An event activated wind chime system and method of use are disclosed. In one form, an event activated wind chime system includes a wind chime assembly including at least one wind chime element proximally located to a striker operable to contact the wind chime element to output a wind chime sound. The system further includes an event detector operably coupled to a striker activation processor provided in association with the striker. The event detector is operable to detect an event and provide an input to the striker activation processor to produce the wind chime sound using the striker in response to the detected event.

Electric door chimes and call bells are widely used at homes, stores and offices to inform residents or businesses that a visitor has arrived. For example, a conventional doorbell produces a sound when a visitor presses a button or opens a door. Upon an occupant hearing a doorbell sound, the occupant may answer a door accordingly.
Some limitations of conventional doorbells include being able to produce very simple sounds that may be annoying and/or are too loud for quite places. Although effective, visitors or residents may be startled by the sound of a doorbell that is too loud. In some forms, conventional doorbells or buzzers are not visually appealing or portable. For example, some conventional doorbells or doorbell chimes are placed within plastic housings and mounted to a wall that is usually out of plain site.
Conventional call bells in offices and stores are manually operated. For example, a visitor must press a call bell to request service if servers or attendants are not present. In some instances, electronic doorbells use magnetic devices installed along side of a door that are configured to detect when a door is opened and activate a doorbell, call bell or alarm. However, due to various shapes of doors and doors frames, installing such devices can be difficult. Additionally, such devices may employ electronic sound generators to produce various sounds or alarms. However, the audio range of such devices is limited and cannot truly duplicate actual wind chimes sounds. As such, what is needed is a door chime or warning system having improvement in sound quality, visual appearance, portability and activation control for automatically notifying a user of a visitor or an occurrence of a specific event.

Event activated wind chime system and method of use


A slide bracket free of tool mounting includes a body, a base, first hangers, first resilient elements, second hangers, a hook and a second resilient element. The body comprises a fixing board. The first hanger, the first resilient element and the second hanger are located between the fixing board and the base. The fixing board is provided with a first longitudinal trough while the base is provided with a second longitudinal trough and a chute. The second longitudinal trough corresponds to the first longitudinal trough of the fixing board. The hook, having an angle and a stopper, penetrates the first longitudinal trough, the chute and the second longitudinal trough. The stopper slips relatively to the chute. The second resilient element upholds to the knob, which moves the hook relatively to the rack, and makes the angle buckled in a rack.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a slide bracket which is free of tool mounting, and more particularly to a slide bracket capable of prompt mounting and demounting, which also conforms to the mounting holes of various specifications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A handy mounting of a bracket integrated with a slide into the metal rack is frequently viewed in the rack-mounted computer system.
This category of the slide brackets are quite copious in their designs; however, the leading trends recently come in tool-less and in prompt mounting and demounting, and are available for the racks of different mounting requirements. For instance, the mounting holes of a variety of specifications, as USPTO issued patents of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,659,577 B2; 6,702,124 B2; 7,281,694 B2; 7,144,184 B2 (Taiwan Patent No.: M281525); U.S. Pat. No. 7,284,672 B2 (Taiwan Patent No.: M281520), and a published application of 20050156493 A1.
The foregoing disclosed prior art are devising the hangers of the bracket into segmented poles of different diameters, for the support of the mounting holes of various specifications, and are exploiting the elastomers of the bracket or the movable and interval-adjustable fasteners to attach firmly the bracket in the rack; however, once this kind of the bracket is mounted, the dismount of it can only be done from its side, which means it would possibly be hard to have a single slide and bracket of a server demounted from arrays of slides and brackets of servers. The USPTO published application of 20050156493 is the prior art of the present invention and is invented by the same inventor.


A digital transmission apparatus is provided, by which the amount of transmission delay and circuit miniaturization can be realized in the case of using an FEC method together with a differential coding method. In the digital transmission apparatus, a digital signal to be transmitted is serial-to-parallel-converted into parallel n-channel signals; each signal is FEC-encoded and encoded signals are then differentially encoded; and a carrier is modulated by the parallel n-channel differentially-encoded signals to be transmitted as a 2.sup.n multi-level modulated signal. The signal is detected at the receiving side and parallel n-channel demodulated and decoded signals are output; FEC decoding is performed; and the parallel n-channel digital signals after FEC decoding is parallel-to-serial-converted. When block coding is used as an FEC method, parallel n-channel digital signals to be transmitted are respectively processed by block-encoding of the same logic; the parallel n-channel signals after encoding are differentially encoded; and a carrier is modulated by the parallel n-channel differentially-encoded signals to be transmitted as a 2.sup.n multi-level modulated signal. At the receiving side, parallel n-channel signals after detection are stored; syndrome data for detecting an error bit position for each signal is calculated; and based on the syndrome data, time-series detection of each error bit position is performed so as to correct the errors included in the stored signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital transmission apparatus, especially one which uses a forward error correction (FEC) method together with a differential coding and modulation method to which a differential detection, which is effective for circuit miniaturization and reduction of power consumption, can be applied.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of using an FEC method together with the differential coding and modulation method for performing the digital transmission, i) at the transmission side, after FEC encoding is performed, differential encoding and phase modulation are performed; and ii) at the receiving side, after differential detection, or a set of coherent detection and differential decoding are performed, FEC decoding is performed. Such digital transmission apparatuses are generally called "digital transceivers" in the radio transmission field.
In digital signal transmission using such a method, the major problem is in error patterns found after the detection of a differentially encoded signal, which show double symbol errors (i.e., two successive symbol errors); thus, error-correction capability for FEC methods (especially, for a random FEC method) may not be sufficiently used. Therefore, in order to fully bring the correcting capability into the randomization of the double symbol errors found after the detection of a differentially encoded signal, the interleaving (method) is generally used.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram for explaining a conventional FEC method used for differential coding and modulation.
In the figure, at the transmission side, a digital signal to be transmitted is input into terminal 52. The information bit rate of this digital signal is indicated by "fb". The signal input into terminal 52 is FEC-encoded by FEC encoder 53.
The output from the FEC encoder 53 is input into interleaver 54, where the bit-order of the output is converted. The output from interleaver 54 is input into differential encoder 55, where differential encoding is performed. The output from the differential encoder 55 is input into binary phase shift keying modulator 56 to be modulated. The output from the modulator 56 is transmitted via transmission path 57.
At the receiving side, the signal received from the transmission path 57 is demodulated and decoded by differential detector 58. The output form the differential detector 58 is input into deinterleaver 59 where inverse conversion with respect to the conversion performed in interleaver 54 is performed. In this way, double symbol errors appearing after the differential detection are randomized; therefore, successive errors are dispersed. The output from deinterleaver 59 is FEC-decoded in FEC decoder 60. The output from FEC decoder 60 is then output from terminal 61. The information bit rate of the signal output from terminal 61 is the same as "fb" of the signal which was input into terminal 52.
However, in this arrangement, it is necessary to provide an interleaver at the transmission side and a deinterleaver at the receiving side; thus, there has occurred a first problem in which the circuit size and the amount of transmission delay increase.
In addition, in the case of transmitting plural digital signals via plural parallel channels in the above-explained conventional system of using the FEC method together with the differential coding and modulation method, if error bit position detecting circuits are respectively provided for the FEC with respect to each channel, the circuit size of the system becomes larger. In particular, if the number of bits to be corrected becomes large, the amount of bit position information for FEC increases. Accordingly, there has occurred a second problem in which the size of the error bit position detecting circuits for correcting these error bits becomes larger.

