A sealed wiper for a mascara bottle or other container that uses a wiper. The sealed wiper has novel venting features on its exterior to allow air that has been displaced from the container to escape to the outside. In this way, a sealed wiper may be seated on a container without the build up of pressure inside the container.

Mascara packaging commonly comprises a container in the form of a cylindrical bottle having a neck with threaded finish. The neck has an orifice through which the bottle is filled and through which a brush-rod assembly is inserted. The brush rod-assembly depends from a threaded closure that fits onto the threaded neck finish. Furthermore, typical mascara packaging comprises a wiper situated in the orifice of the neck. The purpose of the wiper, as is well known in the art, is to clean the rod as it is withdrawn from the filled bottle by a consumer, remove excess mascara from the brush and smooth out the mascara on the brush prior to application to the eyelashes.
A typical prior art wiper is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Broadly defined, the wiper (100) is a hollow cylinder. The typical wiper has one retention bead (101). When the wiper is fully seated on a mascara bottle, the bead fits into a complimentary retention groove located on the inner wall of the bottle neck. The bead and neck groove stabilize the wiper in the bottle neck by opposing any movement of the wiper, as for example, when the brush passes through the wiper. A lower section (102) of the wiper is tapered such that it has a smaller diameter than that of the upper section (103) of the wiper. The upper section terminates in an upper orifice (104) and the lower section terminates in a lower orifice (105). As commonly practiced, the lower orifice diameter is typically between 0.139 and 0.163 inches, although other sizes may be in use and the present invention is not limited by the size of the lower orifice. This range of orifice diameters accommodates most of the brush-rod applicator assemblies currently in use.
A packaging supplier may provide mascara bottles to a filler with the wiper already fully seated in the neck and the retention bead located in the neck groove. This saves the filler the time, cost and effort of having to assemble those components before filling. Most fillers opt to have the supplier insert the wipers because inserting thousands of wipers requires costly wiper-insertion equipment, requires maintenance of that equipment and because the cost of any damaged components that result from machine or operator malfunction must be borne by the filler. Alternatively, the wiper and bottle may be assembled at the filling site, which saves for the filler, the cost that the supplier would charge for this service, but again this is not usually done.
Each bottle is filled by inserting a fill tube into the wiper down to the level of the lower orifice of the wiper. Some clearance is maintained between the lower orifice and the filling tube, like 0.005 inches. Once the bottle with wiper is filled, a closure is placed over the wiper and attached to the bottle, usually via thread engagement. The closure is placed on the bottle immediately after filling, to protect the product in the container from contamination and degradation. In this configuration, the wiper is hidden from view and generally, will not be seen by a customer or consumer until after the product has been purchased. Because the wiper is concealed prior to purchase there is little or no motivation to make the wiper visually interesting nor to use the wiper to convey information to the customer. Typical wipers, beyond their primary function, are visually uninteresting and generally monotone, i.e. white, gray or black and are free of any markings or attachments.
The cosmetic market and consumer goods markets in general, are highly competitive. Success or failure in the marketplace often depends on the ability of a package to catch the interest of the customer through visual stimuli and to convey relevant information to the customer. However, the decision of which advertising or marketing approach to use depends on the cost of implementing that approach. Therefore, the marketing and advertising industries are constantly seeking new ways to lure customers to their products and away from a competitor's product while doing so for the least possible cost. The costs associated with decorating, advertising and conveying information on each individual unit sold are variable costs. That is, the total cost of the decorating and advertising increases for each item produced. Therefore, anything that reduces total variable cost while still producing a package that will be competitive in the marketplace has a very positive impact on the bottom line and is always an advantage. A further advantage is realized when the product is offered in a completely novel way that redefines how such products may be placed in front of the consumer and captures the interest of the consumer.
One type of variable cost arises when a single product is available to consumers in a variety of options. For example, the same mascara product may be available in eight different colors or shades. Typically, these eight different S.K.U.s (stock-keeping units) are sold in the same packaging (i.e. container, closure and brush) but the packaging is labeled or decorated differently for each shade. The need to convey the shade information to the consumer in this way has certain associated costs that may not be readily apparent. In the mascara example, the shade information would have to be placed on the container or the closure. Therefore, the mascara manufacturer must maintain a stock of eight different packaging components, one labeled for each shade. At any given moment, however, it is impossible for the manufacturer to know exactly how many of each packaging component is going to be needed. Not wanting to be caught short of stock, a manufacturer will always keep an over-supply of components, estimating the numbers needed to meet demand. Those numbers depend on several factors, most notably market demand for each particular shade. But it may also depend on the availability of the raw materials required to make a product in a particular shade or it may depend on changing regulatory requirements regarding those raw material ingredients or perhaps other factors. In every manufacturing operation of this type, material waste and lost investment arise due to unused componentry. The waste and lost investment are obviously greater when more expensive components go unused. Therefore, to the extent that nearly identical packaging componentry is going to be used to market variations of the same product, it is economically advantageous if the component that distinguishes different shades or variations could be the least expensive component, thus minimizing lost investment and reducing total variable cost. At the same time, the most expensive components would contain only generic information and therefore be usable for producing units in any shade. No matter how the market demand for shades may change, the manufacturer can draw the most expensive components from a single stock, rather than eight different stocks. Fewer expensive components will sit unused in the warehouse where they generate no income and fewer expensive components will ultimately be discarded resulting in lost investment. Furthermore, by itself, the need to keep eight separate stocks in a warehouse increases the cost of manufacture, although this is not strictly a variable-type cost.
Another variable cost, lost investment due to some stock not selling, is a fact of doing business. Using the mascara example, if all units of a product do not sell, those salable units will be destroyed and the total investment in the unit will be lost. This includes, the product, the container and the closure-applicator assembly, which has contacted the product. Therefore, another advantage would be gained by a method of selling mascara wherein the closure-applicator assembly (the most expensive part) is not secured to the container prior to sale. In this way, if the product does not sell, the closure-applicator assemblies do not need to be destroyed.
Yet another variable cost is associated with assembling componentry to make the finished good. For example, as mentioned above, a typical mascara filling operation includes placing a closure or cap (which carries the brush applicator) onto the bottle and twisting the closure on the bottle to form a tight seal. This part of the operation requires expensive, sophisticated equipment and routinely results in lost investment through equipment malfunction, such as cap mis-feeds. The advantages are clear if this step in the operation could be eliminated and replaced with a simpler, less costly alternative.
There are other disadvantages in the way that mascara and some other cosmetics are marketed to the consumer. Generally, any product that is sold with an applicator, such as mascara, comes with a pre-selected applicator, a brush for example. The customer has no choice in the matter. If the customer wants the particular mascara product, she must accept the brush packaged with it. In fact, because the brush is always hidden from view, inside the container, the customer usually does not even know what brush she is buying. This is a great disadvantage to the customer because different types of eyelashes or differing personal tastes, such as brush comfort, require different types brushes. As any person skilled in the art of mascara brushes knows, a lot of research and development by cosmetic companies has gone into mascara brush design. Nevertheless, at the point of sale, the customer is not in a position to benefit from the wide variety of brushes that have been developed. The market still forces a one-size-fits-all approach, even in this highly competitive environment. This is because all efforts to offer brush choice to the consumer are not cost-effective and may require the assistance for a sales associate to complete the transaction. A great benefit to the customer and a tremendous marketing advantage to the manufacturer would be realized if a cost-effective method was available to allow the mascara customer to choose her own brush, without the aid of a sales associate.
Another per unit cost associated with mascara production is the cost of filling each bottle. That cost depends on the rate at which bottles are filled. The rate at which bottles may be filled is limited, in part, by the size of the lower orifice of the wiper. As discussed the filling tube is conventionally a little smaller than the lower orifice. If this constraint could be removed so that a larger filling tube could be used, then the rate at which filling occurs could be increased. The entire filling operation would be made more cost effective.
Conventional mascara packaging requires that all of the packaging components (container, wiper and closure-applicator assembly) be present in the plant at the time of filling the containers with mascara. From a practical planning point of view, this means that the lead time before filling depends on the longest-lead component. For conventional mascara packaging the longest-lead component is the closure-applicator assembly. Because the containers and wipers are easier and faster to manufacturer, they will generally be available well before (often several weeks before) the closure-applicator assembly. If the lead time for receiving the closure-applicator assembly could be removed from the filling schedule, then a time and cost savings may be realized in the filling operation.
All of the foregoing disadvantages may be overcome and all of the foregoing advantages may be realized in a simple, cost-effective package that features a sealed wiper. To the best of the applicant's knowledge, a wiper has never been exploited as a means of conveying information to a consumer or for advertising or other marketing advantage. Nor has the wiper ever been exploited to provide cost savings related to the manufacture, marketing, sales and lost investment. Nor has a sealed wiper according to the present invention ever been disclosed, to the best of the applicant's knowledge.


