A press-contact type connector comprises: a connector housing 11 having terminal accommodating chambers 15 which accommodate press-contact terminals 25, and openings 16 provided for pressing wires against the press-contact terminals in the terminal accommodating chambers,and covers 12 and 13 which, after the wires have been pressed against the press-contact terminals in the terminal accommodating chambers, ares engaged with the connector housing in such a manner as to close the openings. In the connector, the covers 12 and 13 have flexible bands 17 which, when the covers are engaged with the connector housing, press the wires, which are pressed against the press-contact terminals 25, in the direction of press-contact.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a press-contact type connector.
2. Related Art
FIG. 5 shows a press-contact type connector disclosed by Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 63967/1984. The press-contact type connector comprises a connector housing 1, and a cover 2. In the connector housing 1, terminal accommodating chambers 3 adapted to accommodate press-type terminals 5 are juxtaposed; and in the rear half of the upper surface, openings 4 are formed to expose the rear halves of all the terminal accommodating chamber 3. On the other hand, the cover 2 is combined with the connector housing 1 to close (cover) the openings 4, and has wire pressing protrusions 7 and 8 inside.
The press-type connector is assembled as follows: First, press-type terminals 5 are set in the terminal accommodating chambers 3 of the connector housing 1, and wires W are press-connected to the press type terminals 5 by using the openings 4. As a result, the protrusions 7 and 8 are pressed against the press type terminals to push the wires W downwardly, thereby to prevent the removal of the wires W from the press slots. Hence, in the case where the connector is mounted on an automobile, the connection of the wires is maintained unchanged even when the connector is vibrated.
As was described above, in the connector, the wires are fixedly pressed by the protrusions 7 and 8 which are fixedly provided on the inner surface of the cover 2. However, in the case where the size of wires to be used is smaller than the specified wire size, the wires cannot be sufficiently pressed by the protrusions; that is, the wires may be removed from the press slots. On the other hand, in the case where the size of wires to be used is larger than the specified wire size, it may be difficult to lock the cover 2 to the connector housing 1.


An apparatus is disclosed and includes a can, which has an end wall incorporating a vent panel and a pouring panel, both panels presenting a contour defined by a rupture line. The apparatus includes an actuation tab with an extracting end portion affixed to the vent panel. The actuation tab includes a punching end portion affixed to the pouring panel and a lower end tooth to be pressed against a spot region of the rupture line of the pouring panel. The actuation tab includes a grip portion affixed to the extracting end portion and is designed to be manually and upwardly actuated for detaching the vent panel from the end wall. The grip portion is designed to punch and rupture the spot region of the rupture line of the pouring panel and, subsequently, detaching the latter from the end wall.

It is well known in the state of the art the use of cans having an end wall provided with a first and a second breakable panels, in order to form, respectively, a vent opening and a pouring opening, the vent opening being diametrically spaced from the pouring opening, so as to assume an upper position in relation to the latter, when the can is inclined to a horizontal position, in order to allow the air to be continuously admitted into the can through the vent opening, while the beverage is being poured out from the can through the pouring opening. The provision of the vent opening allows the beverage to be released from the can, in a uniform flow and more rapidly.
Patent documents BR 20 2016 000915-0, BR 20 2016 006035-0, and US 2014/0263320 A1 illustrate the type of construction mentioned above, according to which the actuation of the user/consumer over a single actuation tab, promotes, initially, the rupture of the first panel (vent panel), with the formation of the vent opening for facilitating the discharge of the beverage through the pouring opening, which is subsequently formed upon the rupture of the second panel, by the progressive action of the user/consumer over the single actuation tab.
In said known beverage cans, having two breakable panels, the actuation of the single actuation tab leads to the formation, not only of the vent opening, by removing the vent panel, but also, and subsequently, of the pouring opening, by pressing the second breakable panel, or pouring panel, to the interior of the can. The pouring panel is bent around a reduced and not weakened extension of its breakable contour, which extension operates as a hinge defined by the metal foil itself of the respective end wall of the can. In this known construction, the pouring panel remains attached to the end wall of the can, projecting to the interior of the latter, remaining in contact with the beverage and transmitting, to the latter, for ingestion of the user/consumer, all the pathogenic microorganisms usually present in the exterior of the end wall or lid of said cans, when the latter are not submitted to a rare efficient cleaning before being opened and, mainly, before being used as a "drinking glass".
On the other hand, the solution of patent PI 0403324-8 provides two actuation tabs, which requires the user/consumer to pull one actuation tab to form the vent opening and to allow access to the other actuation tab to be optionally pulled to form the pouring opening. Although allowing only the formation of the vent opening for introducing a straw to consume the beverage, said prior solution does not eliminate the inconvenience of maintaining the pouring panel projecting to the interior of the can upon the formation of the pouring opening.
Patent documents GB 353,598, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,655,091, 4,042,144, 4,913,305 and BR 20 2014 032067-4 describe different constructions for providing the opening of a pouring panel in an end wall of a can, by a single lever or tab which, when actuated by the user/consumer, promotes, initially, a localized rupture in the weakened line of the breakable contour of the pouring panel, allowing the tab or lever to be then pulled by the user/consumer, completing the rupture of the whole contour of the pouring panel which is then detached from the can, without the inconvenience of being pressed to the interior of the latter and contacting the stored beverage.
Although eliminating the problem of bending the pouring panel to the interior of the can, the constructive solutions mentioned in the previous paragraph do not allow the user/consumer to provide a vent opening for allowing the beverage to be released from the can in a uniform and more rapid flow.
Patent document U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,608 describes a constructive solution to provide the formation of a vent opening and, subsequently, the formation of a pouring opening in an end wall of a can, by a single lever or tab which, when actuated by the user/consumer, promotes a complete rupture of a vent panel and a localized rupture in the weakened line of the breakable contour of the pouring panel, allowing the single tab or lever to be then actuated by the user/consumer, completing the rupture of the entire contour of the pouring panel, which is then detached from the can, without the inconvenience of being pressed to the interior of the latter and contacting the store beverage.
Although eliminating the inconvenience of bending the pouring panel to the interior of the can and of providing both the vent opening and the pouring opening, by using a single actuation tab and requiring the user/consumer to make only one operation, said prior solution has the grip portion of the single tab/rod unduly short, making difficult for the user/consumer to manually access it, and uncomfortable to hold the actuation tab and, many times, requiring the use of an additional tool. In said prior solution, the vent opening is positioned close to the pouring opening, for allowing the grip portion of the actuation tab to have a certain extension, even though being a minimum one and insufficient to assure an ergonomic gripping. As a consequence of the position of the vent opening, the actuation of the latter, as a vent for equalizing the pressure and facilitating the release of the beverage through the pouring opening, is practically eliminated when the user/consumer initiates the operation of consuming the beverage directly from the can, through the pouring opening. In this condition, with the can full of liquid, the vent opening proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,608 no longer operates as a pressure equalizing element. The function of said prior vent opening is restricted to equalize the pressure only at the initial opening phase of the can, in order to prevent the beverage from spilling outwardly from the can towards the user/consumer.
Patent application BR20 2016 000915 0, of the same applicant, provides a single actuation tab to be actuated in a single, easy and ergonomic operation to provide the pouring and vent openings, without using an additional tool. The actuation tab has a pressing end portion and an extracting end portion, it being affixed to the latter a hinge end of a grip portion to be angularly and upwardly displaced, by the user, from a retracted inoperative condition, contained inside the contour of the end wall, and an operative condition, of manual gripping, in order to apply an upward force for pivoting the actuation tab, so that said tab may project upwardly from the peripheral edge of the can.
The constructive arrangement, object of said BR 20 2016 000915 0, provides a single actuation tab which is easy to handle, without requiring the use of additional tools, not interfering with the stacking operation of the cans, and leading to the rupture of a vent panel and of a pouring panel, which are diametrically spaced from each other, and to the consequent formation of the vent and pouring openings, by the user/consumer making only one operation to move/movement on the actuation tab. However, said prior solution still presents the inconvenience of maintaining the pouring panel pressed to the interior of the can, having contact with the stored beverage.

Constructive arrangement for the opening of a beverage can


A document protection method may include retrieving a document from a memory device, encrypting the document using an encryption tool, imaging a decryption key on an imaging medium, and reading the decryption key to decrypt the document. A document protection system may include at least one controller configured to control imaging of a decryption key on a medium, a memory storage device configured to store a document, an decryption tool configured to encrypt the document, and a decryption tool configured to read the decryption key to decrypt the document.