Digital transmission apparatus using differential coding and forward error correction

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A system for picking particular articles, by using a receiving box, out of many articles held on article shelves in order to handle articles at high speeds, highly efficiently and highly reliably in a physical distribution management system. The system includes a wireless response tag having a rewritable storage unit, a receiving box having a tag, a terminal equipment for writing/reading article data to and from the tag, a plurality of article shelves, an order-accepting unit, and a belt conveyer, wherein provision is made of a destination-of-picking read terminal at a position of the belt conveyer in from of the article shelves to read the data of an article to be picked from the tag, to indicate the quantity and a management number on the article shelf and to store the management number in the tag, and when the receiving box has moved close to the article shelves, the management number corresponding to the article to be picked is read out and is flashed so as to give an instruction that the article is to be taken off the shelf and put into the receiving box.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for picking desired articles at wholesale dealers and mail-order stores in order to send the articles to retail shops and individual persons.
Accompanying an increase in the frequency of delivering articles in small amounts from wholesale dealers to retail shops and an increase in the amount of articles handled by the mail-order stores, it has been desired to provide a system for picking articles, in physical distribution management, at a high speed while maintaining an improved efficiency and reliability.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional method of picking can be represented by an on-line physical distribution management system according to which bar codes on the articles are read out on a belt conveyer to sort them out using an interlocked host computer. According to this method, however, the amount of data to be recorded in the form of bar codes is as small as from 20 to 200 digits. In practice, therefore, ID numbers are attached to the bar codes, and detailed data are stored so that the host computer executes the processing in an on-line system. According to this method in which the host computer is relied upon for detailed data, when the data are further added accompanying a change in the layout for delivering articles or accompanying the addition of articles, the amount of communication relative to the host computer increases such that the access time is lengthened. As a result, the physical distribution management system fails.
According to another picking method, when the amount of picking is small, a worker takes up a picking list contained in a receiving box on the belt conveyer, puts a desired article into the receiving box, and checks off the item of the article on the picking list using a writing utensil to complete the picking processing. This method, however, involves the probability of various kinds of operational failures as the number of picking operations increases.
A further method consists of imparting an ID, in the form of a bar code, to the receiving box and reading the ID at a terminal at the article shelf to access to the host computer.
With this method, however, an increase in the amount of processing results in an increase in the access time to the host computer, making it difficult to carry out the processing in real time. Besides, the physical distribution management system is hindered if the host computer breaks down. According to the prior art as described above, a simple addition of an application or an increase in the number of workers no longer makes it possible to cope with an increase in the amount of processing.


Techniques are described for reducing power consumption in a distributed data storage system using a hierarchy rule that is generated based on a spreading policy and a set of tolerable failures. A method may operate to distribute erasure-encoded data of a first data object across first and second portions of a distributed storage system using a hierarchy rule corresponding to a spreading policy based on a set of tolerable failures from which the first data object can be recovered. The method disables the first portion of the distributed storage system that includes a first portion of the erasure-encoded data. The first portion of the distributed storage system is determined according to the spreading policy and the hierarchy rule identifies the set of tolerable failures.

There are various approaches in which storage systems store data in a reliable way, for example, using redundancy. Some data distribution algorithms used in the storage systems allow a user to define a protection level by describing failure scenarios that can be tolerated, such that data can still be recovered even after such a failure occurs.
Data recovery in a distributed storage system often requires the creation of additional data which results in the need to provide and power additional storage resources in order to reconstruct data when malfunctions or failures occur. The additional storage resources also consume additional power, which creates additional costs, heat, and leads to earlier failures. While efforts could be applied to improve hardware solutions, such solutions typically evolve over product iterations any may only result in incremental improvements. Alternative improvements may utilize characteristics of the data coding and placement in the storage system.

Power reduction in distributed storage systems


An RFID tag's mobility can be increased and cost can be decreased by using high-performance mobile power antennas instead of battery powered tags. Disclosed are some power antennas that include a half wave rectifier, a full wave rectifier, and a voltage multiplier. These antennas can be cascaded to boost the power or voltage gain. Additionally, planar elements can be added to increase efficiency without decreasing mobility.

There are many wireless communication applications in the prior art that use mobile communication units. One application area is radio frequency identification (RF ID) systems, which involve a large number of these mobile units. A mobile antenna is an antenna that is attached to an article capable of moving.
There is a desire to minimize the cost of these mobile units, particularly when, such as in RF ID, there are a large number of mobile units in a system. While a battery is a reliable way to supply power to these mobile units, there are significant manufacturing costs incurred in using this device. Furthermore, batteries dictate certain shapes of the mobile unit, occupy area on the mobile circuit, and reduce the mechanical flexibility of the mobile circuit.
Passive mobile circuits exist in the prior art that have no battery supplying power to the circuit. These passive mobile circuits use the antenna structure on the circuit to seize energy from an electromagnetic field received by the passive circuit. The antenna used the energy in the field to provide the passive circuit with the power (both energy and voltage) to operate. In addition, these antennas detect (field detection) the presence of the electromagnetic field and may re-radiate a signal.
Typical field probing antennas in the prior art are made of short (non-resonant) dipoles loaded with a diode that is connected to the signal processing equipment (part of the mobile circuit) via a pair of high-impedance leads. These field-probing antennas are designed to minimize the disturbance to the field being detected.
One fundamental problem with passive tags is that the range is limited by the voltage picked up by the tag antenna and rectified by the tag power conditioning circuits. The voltage must be high enough to run the tag electronics, and the voltage is generally the limiting factor in determining the distance from the base station antenna at which the tags may be used. Even active tags having a battery to run the tag electronics are limited in the voltage picked up by the tag antenna.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and an apparatus for implementing round robin scheduling are provided. The method includes: acquiring, from a queue, original location information of elements in the queue; performing location mapping processing on the original location information of the elements in the queue based on a set algorithm to obtain mapped location information of the elements in the queue, where the set algorithm or parameters used by the set algorithm change according to a set rule during each time of round robin scheduling; and starting from an element corresponding to a set initial location, performing round robin scheduling according to mapped queue sequences corresponding to the mapped location information of the elements. The method and the apparatus for implementing round robin scheduling can reduce the cost of storage devices and can ensure a balance in scheduling of elements in a service queue.

Round robin scheduling is a scheduling manner for scheduling elements in a service queue by using a round robin method. To ensure a balance in round robin scheduling of the elements in the service queue, location information of a scheduled element when each time of round robin scheduling ends needs to be recorded, so as to use a next location following the location as a starting location of a next time of round robin scheduling.
In an actual application, generally one application service corresponds to multiple service queues, and each service queue further includes multiple service elements. In the prior art, when round robin scheduling is performed on the service elements in each service queue, generally a storage unit is allocated to each service queue. For example, in an application of a router, one router needs to perform traffic management on services of multiple users, and a service of each user further includes multiple types of service flows. To ensure quality of service for each user, bandwidth is allocated among the multiple types of service flows inside each user by means of round robin scheduling. It is assumed that one router can support use by 64K (64*1024) users at the same time, and each user has 8 types of service flows. In this case, a 3-bit storage unit needs to be allocated to each user, and 64K users need a total of 64K 3-bit storage units.
Therefore, in this solution for implementing round robin scheduling provided by the prior art, when there are a large quantity of users, a large quantity of storage units are needed to store ending location information of the corresponding round robin scheduling, leading to a high cost of storage devices.

Method and apparatus for implementing round robin scheduling


A battery health or prognosis system may employ a ferrite disc embedded in a printed wiring board (PWB) to perform both a battery current sensing role and a temperature sensing role. The ferrite disc may be surrounded with a coil that may be comprised of surface conductors and electrically conductive vias of the PWB. Excursions of coil current may be produced to generate observable hysterisis loops in the ferrite disc. The generated hysterisis loops may be compared to a temperature-dependent family of hysterisis loops for the magnetic material from which the ferrite disc is constructed. A processor mounted on the PWB may collect and process outputs from a Hall-effect sensor to develop both temperature and battery current information to produce a prognosis for the battery.