A conveying apparatus has a sheet conveying path, a first pair of rollers, which is positioned in the conveying path and which has a drive roller and a pinch roller and conveys the sheet, a second pair of rollers, which is positioned downstream relative to the first pair of rollers in the conveying direction and conveys the sheet conveyed by the first pair of rollers, and a mechanism which reduces the force for sandwiching the sheet by the drive roller and the pinch roller of the first pair of rollers or which moves both away from each other. After the sheet is conveyed by the first pair of rollers while the leading edge of the sheet is being stopped by the second pair of rollers, the second pair of rollers starts conveying the sheet, and the mechanism is actuated thereafter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus which conveys a sheet in a recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing widespread use of ink jet recording apparatuses in recent years, there has been demand for higher image recording quality and reduced sizes and lower costs of recording apparatuses.
To achieve the reduced size and lower cost of a recording apparatus, it is desirable to carry out only U-turn feed rather than two types of feed, namely, straight conveyance and the U-turn conveyance.
The U-turn conveyance requires a U-shaped conveyance path (hereinafter referred to as "the U-turn path") for reversing a sheet between a feed roller and an LF roller, i.e., reversing the front and the back of the sheet. However, the diameter of the U-turn path is required to be increased to a certain degree in order to reverse a highly rigid sheet used for high image quality without causing the sheet to buckle or warp.
An increased diameter of the U-turn path causes a sheet to be conveyed along a guide substantially on the outer side of the U-turn path, resulting in a longer distance for conveying the sheet in the U-turn path. However, conveying a small-sized sheet, such as, an L-size sheet having a length of 127 mm, requires that the distance between the feed roller and the LF roller be set to a value smaller than 127 mm. Actually, it is difficult to set the distance between the feed roller and the LF roller to be smaller than 127 mm. For this reason, an intermediate roller is usually provided between the two rollers in the case where the diameter of the U-turn path is increased.
In a recording apparatus provided with the feed roller, the LF roller and the intermediate roller, there are cases where a sheet is conveyed in a skewed manner when fed from the feed roller to the LF roller through the intermediary of the intermediate roller. Generally, therefore, the skew is corrected by abutting the leading edge of the sheet conveyed from the intermediate roller against a pair of rollers having the LF roller so as to properly straighten the leading edge, with the LF roller being at rest or rotated in the reverse direction (rotated in the opposite direction from the direction for conveying the sheet).
However, the pair of rollers constituted of the intermediate roller and a driven roller, which is paired with the intermediate roller, continues to sandwich the sheet therebetween, so that the skew of the sheet at the position of the intermediate roller is be corrected. This causes a distortion in the sheet held by the pair of rollers having the LF roller and the pair of rollers having the intermediate roller. The distortion in the sheet in turns leads to a difference in the conveying forces applied to both edges in the width direction of the sheet in the conveyance thereafter, thus conveying the sheet in a skewed manner.
As a solution to the problem described above, there are methods for preventing the distortion of a sheet by temporarily moving an intermediate roller away from the sheet, as disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,878.
To correct the skew of the leading edge of the sheet, the sheet is conveyed by the intermediate roller to abut the leading edge of the sheet against the LF roller while holding the LF roller at rest or rotating the LF roller in the reverse direction. To correct the skew of the leading edge of the sheet, it is necessary to continue to convey the sheet by the intermediate roller until both ends in the width direction of the sheet abut against the pair of rollers having the LF roller.
The sheet continues to be conveyed by the intermediate roller whereas the leading edge of the sheet abutted against the pair of rollers having the LF roller cannot move. If, therefore, the sheet has low rigidity, then the sheet curves in the U-turn path between the LF roller and the intermediate roller. In the case of a highly rigid sheet, however, the sheet cannot curve in the U-turn path between the LF roller and the intermediate roller, thus generating a high conveyance resistance against the intermediate roller.
In the case of the construction disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,878, the intermediate roller is supported by a swing arm so as to allow the intermediate roller to be moved away from the sheet. However, when the intermediate roller supported by the swing arm adds to the conveyance resistance, a force moment acts to increase the force of the intermediate roller, which force pushes a driven roller paired with the intermediate roller (hereinafter referred to as "the engaging force"). An increased engaging force causes the pair of rollers, namely, the intermediate roller and the driven roller, to firmly sandwich the sheet, making it difficult to convey the sheet by the intermediate roller. Further, if the state in which the sheet is firmly sandwiched by the pair having the intermediate roller continues, then it becomes difficult to correct the distortion of the sheet between the intermediate roller and the LF roller. As a result, there are cases where the skew of the leading edges of the sheet is not successfully corrected.

Conveying apparatus and recording apparatus with movable drive roller and movable pinch roller


A water spray nozzle assembly includes an internal channel that is sealable by an internal valve having a seat and a disc. A tilting member is operable to tilt the disc at least partially off of the seat, allowing water to flow through the internal channel. The disc may be further tilted completely off of the seat to provide additional water flow through the water spray nozzle.

Water spray nozzles for use with water hoses are well known. Various nozzles are available including nozzles with multiple spray patterns and nozzles that may be used to mix various fluids or soluble powders with water supplied to the nozzle. Generally, these water spray nozzles include a trigger mechanism which is used to control a valve internal to the spray nozzle. When the trigger mechanism is not activated, the internal valve is shut (or closed) and no water is allowed to flow through the nozzle. Conversely, activation of the trigger mechanism opens the internal valve, and water is allowed to flow through the water spray nozzle.
Closure of the internal valve is typically effected by the provision of a biasing mechanism that operates against the disc of the valve, forcing the disc into sealing engagement with the seat of the valve when the trigger is not activated. Generally, the biasing mechanism forces the disc in the same direction that water moves through the water spray nozzle. Thus, the pressure of the water supplied to the water spray nozzle assists in ensuring that the internal valve does not allow any water to flow through the water spray nozzle until the trigger mechanism is activated.
To activate the trigger mechanism so as to allow water to flow through the water spray nozzle a trigger on the water spray nozzle is typically squeezed. This causes the disc of the internal valve to move directly away from the seat of the internal valve and toward the biasing mechanism and the source of the water. As the disc moves away from the seat of the internal valve, water is allowed to flow around the periphery of the disc and past the seat through the water spray nozzle.
While proving very effective in many respects, the above described internal valve design suffers certain limitations. As described above, the movement of the disc is directly away from the seat. Thus, the force applied to the disc must overcome the entire force of the water pressure and biasing mechanism acting against the disc. Of course, as the water pressure of the source increases, it becomes increasingly difficult to operate the trigger mechanism.
One approach used to overcome this limitation is to fashion the trigger mechanism as a class "1" lever. A class "1" lever has a fulcrum located between the load and the location on the lever where a user applies force. Thus, application of force in a first direction causes the load to move in a direction opposite the first direction. As applied to a water spray nozzle, a class "1" lever is created by placing a fulcrum on the trigger between the portion of the trigger that is grasped by the user and the portion of the trigger that is operably connected to a stem that is used to move the disc. A mechanical advantage is thus achieved, allowing a user to open the internal valve while using less force to activate the trigger mechanism.
Fashioning the trigger mechanism as a lever is very useful in allowing for opening of the internal valve of a water spray nozzle with a reduced amount of force. However, it is commonly desired to operate the water spray nozzle in a mode other than fully open or fully shut. Positioning of the internal valve to a position intermediate the fully opened and fully shut positions is frequently desired so as to govern the force and/or volume of the water exiting the water spray nozzle. Governing of the force of the exiting water is desired because a spray pattern at a given water pressure that provides a gentle spray when the spray is directed at a plant that is ten feet away from a user may provide a torrential blast of water when that same spray is directed at a plant that is two feet away from the user. The blast of water can result in damage to the plant and may splash the user. Similarly, when a specific amount of water is desired to be provided to the plant, a user may desire a slower flow of water to better determine when sufficient water has been supplied to the plant.
However, even in water spray nozzles having a trigger in the form of a class "1" lever, the stem that is used to move the disc away from the seat generally operates to move the disc off of the seat in a uniform fashion forming a gap between the disc and seat around the entire periphery of the disc. Thus, when a user applies sufficient force to the trigger mechanism to move the disc off of the seat, a gap of a relatively large area is rapidly realized between the disc and the seat, allowing a large volume of water to flow through the water spray nozzle. This makes the volume of water passing through the water spray nozzle very difficult to manage. It would be beneficial if the effective cross section of the internal valve were reduced, particularly at lower flow rates.
Additionally, the generation of a large gap between the disc and the seat results in an abrupt drop in the pressure applied to the disc by the pressure of the water source acting against the disc. Thus, once the seal between the seat and disc is broken, a user is typically not able to react quickly enough in reducing the pressure applied to the trigger mechanism to avoid fully opening the internal valve or at least opening the internal valve beyond the position desired. Accordingly, even when a user desires to place the internal valve in an intermediate position, the internal valve is typically opened beyond the desired position, and then the user attempts to adjust the force applied to the trigger mechanism to reduce the water flow to the desired amount. It would be beneficial if the reduction in pressure applied to the disc by the water source pressure and biasing mechanism were less severe.
What is needed is a water spray nozzle that allows a user to easily open an internal valve so as to allow water to flow through the water spray nozzle, while ensuring a tight fit between the disc and seat of an internal valve when the trigger mechanism of the water spray nozzle is in the closed position. What is further needed is a water spray nozzle with an internal valve that is easily positioned to an intermediate position.


