion with other layers that require very high temperatures for adequate melting and/or adhesion to lamination or coating substrates.
Typical methods of coextrusion generally entail feeding the barrier material and adhesive resins into a feedblock where they are arranged into an xe2x80x9cA/B/Axe2x80x9d configuration prior to extrusion through a die. The adhesive layers must be compatible with the barrier layer as well as the substrates that are being laminated or coated. Further, the adhesive layers must be at or greater than 600xc2x0 F. to adequately adhere to the substrates. However, this adhesive layer melt temperature requires that the downstream hardware (such as, for example, the feedblock and/or the die) be at or greater than 600xc2x0 F. as well. Many barrier materials, including, especially, EVOH, readily degrade when exposed to temperatures greater than about 450xc2x0 F. for extended periods of time. Due to this degradation, as well as the extensive reaction that may occur between the barrier material and the adhesive layer at the layer interface, the resulting extrudate may have clarity or other problems. For example, EVOH reacts with maleic anhydride, a typical adhesive layer used with EVOH, to produce a xe2x80x9cground glassxe2x80x9d appearance when coextruded at high temperatures for extended periods of time.
A known process of coextruding and laminating heat sensitive materials is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,106,562, 5,108,844, 5,190,711 and 5,236,642, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Various methods are disclosed for reducing the impact of higher temperature polymeric meltstream elements on a lower temperature polymeric meltstream. The methods may include super-cooling the hotter meltstream element below the melting temperature but above the crystallization temperature, exposing one or more meltstream elements to an undesirable thermal condition for a limited period of time, and/or using one or more layers as a heat sink via encapsulation.
Specifically, these patents describe methods of encapsulating one film layer by another material. The ""562 and ""844 patents specifically relate to PVdC or, preferably, PVdC-MA core materials with ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (xe2x80x9cEVAxe2x80x9d) or ethylene methyl acrylate copolymer (xe2x80x9cEMAxe2x80x9d) or blend""s thereof encapsulating the core material. The encapsulated PVdC or PVdC-MA is, therefore, protected from the high temperatures of the coextrusion process. Generally, the encapsulation method uses an encapsulator having a crosshead mandrel with a central bore to receive a first meltstream element from an extruder. A second polymeric meltstream is fed through a sleeve via an inlet passage into the encapsulator. As the second meltstream enters the encapsulator, it splits and flows around the first meltstream. Consequently, the second meltstream completely surrounds the first meltstream, thereby forming a combined meltstream. The second meltstream forms a continuous layer about the circumference of the first meltstream completely surrounding the first meltstream. Thus, the first and second meltstreams maintain their individual identities while the first meltstream is completely surrounded by and encapsulated within the second meltstream. The combined meltstream may then be fed through a transport pipe to a feedblock for coextrusion with one or more other layers to produce a multilayer film. However, these patents do not disclose other materials that may be utilized as heat sensitive barrier materials besides PVdC or PVdC-MA.
The present invention relates to encapsulating a barrier material with a first adhesive layer at the same melt temperature as the barrier material. For example, EVOH melts at less than 450xc2x0 F. and, therefore, is encapsulated by the first adhesive layer at less than 450xc2x0 F. prior to entering the feedblock. The encapsulating first adhesive layer protects the barrier material from the hot melt temperatures of a second adhesive layer, which the first adhesive material encounters within the feedblock. The first adhesive material insulates the barrier material from the much higher melt temperature of the second adhesive layer. Moreover, the first adhesive material drastically reduces the residence time of the barrier material within the hardware by keeping it away from areas of high drag and hangup, such as the internal walls of the hardware. The result is an extrudate with excellent clarity.
It is, therefore, an advantage of the present invention to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that use a relatively inexpensive barrier material to prevent the migration of gases through the film structure such as, for example, oxygen and/or water vapor, without degrading due to high heat and/or long residence times within the film producing equipment. The encapsulated EVOH barrier layer may be utilized effectively as a replacement to cost-prohibitive barrier materials such as PVdC coated OPP.
Another advantage of the present invention is to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that allow the use of a thermally sensitive barrier material to be utilized within high temperature coextrusion/lamination processes.
And, an advantage of the present invention is to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that surround the thermally sensitive barrier material with an adhesive in an encapsulating process to protect the barrier material from high temperatures that may exist in the coextrusion/lamination process.
A still further advantage of the present invention is to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that use an adhesive to encapsulate the barrier material at the melt temperature of the barrier material. Further, the adhesive layer may protect the barrier material from layers coextruded therewith or laminated thereto having higher melt temperatures. In addition, the adhesive may protect the barrier material from high temperatures of the hardware and long residence times within the hardware.