The present invention is generally in the field of assessment of condition of batteries and, more particularly, systems for sensing current to and from a battery over a period of time and for sensing temperature at which the current occurs.
In some applications of batteries, such as automotive and aircraft power systems, a battery may provide continuous power at a low rate for some control systems. The same battery may also provide power at a high current rate for limited times for tasks such as engine starting. The battery may be in place within a vehicle for an extended time, during which time the vehicle may be exposed to varying environmental temperature. Recharging batteries may occur at low, so-called trickle rates and also at high current rates.
A battery may have only a limited useful lifetime. Its useful lifetime may be limited by factors such as times and rates of discharge, times and rates of re-charge and amounts of time that a battery may be exposed to various temperatures. In particular, exposing a battery to low temperature may have the effect of shortening its useful lifetime.
In many battery applications, battery health systems or prognosis systems may be employed to predict or determine if a battery may be capable of performing its high current tasks, such as engine starting, when needed. These prognosis systems may continuously collect data relating to rates of current discharge and/or re-charge and time periods over which these current rates occurred. Additionally, a typical battery prognostic system may continually collect data relating to times that a battery is exposed to any particular temperature. Such data may then be processed to provide a prediction of future useful life of the battery.
In the past, battery prognosis systems were employed only in specialized vehicles such as high-risk military vehicles. As automotive and aircraft electrical system designs have evolved, battery prognosis systems are often used on more conventional vehicles such as civilian automobiles. In this regard, battery prognosis systems are being employed in ever increasing volumes. Consequently, manufacturing cost for such systems becomes an increasingly important consideration.
Prior-art vehicular-battery prognosis systems may employ a current sensor and a separate temperature sensor. Use of two different sensors contributes to high cost and complexity of such prognosis systems. There are known techniques for measuring current and temperature with a single sensor (e.g. US Patent Application Publication 2005/0077890, R. Rannow et al). These known techniques, while combining two sensing functions in a single device, are nevertheless complex and expensive. As a result, these single sensor current/temperature measurement systems have not been employed in prior-art vehicular battery prognosis systems.
Additionally, prior-art battery prognosis systems have employed sensors which are separate from processors and controls. In a typical prior-art system, a printed wiring board (PWB) may support processing and control functions while sensors are provided as devices separate from the PWB.
As can be seen, there is a need to provide a battery prognosis system that may be produced at a low cost. Additionally there is a need to provide a system in which current sensing and temperature sensing may be combined in a single low cost device. Still further there is a need to provide such a system in which a sensor is integrated into a PWB on which processing and control is performed.


Described herein are compositions and methods for imparting liquid repellency and dry soil resistance to fibers. The compositions are composed of (a) a silsesquioxane, (b) a wax, (c) a surfactant, and (b) water. Also disclosed are kits comprising (a) a first aqueous composition comprising a silsesquioxane and a first surfactant and (b) a second aqueous composition comprising a wax and a second surfactant. Finally, fibers and articles treated with the compositions and methods described herein are provided.

Carpet is generally exposed to a number of different substances that can stain and ultimately diminish the appearance of carpet. The substances can be hydrophilic and/or hydrophobic in nature. Although individual formulations exist for repelling water- and oil-based materials, it would be desirable to have a formulation that additionally repels soil to prolong the appearance and durability of carpet and other related fibers. It would also be desirable to have a formulation that does not present environmental concerns when applied to fibers typically exposed to liquids and solid contaminants. The compositions and methods described herein address these needs.

Compositions and methods for imparting liquid repellency and dry soil resistance to fibers and articles thereof


In one embodiment, a machine type communication (MTC) device can receive registration associated with a new device upon the new device registration for a computer network. The MTC device can further determine a machine-to-machine (MTM) service class for the new device based on the registration data with the service class associated with at least one network route for messages destined for the new device. The MTC device can further receive a trigger message destined for the device and route the trigger message according to the network route associated with the determined MTM service class.

Increasingly, wireless personal communications are used to exchange electronic data such as voice, audio, video, emails, photos, etc. Demands for such ubiquitous communications drive development of advanced wireless technologies and systems such as the cognitive radio network (CRN), Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) networks, and so on. In addition to the human-to-human (H2H) communications for the exchange of electronic data, emerging technologies also enable mechanical automation (e.g., the Internet of Things and the smart grid) and improve efficient electronic information exchange. Such communications among machine-type communications (MTC) devices are known as machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. M2M communications can be used in a is variety of areas (e.g., surveillance systems, backup of telephone landlines, asset tracking, navigation, traffic optimization, payment systems, remote monitoring, power systems, smart grid, industrial metering, etc.), can be implemented on a variety of networks, and can deliver business solutions in a cost-effective manner. However, distinct features in M2M communications create diverse challenges such as infrequent transmissions (e.g., MTC devices may send or receive data at possibly low duty cycles), small data transmissions (e.g., MTC devices may send/receive small amounts of data), group-based MTC communications, etc., which warrant special considerations.

Trigger message routing according to a service class


In one form of the invention, a method is disclosed for removing portions of successive layers of GaAs 34 and GaInP 32 comprising the steps of: performing an anisotropic reactive ion etch on the GaAs layer; and performing an isotropic wet etch on the GaInP layer, whereby a mesa formed as a result of the reactive ion etch and the wet etch has substantially vertical sidewalls, and further whereby GaInP/GaAs structures having dimensions of less than approximately 3.0 .mu.m may be fabricated.

The GaInP/GaAs heterostructure has been shown to exhibit advantages in certain semiconductor devices. One example is the GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (I-IBT). The GaInP/GaAs heterostructure provides essentially the same bandgap energy difference as the more traditional A1GaAs/GaAs structure, but with more of the discontinuity in the valence band and less in the conduction band. This leads to an advantage in the HBT of providing higher electron injection efficiency than is typically found in A1GaAs/GaAs HBTs. HBTs based on the GaInP/GaAs material system have been shown to have near-ideal current-voltage (i-v) characteristics with constant current gain over five decades of collector current and greater than unity current gain at ultra-small current densities. In additional contrast to AlGaAs/GaAs HBTs, GaInP/GaAs HBTs offer a near unity ideality factor in i-v characteristics, a favorable lineup of the conduction band in the heterojunction, and the relative absence of recombination centers in the emitter.

Method for fabricating GaInP/GaAs structures


A method and apparatus for providing a mute condition indicator is presented. In a communication set for a telephone, the communication set including a speaker and a microphone, a mute condition is indicated with an indicator disposed adjacent the microphone. The indicator is operable to indicate to a user of the communication set that a mute condition for the microphone is active while the user is using said communication set.

Telephones and telephone calls have become ubiquitous. There are numerous types of telephones and various combinations of wired handsets, wireless handsets, wired headsets, wireless headsets and telephones which have the speaker and microphone integrated into the base unit to provide a single unitary telephone and communication set, not to mention cellular telephones and Personal digital Assistants (PDAs) having telephones built in.
One particular type of telephone call is a conference call. A conference call is a telephone call in which three or more people converse simultaneously. Many companies use conference calls as a meeting tool or to distribute information to a large number of listeners at the same time. Conference calls connect people through a conference bridge, which is essentially a server that acts like a telephone and can answer multiple calls simultaneously. Software plays a large role in whether the bridge has capabilities beyond simply connecting multiple callers. A company can have its own bridge or can contract with a service provider for conference call hosting. Providers frequently offer add-on features for conference calls, such as attendee polling, call recording and in-call operators or attendants.
The simplest phone teleconference is a three-way call, available in many homes as a service from the telephone company. Another very simple (but not necessarily effective) method is to have two groups of people talk to one another via speakerphone. The limits of three-way calling and the sound quality of speakerphones make both of these options impractical for most businesses.
Conference calls let groups of people—from a few to hundreds—communicate by phone. Banks and brokerages often use conference calls to give status reports to large numbers of listeners. Other businesses use conference calls to help coworkers communicate, plan and brainstorm.
Many phone conferencing systems require a login and personal identification number (PIN) to access the system. This helps protect confidential and proprietary information during the call. Videophones can add a visual element to conference calls, but businesses often need to share other visual information. Web conferencing allows people to communicate through text and video in addition to audio. The simplest web conferencing methods use chat and instant messaging programs to host text-based group discussions. More sophisticated programs exchange visual information with web cams and streaming video. Some allow people to share documents online.