Programs and data prepared for public distribution may need to be protected from theft, tampering and other unauthorized uses. Conventional attempts to protect such programs and data include storing on a CD ROM, a floppy disk or the like for protection against piracy. These attempts have mostly failed to achieve their purpose because determined rogues have easily circumvented conventional safeguards to retrieve what is supposed to be protected.
Other methods of data protection include encrypting data to be supplied so that only a user having an appropriate decryption key may decrypt the data in question. However, it is impossible for such methods to completely eliminate the possibility of the decrypted data being subsequently stolen, tampered with or otherwise abused because decrypted data are stored in memory or in fixed disk drives after decryption. Moreover, the rightful owner or accessor of the data must have a means to acquire, store, transport, and/or supply the key.
One solution to such problems is a data processing apparatus with security functions that operates under a scheme whereby encrypted data are again ciphered when placed in internal memory and then deciphered at the point of use when retrieved therefrom and executed by a central processing unit. Such a scheme involves installing an encryption device and a decryption device for software protection within the data processing apparatus.
For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional data processing apparatus designed for such software protection. The apparatus comprises a central processing unit (CPU) 210, a storage device 240, an input device 220, an output device 230 and a key input device 250. The CPU 210 contains an arithmetic unit 212, a control unit 211, an encryption-decryption unit 213 and a key storage unit 214.
The CPU 210 functions as a core of the data processing apparatus, operating on data and controlling component devices. The storage device 240 stores data and exchanges data with the encryption-decryption unit 213 in the CPU 210 under control of the CPU 210.
The input device 220 receives data from outside the data processing apparatus under control of the CPU 210. The output device 230, also controlled by the CPU 210, outputs data from the data processing apparatus. The key input device 250 sets keys necessary for encrypting and decrypting data.
The arithmetic unit 212 in the CPU 210 performs arithmetic and logic operations on the data from the input device 220 or the storage device 240. The control unit 211 controls the data processing apparatus itself. The key storage unit 214 accommodates keys set by the key input device 250. The encryption-decryption unit 213, interposed between the storage device 240 and the arithmetic unit 212, decrypts the encrypted instructions and data from the storage device 240 by use of keys in the key storage unit 214 in such a manner that the decrypted instructions and data may be interpreted and processed by the control unit 211 and the arithmetic unit 212, respectively. In addition, upon storing a result computed by the arithmetic unit 212 into the storage device 240, the encryption-decryption unit 213 encrypts the target data using keys from the key storage unit 214 and stores the encrypted target data in the storage device 240.
Such a conventional data processing apparatus keeps the data encrypted in the storage device 240. This means that any data stolen from the storage device 240 are difficult to interpret, whereby data security is supposed to be enhanced.
In such a data processing apparatus with software protecting functions, encrypted and stored data need to be decrypted whenever accessed or executed. This requires the apparatus to adopt a cipher system of relatively simple algorithms in view of the need to reduce the overhead of data decryption. The result may be a lowered level of encryption security. It is thus necessary to maximize the security of data encryption even in conjunction with relatively simple algorithms. Moreover, the cipher systems may be complex, although the complexity of the cipher system may impact its performance. In particular, more complex algorithms may require complex keys that may be too difficult for a user to memorize and may need to be stored on a medium.
Furthermore, electronic documents may need to be secured to ensure confidentiality, authenticity and to protect against corruption. Because such documents exist in electronic form, the electronic documents are typically secured by encryption. The keys to these encrypted files are generally also electronic objects consisting of strings of letters, symbols and/or numbers. Such concepts are further explained in, for example, "Cryptography Theory and Practice," by Douglas Stinson.

Electronic document protection system and method


A timepiece device mechanism for indicating the restart of pointer movements after recharging following a halt condition. The timepiece device includes a display for displaying time information wherein the display is driven by a display-drive. A termination-detector monitors the operation of the display and outputs a termination detection signal when detecting a halt of the display. A storage unit receives and holds the termination detection signal and outputs a termination-storage signal in response thereto. A power supply outputs a voltage and a power-supply-voltage detector detects the voltage-level output of the power supply and outputs a power-supply-voltage detection signal when the voltage is greater than or equal to a first reference voltage that is higher than a movement-start voltage. A modulation signal generator receives the termination storage signal and power-supply-voltage detection signal and outputs a modulation signal when the power-supply-voltage detection signal is output while the termination-storage signal is being input to the modulation-signal generator. The display-drive receives the modulation signal and performs modulated driving of the display in response thereto.

The present invention relates to a timepiece device provided with a rechargeable power-generator mechanism and in particular to a mechanism for indicating that timepiece pointer movement has resumed following a halt condition.
Conventional timepiece devices that provide a power-generator mechanism for generating necessary electrical energy for timepiece driving are currently in use and under development. Power-generator mechanisms of this type include those that use solar cells to charge a rechargeable battery. Others, including wristwatches, recharge a rechargeable battery with the output of a built-in, automatically-activated power-generator mechanism which generates power in accordance with the natural movement of the user's hand. Normally, if the timepiece device is moved or shaken, the rechargeable battery is sufficiently charged and the timepiece-device pointers are driven at a velocity which represents the passage of time.
However, if the timepiece device is not moved, the rechargeable battery will no longer receive charge from the power-generating mechanism, and because the pointers are still being driven, the rechargeable battery will eventually be drained of charge. As a result, the normal movements of pointers will cease and the timepiece device enters into a halt condition. When the timepiece device is then moved or shaken, the power-generating mechanism starts recharging the battery, and the pointers' movement resumes.
A problem associated with timepiece-devices of this type is that the timepiece-device user may not realize that pointer movement has resumed from a halt. For example, in a timepiece device with two pointers, a minute and an hour pointer, pointer movement is too slow to be recognized by the user for the user to recognize by glancing at the timepiece device that pointer movement has halted or restarted. Therefore, the user may not realize that battery recharging and pointer movement has resumed following a halt condition.
To overcome this drawback, timepiece devices include "modulated movements of pointer" in which at least one pointer is driven at a faster than normal velocity. Modulated movements of pointers occurs when charging of the rechargeable battery has resumed after a halt condition. Modulating the pointers in such a manner informs the user that pointer movement has just resumed from a halt condition.
A drawback in using this technique is that the modulated movement of pointers consume more power than normal movements of pointers and may cause the rechargeable battery to drain faster than the battery can be recharged. Thus, if modulated movement of pointers is initiated immediately after the rechargeable battery has resumed charging following a halt condition, the battery charge will be quickly drained to a level that is below what is necessary for activating the timepiece device. This causes the modulated movement of pointers to terminate and the timepiece device to reenter into a halt condition. Therefore, by starting modulated movement of pointers immediately after the resumption of battery recharging following a halt condition, it is impossible to ensure secure and reliable timepiece pointer movements.
Another problem with prior art devices that use the modulated movement of pointers technique is that timepiece device batteries do not always charge uniformly and the charge contained in these batteries may fluctuate irregularly. Also, some batteries have a superficial charging voltage that is different from the real charging voltage and therefore does not reflect the real charging condition of the battery. In these situations, the timepiece device may initiate modulated movements of pointers after a halt condition even though the amount of charge in the battery cannot sustain modulated pointer movements.
Therefore, it is desired to provide a timepiece device in which modulated movements of pointers can be used to inform the user that the timepiece device has restarted from a halt condition while also maintaining reliable and secure pointer movements following a halt condition.

Timepiece device mechanism for indicating restart after recharging


An eyeglasses assembly includes an eyeglasses frame, two elastic members and a pair of temples. The eyeglasses frame is provided with a vertical through hole, an inserting hole and a pair of opposite screw holes at each hinge. Each elastic member is made of highly elastic material and provided with two opposite barbs and a notch formed between two barbs. Each temple is provided with a protruding portion at the front end, and a screw hole is provided in each protruding portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an eyeglasses assembly with innovatory convenience and comfort features, and more particularly to an eyeglasses assembly which is provided with an elastic device for detachably securing each temple to each hinge of the eyeglasses frame, so as for the temples to be adjusted to accommodate persons having a wide range of different head widths while maintaining a positive position on the wearer's head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Eyeglasses are indispensable for modern people in daily life. Especially, a pair of eyeglasses provided with elastic temples are more popular because the angles of the elastic temples can be adjusted to accommodate persons having a wide range of different head widths to wear comfortably.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional elastic eyeglasses temple 60 is provided with an elastic device to be secured to each hinge 20 of a pair of eyeglasses. Each elastic device includes a lateral U-shaped block 30, a spring 40 and a rivet 50. After each hinge 20, each lateral U-shaped block 30, each spring 40 and each rivet 50 are assembled together, the elastic device is inserted into the recess 61 of each eyeglasses temple 60, and then a screw is laterally screwed into the screw hole 31 of each lateral U-shaped block 30 so as to firmly secure all parts in position, as shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 3, when each temple 60 being pushed outward to make the angle between each temple 60 and the eyeglasses rim be over 90 degrees, each lateral U-shaped block 30 screwed in each temple 60 will slide on the pivotal member of each hinge 20 and squeeze the spring 40 to shrink toward the rivet head 52 of each rivet 50 so as to prevent each temple 60 from being broken and to prevent each temple 60 from separating from the rim 70 for a period of time of use.
However, there are following drawbacks in the above-mentioned conventional eyeglasses temple:
1. The parts of the elastic device of each conventional eyeglasses temple are so plural that they are troublesome to be assembled.
2. The parts of the elastic device of each conventional eyeglasses temple are so plural that they cost much.