Moreover, an advantage of the present invention is to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that uses a thermally sensitive material such as EVOH as the barrier layer material to reduce costs of the film structure.
And, another advantage of the present invention is to provide a film structure and a method of manufacturing the same that eliminates interlayer leakage and deadspots in the barrier layer material flow patterns.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention are described in, and will be apparent from, the detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments and from the drawings.

Encapsulated barrier for flexible films and a method of making the same


An optical fiber temperature sensing device has a sensor body; a light source housed in the sensor body; a temperature measuring optical fiber disposed outside the sensor body and extended to a temperature measurement site, wherein, when a light is emitted from the light source into the temperature measuring optical fiber, Stokes light intensity and anti-Stokes light intensity of backscattered light generated in the temperature measuring optical fiber are detected to determine a temperature at the temperature measurement site; a reference temperature optical fiber disposed inside the sensor body; and a controller that is operable to control an output of the light source by monitoring Stokes light intensity and anti-Stokes light intensity of backscattered light generated in the reference temperature optical fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical fiber temperature sensing device that is adapted to measure ambient temperature by detecting Raman scattered light scattered in an optical fiber and, in particular, to an optical fiber temperature sensing device that uses information obtained from the detected Raman scattered light to control output of a light source thereof and detect a malfunction of the device itself.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 3, a conventional optical fiber temperature sensing device 31 is composed such that a signal processing control circuit 33 of a sensor body 32 generates a pulse signal, an LD (semiconductor laser) module 34 converts the pulse signal into a pulse light signal (with an input wavelength λ0), the pulse light signal is inputted through an inside optical fiber 35a to an optical filter 36, and the filtered pulse light signal is outputted through a reference temperature optical fiber 37 to a measuring optical fiber 35b. Hereupon, backscattered light is generated from each point of the measuring optical fiber 35b.
The backscattered light includes Rayleigh scattered light with a transmission wavelength of λ0, and Stokes light (herein called "St light") with a wavelength of λSt and anti-Stokes light (herein called "As light") with a wavelength of λAs, where the St light and As light compose the Raman scattered light (See FIG. 4).
The St light and the As light are separated from the backscattered light by the optical filter 36, they are each received by optical receivers 38 to be converted into electrical signals, and the signals are then inputted to the signal processing control circuit 33. The signal processing control circuit 33 operates to process the electrical signals to calculate an intensity ratio of the St light and the As light, and to calculate temperature at a measurement site from the intensity ratio. The temperature data calculated is transmitted from the signal processing control circuit 33 to a personal computer 39 to allow the data to be displayed thereon.
The device 31 includes the reference temperature optical fiber 37 housed in an optical fiber housing box 40, and a temperature sensor 41 attached to the reference temperature optical fiber 37. The temperature sensor 41 is connected to the signal processing control circuit 33.
Since the intensity ratio of the St light and the As light is dependent on the ambient temperature, a temperature distribution around the measuring optical fiber 35b can be determined by the measuring the intensity ratio by the optical fiber temperature sensing device 31.
However, an LD used in the LD module 34 changes in output depending on ambient temperature. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the output of the LD constant during the measurement in order to accurately measure the temperature.
It may be assumed that the following methods for keeping the output of the LD constant are applicable to the optical fiber temperature sensing device 31.
(i) To provide the LD module 34 with a monitoring PD to detect a light emitted in the opposite direction to the emission direction of the LD, so that the signal processing control circuit 33 can control the output of the LD to be constant based on the output of the monitoring PD, and
(ii) To provide the LD module 34 with a peltiert device having a temperature-adjusting function to control the temperature of the LD to keep the output of the LD constant.
However, if the above methods (i), (ii) are applied to the conventional optical fiber temperature sensing device 31, in case of the method (i), the monitoring LD has to be added to the LD module 34, and in case of the method (ii), the peltiert device has to be added to the LD module 34. Thus, in either case, a problem arises that the whole cost of the optical fiber temperature sensing device 31 increases due to the addition of the device.
Another problem arises that the whole construction of the optical fiber temperature sensing device 31 is complicated when the LD module 34 is provided with the monitoring PD or the peltiert device.
A further problem arises that the structure of the signal processing control circuit 33 is complicated since the signal processing control circuit 33 needs to process signals from the monitor PD or the peltiert device as well as signals for the St light and the As light.
In case of detecting a malfunction of the LD, the monitoring PD will be needed so that the same problems as above can be caused.
Related art to the invention is, e.g., JP-B-2577199.