An aircraft canopy includes a window pane, a frame from a primary structure of the aircraft, and a flange fastened to the frame with fastening screw, characterized in that: the flange is secured to the peripheral edge of the window pane by engaging of at least one plate of the flange between plies of the window pane, so that flange and window pane form an all in one-piece assembly, at each fastening screw, a load-transferring and distributing member is arranged between an outer surface of the flange and the fasting screw, a cavity being provided in the flange for receiving the load-transferring and distributing member, the member having a recess for receiving the screw head.

Many aircraft canopies have six window panes (two in front position, two in side position and two in rear position, relative to the pilots). The two front window panes are assembled and flanged from outside the aircraft. In effect, the presence of the navigation screens in the cockpit does not allow assembly of the front window panes from inside the aircraft.
Two main fastening techniques exist for fastening a canopy window pane to the primary structure of an aircraft in the case of window pane assembly from the outside. It is important to point out above all that assembling a canopy window pane must be rapid and easy in order to limit the costs thereof. The same applies to disassembling the window pane, since the latter must be replaced several times during the life of the aircraft and this replacement leads to a costly grounding of the aircraft.
According to a first technique of fastening from outside, the canopy window pane is fastened directly to a frame of the aircraft structure by screws that pass through the window pane along its peripheral edge. This first technique has the major disadvantage that the fastening screws apply mechanical stresses on the canopy window pane, which give rise to risks of breaking it. These stresses can be due in particular to deformations of the aircraft structure in extreme flight conditions and to the difference in expansion between the canopy window pane, generally of glass, and the metal frame on which it rests, during temperature changes that arise during climb and descent phases of the aircraft.
According to the second known technique of fastening from outside, the peripheral edge of the canopy window pane is clamped between the frame of the primary aircraft structure and a flange fastened to the frame by fastening screws. These fastening screws do not pass through the canopy window pane and are not in contact with it, such that the aforementioned problems relating to the first technique do not arise.
The fastening screws used to fasten the flange to the structure frame are generally countersunk screws that are integrated in the thickness of the flange. The use of countersunk screws has multiple disadvantages, including the fact that this type of screw imposes severe machining tolerances in terms of alignment of the fastening holes made in the structure frame so as to accommodate the screws common to one flange. This high machining precision results in a high implementation coup. Another major disadvantage is the difficulty of removing the canopy when the latter must be replaced. In effect, the countersunk screws are difficult to slacken especially when they are seized, the risk of seizing being increased for screws accommodated in holes that are not perfectly aligned. Furthermore, the means of gripping these countersunk screws consist of a hollow indentation in the head that does not allow the torque applied during tightening to be controlled easily and that limits the torque that can be applied during unscrewing. What is more, repeated slippage of the screwdriver on the screw head during tightening can damage this gripping indentation, which subsequently makes unscrewing even more difficult.
Certain known canopy fastening devices make it possible to use, in lieu and instead of countersunk screws, hexagon-head screws whose gripping means are provided by the head itself and its hexagonal shape, and whose bearing surface on the flange is substantially flat. The disadvantage of these hexagon-head screws is that they do not allow good air and moisture sealing to be guaranteed between the screw and the flange and that it is recommended to use, in combination with these screws, a sealing material such as a PR mastic which requires several hours of curing time (up to more than 24 hours). The use of this mastic increases the time—and hence the cost—of assembling the canopy, but also the time of disassembling the canopy when it must be replaced as it is then necessary carefully to remove every trace of mastic remaining on the frame and the flange before installing the new canopy window pane. The removal of the mastic requires a suitable tool whose use is not without risks for the user and for the structure of the aircraft.

Aircraft canopy having a window pane with an integrated flange and load-transferring and distributing members


Provided is a receiving apparatus that includes a receiving unit which receives a trellis-coded modulation signal in which data items modulated by a plurality of trellis-coded modulators have been multiplexed; a data processing unit which arranges the data items multiplexed in the trellis-coded modulation signal received by the receiving unit so that a given number of data items modulated by one of the trellis-coded modulators are arranged consecutively in first order in which the data items modulated by one of the trellis-coded modulators have been modulated as arrangement processing and the arrangement processing is repeated in remaining trellis-coded modulators; a trellis decoding unit which performs trellis decoding of the data items arranged by the data processing unit, thereby producing decoded data items; and a data rearranging unit which rearranges the decoded data items in second order in which the decoded data items have been multiplexed in the trellis-coded modulation signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiving apparatus and a receiving method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digitization of television broadcasts and radio broadcasts has been proceeding on the global scale in recent years. The ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) standards for a terrestrial digital broadcasting system in the United States specifies the following processes: First, signal processing such as Reed-Solomon encoding and interleaving is performed on transport streams (also referred to below as TSs) specified by an international compression coding standard MPEG2 (Moving Picture Experts Group 2). Then, coded modulation is performed by twelve trellis-coded modulators on data on which the signal processing has been performed. Thereafter, the code-modulated data are multiplexed and transmitted in a form of a single carrier wave.
Accordingly, a conventional receiver compliant with the ATSC standards performs synchronous processing and equalization processing on a signal received by a tuner, and then executes twelve trellis decoding processes in parallel on the signal on which the processing has been performed. In this case, the receiver includes twelve identical processing circuits, and therefore circuit size of the receiver is large.
In a technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4113600 (paragraphs 0042 to 0055, FIG. 10 and FIG. 15), a signal group is generated by arranging multiplexed modulation signals cyclically in accordance with the respective trellis-coded modulators that have performed trellis-coded modulation processing. Then, the generated signal group is input to a trellis decoding circuit. The trellis decoding circuit performs traceback processing while identifying in foregoing processing the trellis-coded modulator that has processed the code-modulated signals arranged in the signal group. The technology disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication proposes the processing described above to configure a receiver with a single trellis decoding circuit.
The technology disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication, however, requires a memory that can store at least one signal group of cyclically arranged signals and requires the foregoing processing to identify the trellis-coded modulator that has processed the code-modulated signals, thereby increasing required memory capacity and circuit size. This would bring about increased cost of components such as a large-scale integrated circuit (LSI).

Receiving apparatus and receiving method


Chewing gum compositions having improved dipeptide-sweetener stability are provided. The chewing gums of the invention contain dipeptide sweetener(s) and at least one benzaldehyde acetal. Cherry-flavored and chocolate-cherry flavored chewing gums having improved dipeptide-sweetener stability are also provided.