Eyeglasses assembly with elastic temples


An electrode assembly for an EIT scanning device (11) including an electrode (15), a current supply unit (17), a voltage buffer unit (19), a switch logic unit (21), and lines for connecting the different elements, whereby the switch logic unit (21) comprises at least one element of a first shift register (27) and at least one element of a second shift register (29). A belt-like device comprising a plurality of said electrode assemblies. A method of measuring an EIT-image using such electrode assemblies preferably arranged in such a belt-like device.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrode assembly for an electrical impedance tomography (EIT) scanning device, a belt-like device comprising a plurality of said electrode assemblies and a method of measuring an electrical impedance tomography image using a plurality of electrode assemblies arranged in a spaced apart relationship.
Prior Art
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive imaging technique used to investigate and measure the composition and function of opaque bodies, including living species. Recently, EIT has been successfully applied in patients. For intensive care doctors, pulmonologists, and physiotherapists, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an imaging method that provides real-time information about regional lung ventilation and perfusion (flow of blood). In contrast to conventional methods, EIT does not require the patient to breathe through a sensor, does not apply ionizing x-rays, and can be used for extended periods, say 24 hours or even longer. Therefore, EIT can be used continuously and is therefore suited for monitoring treatment effects in real time and over time. EIT was first used to monitor respiratory function in 1983 and remains the only bedside method that allows continuous, non-invasive measurements of regional changes in lung volumes, blood flow, and cardiac activity. More details to this technique can be found in the article "Electrical impedance tomography" by Costa E L, Lima R G, Amato M B. in Curr Opin Crit Care. 2009 February; 15(1):18-24, which is incorporated herein by reference.
In EIT, as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,146, a plurality of electrodes, typically from 8 to 32, are arranged around the chest of a subject. A control unit ensures that an electrical signal, for example a current is applied to one or several pairs of electrodes on the skin to establish an electrical field which in turn is measured by the other electrodes. The electrodes used to apply current are called "current injecting electrodes" although one of them might serve as reference potential, for example ground. Typically, 3 to 10 mA are injected at 50 to 200 kHz. With the remaining electrodes, the resulting voltages are measured and subsequently used to estimate the distribution of electric impedance within the thorax. Specific algorithms were developed to convert the set of voltages into images. In order to overcome the ill-posed nature of impedance estimation, most EIT imaging algorithms make use of additional assumptions, known as a priori information and regularization. A priori information can be, for example, geometrical information about the subject chest. A typical regularization assumption is that intra-thoracic impedance distribution shall have no abrupt changes. Another assumption is that all electrodes are properly connected to the skin of the patient. The resulting images provide a reasonable estimation of the true impedance distribution within the thorax.
To be useful for the user, for example the clinician, the calculated impedance-distribution image is converted into an image that shows presence of air, absence of air, or changes of air content, changes of blood content, and/or muscular excursion into body spaces. Instead of air, any breathable gas mixture can be used in EIT. Plotted rapidly in sequence, several times per second and like a movie, these images create a visual representation of gas and blood flow in and out of each lung region and allow the doctor to evaluate lung function and/or cardiac function in real-time. Current main obstacles to wide spread use of EIT are poor reliability and high cost.
Electrodes can disconnect easily and electrical contact with the skin may vary by orders of magnitude, from as much as 500 Ohms to 10,000 Ohms. Poorly connected electrodes are unable to inject the necessary pre-defined current due to voltage supply limits. Consequently, the resulting images often contain artefacts due to in-homogeneous current injection. Such artefacts can be mistaken as physiologic signals and potentially lead to wrong diagnosis and inappropriate therapy. An example of artefacts due to bad electrode contact is given in FIG. 6b. Even though the user may know that the electrodes make bad contact, he/she might not know what appropriate corrective action might be done.
Rigaud et al. describe in the article "Experimental acquisition system for impedance tomography with active electrode approach" (in Med Biol Eng&Comput, November 1993, 31:593-599) an experimental EIT measuring system comprising an acquisition system including a plurality of so-called "active electrodes" and a control unit including a reference voltage source and an acquisition circuit. The active electrodes comprise each a voltage buffer, a set of switches and a switch logic unit, controlled by the acquisition system. Close to the electrode a current source, the voltage buffer and the set of switches are connected. By these means the electrodes become multifunctional.
In Rigaud the switch logic units of the electrodes are connected to data lines in parallel. Thus each electrode needs appropriate addressing, digital storage, and synchronization. As each electrode must have a unique address, a programmable microchip or special hardwired addressing must be used for this purpose. This makes the manufacture of the control circuitry for the electrodes costly.
The solution proposed by Rigaud assumes that all electrodes are always working well. In their paper, there is no provision disclosed to check the proper function of the electrodes. Also, there is no mention of a method to identify electrodes that are not in good contact with the skin. Non properly functioning electrodes or electrodes with a poor skin contact however have a detrimental effect on the results and should therefore be accounted for.
In Rigaud the differential voltage of two electrodes is hard-wired to a hardware demodulator with subsequent low pass filter. This has the advantage that demodulation is quick. The disadvantage is that the hardware implementation of the analog demodulator is costly and less flexible.
The apparatus disclosed by Rigaud contains as many current sources as electrodes. These current sources are switched on and off by a central computer. Theoretically and practically, more than one current source can be active at the same time thereby injecting potentially life threatening levels of current. Rigaud does not disclose any method to prevent the simultaneous injection of currents in their distributed electrode arrangement.
In one implementation of an intrinsically safe EIT for the purpose of monitoring progress during pressure filtration, as disclosed by York et al. in "An Intrinsically Safe Electrical Tomography System", Industrial Electronics, 2003, ISIE '03, 2003 IEEE International Symposium on 9-11 Jun. 2003, vol. 2, pages 946-951, and/or in "Towards Process Tomography for Monitoring Pressure Filtration", IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, April 2005, a plurality of electrodes, typically between 16 and 24, are arranged around the subject of interest, in this case said subject of interest is a vessel for pressure filtration in a chemical plant for the separation of a liquid from a solid phase. In this apparatus according to York et al four relays are dedicated to control the electrical signals of any given electrode, one to connect the electrode to the positive line of the current source, one to connect to the negative line of the current source, one to connect to the positive line of the voltmeter, and one to connect to the negative line of a voltmeter. Control of these 4 relays is done by arranging them as one single-bit shift register in a daisy chain and controlling the daisy chain with a connected PC. The mentioned slowness of the measurements, i.e. a rate of about 1-2 images per minute, signifies no disadvantage for the purpose of monitoring pressure filtration processes. Although it is stated that the EIT system described by York et al could be readily applied to other purposes besides the monitoring of progress during pressure filtration, a number of problems would arise if said system were applied for medical purposes. Some of the reasons are as follows: (a) the huge distance between the amplifiers for measuring the voltages and the electrodes, typically 50 meters, creates problems with regard to interference and noise; (b) the low image rate is not acceptable, because the changes in a living body occur with a much faster rate (e.g. breathing or heartbeat rate); and (c) the life time of the electromechanical relays used by York is limited, typically 5 million cycles, due to mechanical use of the parts, which is not acceptable for medical measurements.
US application 2005/0059901 A1 discloses a method to improve reliability of measurement in the frequency domain. The method proposes to search for a frequency of the injection current that provides an optimal signal to noise ratio. It does not take into account that an electrode may fail to make contact with the skin. The said disclosed method will therefore not work if electrodes do not make contact with the skin.
It is known that contact impedance can be calculated as the quotient of the measured voltage and current. However, such measurement does not help to decide when an electrode makes sufficient contact to obtain reliable EIT images. Comparison with expected impedance does not help either since the current injecting device may be beyond its range of operation and thus induce measurement artefacts.
It has been suggested to display the failing electrode on a graphical user interface and/or to trigger an alarm sound to make the user aware of the situation. Neither of these measures prevents the calculation of potentially misleading images.
Another disadvantage of current EIT systems is the high cost. EIT systems measure the voltages for each electrode separately to average the noise inherent in the measurements. Such implementation is rather expensive since it requires as many measurement channels as there are electrodes. A much less expensive implementation would be to measure the voltages around the chest one by one, i.e. employ multiplexing. This technique is known in the art and allows the sharing of significant resources such as expensive differential amplifiers and fast analog-to-digital converters. However, there is significant noise in the measurements that can be eliminated by averaging. For this reason it is advantageous to maximize measurement time. For example, if one of the electrodes is failing, the time allocated for such failing electrode is completely wasted. It would be of great advantage to have a method to exclude non-functioning electrodes from the measurement sequence in order to maximize the time for the functioning electrodes.
A device that is able to provide reliable EIT images in presence of non-contacting electrodes has not been described and is thus currently not available. For the reasons described above, there is a clear need for such robust device to avoid misinterpretation of images and inappropriate therapy.
Accordingly, it is an advantage of the present invention to provide a reliable electrode assembly which can be manufactured at low costs. Another advantage is to provide an assembly circuit for an electrode which does not require prior addressing and expensive electronic parts. A still further advantage is to propose a device and a method by which non-functioning electrodes can be excluded from the measurement sequence. Another advantage is to provide a device and a method that create reliable EIT images in presence of erroneous data due to non-functioning or poorly functioning electrodes. Another advantage is to provide a device and a method that create reliable EIT images for the purpose of medical examination, particularly of lung and heart. Another advantage is to increase the versatility of EIT method, in particular for medical examination. Furthermore another advantage is to independently control the patterns of current injection and the patterns of voltage readout.