Optical fiber temperature sensing device


A heating chamber is divided into a plurality of spaces by barrier sections including a conductive material. Phase shifters having different lengths with respect to a direction and including a dielectric body having permittivity higher than air are inserted in positions of a terminal section, in the spaces except for at least one space, to differentiate positions of bottoms of standing microwaves formed in the respective spaces from each other with respect to the direction. In addition, impedance adjusters having different lengths with respect to the direction and including a dielectric body having permittivity higher than air are inserted in positions on an upstream side of a region passed by the object to be heated, in the spaces except for at least one space, to reduce differences in impedance of the spaces from an entrance of the heating chamber to the terminal section including the phase shifters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave heating device with high heating efficiency. The present invention also relates to an image fixing apparatus which uses such microwave heating device with high heating efficiency for fusing developing particles (toner).
2. Description of the Related Art
An image fixing apparatus fuses a toner material onto a sheet (object to be printed) to fix an image onto a sheet. A conventional image fixing apparatus applies heat or pressure onto the sheet by means of a fusing roller to fuse toner onto the sheet.
However, in the conventional configuration, the fusing roller wears with time. As a method for solving such a problem, a non-contact type method for fusing toner with a microwave has been developed in recent years (for example, see JP-A-2003-295692).
FIGS. 16A and 16B are conceptual diagrams showing a configuration of a microwave device disclosed in JP-A-2003-295692.
As shown in FIG. 16A, a microwave device 100 includes a magnetron 110 generating a microwave, an input coupling converter 113 which input couples the microwave generated from the magnetron 110 to a resonator chamber 103, a water reservoir 111, and a circulator 112. Between the input coupling converter 113 and the resonator chamber 103, a coupling aperture 114 with a diaphragm is provided. The resonator chamber 103 has a side surface 109 provided with a passing portion 107 for passing and guiding a sheet 101 therethrough. The resonator chamber 103 has on the downstream side a terminal end slider 115 made of metal. The terminal end slider 115 is horizontally movable relative to the resonator chamber 103, and extends into the resonator chamber 103.
FIG. 16B is a schematic perspective view of the resonator chamber 103 portion. A microwave generated from the magnetron 110 is led into the resonator chamber 103. For understanding, FIG. 16B shows the microwave in a substantially sine wave form.
The resonator chamber 103 has the side surface 109 and a side surface 109′ which are opposite to each other and are provided with the passing portion 107 and a passing portion 107′, respectively. The sheet 101 passes through the passing portion 107′, and is led into the resonator chamber 103. Then, the sheet 101 passes through the passing portion 107 opposite to the passing portion 107′, and is ejected therefrom. The moving direction of the sheet 101 is indicated by an arrow.
The passing portions 107 and 107′ include therein a movable element 104. The element 104 is a bar made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and extends into the resonator chamber 103.
In JP-A-2003-295692, the position of the element 104 can be longitudinally moved in the resonator chamber 103. The position of the element 104 is moved to regulate the resonance conditions in the resonator chamber 103. Therefore, the microwave absorption onto the sheet 101 can be enhanced.
In addition, JP-A-2010-089351 discloses a technique using the microwave to dry ink discharged onto a media, in an inkjet printer.
The inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2010-089351 uses a waveguide having a two-stage horseshoe shape which is bent in a center section and includes a reflection terminal member slidable within a range of ½ of a wavelength λ of a supplied microwave in a terminal section.
A standing microwave formed in the waveguide is normally formed in a cycle of λ/2, so that uneven heating occurs according to a position. However, according to the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2010-089351, a peak position of energy of the standing microwave can be moved within a range of λ/2 by moving the reflection terminal member. Thus, energy of the microwave at any position in the waveguide can be averaged, so that the ink can be prevented from being unevenly dried.
In the technique of JP-A-2003-295692, the coupling aperture 114 with a diaphragm is provided between the input coupling converter 113 and the resonator chamber 103. Thereby, a standing microwave is formed in the resonator chamber 103. However, the diaphragm portion has an inclined side surface which causes microwave reflection, thereby lowering transmission efficiency. That is, to lead a high-energy microwave into the resonator chamber 103, it is necessary to generate higher microwave energy from the magnetron. As a result, the energy consumption is increased.
In the microwave field, it has been known that the temperature of a microwave-exposed sheet is increased. However, in an application in which it is necessary to fuse toner onto a sheet in a very short time in, e.g., a printer and a copy machine, a method which enables temperature increase only for fusing toner in such a short time cannot be established at present. As a typical example of electronic equipment which performs heating with a microwave, e.g., a microwave oven has been known. However, even when a sheet put into an electronic oven is applied with a microwave for one to about several seconds, the temperature of the sheet cannot be increased by 100° C. or more.