A closure apparatus and a method of installing the same are provided. The closure apparatus is adapted to mount to a toilet having a cover (5), a bowl ledge (4), and a flush mechanism (3, 30). The closure apparatus includes a mounting bolt (15) having an opening therethrough and a rod (8) disposed within the opening. The apparatus also includes a spring (9) that is adapted to be deformed by the rod to thereby bias the rod and a lever (11) movable with respect to the mounting bolt. A latch release mechanism (25, 27) coupled to the lever is also included. Upon flushing the toilet when the cover is open, and when the closure apparatus is mounted on the bowl ledge, the latch release mechanism causes the latch point of the lever to move with respect to the mounting bolt and allows the spring to move the rod, which pushes the cover, to thereby close the cover.

There are many devices in the prior art which automatically, or semi-automatically, lower a toilet seat, a toilet lid, and/or a toilet seat and lid assembly. As users often neglect to fully close a toilet lid after use, a device for automatically closing a lid upon conventional flushing of the toilet offers a numbers of advantages. For example, when not in use, a fully closed toilet is safer in that it prevents children and pets from falling into the toilet bowl. In addition, a closed toilet is more sanitary in that it prevents pets from drinking from the bowl and averts cases of toilet users leaving the seat and lid assembly in an open position, thereby causing an inattentive subsequent user to sit on the actual toilet bowl instead of the toilet seat. In addition, it also helps to eliminate the situation where a male user utilizes the facility without raising the seat prior to urinating, by requiring that the male bend over and raise at least the lid, and preferably both the lid and seat, prior to urinating. Moreover, a fully closed toilet is overall more aesthetically pleasing.
However, all such known devices are believed to be relatively more obtrusive than the present invention in that they substantially detract from the usually smooth, simple appearance of the toilet or surrounding area, they make toilet cleaning more difficult, or they interfere with a conventional toilet's function, such as use of the flush handle. Most of the devices are also relatively complex and sometimes difficult to install, therefore often resulting in a rather costly device.
The devices of the prior art may be classified into several categories according to the actuation means each uses to initiate the closing of a lid and/or seat. More specifically, the actuation means used include: 1) foot pedals; 2) simple release of a user's hand, for those requiring the lid and/or seat to be held open while using the toilet; 3) sensors of various types; 4) timers of various types; 5) the toilet's existing flush handle; 6) water from either the supply line or the toilet's existing tank; 7) electric switches, which may primarily initiate flushing but also result in lid and/or seat closing; 8) the toilet's existing float or a special additional float or float/weight or float sensor; and, 9) the toilet's existing flush arm.
Unfortunately, all of these actuation means have disadvantages, for example, with respect to how they communicate with the lid and seat of the toilet. More specifically, several devices, such as those employing foot pedals, require the use of levers and/or rods and/or cylinders and/or air tubes positioned along the side(s) of the toilet bowl and all are believed to be highly obtrusive. For example, the devices set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,112,336, 5,289,593 and 5,267,356 disclose use of a visible sheathed cable end attached to an obtrusive mechanism mounted either atop the toilet's bowl ledge or to the side of said ledge. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,938 discloses a float-actuated line which moves an obtrusive seat counter-balancing arm which is visible over the side of said ledge. U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,524 discloses an electric line over the side of the ledge to an obtrusive, expensive mechanism requiring a microprocessor atop the toilet's bowl ledge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,754,985 and 5,222,260 disclose obtrusive apparatus mounted atop the front of the toilet's tank.
Similarly, those employing the hand-release approach are also obtrusive in that they require the user to hold the lid and/or seat open while using the toilet. In addition, those employing timers are frequently visually obtrusive because the timers are generally incorporated into sizable devices mounted atop the toilet bowl ledge. Also, the timers may initiate closing action at a time inconvenient to a particular user.
Devices that use portions of a toilet's tank to assist with automatically closing a seat and lid assembly also have some disadvantages. For example, devices employing the toilet's existing flush handle are often visually obtrusive because the chains, cables, rods or levers are attached to or interact with the flush handle and their attachment to the flush handle interferes with use of the handle to flush the toilet. In addition, devices using the toilet's existing or added float(s), floating weights or a float switch are believed to be more visually obtrusive than the present invention in that they all employ a communication means with the seat or lid which may extend over the side of the toilet bowl's ledge or be mounted to the front of the toilet's tank. Those employing special added floats also reduce the effective water capacity of the tank which is especially disadvantageous when used with smaller, lower flush volume toilets.
Although sometimes not as visually obtrusive, several other devices are difficult to install, complex in design and therefore often expensive. For example, devices employing sensors of various types and electric switches to close the lid and/or seat are believes to be considerably complex and costly. In addition, devices employing either water from the toilet's supply line or tank require additional plumbing work and therefore are relatively difficult to install. Also, these devices increase risk of water leakage.
Of all disclosed devices referred to above, only U.S. Pat. No. 6,230,336 disclosed use of a direct mechanical connection to the toilet's flush arm as the actuating means. However, this direct mechanical connection is relied upon only to, via a line or cord, activate an electrical switch in an obtrusive electro-mechanical device atop the toilet bowl's ledge that appears to be complex and costly. The reason only this one of the many prior art devices uses such a connection to the flush arm as the actuation means is believed to be that most flush arms are designed with little more strength than that required to raise the flush valve and they will not tolerate a significant additional load without breaking.
Of all the known devices to open and close a toilet seat or lid, only the following utilize the standard lid/seat assembly mounting openings provided on toilet bowl ledges as a less obtrusive method of communicating between the automatic closing actuation means and the lid and seat: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,230,336 and 6,185,754 disclose use of the mounting opening as a water conduit to an obtrusive mechanism mounted atop the toilet bowl's ledge; U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,843 discloses use of the mounting opening for an air tube to an obtrusive mechanism mounted atop the toilet bowl's ledge; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,410,766 and 4,951,323 disclose use of the mounting opening as a pathway for a flexible cable to raise, rather than automatically lower, a seat or lid; while U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,988 discloses use of the mounting opening as a pathway for a flexible cable connected to a foot pedal to lower as well as raise the seat. None of the prior art uses the mounting opening or bowl ledge in the manner provided by the present invention.

Closure apparatus and method of installing same


A method includes identifying at least one document associated with content from at least one digital content source. The at least one document includes information identifying at least one aspect of the content. The method also includes determining a document index for the at least one document based on keywords included in the at least one document. An activity field is inserted into the document index. The method includes accessing activity information. The activity information identifies at least one activity keyword associated with at least one activity. The method further includes identifying at least one present activity keyword in the document based on the activity information. An indicator of at least one present activity is determined based on the at least one present activity keyword. The method includes indexing the indicator of the at least one present activity in the activity field of the document index.

Users type search words, also known as keywords, into a user interface when searching for items related to the search words. After a list of results is returned, the user may choose an item from the result list, and detailed information for that item may be provided. The detailed information is also known as a document. The document may be provided based on an event, and may include a time, date, places as well as other information for the event. Alternatively, the document may be based on multimedia content, such as films, and may include a title, description, directors, list of actors, poster art, show times, and trailers.