Electrode for a scanning electrical impedance tomography device and a scanning electrical impedance tomography device


A gaseous composition particular suitable for inflating the tires of vehicles with a high heat transfer capacity that results in tires having a longer life and better performance. In one aspect, this composition is based on hydrofluorocarbons, and is capable of effectively conducting the heat generated during the rotation of the tire to the wheel rim and at a more or less constant pressure. In one aspect, the wheel rim acts as a radiator, exchanging the heat with the outside air, maintaining the tire temperature low and preventing it from overheating.

It is known that the tires of vehicles are inflated with compressed air which is injected into the, inner chamber of the tire through the valve, until the correct working pressure is reached.
It is also known that in the event of long road journeys especially in the summer or in the case of extreme conditions, such as during competitions with sports vehicles, the tires tend to overheat and the pressure to increase. The hot air in the tires tends to damage the structure of the tire due to oxidation and ozonolysis phenomena.
These phenomena produce dangerous and uncontrollable effects on the tires, which after traveling a certain distance on the road or track undergo a sudden drop in performance, with a considerable limitation in the life of the tires as a result of mechanical and thermo-oxidative stress.
In particular, according to the results of standard length track tests, it was found that vehicle tires normally inflated with compressed air traditionally undergo a sudden drop in performance after the sixth or seventh lap, continuing to decrease and making frequent gear changes necessary.
To overcome this limitation in the performance of air-inflated tires, the use of gas mixtures was tested and a series of gases were selected on the basis of various properties.
The use of these gases or mixtures did not, however, lead to appreciable results, and it was found that tires traditionally inflated with these nitrogen, helium or argon-based gaseous mixtures, and the tires of track sports vehicles, also undergo a sudden drop in performance after a certain number of laps, making it necessary to replace them after a short time.
In fact the critical temperature for some racing tires is 130° C., over which the tire "shatters", in other words the part which would normally be worn out on the asphalt surface becomes detached from the pressurized chamber.
The construction of tires with this known technology is carried out in two stages: the first being the pressure chamber, the second the rubber mix, which is worn out on the asphalt.
When the two parts are superimposed and vulcanized, small air bubbles could remain trapped between the two parts, and an increase in temperature over 130° C. would cause them to increase in volume finally forming blisters that would inevitably explode.

Gas mixture, in particular for inflating the tires of vehicles


A multiple channel steered spatialized signal is generated from a signal input modified according to respective spatialization gain functions to generate a plurality of audio channels. An echo cancellation signal is applied to a return path using a combined spatialization and echo path estimate. The estimate is derived from the gain functions applied to the respective channels. When the gain functions applied in the respective channels are changed, for instance to represent a different apparent position of the sound source, a new estimate of the echo paths is generated, based on a previous estimate of the echo path and on the new gain functions.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a method for multiple channel acoustic echo cancellation (AEC), applicable to systems that derive a multi-channel spatialised signal from a monophonic signal, each channel of which is applied to a respective member of an array of loudspeakers at differing gains to give the percept or audible illusion of directionality. This class of spatialised signal will be termed here as steered mono. A steered mono system uses two or more gain elements to represent the spatialisation, which is mapped to a panning processor to generate corresponding loudspeaker outputs. In the embodiments to be described, a two-channel stereophonic signal is used, with two loudspeakers—a system known as "stereo from steered mono" (SSM), but the principles of the invention can be applied to systems with more than two channels. The invention has application in teleconferencing systems where each talker's voice is artificially given spatial positioning for the benefit of the listener.
2. Related Art
For comfortable speech communication in a teleconference system that uses a loudspeaker and microphone, as opposed to a headset, a method of acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) is required. For monophonic systems the topology shown in FIG. 1 can be used with a number of different adaptive processes such as least mean square (LMS), recursive least squares (RLS) or fast affine projection (FAP). However, for stereophonic and multiple channel systems, existing solutions are far less advanced with some major obstacles yet to be overcome. The example in FIG. 2 shows that for a stereophonic system there are two echo paths, h1 and h2 (which include the microphone and loudspeaker impulse responses), compared to the single path in the monophonic case. (This assumes a single microphone is used, which is generally the case when spatialisation is to be created artificially. More generally, the number of echo paths is the product of the number of loudspeakers with the number of microphones).
Existing solutions to the stereo acoustic echo cancellation problem generally assume the system arrangement shown in FIG. 2 where the talker-to-microphone path responses are unknown. The aim of the adaptive process in the echo canceller is to use the signals x1(t),x2(t) and e(t) to train the adaptive filters ĥ1 and ĥ2 such thate(t)→0  (1)With existing adaptive filter processes it is not possible to achieve a convergent set of filters such thath1=ĥ1 and h2=ĥ2  (2)Instead, a convergent solution such as the following is obtainedh1*g1+h2*g2=ĥ1*g1+ĥ2*g2  (3)where * is the convolution operator. Note that Equation (3) satisfies Equation (1), but that Equation (2) is not a unique solution for Equation (3), so the values for h1 and h2 cannot be derived from this result.
If the filters g1 or g2 change, possibly due to the talker moving, the equality in Equation (3) no longer holds (unless Equation (2) is also met). Thus, the echo canceller no longer produces a convergent solution and the echo heard by the talker rises in level.
Various solutions to this problem have been proposed that either manipulate the loudspeaker signals, x1 and x2, or use the properties of the signals x1 and x2. The aim of these solutions is to make use of the cross-correlation properties of the two signals as it can be shown that a solution to Equation (2) exists when the two signals are sufficiently decorrelated. However, as the signals x1 and x2 are inherently highly correlated in a teleconferencing system, techniques that exploit the small decorrelated features in the signals have poor performance in anything but ideal conditions.
It has been proposed to add a small amount of independent white noise to the signals x1 and x2. It is shown that this significantly aids the convergence of the solution to that in Equation (2) by introducing some signal de-correlation. However, although adding noise in this manner does improve the convergence, the noise has to be added at such a level that it is undesirably audible.


A generator includes a first cylindrical member and a second cylindrical member. The first cylindrical member includes a first dielectric layer including a first material that has a first rating on a triboelectric series; and a first conductive strip disposed around an exterior surfaces of the first cylindrical member. The first conductive strip includes a second material that has a second rating on the triboelectric series that is different from the first rating. The second cylindrical member is disposed about the first cylindrical member and includes a second dielectric layer that includes the first material. The second cylindrical member also includes the second material and at least one second conductive strip disposed around an interior surface of the second cylindrical member. A sliding mechanism causes lateral relative motion between the first cylindrical member against the second cylindrical member, generating an electric potential imbalance between the first and second conductive strip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to generators and, more specifically, to a system for generating voltage and current using the triboelectric effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
Energy harvesting by converting ambient energy into electricity may offset the reliance of small portable electronics on traditional power supplies, such as batteries. When long-term operation of a large number of electronic devices in dispersed locations is required, energy harvesting has the advantages of outstanding longevity, relatively little maintenance, minimal disposal and contamination.
When two materials, at least one of which is non-conducting, come into contact with each other, a chemical bond, known as adhesion, is formed between the two materials. Depending on the triboelectric properties of the materials, one material may "capture" some of the electrons from the other material. If the two materials are separated from each other, a charge imbalance will occur. The material that captured the electron will negatively charged and the material that lost an electron will be positively charged. This charge imbalance gives rise to what is sometimes referred to as "static electricity." The term "static" in this case is somewhat deceptive, as it implies a lack of motion when in reality motion is necessary for charge imbalances to flow. The spark one feels upon touching a door knob is an example of such flow.
The triboelectric effect is a type of contact electrification in which certain materials become electrically charged after they come into contact with another such as through friction. It is the mechanism though which static electricity is generated. The triboelectric effects associated electrostatic phenomena are the most common electrical phenomena in daily life, from walking to driving. However, the triboelectric effect has been largely ignored as an energy source for electricity. Some electrostatic micro-generators have been developed and used in research relating to micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), but such designs rely on an extra voltage source to charge electrode plates instead of harnessing triboelectric effect, leading to complicated structures and fabrication processes.
Previously demonstrated triboelectric generators require periodic contact and vertical separation of two materials that have opposite triboelectric polarities, making it only applicable to harvest energy from intermittent impact or shock. Such systems typically include a cavity with a constantly changing volume, which makes packaging difficult and limits applications in atmospheres with high humidity, corrosive chemicals or gases, and in water or other liquids.
Mechanisms using piezoelectric, electrostatic or electromagnetic principles to harvest energy from random vibrations, wind flow, air pressure, or human body motions have been developed and applied as generators or self-powered sensors. Recently, the development of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) offers a new paradigm for fabricating high-output and cost effective generators for driving small electronics. Reciprocating motion is a very common mechanical motion occurs in natural oscillations, motion of waves, swing of human limbs, and mechanical piston movements, etc. Features of these motions that include long reciprocating distance, low frequencies and amplitude or frequency fluctuations pose challenges for previously developed vibration-harvesters, which were only suited to low-amplitude and high-frequency excitations induced by inertia forces.
Therefore, there is a need for a reliable, small and easily manufactured system for harvesting triboelectric energy from reciprocating motion.