The present invention relates to methods for producing chewing gum. More particularly, the invention relates to methods for producing chewing gum containing acetals of benzaldehyde and peptide sweeteners with improved shelf-life stability.
In recent years, efforts have been devoted to protecting peptide sweeteners within the chewing gum formulation from interaction in the presence of aldehyde ingredients, i.e., the protection of the high-potency sweetener against degradation over time. The instability is significant because aldehyde-containing flavor components have been known to react with peptide sweeteners such as aspartame and thereby greatly reduce the shelf-stability of aspartame in such a gum.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,722,845, issued Feb. 2, 1988, and 4,839,184, issued Jun. 13, 1989, both to Cherukuri et al., teach a process for stabilizing an aldehyde-containing chewing gum in which a dipeptide or amino acid sweetener is encapsulated in a mixture of fat, wax and glyceride. The inventions teach an advantage in using an edible wax with a melting point of 106.degree. C. or greater. First, the fat, wax and glyceride are mixed to form a "hydrophobic matrix." Then, the sweetener is formed into an agglomerate with this hydrophobic matrix. The agglomerates are next screened for appropriate size. Finally, the second or further coating with the hydrophobic matrix is applied using standard fluidized bed granulation techniques. Alternately, the initial coating can be applied by spray congealing techniques. Both of the above Cherukuri et al. patents teach that aspartame is difficult to coat, because of its needle-like shape. To adequately coat aspartame, approximately six times as much coating material as aspartame was used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,745, issued Sep. 5, 1989, to Zibell, teaches a method of encapsulating aspartame or other high-potency sweeteners by applying to already-coated aspartame a second coat consisting predominately of zein, a corn protein. This method results in more gradual release of high-potency sweetness and in protection from degradation by aldehyde constituents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,295, issued Jun. 5, 1990, to Courtright et al., discloses the preparation of a softer zein coating for aspartame which is water soluble and includes water-soluble cellulose. Courtright et al. disclose that encapsulation and protection from degradation occurs when the final product comprises as little as 10% zein.
Examples of aldehyde containing flavoring agents include, but are not limited to, cinnamon flavor, which includes cinnamaldehyde; cherry flavor, which includes benzaldehyde; lemon flavors, which contain citral and citronellal; vanilla flavor, which includes vanillin and ethyl vanillin; fruit flavors, which include acetaldehyde; and orange flavor, which includes undecanal. Other flavors which include aldehyde-containing components can be found on pages 325-328 of the book Flavor Technology: Profiles, Products, Applications, by Henry B. Heath, M.B.E., B. Pharm., published in 1978 by The AVI Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, Conn. Cherry flavor is a popular aldehyde-containing flavor used in chewing gum and includes benzaldehyde.
Benzaldehyde is the primary ingredient in cherry flavoring. In Section 268 of Volume 1 of Steffen Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, published by the author in Montclair, N.J. in 1969, benzaldehyde is described as having a "powerful sweet odor, reminiscent of freshly crushed bitter almonds." Besides cherry and almond, benzaldehyde is used in "berry, butter, apricot, brandy, coconut, liquor, peach, plum, pecan, pistachio, rum spice and vanilla." Id. Benzaldehyde has been added to a variety of foods, including gum. In chewing gum, however, the benzaldehyde flavor reacts with peptide sweeteners where present to form non-sweet products. In addition, the cherry flavor may change after a few minutes of chewing. Methods of preventing the dissipation of aldehyde flavors, including the chemical combination of aldehyde flavors with other moieties, have been investigated.
Co-pending, commonly assigned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/577,770, filed on Sep. 4, 1990, by Michael Greenberg and Sonya Johnson, entitled "Method of Stabilizing Peptide Sweeteners in Cinnamon-Flavored Chewing Gums and Confections," discloses the combination of dipeptide sweeteners and cinnamaldehyde acetal, and particularly cinnamaldehyde propylene glycol acetal (CAPGA), in gum and other foods. The acetals of benzaldehyde also have been reported.
In Section 274 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde propylene glycol acetal is described as useful "in flavor compositions for imitation cherry, almond, nut, etc. particularly where greater stability and lower volatility . . . is desirable." Arctander also notes that "the acetal itself is practically odorless but will liberate benzaldehyde under influence[s] of moisture (particularly in the presence of acid) and heat." Id.
In Section 272 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde ethylene glycol acetal is described as "almost odorless when free from benzaldehyde but traces of moisture will free some aldehyde and influence the odor," suitable for "compositions where storage conditions favor a more stable form of benzaldehyde." Arctander points out that "the aldehyde is liberated under [the] influence of water, heat or acid." Id.
In Section 269 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde diethyl acetal is described as having a sweet, mild flavor, "faintly reminiscent of . . . bitter almond, but more herbaceous." Arctander notes that this acetal "offers some advantage in being milder, easier to handle, but . . . this material is sensitive to mild acid." Id.
In Section 273 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde glyceryl acetal is described as having a faint bitter almond odor and being a mixture of two acetals, a 1,2-form and a 1,3-form. This acetal is "used in flavor compositions where lower volatility and improved stability towards air (oxygen) is desirable, and the benzaldehyde as such seems too volatile and unstable." Id. "Under the influence of heat, water or mild acid," "the acetal will liberate benzaldehyde." Id. This acetal is "used in fruit flavors, imitation almond, cherry [and] nut," and "the most common outlet for the acetal" is chewing gum. Id.
In Section 271 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde dimethyl acetal is described as having a "sweet-green and warm odor, remotely reminiscent of nuts and bitter almonds" and is "used in . . . cherry, fruit, nut, [and] almond" flavors. This acetal also is "sensitive to mild acid and will not be stable in finished products of low pH." Id.
In Section 270 of Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, benzaldehyde di-(ethylene glycol monobutyl ether) acetal is described as having a "mild-herbaceous, sweet and floral odor" and being used in jasmine fragrance.
Acetals have been combined with other flavor chemicals to produce longer-lived chemicals. U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,283, issued Aug. 5, 1975, to Schreiber et al., teaches methods to produce phenyl pentenals, as well as their acetals.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,023, issued Sep. 23, 1975, to Schreiber et al., further teaches the production of cinnamon like flavors with phenyl pentenals and their acetals. However, Schreiber points out that these chemicals are very stable, only hydrolyzing under "intense hydrolytic conditions" (col. 2, line 66). These conditions include a pH which is less than 2.5 or greater than 11.5, far different from the relatively neutral pH of saliva. This reference also teaches that 1,2- and 1,3-propylene glycol may be used in acetals to stabilize phenyl pentenals (col. 6, line 13).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,425, issued Apr. 22, 1975, to Hall et al., teaches that 3-phenyl-4-pentenal ethylene acetal is a stable precursor for the aldehyde, which has a green floral fragrance. It teaches that a variety of phenyl pentenals, can be combined with a variety of acetals. A list of such acetals includes propylene glycol acetal (col. 9, lines 50-51).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,344, issued Feb. 18, 1986, to Pittet et al., teaches preparation of a sustained release flavor by combining dithioethers of phenyl alkenals with silica and propylene glycol (cols. 23 and 24). Pittet also teaches using the silica mixture in chewing gum (col. 24, lines 43-54). Pittet also reports long-lasting flavor with the dithioether flavor alone (col. 24, lines 58-64).
Unfortunately, a disadvantage of all techniques for preventing peptide sweeteners from interacting with aldehyde compounds is that they call for encapsulating the sweetener. The more effective techniques for encapsulating the sweetener require long drying periods and coating the sweetener at least twice, an expensive process. Even then, the peptide sweetener is not always fully protected. What is needed is less expensive and more convenient protection of peptide sweeteners from chemical degradation by aldehyde compounds.

Method of stabilizing peptide sweeteners in chewing gums and confections with benzaldehyde acetals


According to one embodiment, a circuit component socket includes: a frame; a base member attached to the frame, the base member having a surface where a circuit component storage portion is formed for storing a circuit component, and a connection terminal surface as an opposite surface where connection terminals are formed to be electrically connected to electrodes of the circuit component stored in the circuit component storage portion and to be connected to a circuit board; and a pressure clamping unit that presses the circuit component stored in the circuit component storage portion to the base member. The base member is formed so that the connection terminal surface of the base member is displaced by a predetermined amount in a direction toward the circuit component storage portion.