In response to dispatching a condition register modifying instruction to an execution unit, a condition register rename buffer is associated with such a condition register modifying instruction. The instruction is then executed in the execution unit. Following the execution of the condition register modifying instruction, condition register data is set in the condition register rename buffer to reflect the result of such instruction execution. Additionally, an indicator is set to indicate the condition register data is valid. At the time for completing the condition register modifying instruction, the condition register data is transferred from the condition register rename buffer to the architected condition register, thereby permitting condition register modifying instructions to be dispatched, executed, and finished before the condition register is available to complete each condition register modifying instruction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a method and system for temporarily buffering condition register data within the data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for temporarily buffering condition register data in a condition register renaming table having a plurality of condition register rename buffers for facilitating out-of-order and speculative instruction execution within a data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the quest for greater data processing system performance continues, central processing unit (CPU) designers have implemented superscalar data processing systems that are capable of issuing multiple independent instructions into multiple execution pipelines, wherein multiple instructions are executed in parallel. An example of such a superscalar data processing system is the superscalar microprocessor sold under the trademark "PowerPC" by IBM Microelectronics and Motorola Semiconductor. The "PowerPC" architecture is described in more detail in various user's manuals, including "PowerPC 603-RISC MICROPROCESSOR USER'S MANUAL," copyright 1994, IBM Part No. MPR603UMU-01.
Within the superscalar microprocessor, instructions are fetched from an instruction cache and dispatched in program order to one of a plurality of execution units, wherein the instruction is executed by an execution unit appropriate for the particular type of instruction. For example, floating-point instructions are dispatched to one or more floating-point execution units, while fixed-point instructions are dispatched to one or more integer units. While instructions are dispatched in program order, instruction execution may occur out of order, depending upon availability of execution units and other data processing system resources.
In the superscalar processor, instructions may be dispatched, executed, and "finished" before other instructions that were previously dispatched. In order to prevent out-of-order instruction execution from placing data in an architected register at the wrong time, instruction execution is "completed" in program order by a completion unit. Thus, a subsequently dispatched instruction may "finish" before a previously dispatched instruction finishes, but the subsequently dispatched instruction may not be "completed" before completion of the previously dispatched instruction.
As is known in the art, "PowerPC" includes a condition register (CR) that includes bit fields that are set or reset to reflect the results of certain operations, such as move, integer and floating-point compare, arithmetic, and logical operations, and provides a mechanism for testing and branching. A problem occurs, however, when a condition register data dependent instruction (i.e., an instruction that is dependent upon current data being in the condition register) is executed following out-of-order execution of prior instructions that modify data in the condition register.
In the prior art, dispatch of a condition register modifying instruction may be delayed because too many instructions that modify this same condition register cannot be dispatched in the same cycle.
In addition to the problem of dispatching too many condition register modifying instructions in one cycle, branch instructions that depend on data in the condition register (e.g., conditional branch instructions) may be delayed due to the delay in dispatching condition register modifying instructions. If the resolution of such conditional branch instructions is delayed, processing may be further delayed because of the time required to fetch instructions in the new path from instruction memory once the conditional branch instructions is resolved.
In addition to out-of-order execution, superscalar data processing systems may speculatively execute instructions following a conditional branch, if such conditional branch has not been resolved. Such speculative execution causes problems when a conditional branch is speculatively resolved to execute instructions in what is later determined to be the wrong instruction path. When such missprediction of a conditional branch occurs, registers must be restored to the state that existed before misspredicting the condition branch. For example, the condition code register must be restored to the state that existed before executing condition register modifying instructions in the misspredicted branch.
In view of the discussion above, it should be apparent to those persons of ordinary skill in the art that a need exists for a method and system that permits dispatching of multiple condition register modifying instructions in the same cycle, early resolution of condition register data dependent instructions, and efficient cancellation of condition register data resulting from erroneous speculative execution of condition register modifying instructions.

Method and system for buffering condition code data in a data processing system having out-of-order and speculative instruction execution

International Business Machines Corporation


An infrared detector has a probe having curved surfaces which slide readily into a neonate axilla. The probe is covered by a disposable cover, or a bag completely encloses the infrared detector. The bag has a pleated end surface, through which the detector views the skin, and a flap at a rear surface to close an opening which receives the detector.

Neonates are incapable of maintaining their own body temperature during the first few weeks of life. Skin perfusion rates are very high and the infant loses heat rapidly. Thermal management is critical, requiring an accurate, fast, noninvasive method of core temperature measurement.
Rectal temperature has long been considered to be the standard indicator of neonate core temperature. However, since temperature measurements from different locations on a neonate's skin are sufficiently uniform as to be relatively interchangeable with one another, the clinician may select the most noninvasive and convenient site at which to measure temperature. Due to its inherent safety and long established efficacy, axilla is the most recommended site for neonates. Unfortunately, conventional thermometers such as glass/mercury, electronic and paper strip thermometers require up to several minutes to obtain an accurate axillary reading.
In recent years, infrared thermometers have come into wide use for detection of temperature of adults. For core temperature readings, infrared thermometers which are adapted to be inserted into the patient's ear have been extremely successful.
Infrared thermometry has not found such high acceptance for use with neonates. Neonates have a very high moisture level in their ear canals, due to the presence of vernix and residual amniotic fluid, resulting in low tympanic temperatures because of the associative evaporative cooling. In addition, environmental uncertainties, such as radiant heaters and warming pads can significantly influence the air temperatures. Further, clinicians are less inclined to position the tip of an infrared thermometer in the ear of a small neonate.

Axillary infrared thermometer and cover therefor


Cell-associated glycosyltranferase of S. mutans serotypes c, e or f producing dental caries was isolated and purified and its characteristics as an enzyme were revealed. Furthermore, an antibody against the enzyme was prepared from eggs of the hens immunized with the enzyme. Since this antibody effectively prevents adherence of the aforementioned S. mutans to tooth surfaces, it is useful as an effective component for a dental caries prophylactic composition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cell-associated glucosyltransferase which reacts with sucrose and catalyzes a reaction of synthesizing water-insoluble glucans, to a method of purifying this enzyme and to a method of producing this enzyme.
The present invention also relates to an antibody having immunological activity against Streptococcus mutans which is known as pathogenic bacteria inducing dental-caries and to a dental caries prophylactic composition which contains said antibody as an effective component.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In view of dental caries prophylaxis, a number of investigations have been undertaken to elucidate the properties of S. mutans known as causative bacteria for dental caries and the mechanism of involvement of said bacteria in the development of dental caries.
As to S. mutans strains which are involved in the development of dental caries, eight strains, being classified serologically into serotypes a to h, have now been found. Of these serotypes, two subgroups have been defined on the basis of the serological analogy, serotypes d and g in one group and serotypes c, e and f in the other group.
It is already known that the important process in the mechanism of the involvement of S. mutans in developing dental caries is the process of producing adherent, water-insoluble glucans from sucrose, in which glucosyltransferase (hereinafter referred to as GTF) produced by S. mutans plays a part.
This GTF produced by S. mutans can be found either in the culture supernatant or on the cell surface in an associated form.
For example, in the culture of strains of serotype d or g, serologically analogous one another, in the absence of sucrose, GTF is present mostly in the culture supernatant, from which three kinds of GTF, namely GTF-S1, GTF-S2 and GTF-I, have now been isolated and purified (S stands for a water-soluble glucan synthesizing enzyme and I stands for a water-insoluble glucan synthesizing enzyme). These three kinds of GTF cooperatively produce adherent, water-insoluble glucans (see, for example, "Synthesis of glucans by Streptococcus mutans and adherence mechanisms", T. Koga, Jap. J. Bacteriol., 41 (4), 679, 1986).
Further, in the culture of the strains of serotypes d and g in the presence of sucrose, it is known that the aforementioned three kinds of GTF are mostly bound to the cells by binding to glucans to give cell-associated forms (Hamada, S. and Slade, H. D., Archs Oral. Biol., 24, 399-402, 1979).
On the other hand, GTF-S and GTF-I have been isolated also from the culture supernatant of the strains of serotypes c, e and f, serologically analogous one another (Kuramitsu, H. K. and Wondrack, L., Infect. Immun., 42, 763-770, 1983).
However, there has been no single report that water-insoluble, adherent glucans can be synthesized in joint action of these GTF-S and GTF-I.
Furthermore, attempts have been made to develop methods or agents for preventing dental caries, making S. mutans a target organism. A known example of the method of preventing dental caries by controlling the colonization of S. mutans in the oral cavity (especially by controlling the adherence to tooth surfaces) is the method for dental caries prevention by using antibodies which have immunological activity against S. mutans. Namely, a method of preventing the colonization of S. mutans in the oral cavity by using milk obtained from cows which are immunized by cells of S. mutans has been disclosed in British Patent Specification No. 1505513, and a dental caries preventive agent which is a combination of antiserum and/or milk obtained from the mammalian having been immunized by a fraction such as cell walls recovered from the culture of S. mutans and one or more of the synergists selected from the group consisting of glucosyltransferase inhibitors, proteases and dextranases has been disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 60-38327.
However, the effect of preventing dental caries by the antibodies having immunological activity against S. mutans is not always satisfactory. Furthermore, since the antibodies are conventionally prepared from milk or antiserum of immunized mammalians, in many cases, they are not practically produced owing to such disadvantages as inappropriateness to mass production or high production cost.