The catalyst of this invention is a non-stoichiometric tungsten compound, H0.53WO3, which may be used as both the anode and cathode electrocatalyst for acid-style low-temperature fuel cells. A fuel cell using the tungsten-based electrocatalyst as both the anode and cathode has been constructed and operated with a hydrogen fuel and an air oxidant.

Fuel cells produce electricity by converting reactants such as hydrogen, hydrocarbons, and oxygen into products such as water and carbon dioxide. In its simplest form, a fuel cell comprises an anode and cathode separated by an electrolyte. The anode and cathode consist of a conductive support, usually carbon black, having a thin layer of a platinum catalyst that is uniformly dispersed over the surface of the support. In a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, the electrolyte is a solid polymeric material capable of conducting protons, e.g., a perfluorosulfonic acid polymer (e.g., Nafion® by DuPont). Examples of these devices are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,030,718, 6,040,007 and 5,945,231 which are incorporated herein by reference.
During operation, a continuous flow of fuel, e.g., hydrogen, is fed to the anode while, simultaneously, a continuous flow of oxidant, e.g., oxygen or air, is supplied to the cathode. In the case of a hydrogen fuel, hydrogen gas is oxidized with the aid of a platinum catalyst at the anode to generate electrons and protons which travel by separate paths to the cathode. The electrons are conducted through an external circuit and the protons are conducted through the electrolyte. At the cathode, oxygen gas combines with the electrons and protons to produce water, again with the aid of a platinum catalyst. The current generated by the electrons flowing through the external circuit can be used for work.
Platinum catalysts are preferred for fuel cells because of their high electrochemical activity. However, platinum is expensive and easily poisoned by the trace amounts of carbon monoxide typically found in hydrogen fuels. Numerous attempts have been made to find less expensive electrocatalysts or reduce the sensitivity of platinum catalysts to carbon monoxide. Several of these attempts have focused on tungsten and molybdenum compounds, and in particular their carbides and oxides. In 1965, AEG-Telefunken discovered that tungsten carbide could potentially replace platinum as an anode catalyst for acid-style fuel cells. These investigators ran a fuel cell for over 30,000 hours with an anode catalyst composed of tungsten carbide. Since that time, five more tungsten compounds have been identified as potential anode and cathode catalysts for low-temperature acid-style fuel cells: WC, W2C, WO3:Pt, NaxWO3, W-POM. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,922,488 describes a CO-tolerant anode catalyst which uses a carbon-supported, platinum-dispersed, non-stoichiometric hydrogen tungsten bronze having the formula Pt—HxWO3 wherein x ranges from about 0.05 to about 0.36. U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,343 describes a polycomponent electrocatalyst comprised preferably of platinum or palladium and a chemical component selected from the group consisting of tungstic acid, molybdic acid, ammonium tungstate, ammonium molybdate, sodium tungstate and sodium molybdate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,231 contemplates combining tungsten carbide with ruthenium oxide or ruthenium to form a catalysts for a direct liquid-feed fuel cell. Unfortunately, these tungsten and molybdenum-based catalysts have not been shown to exhibit an acceptable level of electrochemical activity for practical fuel cell application without the additional presence of a platinum group metal (platinum, ruthenium, or palladium) co-catalyst.

Tungsten-based electrocatalyst and fuel cell containing same


Methods and systems for split voltage domain receiver circuits are disclosed and may comprise amplifying received electrical signals in a plurality of partial voltage domains, and combining the amplified received signals, utilizing a stacked cascode amplifier for each partial voltage domain, into a single differential signal in a single voltage domain. The stacked cascode amplifiers may comprise a feedback loop having a comparator which controls a current source in each domain. The signals may be received from a photodiode, which may be integrated in the integrated circuit. The amplified signals may be combined via stacked common source or common emitter amplifiers. The received signals via may be amplified by stacked inverters. The amplified received signals may be AC or DC coupled prior to the combining. The received electrical signals may be amplified and combined via cascode amplifiers. The voltage domains may be stacked and may be controlled by feedback loops.

Electronic circuits typically require a bias voltage for proper operation. The voltage level required by a circuit depends on the application. A circuit for transmitting electromagnetic radiation may require a higher voltage than a circuit used for processing data. The optimum voltage may be determined by the bias voltage requirements of the transistors, or other active devices, within the circuit.
A bipolar transistor circuit may require a higher voltage in amplifier applications to avoid saturation of the amplifier, as opposed to switching operations, for example. CMOS circuits may require a lower voltage to drive the MOSFETs in the circuit.
Furthermore, as device sizes continue to shrink for higher speed and lower power consumption, a high voltage may degrade performance and cause excessive leakage. With thinner gate oxides, gate leakage current may become significant using historical bias voltages, thus driving gate voltages lower. However, if a transmitter/receiver may be integrated in the same device, a higher bias voltage may also be required. Bias voltages are typically DC voltage, and may be supplied by a battery. However, there may be noise in the bias voltage, which may be mitigated by capacitive filters. The variable output voltage of batteries my affect operation of battery powered devices. Devices generally must be capable of operating over a large range of voltage due to the variable output voltage capability of batteries.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for split voltage domain receiver circuits


Disclosed is an over-the-air (OTA) antenna meter application (“meter app”) that wirelessly connects to an OTA antenna meter (“meter”) installed with an OTA antenna and presents information that facilitates a user in installing the OTA antenna at the premises of a customer. For example, the meter app can help the user in pointing and peaking the OTA antenna for one or more broadcast channels, e.g., those selected by the customer. The meter app can store installation information of the OTA antenna for various installations, which can be used in generating a recommendation of, or predicting, installation information for installing the OTA antenna at a specified address. The predicted installation information can include broadcast channels that would be available for reception at the specified address and their signal strength, a specific location of installation on the premises, or whether a pre-amplifier and/or filter is required.

Over-the-air (OTA) television is a term used to describe free to air television signals that are broadcast by local television broadcast towers (as opposed to a cable or satellite signal). An OTA antenna is used to receive OTA signals from such broadcast towers. Several factors affect the quality of reception such OTA signals by an OTA antenna installed at a building, including a distance of the broadcast tower from the OTA antenna, the direction of the broadcast tower, the height at which the OTA antenna is installed, the type of OTA antenna installed, whether there is an Long term evolution (LTE) interference, whether a preamplifier is required, etc. It may be necessary to determine the above factors for ensuring a good quality reception. Some currently available OTA meters that help an installation technician in installing an OTA antenna are not intuitive, and are cost-prohibitive.


A semiconductor memory device includes a memory cell array and an input/output path circuit. The input/output path circuit performs an input/output line pre-charge operation at a write end time point and outputs data stored in the memory cell array when the semiconductor memory device is operated in a read mode.

1. Technical Field
Example embodiments relate to a semiconductor memory device and to a method of inputting and outputting data in the semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical semiconductor memory device, e.g., a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), includes a memory cell array having a plurality of memory cells. The memory cell array may be configured with a plurality of sub memory arrays and the memory cells may be randomly accessed to store data and output the stored data.

Semiconductor memory device and method of inputting and outputting data in the semiconductor memory device


A method for maintaining virtual memory consistency in a multi-processor environment comprises allocating a subset of virtual memory to a process, and mapping the subset of virtual memory to a first subset of physical memory. A translator lookaside buffer (TLB) is maintained in each processor, each TLB comprising a plurality of TLB entries. Each TLB entry represents a mapping between a virtual address in the subset of virtual memory and a physical address in the first subset of physical memory. When the subset of virtual memory is to be unmapped, a reference to the first subset of physical memory is placed into a free list, and marked as dirty. When the number of dirty references exceeds a predetermined threshold, the corresponding entries in each processor""s TLB are invalidated. Alternatively, all TLB entries can be invalidated. The free list comprises a plurality of free list entries, where each entry comprises a reference to virtual memory which is either unmapped or whose mapping is dirty.