1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to a socket used when a circuit component such as a semiconductor circuit component having a surface mount type package is mounted on a circuit board. It particularly relates to a circuit component socket configured so as to be connected to a circuit board through metal bumps such as solder balls, and a method for mounting the circuit component socket.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of such packages serving as semiconductor circuit components to be mounted on circuit boards have advanced in recent years so that surface mount type leadless packages which do not use any lead or pin for electric connection to the boards have been put into practical use broadly.
For example, a BGA (Ball Grid Array) package, an LGA (Land Grid Array) package, etc. , are used as such surface mount type leadless packages. In the BGA package, connection terminals are formed in such a manner that solder balls are attached to electrodes (pads) which are formed, for example, as a grid array, on the bottom of the package so as to be connected to an external circuit. In the LGA package, pads (lands) formed as a grid array on the bottom of the package are used directly as connection terminals.
There is also known a CSP (Chip Size Package) having substantially the same size as that of a bare chip constituting a semiconductor. This CSP also has pads provided on the bottom of the package.
Generally, an LGA circuit component is mounted on a circuit board through a socket. The socket includes a base member, and an elastic pressure clamping unit. A circuit component storage portion is formed in the base member so that the LGA circuit component is placed in the circuit component storage portion. The circuit component storage portion has contactors arranged so as to correspond to lands formed as a grid array on the bottom of the LGA circuit component in a predetermined positional relation. The elastic pressure clamping unit presses and clamps the placed LGA circuit component to the base member by a predetermined elastic force to thereby keep the lands of the LGA circuit component and the contactors in contact with each other stably.
The base member has electrodes provided on its bottom on a side opposite to the circuit component storage portion in which the LGA circuit component is placed. These electrodes are electrically connected to the contactors of the circuit component storage portion. In addition, solder balls are attached to the electrodes respectively, so that the electrodes of the base member are connected to pads of the circuit board by the solder balls.
Such an LGA circuit component socket will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining a well-known LGA circuit component socket which is generally used at present. FIG. 5 is a partly sectional side view of the socket depicted in FIG. 4. Incidentally, FIG. 5 is a schematic view for making description clearly understandable but is different from FIG. 4 in detailed parts.
In FIG. 4, a socket 401 is formed to have a flat plate-shaped metal frame 402 as a foundation. A base member 403 is fixed in the central portion of the socket 401. The base member 403 forms a body of the socket 401. The base member 403 is molded out of synthetic resin so as to be shaped like an approximately flattened cube in terms of outer appearance. Frames 404 are formed on outer edges of four sides of the base member 403 respectively so as to stand with respect to a flat surface of the base member 403.
The inside enclosed by the frames 404 is a circuit component storage portion 405 in which an LGA circuit component is stored. The circuit component storage portion 405 is partitioned into fine regions by partition portions 406 provided in parallel with one side of the frames 404. Contactors 407 are provided in each of the fine regions into which the circuit component storage portion 405 is partitioned by the partition portions 406. Further, protrusions 408 are formed so as to face the inner surfaces of the frames 404. An opening 409 is formed in the approximately central portion of the circuit component storage portion 405.
Incidentally, although only part of the contactors 407 are shown in FIG. 4 for the sake of convenience of illustration, the contactors 407 are actually provided in almost the whole sections into which the circuit component storage portion 405 is partitioned by the partition portions 406.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, each of the contactors 407 has an end which protrudes from the surface of the circuit component storage portion 405 so as to be bent, and an opposite end which is connected to an electrode not shown but provided on the bottom of the base member 403. A solder ball 410 is further attached to the electrode. The contactors 407 configured as described above are provided in arrangement so as to correspond to electrodes formed on the bottom of the LGA circuit component.
Four sides of the metal frame 402 are bent so that part or all of the edges in the four sides stand. A pressure clamping cover 412 for pressing and clamping the circuit component to the circuit component storage portion 405 is attached to a side wall 411 of one of the four sides so that the pressure clamping cover 412 can rotate in a direction of covering the circuit component storage portion 405 (represented by an arrow A in FIG. 5) and in a direction (represented by an arrow B in FIG. 5) opposite to the covering direction.
That is, openings 413 are provide in the side wall 411 of the metal frame 402 so that engagement portions 414 formed at an end of the pressure clamping cover 412 are rotatably engaged with the openings 413.
An opening 415 through which a top portion of the body of the LGA circuit component passes is provided in the central portion of the pressure clamping cover 412. The pressure clamping cover 412 is configured so that the edge of the opening 415 comes into contact with the flange portion of the LGA circuit component to thereby perform pressure clamping. Details of the pressure clamping cover 412 will be described later.
A protrusion piece 416 is provided in a side of the pressure clamping cover 412 opposite to the side where the engagement portions 414 are formed. Further, edges of two sides of the pressure clamping cover 412 adjacent to the side where the protrusion piece 416 is provided are bent toward the metal frame 402 to thereby form bent portions 417. The bent portions 417 ensure the strength required for the pressure clamping cover 412.
As shown in FIG. 5, the pressure clamping cover 412 is bent with a predetermined curvature so as to be warped in a direction opposite to the circuit component storage portion 405 from the side where the engagement portions 414 are formed toward the side where the protrusion piece 416 is provided. An angular difference Φ is formed in a region of from the engagement portions 414 to the protrusion piece 416.
A pressure clamping lever 419 is attached to a side wall 418 of the metal frame 402 opposite to the side wall 411 where the pressure clamping cover 412 is attached, so that the pressure clamping lever 419 can rotate in a direction of covering the component storage portion 405 (represented by an arrow C in FIG. 5) and in a direction (represented by an arrow D in FIG. 5) opposite to the covering direction. The side wall 418 of the metal frame 402 forms a pair of holding portions 420 for holding the pressure clamping lever 419. Ends of the holding portions 420 are bent toward the component storage portion 405 so that the pressure clamping lever 419 can be rotatably held in the inside of the holding portions 420.
Support portions 423 for supporting the lower surface of the pressure clamping lever 419 are formed at ends provided on the holding portion 420 sides of two side walls 421 and 422 which are provided in the metal frame 402 and which are adjacent to the side wall 411. The pressure clamping lever 419 has its lower surface supported by the support portions 423 and its upper surface held by the holding portions 420, so that the pressure clamping lever 419 can be supported rotatably.
The pressure clamping lever 419 is made of an elastic material. A portion of the pressure clamping lever 419 located between the pair of holding portions 420 is bent so as to protrude at a predetermined angle. In this manner, a pressure contact portion 424 is formed. An end of the pressure clamping lever 419 on the side wall 421 side of the metal frame 402 is bent and extended to form an operation portion 425 which can be operated by a user.
As shown in FIG. 5, the operation portion 425 is formed so that the operation portion 425 can be opened to the outside (in the direction of the arrow D) at a predetermined angle relative to the pressure contact portion 424.
An opening 426 is further formed in the metal frame 402 and between the base member 403 and the side wall 418 so that the protrusion piece 416 of the pressure clamping cover 412 does not interfere.
A lock portion 427 for locking the operation portion 425 of the pressure clamping lever 419 is further formed in a predetermined position of the side wall 421 of the metal frame 402.
The socket for mounting the LGA circuit component on the circuit board is configured as described above. Next, the LGA circuit component will be described. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of the LGA circuit component to be mounted in the socket shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
In FIG. 6, an LGA circuit component 601 includes a base 602 made of a circuit board, and a semiconductor package mounted on a surface of the base 602 and externally covered with a metal housing. The metal housing has a flange portion 603 mounted on the base 602, and a body portion 604 provided on a surface of the flange portion 603. On the other hand, the base 602 has notches 605 formed for positioning the LGA circuit component 601 at the time of mounting the LGA circuit component 601 in the socket.
FIG. 7 is a plan view of the LGA circuit component 601 shown in FIG. 6, as seen from the bottom side of the base 602. As shown in FIG. 7, plural electrodes 701 are arranged in a grid array. The electrodes 701 are arranged so as to correspond to the contactors 407 of the base member 403. When the LGA circuit component 601 is stored in the circuit component storage portion 405, the electrodes 701 are brought into contact with the contactors 407, respectively, so as to be electrically connected.
Next, a procedure of mounting the LGA circuit component 601 depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7 on the socket 401 depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 8, the LGA circuit component 601 is stored in the circuit component storage portion 405 of the base member 403. This operation is performed in such a manner that the LGA circuit component 601 is placed on the circuit component storage portion 405 while the notches 605 of the base 602 of the LGA circuit component 601 are aligned with the protrusions 408 formed on the frames 404 of the base member 403.
Then, the pressure clamping cover 412 is rotated in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 5 so as to be brought into contact with the top of the LGA circuit component 601. On this occasion, the top portion of the body portion 604 of the LGA circuit component 601 protrudes from the opening 415 of the pressure clamping cover 412, so that the edge of the opening 415 comes into contact with the top of the flange portion 603 of the LGA circuit component 601.
Then, the pressure clamping lever 419 is rotated in the direction of the arrow C in FIG. 5 to bring the pressure contact portion 424 of the pressure clamping lever 419 into contact with the top of the protrusion piece 416 of the pressure clamping cover 412.
When the pressure clamping lever 419 is rotated in the direction of the arrow C in this state, the protrusion piece 416 suffers force toward the base member 403 due to the pressure contact portion 424 of the pressure clamping lever 419. As a result, the pressure clamping cover 412 is pressed and clamped onto the flange portion 603 of the LGA circuit component 601 gradually.
When the pressure clamping lever 419 is finally locked by the lock piece 427 of the side wall 421 of the metal frame 402 while further rotated in the direction of the arrow C, mounting of the LGA circuit component 601 in the socket 401 is completed.
This state is shown in FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 9, while the pressure clamping lever 419 makes the pressure contact portion 424 press the protrusion piece 416 of the pressure clamping cover 412, the operation portion 425 is locked by the lock piece 427 of the side wall 421 of the metal frame 402. Thus, it is clearly shown that the pressure clamping cover 412 makes the edge of the opening 415 presses and clamps the flange portion 603 of the LGA circuit component 601. In this state, the pressure clamping cover 412 presses and clamps the LGA circuit component 601 into the circuit component storage portion 405 of the base member 403 by elastic force corresponding to the angle between the pressure contact portion 424 of the pressure clamping lever 419 and the operation portion 425 of the pressure clamping lever 419.
The LGA circuit component 601 is mounted in the socket 401 configured as described above after the socket 401 is mounted on the circuit board by the solder balls 410 of the base member 403.
When the pressure clamping cover 412 presses and clamps the LGA circuit component 601 by the elastic force of the pressure clamping lever 419, the pressure clamping force of the pressure clamping cover 412 is considerably strong. Since the pressure clamping cover 412 is formed so as to be curved to warp with a predetermined curvature from the engagement portions 414 to the protrusion piece 416 as shown in FIG. 5, the largest stress is applied to the LGA circuit component 601 in the vicinity of the central portion of the pressure clamping cover 412.
The stress may act on the base member 403 through the LGA circuit component 601 to thereby cause deformation of the base member 403. In such a case, the surface where the solder balls 410 are attached is consequently not flat any more, so that the soldering states are not uniform among the solder balls at the time of mounting. As a result, soldering failure might occur.
FIG. 10 is a view for explaining the state of deformation of the base member 403. As shown in FIG. 10, the base member 403 is deformed so that the base member 403 on the side wall 411 side of the metal frame 402 and on the holding portion 420 side for holding the pressure clamping lever 419 rises with respect to the flat surface.
For example, the deformation may cause a short-circuiting due to connection of the solder balls to one another, soldering junction failure, incomplete electrical connection or disconnection of the socket 401 from the circuit board due to insufficient mechanical strength of the soldering junction portions, in the rising outer side portions of the base member 403.