Cell-associated glucosyltransferase from Streptococcus mutans serotype, c, e or f


A gun for dispensing a fluid from a fluid dispenser has a body portion, a plunger assembly and an advancing mechanism. The body portion has a jaw portion for holding the fluid dispenser in a retained position and adapted for releasing the fluid dispenser when a specific pressure is reached in the chamber of the fluid dispenser. The body portion has a catcher portion for catching the fluid dispenser in a caught position upon being released by the jaw portion. The jaw portion has a pair of legs projecting from the body portion. Each leg has a foot projecting inwardly towards each other and spaced from the body portions, therein defining a flange receiving space. The feet are of such a length to overlie and engage a portion of a flange element of the fluid dispenser. The catcher has a pair of parallel plates; each plate has an opening for receiving the flange of the fluid dispenser in both the retained position and the caught position. The plunger assembly has a plunger rod slideably carried by the body portion. The plunger rod has a plunger element at one end adapted to engage a piston element of the fluid dispenser for moving the piston element towards a nozzle of the fluid dispenser. The advancing mechanism is pivotably carried by the body portion for advancing the plunger assembly in the fluid dispenser towards the nozzle.

Various techniques have been used to dispense liquids or semi-solids in a controlled manner. One technique used is a dispensing gun that has a trigger portion which is pulled to move a drive plunger assembly. The drive plunger assembly has a plunger rod with a plunger located at one end. The plunger element is adapted to engage a stopper. The stopper is typically part of a cylindrical tube or carriage which contains the liquid or semi-solid. A dispensing mechanism, such as a nozzle, is located at the other end of the tube from the stopper.
A common style and well known dispensing gun is a caulking gun used to dispense silicone, latex based, oil based, or other style caulk used to seal openings in buildings such as around windows or baths. One of the problem with such guns is that after the operator stops pulling the trigger, the caulk continues to ooze out of the nozzle. In certain operations such continued oozing of the fluid is neither desirable, nor tolerable.
Therefore, dispensing guns were developed which could properly meter the fluid being dispensed. One such dispenser for viscous fluids had the ability to automatically retract the drive plunger element when the trigger was released in order to avoid continued oozing or post extrusion of the viscous fluid. The retraction of the drive plunger allowed the pressure within the cylindrical tube or carriage, also referred to as a fluid dispenser, to be relieved. U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,563 discloses such a dispenser-gun assembly for viscous fluids. However, one concern that has arisen with either style dispensing gun, is that the fluid dispenser either opens or separates from the dispenser-gun because of excess pressure within the fluid dispenser. The excess pressure could be the result of the viscous fluid clogging the nozzle or a filter element, if one exists.
It would be desirable to have a dispenser gun that decouples the fluid dispenser when a specific high pressure range is reached, while still retaining the fluid dispenser to prevent it from dropping to the ground.


A suspended timber frame deck comprising a timber frame of interconnected timber beams. Tiles are located on top of the beams indirectly at at least two locations by a tile support pad located between the tile and an underlying timber beam. Each pad includes a protrusion located in a hole of the timber beam to register therewith to the timber beam and registered to the tile to help locate the tile to the timber beam and help prevent the tile from sliding over the timber beam.

Suspended timber frame decks are common and help address moisture penetration problems for buildings. Such decks are typically constructed on a sub structure that may be part of the roof or ceiling of a dwelling below. A timber frame is supported by spaced apart props and the frame is constructed to receive decking material in the form of timber planks that are nailed or screwed to the timber framing below.
Some prefer the look, ease of maintenance or durability of tiles compared to timber planks. Tiles are typically made from a hard material such as a ceramic and are hard to drill holes through for the purposes of fastening them to a substructure.
Tiles are able to be adhesively fastened to a substrate such as a tile sheet underlay that is made from a cementitious material. But for decking such a tile sheet underlay interferes with the flow of rain water through the deck for drainage purposes.
It may therefore be an object of the present invention to provide a tiled floor assembly that addresses the abovementioned problems and/or that will at least provide the public with a useful choice.
It may also therefore be an object of the present invention to provide a placer of or for a suspended deck that addresses the abovementioned problems and/or that will at least provide the public with a useful choice.
It may also therefore be an object of the present invention to provide a methods of tiling of or for a suspended deck that addresses the abovementioned problems and/or that will at least provide the public with a useful choice.


An aircraft cabin pressure control system outflow thrust recovery valve includes a frame, a valve element, and actuation hardware. The frame, valve element, and at least a portion of the actuation hardware are made of composite material. The actuation hardware is disposed external to the frame.

Aircraft are commonly equipped with Cabin Pressure Control Systems (CPCSs), which maintain cabin air pressure within a desired range to increase passenger comfort during flight. A typical CPCS may include a controller, an actuator, and an outflow valve. The outflow valve is typically mounted on either a bulkhead of the aircraft or on the outer skin surface of the aircraft, and selectively fluidly couples the aircraft cabin and the atmosphere outside of the aircraft. During operation, the controller commands the actuator to move the outflow valve to various positions to control the rate at which pressurized air is transferred between the aircraft cabin and the outside atmosphere, to thereby control the pressure and/or rate of change of pressure within the aircraft cabin. The controller may be configured to command the actuator to modulate the outflow valve in accordance with a predetermined schedule or as a function of one or more operational criteria. For example, the CPCS may additionally include one or more cabin pressure sensors to sense cabin pressure and supply pressure signals representative thereof to the controller. By actively modulating the outflow valve, the controller may maintain aircraft cabin pressure and/or aircraft cabin pressure rate of change within a desired range.
In some aircraft, the outflow valve may be positioned on the aircraft outer skin surface such that when pressurized air is exhausted from the cabin, the exhausted air may provide additional forward thrust to the aircraft. Thus, outflow valves may sometimes be referred to as thrust recovery valves. Modern thrust recovery valves often contain two valve door elements to optimize the forward thrust that is created. Because of the pressure difference between the pressurized aircraft cabin and the outside atmosphere, and because of the potential energy of the pressurized air in the aircraft cabin, some thrust recovery valves have a rather distinctive shape. This shape accelerates the air as it passes between the thrust recovery valve door elements to provide a net aft thrust force.
Although thrust recovery valves, such as the one described above, are generally safe, reliable, and robust, these valves do exhibit certain drawbacks. For example, in order to maximize the produced thrust, the shapes of the valve door elements may be relatively complex. Moreover, because of the associated pressure load, the valve door elements are relatively robust in strength. Also, because of the very large aerodynamic loads during flight, the means of driving the valve door elements can be relatively complex, heavy, and expensive. In most instances, this results in the use of large swing arms being manufactured into the door elements to provide adequate mechanical advantage. Such swing arms do not inure to door elements being made of relatively lightweight materials, such as composite materials.
Hence, there is a need for a cabin pressure thrust recovery valve that is made of relatively lightweight materials, while at the same time having one or more valve door elements that may have relatively complex shapes, is relatively robust in strength, and/or does not have relatively large swing arms manufactured into the valve door elements. The present invention addresses at least this need.