Modern large computer systems contain memory management hardware and addressing systems to provide software processes (xe2x80x9cprocessesxe2x80x9d) with access to a defined range of physical memory, e.g., hardware volatile memory. Operating systems within such computer systems provide data structures which define and maintain virtual memory spaces which can be private to each process. A process""s virtual memory space is then used transparently by the process to access data that is actually maintained within the physical memory space.
Such data structures provide a mapping between the addresses of the virtual memory space used by the process and the addresses of the physical memory space used by the computer system""s hardware memory management system which actually maintains the data in the physical memory. A typical such computer system can provide memory mappings for as many as 500 or more processes simultaneously.
One such data structure is a page table which is itself maintained in the physical memory. A disadvantage resulting from the page table being in physical memory is that each access to it requires costly consumption of bus bandwidth.
To avoid these costly page table accesses, modem CPUs typically have local translation lookaside buffers, or TLBs. A TLB is a relatively small, high-speed memory cache which stores virtual address to physical address mappings close to the CPU. After a mapping is found in the page table, it is copied into the TLB so future accesses to the same virtual address do not require a page table lookup.
In a multi-processor machine, a process may be divided into threads of execution, some threads executing on different CPUs. All of a process""s threads share a common virtual address space. Each of the CPUs, however, maintains its own copy of the TLB. When any of the CPUs in the machine invalidates an entry in the TLB, each CPU is notified, traditionally by means of a hardware interrupt, that there has been a change to the TLB and refreshes its copy. Invalidating TLB entries, however, is very expensive, because all of the CPUs on the machine stop their processing to perform the refresh.
The cost of invalidating TLB entries in a multiprocessor system can be minimized by processing them in batches. Mappings invalidated by any of the processors are marked as dirty and tracked by a driver process. Once the number of dirty mappings exceeds a certain predetermined threshold, the driver batches the mappings together and passes the list of dirty mappings to all of the processors. If a dispatch level routine, which has higher execution priority than ordinary user routines, is used to notify the processors, it is scheduled to execute on all of the processors immediately. On each processor, TLB entries corresponding to the batched dirty mappings are identified and invalidated.
By leveraging database application semantics to memory management, effective and sizable TLB batches can be formed without hindering performance. Because the driver responsible for forming the batch is also the interface for providing the database user processes memory, the identified TLB entries are efficiently invalidated on an on-demand basis.
Accordingly, a method for maintaining virtual memory consistency in a multi-processor environment comprises allocating a subset of virtual memory to a process, and mapping the subset of virtual memory to a first subset of physical memory. A memory mapping mechanism such as a translator lookaside buffer (TLB) is maintained in each processor, each TLB comprising a plurality of TLB entries. Each TLB entry comprises mapping information with respect to a mapping between a virtual address in the subset of virtual memory and a physical address in the first subset of physical memory. When the subset of virtual memory is to be remapped to a different, or second, subset of physical memory, a reference to the first subset of physical memory is placed into a free list, and marked as dirty. When the number of dirty references exceeds a predetermined threshold, the corresponding entries in each processor""s TLB are invalidated. Alternatively, all TLB entries can be invalidated.
In accordance with certain embodiments, a subset of virtual memory is allocated to a process, and mapped to a first subset of physical memory. Memory mappings which should be invalidated according to some algorithm such as a Least Recently Used (LRU) algorithm, are identified. When the number of identified memory mappings equals or exceeds a predetermined threshold, a list of the identified memory mappings is accessed by each processor, and at each processor, TLB entries corresponding to the identified memory mappings are batched together and invalidated. The list can be maintained by the same driver process which provides memory for database user processes. Each processor is notified, via a dispatch-level routine, for example, to invalidate the batched TLB entries.
TLB entries can be invalidated at an essentially regular interval, for example, at about once every second. This can be accomplished by triggering invalidation of the TLB entries when the number of dirty mappings exceeds a predetermined threshold, such as 2000, where it is known that mappings occur at a reasonably regular rate. The particular threshold number, however, is dependent on particulars of the computing system.
In accordance with certain embodiments, the system also maintains a free list which includes a plurality of free list entries. Each free list entry includes a reference to virtual memory which is either unmapped or whose mapping is marked as dirty. The free list entries marked as dirty can be tracked, for example, in a hash table. Upon determining that a mapping referenced by a dirty free list entry is needed by a particular processor, the dirty entry can be removed from the free list.
The system can further maintain a page table which includes a plurality of page table entries (PTEs). Each PTE includes a mapping from a virtual address to a physical address. When a process thread executing on a processor accesses a virtual address, the processor first searches the virtual address in the processor""s respective TLB. If no valid TLB entry holds a mapping for the virtual address, the processor can search the page table for the virtual address. Upon finding a valid mapping in the page table for the virtual address, the processor can copy the mapping to the processor""s TLB.

System for efficiently maintaining translation lockaside buffer consistency in a multi-threaded, multi-processor virtual memory system


A method for making patterns on a substrate, includes forming an assembly guide on first and second areas of the substrate, the assembly guide having, compared to a reference surface, openings with an opening ratio in the first area greater than that of the second area; depositing a block copolymer layer on the substrate to entirely fill the assembly guide and form an over-thickness on the reference surface; assembling the block copolymer, resulting in an organised portion of the block copolymer layer inside the openings; thinning uniformly the block copolymer layer, until a thickness corresponding to the organised portion of the block copolymer layer is reached; eliminating one of the phases of the assembled block copolymer, resulting in a plurality of initial patterns extending into the layer of block copolymer; and transferring the initial patterns of the block copolymer layer into the substrate to form the final patterns.

The needs of methods for making patterns of nanometric dimensions have increased sharply over recent years, due to the trend of miniaturisation of electronic components.
Initially, the patterns were made by optical projection lithography. In this production method, a photosensitive layer is deposited on a substrate, then exposed to an ultraviolet beam through a mask defining the patterns. The size of the smallest pattern that can be made (also called critical dimension "CD") is closely linked to the wavelength of the beam used: the shorter the wavelength, the finer the pattern made and the higher the integration density of these patterns in an integrated circuit.
The ultraviolet beams used in photolithography traditionally have a wavelength of 193 nm or 248 nm. This method of defining patterns has the advantage of being well controlled and less expensive than other methods, especially electronic lithography methods. Nevertheless, with such wavelengths, the resolution of the exposure tool is limited.
In order to make finer, better resolved patterns, and thus further increase the integration density, new methods have been developed, such as double exposure (double-patterning) photolithography, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and electron beam (e-beam) lithography.
Among emerging lithography technologies, it is also possible to cite techniques of directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers. Block copolymers are polymers in which two repeating units, a monomer A and a monomer B, form chains bound together by a covalent bond. When sufficient mobility is given to the chains, for example by heating these block copolymers, the chain A and the chain B have a tendency to separate into phases or blocks and to reorganise themselves under specific conformations, which depend especially on the ratio between the monomer A and the monomer B. As a function of this ratio, it is possible for example to have spheres of monomer A in a matrix of monomer B, or instead cylinders of A in a matrix of B, or instead intercalated lamellae of A and lamellae of B. The size of the domains of block A (respectively block B) is directly proportional to the length of the chains of monomer A (respectively monomer B). Block copolymers thus have the property of forming patterns which can be controlled using the ratio of monomers.
Known techniques of self-assembly of block copolymers can be grouped together into two categories, grapho-epitaxy and chemi-epitaxy, both described in detail in the article ["Guided self-assembly of block-copolymer for CMOS technology: a comparative study between grapho-epitaxy and surface chemical modification", L. Oria et al., SPIE 2011, Vol. 7970-24].
Chemi-epitaxy consists in modifying the chemical properties of certain portions of the substrate, to force the organisation of the blocks of copolymer between these portions. These chemically modified portions of the substrate are typically delimited by a photolithography step followed by a plasma step.
Alternatively, grapho-epitaxy consists in forming primary patterns called guides on the surface of a substrate, these patterns delimiting areas inside which a layer of block copolymer is deposited. The guiding patterns make it possible to control the organisation of the blocks of copolymer to form secondary patterns of higher resolution inside these areas. The guiding patterns are conventionally formed by photolithography in a layer of resin, and potentially, transferred into a hard mask.
The technique of grapho-epitaxy has recently been used to form contact holes in an integrated circuit. After deposition and assembly of the block copolymer in the guiding patterns, the secondary patterns are developed by selectively removing one of the two blocks of the copolymer (for example the cylinders of A), thereby forming holes in the remaining layer of copolymer (the matrix of B). Then, these holes are transferred by etching onto the surface of the substrate, generally in a dielectric layer.
Thanks to this technique, it is possible to reduce the dimension of the patterns (application called "contact shrink"), the secondary pattern being of smaller dimensions than the primary pattern, i.e. the guiding pattern. There is then only a single contact hole per guiding pattern. It is also possible to multiply the number of patterns, by forming several contact holes per guiding pattern ("contact multiplication").
As discussed in the article ["Etch challenges for DSA implementation in CMOS via patterning", P. Pimenta Barros et al., SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9054, March 2014], current grapho-epitaxy methods are dependent on the density of the guiding patterns on the substrate. In fact, since the filling of the guiding patterns takes place by spin coating, the thickness of the block copolymer layer inside a guiding pattern depends on its surface area, its aspect ratio (depth/width) and the number of guiding patterns nearby. Consequently, for guiding patterns of same dimensions, the thickness of the copolymer layer in an isolated pattern is greater than the thickness obtained in a plurality of close together patterns.
Yet, the thickness of the layer of copolymer in the assembly guides affects the transfer of the patterns by etching, because the layer of copolymer serves as etching mask. If in certain assembly guides the thickness of copolymer is too low, an increase in the critical dimension of the patterns may occur during their transfer, because the etching mask is insufficient. Conversely, when the thickness of copolymer is too high, contact holes may be missing, their transfer having failed.
The thickness of the copolymer layer also affects the step of self-assembly of the block copolymer. In fact, a too low or too high thickness of the copolymer layer in the guides can lead to a poor organisation of the blocks. In particular, certain polymer patterns may not be oriented perpendicularly to the substrate. Generally speaking, these assembly defects concern isolated guides, where the thickness of block copolymer is the greatest.
Thus, since the thickness of the block copolymer layer varies within the guiding patterns of a same substrate (for example according to their density), it is rare to obtain the assembly and the transfer of all the secondary patterns with the same performances, especially in terms of critical dimension.

Grapho-epitaxy method for making patterns on the surface of a substrate

COMMISSARIAT À L'ÉNERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ÉNERGIES ALTERNATIVES


The present invention provides a novel class of compounds, useful as gasoline detergent additives, which is a polyether hydroxyethylaminoethyl oxalamide represented by the formula ##STR1## where R is a (C.sub.5 -C.sub.25) alkyl group and n is an integer between about 5 and about 20.