Circuit component socket and method for mounting the same


A volume holographic memory has a spinning disk comprised of photorefractive medium, object beam optics configured to direct an object beam through the outer edge of the disk, and reference beam optics configured to simultaneously direct a reference beam through the outer edge of the disk. An angle multiplexer manipulates the reference beam to facilitate the formation of angle multiplexed volume holograms. The object beam and the reference beam cooperate within the photorefractive medium to sequentially form a plurality of sets of angle multiplexed volume holograms therein while the disk is spinning. A phase conjugator directs a conjugate reference beam back through the disk after the reference beam has previously passed therethrough, so as to form a conjugate object beam to facilitate read-out. Amplitude monitoring is provided to facilitate use of an exposure schedule. Path length monitoring assures consistent phase relationship between the object and reference beams for write and erase operations. Calibration of the angle multiplexer is provided.

Holographic techniques for storing images are well known. Such techniques are commonly used to store images in a wide variety of different applications. Additionally, various methodologies for utilizing such holographic techniques to store digital data for use in computer systems are currently being explored.
The technique for forming holograms comprises splitting the highly coherent output beam of a laser into separate reference and object beams. The reference beam is directed onto the holographic storage medium, e.g., a photorefractive material, while the object beam is directed onto the object whose image is to be stored. Light from the object is directed to the photorefractive medium wherein an interference pattern is formed due to the interaction of the reference beam with the object beam.
When utilized in digital data storage applications, the object beam typically passes through a spatial light modulator, e.g., a liquid crystal shutter matrix, rather than being reflected off an object, in order to form the holographic image. The spatial light modulator adds the desired digital data to the object beam to facilitate storage of the digital data in the hologram formed therefrom.
Regardless of the application (i.e., the storage of images or data), subsequently,dtirecting a reference beam onto the holographic storage medium results in the reconstruction of an image representative of the originally illuminated object or stored digital data.
Also known are techniques for storing a plurality of such images within a single photorefractive medium via angle-multiplexing of the reference beam. Such angle-multiplexing is discussed in "THEORY OF OPTICAL INFORMATION STORAGE IN SOLIDS", Applied Optics, Vol. 2, No. 4, pg. 393 (1963). The method of angle-multiplexing generally involves maintaining a constant angle for the object beam, while varying the angle of the reference beam for each sequential exposure, i.e., the formation of each separate hologram. Angle-multiplexing thus allows a large number of holograms to be stored within a common volume of photorefractive medium, thereby greatly enhancing the storage density thereof.
Also known are techniques for storing a plurality of such holograms within a spinning drum or disk shaped photorefractive medium. Examples of some holographic memories which utilize drum or disk shaped medium are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,610,722; 3,737,878; 3,848,096; 4,104,489; 4,224,480; 4,420,829; 4,449,785; 4,929,823; 5,111,445; 5,128,693; 5,285,438; 5,339,305.
However, one problem commonly associated with such contemporary disk and drum based holographic memories is that the geometry of the system is not optimized with respect to the crystalline structure of the storage medium. Further, such contemporary systems do not utilize effective path-length monitoring so as to assure the integrity of holograms within the medium and to assure reliable read-out of a plurality of different sets of angle-multiplexed holograms.
As such, although the prior art has recognized to a limited extend the problem of storing volume holograms in a spinning disk medium, the proposed solutions, to date, have been ineffective in providing a satisfactory remedy.


A consumer's interactive home terminal equipment includes a television (1). video tape recorder (2) and a telephone apparatus (6) or bidirectional paging device. The video tape recorder serves as both a mass storage and an input channel for new basic information, the television is a display device, and the telephone apparatus, advantageously a digital mobile phone, is a bidirectional communications channel to the outside world. A video cassette (3), which contains in picture format certain input forms, is inserted in the video tape recorder and an input form is displayed (10) on the television screen (4) to the user. The user fills out the necessary input fields (11) and the picture is converted (12) into a telephone short message or data call to be sent forward (13, 14, 15). An acknowledgment or other answer (16) received via telephone is stored (17) on the video cassette in picture format.

The invention relates in general to bidirectional audiovisual terminals intended to be used by consumers and in particular to equipment the initial costs of which are low and the operation of which is based on combining known devices and utilising their characteristics in a new and inventional manner.
Electrical telecommunications terminals intended for consumers can be divided into unidirectional and bidirectional devices. The most common unidirectional terminals are radio and television receivers. The most widely known bidirectional terminal has been, until recently, the telephone, but fax machines and computers with modems have now caught up with it. It has been suggested that a future home terminal equipment will be capable of transferring high-quality sound and images and other data bidirectionally in the form and at a time freely chosen by the user. So far, however, it has only been proposed equipments designed for certain limited applications, sharing a fairly high purchase price and a limited number of services available through them.
Consumers often find it hard to understand why they should replace or supplement their existing and tried and proved terminals with a wholly new apparatus which, on top of it all, is also expensive. Considering the needs of conservative consumers it is better if they can be offered new services without considerable investments in unknown technology.
An object of this invention is to provide a method and equipment for offering to the consumers new services based on bidirectional communications without the consumers being required to acquire new devices to a considerable extent.