Lightweight cabin pressure thrust recovery outflow valve


A wiping device for windows of power vehicles comprises a wiper arm, and a unit for changing an abutment force of the wiper arm. The unit includes a wiper shaft, one part of the wiper arm being mounted in the wiper shaft while another part of the wiper arm being hingedly connected with the one part of the wiper arm, a wiping element arranged on a free end of the other part of the wiper arm, a pulling spring loading the wiper element toward a window of a power vehicle. A unit is provided for changing a pretensioning of the pulling spring and includes two hinge rods hingedly connected in their coupling point on an axle, while another end of a first one of the hinge rods is turnable about a fixed axle and another end of a second one of the hinge rods is displaceable by a force in direction to the fixed axle of the first hinge rod. The pulling spring has an end which is spaced from the wiping element and suspended on the axis of the coupling point.

The present invention relates to a wiping device for windows of power vehicles.
Wiping arrangements are generally known and used for wiping windows of power vehicles. They are formed relatively simple and operate efficiently. However, for certain special cases, especially when very high air forces occur, they are not suitable.

Wiping device for windows of power vehicles


A group III nitride semiconductor light emitting device according to the present invention includes an intermediate layer formed of AlxGa1-x-yInyN(0<X<1, 0<y<1, x+y<1) between an active layer and a cladding layer and an electron blocking layer formed of p-type group III nitride semiconductor having a smaller electron affinity than that of the intermediate layer so as to be in contact with the intermediate layer. The semiconductor light emitting layer may be a laser diode or a LED.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting device using group III nitride semiconductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been increased demands for semiconductor laser diodes capable of outputting blue violet light as a light source for next generation high-density optical disks. Thus, an increased number of research and development of group III nitride semiconductor, i.e., direct energy-gap semiconductor having a forbidden band of 1.9 eV to 6.2 eV have been carried out.
Among light emitting devices including group III nitride semiconductor, to increase confinement of light and suppress dispersion of magnesium (Mg) from a p-type cladding layer to an active layer, a laser diode is formed to have a structure in which an optical guide layer and an intermediate layer are formed between the active layer and the p-type cladding layer. Furthermore, there are cases where in order to suppress overflow of electrons from the active layer to the p-type cladding layer, an electron blocking layer made of a material having a smaller electron affinity than those of the intermediate layer and the p-type cladding layer is provided immediately under the p-type cladding layer. To realize a highly reliable blue violet laser diode, a low threshold current is necessary. Therefore, it is very important to sufficiently suppress overflow of electrons from the active layer.
Hereafter, a known group III nitride semiconductor laser diode will be described. FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of the known group III nitride semiconductor laser diode.
As shown in FIG. 10, the known group III nitride semiconductor laser diode includes an n-type contact layer 102 epitaxially grown on a sapphire substrate 101, an n-type cladding layer 103 provided on the n-type contact layer 102, an undoped n-side light guide layer 104 provided on the n-type cladding layer 103, a multi-quantum well (MQW) active layer 105 provided on the undoped n-side light guide layer 104, an undoped p-side light guide layer 106 provided on the MQW active layer 105, an undoped first intermediate layer 107a provided on the undoped p-side light guide layer 106, an undoped second intermediate layer 107b provided on the undoped first intermediate layer 107a, a p-type electron blocking layer 108 provided on the undoped second intermediate layer 107b, a p-type cladding layer 109 provided on the p-type electron blocking layer 108 and having a convex portion and a p-type contact layer 110 provided on the convex portion of the p-type cladding layer 109. The known group III nitride semiconductor laser diode further includes an insulating film 111 provided over the substrate so as to cover part of an upper surface of the n-type contact layer 102 and side surfaces of the n-type cladding layer 103, the undoped n-side light guide layer 104, the MQW active layer 105, the undoped p-side light guide layer 106, the undoped first intermediate layer 107a, the undoped second intermediate layer 107b, the p-type electron blocking layer 108, the p-type cladding layer 109 and the p-type contact layer 110, a p-side electrode 112 provided on the p-type contact layer 110, and an n-side electrode 113 provided on the n-type contact layer 102 (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-289176).
Next, the electron overflow suppression effect by an electron blocking layer will be described.
FIG. 11 is a conduction band diagram in main part of the known semiconductor laser diode of FIG. 10. The p-type electron blocking layer 108 is formed of a material having a smaller electron affinity than those of the intermediate layers 107a and 107b and can suppress overflow of electrons to the p-type cladding layer 109 with a conduction band edge barrier.

Group III nitride semiconductor light emitting device


A semiconductor light emitting diode having a high surge resistance and high reliability has a structure which includes an additional capacitor formed between an anode and a cathode of the light emitting element. Specifically, in an LED having an n-type GaN semiconductor layer, a GaN-based active layer and a p-type GaN-based semiconductor layer on a sapphire substrate, the cathode is formed on the n-type GaN semiconductor layer and an electrode wiring extends from the top of the p-type GaN-based semiconductor layer to form a capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light emitting element such as a light emitting diode (LED) or a semiconductor laser diode (LD), and more particularly relates to semiconductor light emitting elements having a capacitor, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The semiconductor light emitting elements, such as LEDs and LDs, are manufactured having various wavelengths, luminance and light intensities dependent on the selection of semiconductor materials and structures of the elements.
FIGS. 12(a) and (b) show the structure of a conventional gallium nitride-based compound semiconductor (In.sub.x Ga.sub.y Al.sub.(1-x-y) N: 0.ltoreq.x.ltoreq.1, 0.ltoreq.y.ltoreq.1) LED (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H6-338632). This LED has a structure in which an n-type compound semiconductor layer 112 and a p-type compound semiconductor layer 114 are sequentially deposited on a sapphire substrate 101. The p-type semiconductor layer 114 is partly etched to expose the n-type semiconductor layer 112. A cathode 105 is formed on the n-type semiconductor layer 112 and a translucent anode 107 made of a thin film metal is formed on the p-type semiconductor layer 114. After the wire bonding step, balls 161, 162 are formed on a base electrode 118 which is formed on the anode 107 and on the cathode 105. The current flows between the bonding wires 79, 78. The light is emitted by the recombination of the electrons and the holes on the pn-junction.
It was clarified by our experiments on the reliability of LEDs that deterioration of characteristics such as lowering of a luminous efficiency takes place when a high voltage is applied. For example, deterioration occurs when LEDs are touched by a person, soldered, plugged in or out, switched on or off, or impressed instantaneously with a high voltage (surge) generated by a drive circuit etc. Therefore, LED handling must be done with extreme care. Such disadvantages are noticeable with LEDs which have both the anode and the cathode on the same plane. Such disadvantages are noticeable with LEDs which have a transparent electrode formed of a thin film metal.

Semiconductor light emitting diode having a capacitor


An ultraviolet sanitizer with flexible wand. A flexible wand is connected to a generator of ultraviolet radiation. The generator is mounted within a housing and connectable to a source of electrical energy. The distal wand end includes a switch for controlling the emission of the ultraviolet radiation from the wand with a distal tip directing the radiation toward the surface to be sanitized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of apparatus and methods for sterilizing various surfaces.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,431,075 there is described a method and apparatus for destroying infectious material present on a field used for various activities including sports. A vehicle is moved across the field and includes downwardly shining ultraviolet lamps that expose the synthetic grass blades to ultraviolet radiation. Prior to the exposure, brushes are used to contact the blades and position the blades so that they extend upwardly towards the light. As the vehicle quickly moves across the field, the infectious material is destroyed thereby providing a more efficient result without spraying the field with chemicals as used in the prior sterilization methods.
Heretofore, ultraviolet radiation has been used to destroy infectious materials present within various medical facilities, such as, surgery rooms. Thus, it is known to destroy infectious material using ultraviolet radiation.
While the generation of ultraviolet, type C (UVC) radiation for the purpose of sterilization of surfaces is not a new idea, the traditional handheld products on the market can only disinfect easy accessible areas. Left are unsterilized surfaces that are in gaps, cracks, crevasses, corners, inside tubing, pipes and boxed in areas. Disclosed herein is a method and device to direct a narrowly focused high powered beam of UVC radiation through a flexible tube. The distal end of the tube is then placed into the ordinarily unreachable areas that are to be disinfected causing the UVC radiation to eradicate genus, etc.
Various approaches have been used in decontaminating surfaces through the use of ultraviolet light. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,459,694, there is disclosed a mobile germicidal system for decontaminating walls and a ceiling of a room. Germicidal lamps are positioned adjacent the wall and/or ceiling to thereby sterilize the surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,552 discloses an ultraviolet air sterilization device for connection to an air handling duct for the purpose of sterilizing the air as it flows through the duct. U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,445 discloses a wheeled carriage with a handle to allow the operator to move the sterilization device over a floor.
An apparatus using ultraviolet light is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,768 for treating an object. A handheld device for moving across a surface to eradicate undesirable elements thereon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,626,187. U.S. Pat. No. 8,226,887 discloses a mobile disinfectant device and method using ultraviolet light to sterilize a surface. A UV spot curing system for hardening epoxy material using a wand emitting ultraviolet light is available from American Ultraviolet under Model Spectrum 100.