This invention is related to gasoline engine cleaners and detergents, and more particularly to gasoline intake valve deposit (IVD) inhibitor additives, i.e., agents which assist in preventing and removing deposits from intake valves and related parts of a gasoline combustion engine.
The combustion of a hydrocarbon motor fuel in an internal combustion engine generally results in the formation and accumulation of deposits on various parts of the combustion chamber as well as in the fuel intake and on the exhaust systems of the engine. The presence of deposits in the combustion chamber seriously reduces the operating efficiency of the engine. First, deposit accumulation within the combustion chamber inhibits heat transfer between the chamber and the engine cooling system. This leads to higher temperatures within the combustion chamber, resulting in increases in the end gas temperature of the incoming charge. Consequently, end gas auto-ignition occurs causing engine knock. In addition, the accumulation of deposits within the combustion chamber reduces the volume of the combustion zone, causing a higher than design compression ratio in the engine. This, in turn, can also lead to engine knocking. A knocking engine does not effectively utilize the energy of combustion. Moreover, a prolonged period of engine knocking can cause stress fatigue and wear in pistons, connecting rods, bearings and cam rods of the engine. The phenomenon noted is characteristic of gasoline powered internal combustion engines. It may be overcome by employing a higher octane gasoline which resists knocking for powering the engine. This need for higher octane gasoline as mileage accumulates has become known as the engine octane requirement increase (ORI) phenomenon. It is particularly advantageous if engine ORI can be substantially reduced or eliminated by preventing or modifying deposit formation in the combustion chambers of the engine.
Another problem common to internal combustion engines is the formation of intake valve deposits, which is an especially serious problem. Intake valve deposits interfere with valve closing and eventually result in poor fuel economy. Such deposits interfere with valve motion and valve sealing cause valve sticking, and, in addition, reduce volumetric efficiency of the engine and limit maximum power. Valve deposits are produced from the combustion of thermally and oxidatively unstable fuel or lubricating oil oxidation products. The hard carbonaceous deposits produced collect in the tubes and runners that are part of the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) flow. These deposits are believed to be formed from exhaust particles which are subjected to rapid cooling while mixing with the air-fuel mixture. Reduced EGR flow can result in engine knock and in increased NOx emissions. It would therefore be desirable to provide a motor fuel composition which minimizes or overcomes the formation of intake valve deposits and subsequent valve sticking problems.
There are additives on the market which assist in the removal of deposits, particularly on the intake valves, such as OGA-472.TM., a product manufactured and sold by the Oronite Company of Wilmington, Del. These additives lack sufficient deposit cleanup activity, however, and their efficacy can be improved upon. In addition, polyisobutylene (PIB) based detergents tend to cause octane requirement increase.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a gasoline additive which will effectively remove deposits from, and prevent the formation of deposits on, the intake valves of a gasoline spark ignition engine. Another object of the present invention is to provide a gasoline additive which will perform this function without contributing to the buildup of combustion chamber deposits and, therefore, without causing octane requirement increase.

Polyether hydroxyethylaminoethyl oxalamide motor fuel detergent additives


Provided is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including: a pattern layer which includes a first conductor having a pattern and an RFID chip electrically connected to the first conductor; an insulating layer which insulates the pattern layer from the radiation layer; a radiation layer which is attached to the insulating layer, and includes a second conductor having a radiation pattern inductively coupled to the first conductor; a lower protection layer disposed below a combination of the pattern layer, the insulating layer and the radiation layer; and an upper protection layer disposed above the combination of the pattern layer, the insulating layer and the radiation layer.

1. Field
Apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, and more particularly, to an RFID tag attached to a member requiring to be washed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Initially, an RFID technology was regarded as being proper for product circulation or distribution, and thus, was used in fields related to product circulation or distribution. However, an RFID technology is being widely used in many different fields at present, and also is used in poor environments. In particular, an RFID technology is required in laundry, semiconductor, and mold fields, in which an RFID tag cannot be used as a barcode. An RFID tag is considered to have a great effect in the laundry business, and thus, may be seen as a necessity, but because of its reliability, performance, etc., there are doubts on whether it can be used in the laundry business. In order to resolve such problems of an RFID tag, extensive research has recently been conducted on a tag for laundry.
As a result of the research, firstly, an RFID tag that is waterproof when packaged has been developed. Early RFID tags were mostly formed of polycarbonate (PC) or polyamide (PA). Early RFID tags were waterproof and had a high heat-resistant property, and also satisfied a general washing condition, that is, 50 cycles at a temperature of 100° C. However, since early RFID tags were formed of an injection mold material, such RFID tags were prone to damage due to an external impact. In particular, early RFID tags that were thick, and had high strength may not withstand today's inline process including washing, spin-drying, drying, and ironing.
Secondly, a flexible RFID tag has been developed. A flexible RFID tag uses a flexible injection mold material, and uses an inlay coated with polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In this case, such an RFID tag is flexible, and may be bent during washing, and thus, may not be broken. However, a flexible injection mold material is easily affected by heat, and is easy to break. Furthermore, a flexible injection mold material may not protect an RFID chip. Accordingly, a flexible injection mold material is easily broken, and thus, may not be used for manufacturers handling a large load of laundry.
Thirdly, in order to protect an RFID chip, a portion of the RFID chip where the RFID chip attaches itself may be coated with a hard material or an elastic material. In this case, such an RFID chip may be protected, but reliability of the RFID tag may not be secured. In particular, a crack inevitably occurs due to a surface of an RFID chip being hard.
In an RFID tag for laundry, the most important issue is reliability. Users of an RFID tag for laundry do not include housewives and general users. Most users of an RFID tag for laundry are laundrymen handling a large load of laundry. Since a laundry process is automated, laundrymen focus on points that may not be easily controlled by humans. Because conditions such as being able to withstand entanglement of laundry, being waterproof, being able to withstand high temperature drying, being able to withstand ironing, and the like should be satisfied in a laundry process, there is a limitation in using unreliable products.

RFID tag including protection layers and having enhanced durability


A pulley assembly includes an elongate pulley hanger, supported at the upper end of a pillar rising from and dependently supported by a base bracket, and first and second pulleys slidingly supported by the pulley hanger. The base bracket securely mounts the pulley assembly to the top of a liquid storage tank. Each provided pulley implements, or is otherwise provided with, a clamp, whereby each pulley is readily positioned along the pulley hanger, and, when in a desired position, easily and securely fixed in the desired position.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,353,704 issued Apr. 8, 2008 to Clanton ("Clanton"), which is incorporated herein as though now set forth in its entirety, discloses the use of a cable guidance means in the provision of an external liquid level gauge, which enables the level of a liquid contained within a storage tank to be judged. Although the concept of using a pulley system to route a cable, attached at one end within the storage tank to a float and at the other end to a weight enclosed within a gauge tube affixed to an external side of the storage tank, is as broadly disclosed by Clanton meritorious, Applicant has found the disclosed cable guidance means to be lacking.
In particular, Applicant has in practice found that the cable guidance means as described by Clanton is difficult and time consuming to properly adjust, owing in at least some part to the placement of the pulleys within the interior space of the described encompassing frame members. Additionally, the cable guidance means as described by Clanton fails to ensure that the first and second pulleys align one with the other, thus often resulting in excessive wear on the cable and/or pulley wheels.
With the foregoing deficiencies of the prior art clearly in mind, it is an overriding to object of the present invention to provide an improved pulley assembly for use with a liquid level gauging system, in the broad manner of that otherwise described by Clanton, which improved pulley system does not suffer from the previously discussed shortcomings of the prior art.
Accordingly, it is a specific object of the present invention to provide such an improved pulley system that is easy to install, and readily adjustable to optimum performance.
Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an improved pulley system that is less susceptible to component wear than is the prior art.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such an improved pulley system that is readily and economically manufactured, and therefore available for use across the widest range of applications.

Pulley assembly for liquid level gauging system


Methods, systems, and computer readable medium with instructions for generating a master video, including receiving input from a video creator that initiates a video project, soliciting video file responses from respondents, and receiving video files from respondents, combining the video files into a master video file which corresponds to a master video. The video files correspond with master video segments of the master video. A relative position of each of the master video segments in the master video is based on a formulated sequence. The system may include one or more processors; one or more data storage devices; one or more input devices; one or more output devices; a network interface; and at least one communications bus operably interconnecting the other elements. The one or more data storage devices includes the instructions which are executed by the one or more of the processors.