Interactive home terminal employing common consumer-electronics as components in a manner to facilitate the bi-directional communication of data


A color filter of the present invention includes a large number of colored layers of a plurality of colors regularly arranged together. The color filter is such thatxWH−0.05≦xB≦xWH+0.05 and yWH−0.05≦yB≦yWH+0.05orxWH−0.10≦xB≦xWH and yWH−0.10≦yB≦yWHis satisfied, where (xWH, yWH) is the chromaticity in the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram when the filter alone is irradiated with light to produce a white display, and (xB, yB) is the chromaticity in the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram when the filter is irradiated with the same light while being interposed between a pair of polarization plates arranged in a crossed Nicols state each having a degree of polarization of 99.98% or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter and a liquid crystal display device using the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a liquid crystal display device capable of displaying color images, a color filter including a large number of red, green and blue colored layers regularly arranged together is provided on the display-surface-side substrate. The pigment dispersion method has been a mainstream method for manufacturing a color filter because the method is superior in terms of heat resistance, light resistance and cost. However, as compared with the dyeing method using dyes, the pigment dispersion method is inferior in terms of the depolarization of pigment particles.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 11-6911 states that color filters manufactured by the pigment dispersion method are inferior in terms of the depolarization, as compared with those manufactured by the dyeing method, because of scattering of light occurring due to pigment particles and surface configuration, that the amount of light transmitted is reduced by the scattering of light, thus failing to obtain sufficient brightness for the same chromaticity, and that the chromaticity of a combination color shifts if the transmittance decreases for even just one of red, blue and green, depending on the degree of scattering. In view of this, a technique has been disclosed in the art in which an ink receiving layer made of a photosensitive resin composition is subjected to a pattern exposure process to form non-colored portions, and a colored ink is applied onto the unexposed portions using an inkjet head to color the unexposed portions, after which the colored portions are subjected to an air flow or vacuum drying, and then the entire ink receiving layer is cured.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-171014 is directed to an improvement through yellow added to red and green. Specifically, the gray-scale display is improved through an increase in the contrast ratio of the color filter by using a color resist in which yellow is added to red and green colored compositions while reducing the particle size of the pigment in the colored composition by using a benzimidazolone derivative as the dispersant. However, the publication fails to disclose specific gray-scale display data and fails to describe the chromaticity in a black display.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-188120 discloses a colored composition for a color filter including at least a pigment, a polymer and a solvent, in which the content of a yellow pigment in the pigment component is 30% by weight or more and the relative surface area of the yellow pigment is 70 m2/g or more. The publication states that by optimizing the relative surface area of the yellow pigment, it is possible to form a colored film having a high contrast ratio and to obtain a color filter having a high display quality.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-194658 discloses a liquid crystal display device including a pair of opposing substrates and a liquid crystal material sealed therebetween, with a color filter including red, green and blue color patterns being formed on one substrate, in which an adjustment is made so that CR1/CR2≦1.6, where CR1 is the contrast ratio of the color pattern of the highest contrast ratio and CR2 is that of the color pattern of the smallest contrast ratio while the contrast ratio of the panel is 400 or more, thereby improving the color reproducibility.
In recent years, the contrast and the luminance of liquid crystal display device have been increased. This has led to cause a problem that light leakage of a color, e.g., magenta, is observed in a black display, and the magenta color in a black display can be quite conspicuous. This problem is particularly pronounced with liquid crystal display devices having a high contrast ratio and a high backlight brightness, e.g., LCD televisions.
Note that Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-171014, supra, only discloses improvements on the red and green colored layers and fails to give limitations on the blue colored layer. Thus, it is difficult with such a disclosure to realize a desirable black display.

Color filter and liquid crystal display device using the same


An apparatus for press-fitting a bearing cap into a cylinder block includes a frame. A first cylinder is connected to the frame. A guide rod is coupled to an operating rod of the first cylinder to ascend or descend in response to an operation of the first cylinder and configured to be inserted into bolt holes respectively formed in the bearing cap and the cylinder block in response to a descending thereof. A second cylinder is connected to the frame. A pressure detection sensor detects an operating pressure generated by the second cylinder. A press pad is coupled to an operating rod of the second cylinder to ascend or descend in response to an operation of the second cylinder and configured to press the bearing cap so that the bearing cap is press-fitted into the cylinder block.

Generally, in an engine assembly line, a bearing cap is coupled to a lower portion of a cylinder block using a press-fitting apparatus. A conventional press-fitting apparatus includes a hydraulic cylinder and a press pad that is coupled to an end of an operating rod of the hydraulic cylinder. An indentation having a shape corresponding to the bearing cap is formed in the press pad.
In the conventional press-fitting apparatus, the bearing cap is inserted into the press pad, and the bearing cap is press-fitted into the cylinder block. However, in the conventional press-fitting apparatus, while press-fitting the bearing cap into the cylinder block, misalignment of the bearing cap to the cylinder block can occur. In that case, the bearing cap cannot be precisely coupled to the cylinder block.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Apparatus for press-fitting a bearing cap into a cylinder block