In the technique of JP-A-2003-295692, it is difficult to fuse toner in a very short time. In addition, to shorten the fusing time by using the technique, it is necessary to generate very high microwave energy from the magnetron.
In addition, in order to use the technique of JP-A-2010-089351, the specific waveguide bent into the horseshoe shape is needed. In order to form this bent section, it is necessary to prevent an output of the discharged microwave from being suppressed, so that an elaborate producing process is required. Therefore, it is considered that this is not suitable for mass production, and manufacturers' cost is increased.

Microwave heating device and image fixing apparatus using the same


A method, a system, and a device for processing failure is provided; the method is applicable to a label switched path (LSP) including a first node, a second node, and at least one third node. The first node and the second node are adjacent nodes suffering communication breakdown. The first node restarts. The third node is a normal node closest to the restarted first node. When the communication between the first node and the second node is broken, the third node maintains control state information of the LSP in certain time. When the communication between the first node and the second node is recovered in the certain time, the first node, the second node, and the third node recover the control state information of the LSP. A failure processing system and a device on LSP are further provided. Therefore, when several nodes on the LSP suffer communication failures, the LSP can be reliably recovered.

At present, under the double driving of bandwidth requirements caused by rapid increase of Internet Protocol (IP) services and innovative bandwidth utilization modes induced by the wavelength division multiplexing technology, IP service requires the realization of dynamic allocation of network bandwidth due to its emergency and uncertainty. It is difficult for a conventional static optical transmission network to satisfy the requirements of dynamic allocation, and an intelligent optical network thus emerges. The intelligent optical network directly introduces an intelligent control technology based on IP into an optical network, thereby efficiently supporting dynamic establishment and removal of a connection, reasonably allocating network resources on demand based on traffic engineering, and providing good network protection/recovery performance.
The intelligent optical network introduces a generalized multi-protocol label switching (GMPLS) control plane, thereby endowing a failed network with strong surviving capability, realizing dynamic application, release, and reconfiguration of bandwidth, simplifying network management, and providing new value-added services. The most serious challenges are stability and security problems when an IP-based GMPLS signaling protocol is applied in telecommunication and optical transmission network. In order to protect, to the utmost extent, services from being interrupted, any failure occurred in the control plane should not influence and interrupt services that have been established by a transmission plane. In practical application, no matter whether the control plane has one or several continuously failed control nodes, the network must be good at isolating and recovering the failures of the control plane. After one or several continuous control nodes fail and are recovered, the services established before failures may be recovered normally in a signaling state regarding the control nodes.
Regarding communication failure processing of nodes, the Request for Comments 3473 of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF RFC) defines a Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) to perform recovering operation on the restart of the node in the control plane.
FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an existing method for processing node restart. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes the following steps.
In Step 101, a node A cannot receive a HELLO message from a node B when the node B powers off.
The nodes A and B are two nodes in a GMPLS control plane. The nodes A and B may inform each other of the operating state of the control plane software by sending a HELLO message to each other when they are both in a normal state, and refresh control state information in the two nodes by periodically sending a refresh message to each other. The node B which powers off cannot send the HELLO message to the node A.
In Step 102, the node A starts a Restart_Timer and performs a self-refresh.
When a label switched path (LSP) passing through both the nodes A and B exists, node A starts its own Restart_Timer after determining that itself cannot receive the HELLO message from the node B. After that, the node A stops periodically sending the refresh message corresponding to the LSP to the node B, but realizes self-refresh process through keeping LSP-related control state information. In other words, although not receiving the periodic refresh message from the adjacent node B, the node A still keeps the control state information corresponding to the LSP in a counting period of the Restart_Timer. The node A deletes the unrefreshed LSP if not receiving the refresh message from the adjacent node after the Restart_Timer times out.
More specifically, every node on a normally operating LSP receives a Path message from an upstream node and a RESV message from a downstream node. Every node establishes a path state block (PSB) and a reservation state block (RSB) with regard to the LSP, for preserving the control state information carried in the Path message and the RESV message, respectively, such as label values, bandwidth values, and LSP routing information. A node, according to the information in its own PSB, sends the Path message to its downstream adjacent node, and, according to the information in the RSB, sends the RESV message to its upstream adjacent node. Since the node which powers off can neither send the RESV message to its upstream adjacent node, nor send the Path message to its downstream adjacent node, the RSB in the upstream adjacent node cannot be refreshed periodically, i.e., the node A performs the self-refresh process on its own RSB relating to the node B.
In Step 103, the node A continually sends the HELLO message to the node B, and requests the node B to reply.
In Steps 104-105, the node B powers up and restarts, starts a Recovery_Timer, and sends the HELLO message to the node A to indicate that the node B has restarted.