Existing technologies for recording, producing, and/or finalizing a video often requires many steps of manual labor as well as a certain amount of skill. A person/video creator may generate videos or obtain videos from others (video segments) and then use a video editing tool to arrange the video segments in a particular order, and then manually edit the video to finalize the video. For example, to create a video including a series of prompts (questions) and answers from one or more video respondents (video subjects or respondents) requires a lot of manual labor and knowledge of video editing. Using existing techniques, a video creator could solicit video responses recorded on, for example, a respondent's phone, video camera, and the like. When the creator receives the content (multiple video files), the creator can use a video editing tool to laboriously organize all of the content into one video file (as stated above). It may take a long time to request content, gather content, organize it, manually load it into a video editing tool, create intro, closing, or transition clips, arrange all the video clips in a desired sequence, and make edits to the video. This may result in video clips being lost, not loaded to the master video file, loaded in the wrong location, or not cut or edited properly. Traditional video editing tools are also complicated and may require a steep learning curve. Existing approaches to recording, producing, organizing and/or finalizing videos are thus time consuming, labor intensive, prone to errors, require having or learning video editing skills, and otherwise cumbersome. There is a need to provide a way for people to be able to easily and automatically be able to prepare a video without having to spend a lot of time or having editing skills. Even if such a tool were to cost money, it would conserve resources to generate a video automatically and with little effort and may even reduce total production costs. The present invention addresses this need by providing a software tool to automatically generate a master video file from video segments and other content.

Systems and methods for automated generation of video


A reusable container assembly is provided which comprises a substantially rectangular open-top container particularly adapted to receive a fluid-containing bag. The container is lidded to thereby enclose the contents of the container assembly. A side wall aperture receives the spout of a fluid-containing bag disposed within the container assembly. The container assembly is further made tamper evident.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to nestable and stackable container assemblies formed of molded plastic material, such as polyethylene, polypropylene, or the like, for use in storing and transporting goods. The invention is particularly directed to the transport and storage of a fluid-containing bag in a reusable container assembly. Such fluid-containing bags are commonly used to transport and store unstable bulk commodities such as, for example, beverage syrups or post mixes. In this regard, the present invention is directed to a lidded container assembly comprised of a substantially rectangular open-top container which may have a fluid-containing bag disposed therein. The container assembly of the present invention is provided with a means for evidencing tampering with the contents thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,587, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, describes a reusable container particularly adapted for use in a beverage syrup delivery system. The container comprises an open-top body that is formed, for example, of high-density polyethylene and is adapted to receive a fluid-containing bag. The container is capable of both stacking and nesting. In order to accommodate exposure of a spout attached to the fluid-containing bag, the container, preferably on one end wall, is provided with an opening designed to permit release of the spout from the container. The container is further provided with a means for fixing the spout to the container for ready access when the fluid in the bag is to be discharged.
The container of U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,587, although constituting a significant improvement over comparable boxes or containers of the prior art, suffers from certain drawbacks. Initially, because the container is open-topped, it is susceptible to tampering with the contents therein, and the fluid-containing bags are exposed to possible damage during storage or shipment. Additionally, the fluid-like nature of the bags gives them a tendency to migrate out of the boxes while traversing conveyors along steep inclines.

Container assembly with tamper evident seal


An operation support system for a power plant includes an input unit for inputting measured data of the power plant over a communication network, a data evaluating unit for quantitatively evaluating performance deterioration of the power plant and component equipment thereof and creating operation support data base on the input measured data, and an output unit for outputting the operation support data to a computer for confirming operation support data connected thereto over the communication network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operation support system for a plant for monitoring and evaluating plant performance and equipment status of various types of power plants, and more particularly, relates to an operation support system for a power plant for monitoring and evaluating plant performance and equipment status using measured data of a thermal power plant.
2. Related Art
As principal running costs for various types of power plants such as a thermal power plant, fuel costs, personnel costs, instrumental maintenance costs, and so forth will be conceived. Suppressing running costs can allow a power plant to be run efficiently.
As costs required for equipment maintenance of a power plant, there are remodeling costs to improve performance of plant component equipment beyond the original performance thereof, reworking costs to recover the performance level of plant component equipment up to the original level thereof, management costs of spare parts, and so forth.
In general, power plant component equipment deteriorates in performance thereof as time passes, as a result, plant thermal efficiency drops, thereby increasing fuel costs. In order to cut back on fuel costs, running at an economical load range in which the optimal plant thermal efficiency can be obtained is preferable, however, running conditions change due to degradation of plant component equipment and the daily running load, so the load range suitable for plant thermal efficiency also changes. Accordingly, with regard to a power plant, it is hard to select and use the appropriate load range in which the optimal plant thermal efficiency can be obtained.
Further, with a power plant, in order to prevent fuel costs from increasing, maintenance of plant component equipment is performed as a measure so as to maintain or improve equipment performance. In order to implement such measures, it is necessary to precisely diagnose and comprehend how far the plant component equipment has deteriorated. In the event of attempting to prevent fuel costs from increasing by maintaining and improving equipment performance with plant component equipment being reworked and remodeled, it is preferable to precisely evaluate, beforehand, cost effects for equipment rework and the like.
However, a power plant is configured of a great number of pieces of plant component equipment, and accordingly, it is difficult to determine cost-to-effect for reworking equipment and the like only with process data that is measured. Moreover, with a power plant, spare parts need to be kept in stock to prepare for accidental equipment damage, so that a damaged portion of equipment can be immediately repaired or reworked so as to resume power generation, which requires management costs for the stock management.
Although running costs for a power plant can be reduced by running the plant more efficiently, there is a close relationship between running costs and equipment maintenance costs, and accordingly, equipment maintenance costs are preferably taken into account so as to make running of a plant more efficient, as well as fuel costs and personnel costs.
On the other hand, in order to keep track of equipment performance of plant component equipment so as to evaluate the running costs, there is the need to have the know-how of the manufacturing equipment manufacturer. Dispatching an equipment manufacturer engineer to a local power plant each time plant component equipment is evaluated not only leads to time and labor problems, but also may let the most appropriate evaluation timing slip by due to restrictions on how often evaluation can be performed.
As conventional technology, the following publications or documents may be listed up.    (1) Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. HEI 4-242123. This discloses a plant performance monitoring device and teaches technique for improving the monitoring precision of power plant record by selecting highly reliable plant performance data. The device monitors performance of respective plant component equipment using plant measurement data.    (2) Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 62-4526. This discloses a performance monitoring technique of a power plant, i.e., technique for evaluating how plant thermal efficiency is affected, by monitoring plant performance calculation and aged deterioration thereof from process data such as pressure, flow rate, electric power and the like. This evaluates plant thermal efficiency affected by performance degradation of plant component equipment.    (3) Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. HEI 11-229820. This discloses technique for analyzing how change in performance of respective plant component equipment affects the entire power plant, and recovering thermal efficiency by appropriate maintenance and reworking, by improvement of power plant thermal efficiency diagnostic precision.    (4) Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. 2001-263006. This discloses technique for appropriately recovering thermal efficiency by analyzing performance change of respective plant component equipment affecting the entire power plant, and by maintenance and rework.    (5) Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. 2002-122005. This discloses technique for improving plant thermal efficiency diagnostic precision by diagnosing factors for power plant thermal inefficiency using evaluation of a heat balance analysis method and teaches technology to improve precision of performance evaluation of plant component equipment.
However, the diagnostic/monitoring technique for power plants disclosed in the above-described patent documents only diagnoses and evaluates the performance degradation of a power plant and component equipment thereof. That is to say, a technology or means for effectively and integrally evaluating how to rework or remodel plant component equipment is not introduced. Moreover, a technique to quantitatively evaluate how much loss occurs due to performance degradation of plant component equipment, and whether or not there is reworking of plant component equipment, is not introduced either.    (6) Japanese Patent Laid-open (KOKAI) Publication No. 2002-259505. This discloses a data presenting system regarding power equipment, i.e., a data presenting system regarding power equipment capable of inexpensively acquiring evaluation data such as power efficiency, power costs, and so on, over a communication network. This system connects a power plant side with a service center side over a communication network, and the service center side creates and presents evaluation data of power efficiency and power costs (fuel costs per unit generated, over the entire life span of equipment) based on acquired measured data through this network, and bills the plant for reference of the evaluation data.
According to this data presenting system, a data processing process is installed at a place isolated from the power plant side, and receiving measured data and sending evaluation data are performed over a communication network, so that the power plant side can avoid extra investment regarding the data processing process.
With the data presenting system regarding power equipment according to this Patent Document (6), a technique capable of evaluating deterioration of power efficiency and equipment performance over time in the view of fuel costs is disclosed, which compares the current measured process values (the state wherein equipment has deteriorated) with predicted process values of designed performance presuming that the same running conditions as the present will continue (the initially intended state).
With the data presenting system regarding power equipment according to Patent Document (6), transition of process values resulting from of deteriorated equipment performance of plant component equipment is confirmed, and accordingly, it is difficult to quantitatively confirm how many percent the performance of the plant component equipment has deteriorated.
Moreover, plant component equipment of a power plant is reworked in accordance with deterioration due to aging, but not all of the plant component equipment is reworked. With conventional data presenting systems, estimation is computationally performed using as standard for comparison a state wherein all of the plant component equipment has been completely reworked.
However, with a state in which multiple pieces of plant component equipment have deteriorated, in the event of only specific component equipment having being reworked, it is difficult to confirm how far the power efficiency of the power plant or fuel costs has been improved. It is also impossible to perform evaluation in the event of equipment performance having being been improved beyond the designed performance thereof by remodeling the plant component equipment. Furthermore, a technique for quantitatively evaluating whether or not plant component equipment should be reworked is not mentioned at all in the Patent Document (6).

Operation support system for power plant