A system and method for uniquely identifying peers and other resources in a peer-to-peer networking environment. In one embodiment, every peer in the peer-to-peer network may have a unique peer identifier. Other peer-to-peer network resources may also have unique identifiers, including peer groups, services, applications, pipes, endpoints, content and resource advertisements. Identifiers may serve to canonically refer to resources. Identifiers may be embedded in advertisements for resources. In one embodiment, a peer identifier may identify a peer group in which the peer is a member peer. In one embodiment, a peer may have a different peer identifier for each group in which it is a member peer. In one embodiment, an identifier may be bound to a network address of the resource. If the resource changes network addresses, the identifier may be bound to the new network address. Thus, identifiers provide dynamic addressing for resources in the peer-to-peer environment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to peer-to-peer networking, and more particularly to for uniquely identifying peers and other resources in a peer-to-peer networking environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet has three valuable fundamental assets—information, bandwidth, and computing resources—all of which are vastly underutilized, partly due to the traditional client-server computing model. No single search engine or portal can locate and catalog the ever-increasing amount of information on the Web in a timely way. Moreover, a huge amount of information is transient and not subject to capture by techniques such as Web crawling. For example, research has estimated that the world produces two exabytes or about 2×1018 bytes of information every year, but only publishes about 300 terabytes or about 3×1012 bytes. In other words, for every megabyte of information produced, only one byte gets published. Moreover, Google claims that it searches about only 1.3×10^8 web pages. Thus, finding useful information in real time is increasingly difficult.
Although miles of new fiber have been installed, the new bandwidth gets little use if everyone goes to one site for content and to another site for auctions. Instead, hot spots just get hotter while cold pipes remain cold. This is partly why most people still feel the congestion over the Internet while a single fiber's bandwidth has increased by a factor of 10^6 since 1975, doubling every 16 months.
New processors and storage devices continue to break records in speed and capacity, supporting more powerful end devices throughout the network. However, computation continues to accumulate around data centers, which have to increase their workloads at a crippling pace, thus putting immense pressure on space and power consumption.
Finally, computer users in general are accustomed to computer systems that are deterministic and synchronous in nature, and think of such a structure as the norm. For example, when a browser issues a URL request for a Web page, the output is typically expected to appear shortly afterwards. It is also typically expected that everyone around by a the world will be able to retrieve the same page from the same Web server using the same URL.
The term peer-to-peer networking or computing (often referred to as P2P) may be applied to a wide range of technologies that greatly increase the utilization of information, bandwidth, and computing resources in the Internet. Frequently, these P2P technologies adopt a network-based computing style that neither excludes nor inherently depends on centralized control points. Apart from improving the performance of information discovery, content delivery, and information processing, such a style also can enhance the overall reliability and fault-tolerance of computing systems.
Peer-to-peer (P2P)computing, embodied by applications like Napster, Gnutella, and Freenet, has offered a compelling and intuitive way for Internet users to find and share resources directly with each other, often without requiring a central authority or server. As much as these diverse applications have broken new ground, they typically address only a single function, run primarily only on a single platform, and are unable to directly share data with other, similar applications.
Many peer-to-peer systems are built for delivering a single type of service. For example, Napster provides music file sharing, Gnutella provides generic file sharing, and AIM provides instant messaging. Given the diverse characteristics of these services and the lack of a common underlying P2P infrastructure, each P2P software vendor tends to create incompatible systems—none of them able to interoperate with one another. This means each vendor creates its on P2P user community, duplicating efforts in creating software and system primitives commonly used by all P2P systems. Moreover, for a peer to participate in multiple communities organized by different P2P implementations, the peer must support multiple implementations, each for a distinct P2P system or community, and serve as the aggregation point.
Many P2P systems today offer their features or services through a set of APIs that are delivered on a particular operating system using a specific networking protocol. For example, one system might offer a set of C++ APIs, with the system initially running only on Windows, over TCP/IP, while another system offers a combination and C and Java APIs, running on a variety of UNIX systems, over TCP/IP but also requiring HTTP. A P2P developer is then forced to chose which set of APIs to program to, and consequently, which set of P2P customers to target. Because there is little hope that the two systems will interoperate, if the developer wants to offer the same service to both communities, they have to develop the same service twice for two P2P platforms or develop a bridge system between them. Both approaches are inefficient and impractical considering the dozens of P2P platforms in existence.
Many P2P systems, especially those being offered by upstart companies, tend to choose one operating system as their target deployment platform. The cited reason for this choice is to target the largest installed base and the fastest path to profit. The inevitable result is that many dependencies on platform-specific features are designed into (or just creep into) the system. This is often not the consequence of technical desire but of engineering reality with its tight schedules and limited resources.
This approach is clearly shortsighted. Even though the earliest demonstration of P2P capabilities are on platforms in the middle of the computing hardware spectrum, it is very likely that the greatest proliferation of P2P technology will occur at the two ends of the spectrum—large systems in the enterprise and consumer-oriented small systems. In fact, betting on any particular segment of the hardware or software system is not future proof.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are examples illustrating the peer-to-peer model. FIG. 1A shows two peer devices 104A and 104B that are currently connected. Either of the two peer devices 104 may serve as a client of or a server to the other device. FIG. 1B shows several peer devices 104 connected over the network 106 in a peer group. In the peer group, any of the peer devices 104 may serve as a client of or a server to any of the other devices.
Prior art peer-to-peer systems are generally built for delivering a single type of service, for example a music file sharing service, a generic file sharing service, or an instant messaging service. Given the diverse characteristics of these services and given the lack of a common underlying peer-to-peer infrastructure, each vendor tends to form various peer-to-peer "silos". In other words, the prior art peer-to-peer systems typically do not interoperate with each other. This means each vendor has to create its own peer-to-peer user community, duplicating efforts in creating primitives commonly used by peer-to-peer systems such as peer discovery and peer communication.
Discovery in a peer-to-peer environment may be based on centralized discovery with a centralized index. This method is used by such peer-to-peer applications as Napster and AIM. Discovery based on a centralized index may be efficient, deterministic, and well suited for a static environment. Such a method of discovery may also provide centralized control, provide a central point of failure, and provide easy denial of services. However, such a method of discovery may be expensive to scale and may degrade with aging.
Discover in a peer-to-peer environment may also be based on net crawling. This method is used by such peer-to-peer applications as Gnutella and FreeNet. Discovery based on net crawling may be simple, adaptive, deterministic, inexpensive to scale, wee suited for dynamic environment, and may be difficult to attack. Such a method of discovery may also improve with aging. However, such a method of discovery may provide slower discovery than centralized control.
In a peer-to-peer environment, assume there is a peer-to-peer community offering a search capability for its members, where one member can post a query and other members can hear and respond to the query. One member is a Napster used and has implemented a feature so that, whenever a query is received seeking an MP3 file, this member will look up the Napster directory and then respond to the query with information returned by the Napster system. Here, a member without any knowledge of Napster may benefit because another member implemented a bridge to connect their peer-to-peer system to Napster. This type of bridging is very useful, but when the number of services is large, pair-wise bridging becomes more difficult and undesirable. Thus, it may be desirable to provide a platform bridge that may be used to connect various peer-to-peer systems together.
In another example, one engineering group requires a sizable storage capability, but also with redundancy to protect data from sudden loss. A common solution is to purchase a storage system with a large capacity and mirrored disks. Another engineering group later decides to purchase the same system. Both groups end up with a lot of extra capacity, and have to pay higher prices for the mirroring feature. Thus, it may be desirable to provide a mechanism by which each group may buy a simple storage system without the mirroring feature, where the disks can then discover each other automatically, form a storage peer group, and offer mirroring facilities using their spare capacity.
As yet another example, many devices such as cell phones, pagers, wireless email divices, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and Personal Computers (PCs) may carry directory and calendar information. Currently, synchronization among the directory and calendar information on these devices is very tedious, if not impossible. Often, a PC becomes the central synchronization point, where every other device has to figure out a way to connect to the PC (using serial port, parallel port, IrDA, or other method) and the PC must have the device driver for every device that wishes to connect. Thus, it may be desirable to provide a mechanism by which these devices may interact with each other, without extra networking interfaces except those needed by the devices themselves, utilizing a common layer of communication and data exchange.

Resource identifiers for a peer-to-peer environment


Disclosed are a thermochromic resin composite and a dimmer allowing easy adjustment of a clouding point. The thermochromic resin composite is predominantly composed of an aqueous medium, an amphiphilic linear polymer changeable between a transparent state and an opaque state in the aqueous medium depending on temperature, and an amphiphilic endless polymer changeable between a transparent state and an opaque state in the aqueous medium depending on temperature, and the amphiphilic linear polymer and the amphiphilic endless polymer in the aqueous medium have one clouding point, the clouding point changing in accordance with a mixing ratio of the amphiphilic linear polymer to the amphiphilic endless polymer.

A dimmer including an optical element that controls the light transmitting state is known. The dimmer can block or open the view of a user by controlling two optical states, transmitting and scattering, and therefore the application and development to various uses including construction materials such as a room divider and an outside window are expected.
As a light control method used in the dimmer, liquid crystal dimming method (for example, Patent Literature 1), electrochromic dimming method, photochromic dimming method, and thermochromic dimming method (for example, Patent Literatures 2 and 3) are proposed.
The liquid crystal dimming is a dimming method that reversibly changes between the transparent state and the opaque state by inducing a change in orientation of liquid crystal molecules using voltage application. The electrochromic dimming is a dimming method that reversibly changes between the transparent state and the colored state using electrochemical reaction. The photochromic dimming is a dimming method that reversibly changes the colored state by the presence or absence of active ray irradiation.
The thermochromic dimming is a dimming method that controls the optical physics of materials by heat, and one of such method reversibly changes the transparent state and the opaque state using a clouding point phenomenon by aggregation or dispersion of molecules that occurs due to a change in temperature. Thermochromic materials include a liquid or gel material using aqueous solution with non-ionic detergents or non-ionic water-soluble polymers exhibiting the clouding point phenomenon by aggregation or dispersion, a material using semiconductor-to-metal phase transition such as vanadium dioxide and the like. Note that Non Patent Literature 1 is referred to in the embodiment described later.

Thermochromic resin composite, method for adjusting clouding point of thermochromic resin composite, and dimmer


A round baler is equipped with a mechanism for wrapping the bale with twine. In order to keep the end of the twine from coming loose after ejection of the bale, there is provided a pointed plunger which engages and embeds the loose twine end(s) under the surface of the bale.

The present invention relates to mechanisms for wrapping cylindrical bales of agricultural crops formed in the chambers of large round balers with twine, and, in particular, relates to mechanisms for securing loose ends of twine to the crop bales while in the bale chamber by pressing the twine into the bale.
It is conventional to wrap cylindrical bales with twine in order to prevent the baled crop from falling apart after being ejected from the baling chamber. These known wrapping devices merely wrap twine onto the circumference of the bale so that, after the twine wrapped on the bale is severed from a supply of twine, the end of the twine is not fastened and lies loosely upon the bale surface. Therefore, depending on the direction of rotation of the bale after it is ejected from the baling chamber, it is possible that the end of the twine will become unwrapped from the bale, with the consequence that the bale falls apart and/or the loose end of the twine interferes with further handling of the bale. U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,249, granted on Dec. 27, 1988 discloses a typical wrapping device of this type.
DE-A-41 32 664 reveals a round baler having a wrapping device like that just described but further includes a sprocket mounted in a slot provided in the side wall of the baling chamber and having teeth, at least one of which is grooved for engaging twine guided into its path of rotation and embedding the engaged twine into the end of the bale as the sprocket is being rotated by the rotating bale. Thus, the twine is sewn into the end face of the bale in order to prevent loose ends of the twine from falling out. This structure has the drawback that it is difficult to introduce the twine into the sprocket at the end faces of the bale.