The Recovery_Timer in the node B has the following functions. The node B requires its adjacent node to finish the recovery of the control state information of the LSPs passing through the nodes B and A before timeout of the Recovery_Timer. After the timeout of the Recovery_Timer, the node B deletes the LSPs which are not recovered.
The HELLO message usually includes cells such as a src-instance and a dst-instance. The src-instance has a uniform constant filled therein, and the uniform constant is a constant of the node that sends the HELLO message and runs in a normally operating state. The constant may be preserved in the situation that a node powers off, and the preserved power-off value plus 1 after the node restarts. The dst-instance has a src-instance value filled therein, the src-instance value is included in the latest HELLO message received from the opposite node. If the HELLO message from the opposite node has not been received, or the restarted node sends the HELLO message for the first time, the value in the cell is 0.
After the node powers off and restarts, the src-instance value in the HELLO message from the node is the value, before restart, plus 1, and the dst-instance value is 0. When the node itself operates normally, but a communication link between the nodes is, the src-instance value in the HELLO message sent by the node is equal to the value before the communication link breaks down, and the dst-instance value is 0. The node receiving the HELLO message, according to various combinations of the src-instance value and the dst-instance value carried in the message, determines whether the adjacent node restarts or merely communication link breakdown occurs.
In Steps 106-107, the node A stops the Restart_Timer, stops self-refreshing the control state information relating to the LSPs passing through the nodes A and B, and sends a Path message having a Recovery_label to the node B.
After the node A, according to the HELLO message from the node B, determines that the node B restarts, the node A begins recovery operation on the LSPs passing through the nodes A and B through the Path messages, according to the control state information in its own PSB. Each LSP corresponds to one Path message.
In Steps 108-109, the node B returns an ACK message replying the Path message to the node A, which indicates that the node B has received the Path message from the node A. Furthermore, the node B performs the recovery operation on the control state information relating to the LSP, according to the received Path message.
Since the control state information in the PSB has lost as the node B powers off, the node B creates a corresponding PSB after receiving the Path message from the node A, and records the control state information in the upstream direction which contained in the Path message into the PSB. In addition, if the LSP passing through the node B still has a downstream node, the node B sends the Path message to the downstream node, and the downstream node also sends a RESV message to the node B. After receiving the RESV message, the node B creates a corresponding RSB, and records the control state information in the RESV message. The establishment in the PSB and RSB in the node B represents the end of recovery of the corresponding LSP.
In Step 110, the Recovery_Timer times out, and the node B deletes the LSPs that are not recovered.
After the Recovery_Timer in the node B stops counting, if the node B still has LSPs having control state information not recovered, the LSPs will be deleted.
So far, the flow of processing node restart ends.
The aforementioned flow aims at single node restart. When one LSP has several continuous restarted nodes, the LSP will be deleted if the aforementioned flow is adopted.
Specifically, it is assumed that a LSP passing through the nodes A, B, C, and D in sequence is provided, the nodes B and C power off, the upstream node B restarts firstly, and the downstream node C needs a long time to restart. After the node B restarts, the node A, according to the HELLO message from the node B, determines that the node B restarts, and sends a Path message to the node B. The node B, according to the Path message from the node A, recovers a corresponding PSB. However, since the node C has not restarted yet, the node B cannot receive a RESV message from the node C and cannot recover the RSB, thereby failing to send the RESV message to the node A to refresh the RSB in the node A. As a result, the node A has stopped self-refresh process after receiving the HELLO message from the node B again. If the node A has not received the RESV refresh message from the node B for a long time, the node A deletes the RSB corresponding to the node A. Then, the node A sends a Path_Tear message to the node B to notify the node B to delete the local PSB, thereby causing the deletion of the LSP corresponding to the node B.
If the nodes B and C on the LSP passing through the nodes A, B, C, and D in sequence power off, the downstream node C restarts firstly, and the upstream node B needs a long time to restart, the node C, after restarting, cannot receive the Path message from the node B. Therefore, the PSB on the node C cannot be recovered. The node D stops the self-refresh process on the PSB after receiving the HELLO message from the node C, and then the PSB on the node D is deleted because the node D cannot receive the Path message from the node C for a long time to cause timeout. Furthermore, after the timer corresponding to the RSB of the node D times out, the node D will send a message Resv_Tear to the node C to notify the node C to delete the local RSB, thereby causing the deletion of the LSP corresponding to the node C.
Therefore, the existing method for processing node restart in the prior art cannot recover the LSP reliably when several continuous nodes on the LSP suffer communication failure, as a result, failures of the control plane influence services of the transmission plane.

Method, system and device for processing failure