A method and apparatus for irrigating perforations in the surface of a perforated material during surface treatment operations. The apparatus includes a three-layer substrate of predetermined length including a first fluid-interactive layer, a second resilient layer, and a third rigidifying layer. In the method, the substrate is placed beneath the perforated surface to be treated with the perforated material overlying the first layer. Thereafter, the surface treatment tool is used to apply and remove pressure to and from the surface during performance of the surface treatment operation. In this way, as the surface is treated, fluid applied to the surface during the operation is caused to pass back and forth to and from the first layer and through the perforations to irrigate the perforations and thereby keep them from becoming clogged. In addition, the pressure applied to the surface by the tool causes fluid held by the first layer beneath the perforated surface to be expelled through the perforations in a region about the tool-surface interface, thereby flushing those perforations peripheral to the tool-surface interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processes of abrading, cleaning or polishing perforated materials, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for irrigating perforations in surfaces of such materials during such treatments thereby preventing clogging of the perforations during the surface treatment operations.
2. Background of the Invention
Perforated materials, and especially micro-perforated materials, have recently gained much notoriety in the aerospace technology for their ability to ensure conformance of the flow of air or other fluid to or over a surface. In particular, these materials have proven very useful in providing laminar flow control of fluids over aerodynamic surfaces.
Often, during manufacture of perforated materials, the major surfaces of the materials need to be treated to obtain a polished, blemish-free finish. And following extended use, the surfaces need to be re-finished to remove deposits or various imperfections that could affect the laminar flow characteristics of the perforated surface which has been immersed in the fluid.
At present, all known methods of abrading, polishing or cleaning perforated surfaces are inadequate insofar as remnants of abrading, polishing or cleaning compounds remain within the perforations following surface treatment. These surfaces must thereafter be further treated, as for example by blowing pressurized air through the perforations to expel the remnants trapped in the holes. As a result of such added steps, these known methods not only prolong the time before the surfaces are useful, but also require the use of unnecessary equipment, thus increasing the cost of performing the entire abrading, polishing or cleaning operation.

Method and apparatus for enhancing surface treatment of perforated materials


In a high-voltage semiconductor switching element, in addition to a first emitter region that is necessary for switching operations, a second emitter region, which is electrically connected with the first emitter region through a detection resistor in current detection means and is electrically connected with the current detection means, is formed. No emitter electrode is formed on the second emitter region, while an emitter electrode is formed on a part of a base region that is adjacent to the second emitter region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device including an insulated gate switching element, and more particularly relates to a semiconductor device including an overcurrent protection circuit to protect a switching element from an overcurrent.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 12 shows a typical cross-sectional configuration of a lateral insulated gate bipolar transistor (hereinafter referred to as an "IGBT") which is used as a high-voltage semiconductor switching element. As shown in FIG. 12, an N-type extended drain region 52 and a P-type base region 53 adjacent to the extended drain region 52 are formed in surface portions of a semiconductor substrate 51. An N+-type emitter region 54 is formed in a surface portion of the base region 53 so as to be spaced apart from the extended drain region 52. A gate insulating film 56 is formed on the base region 53 so as to extend on a part of the emitter region 54 and on a part of the extended drain region 52, and a gate electrode 57 is formed on the gate insulating film 56. A P-type collector region 58 is formed in a surface portion of the extended drain region 52 so as to be spaced apart from the base region 53.
Moreover, the IGBT shown in FIG. 12 includes a collector terminal P1′ electrically connected to the collector region 58, a gate terminal P2′ electrically connected to the gate electrode 57, and an emitter terminal P3′ electrically connected to the emitter region 54.
The lateral IGBT shown in FIG. 12 is turned on when a forward bias voltage is applied between the gate terminal P2′ and the emitter terminal P3′ with the collector terminal P1′ set to a high potential. Conversely, when a zero bias voltage or a reverse bias voltage is applied between the gate terminal P2′ and the emitter terminal P3′, the lateral IGBT is turned off. In this manner, the lateral IGBT has a switching characteristic in which the lateral IGBT is turned on and off in accordance with the gate voltage applied to the gate electrode 57.
A semiconductor device including such a lateral IGBT is often used with an inductive load connected between the collector terminal P1′ and a power supply. If a failure occurs in such a situation, the inductive load is short-circuited, causing a current more than several times a rated current to pass through the lateral IGBT. When the load is thus short-circuited, it is necessary to sense the overcurrent so as to interrupt the gate voltage or the collector voltage, because otherwise there would be a thermal breakdown in the lateral IGBT due to the temperature increase.
In view of this, a semiconductor device having an overcurrent protection function for lateral IGBT shown in FIG. 13 has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). The semiconductor device 10 shown in FIG. 13 includes a lateral IGBT 1, which is a principal switching element controlled by a gate voltage, and a current detection lateral IGBT 2 connected in parallel to the lateral IGBT 1. Respective gate electrodes of the lateral IGBTs are electrically connected to the gate terminal P2′, respective collector regions in the lateral IGBTs are electrically connected to the collector terminal P1′, and an emitter region in the lateral IGBT 1 as the principal switching element is electrically connected to the emitter terminal P3′. An emitter region in the current detection lateral IGBT 2 is connected with a sense resistor 23 as a current detection resistor. In the semiconductor device 10 shown in FIG. 13, a current detection circuit 20, which is electrically connected with the current detection lateral IGBT 2, includes a voltage comparator 21, a reference voltage circuit 22, and the aforementioned sense resistor 23, both of which are connected with the voltage comparator 21. The respective other ends of the reference voltage circuit 22 and the sense resistor 23 are electrically connected to the emitter terminal P3′.
In the semiconductor device 10 of FIG. 13, a current 9 passing through the current detection lateral IGBT 2 flows through the sense resistor 23 to the emitter terminal P3′. As a result, a voltage generated between both ends of the sense resistor 23 is compared with a voltage generated by the reference voltage circuit 22 by the voltage comparator 21, and a current 8 passing through the lateral IGBT 1 as the principal switching element is controlled based on the thus obtained voltage difference.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 9-260592
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-297387


A front side bus swizzle mechanism modifies the front side (address and data) bus on a chip so that, when the chip is positioned on one side of a printed circuit board, connection to a second chip located on the opposite side of the printed circuit board is simplified. The simplified connection may result in less complexity and minimize the consumption of additional printed circuit board real estate.

When two chips to be connected together are placed on the same side of a printed circuit board (PCB), the chips may readily be positioned such that interconnect buses on each chip line up adjacent to one another. In such a configuration, connection between the bus of the first chip and the bus of the second chip is trivial.
However, when the two chips are placed on opposite sides of the PCB, the interconnect buses may not line up. Further, sometimes the two chips are positioned on the same side of the PCB, yet their interconnect buses do not line up. Forming a connection between chips positioned in this manner may be achieved by crossing the connectors, such as in an "X" configuration. The crisscrossing of the bus lines adds complexity to the routing, may consume additional real estate, and may possibly consume additional layers on the PCB.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a connection mechanism that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.