Apparatus and a method for causing scheduler software to produce code which executes more rapidly by ignoring some of the normal constraints placed on its scheduling operations and simply scheduling certain instructions to run as fast as possible, raising an exception if the scheduling violates a scheduling constraint, and determining steps to be taken for correctly executing each set of instructions about which an exception is raised.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for accelerating the reordering of instructions in an improved microprocessor.
2. History Of The Prior Art
Recently, a new microprocessor was developed which combines a simple but very fast host processor (called "morph host") and software (called "code morphing software") to execute application programs designed for a processor different than the morph host processor at a rate which cannot be attained by the processor for which the programs were designed (the target processor). The morph host processor executes the code morphing software to translate the application programs into morph host processor instructions which accomplish the purpose of the original target software. As the target instructions are translated, they are both executed and stored in a translation buffer where they may be accessed without further translation. Although the initial translation and execution of a program is slow, once translated, many of the steps normally required to execute a program in hardware are eliminated.
In order to be able to execute programs designed for other processors at a rapid rate, the morph host processor includes a number of hardware enhancements. One of these enhancements is a gated store buffer which resides between the host processor and the translation buffer. A second enhancement is a set of host registers which store state of the target machine at the beginning of any sequence of target instructions being translated. Sequences of target instructions spanning known states of the target processor are translated into morph host instructions and placed in the translation buffer awaiting execution. If the translated instructions execute without raising an exception, the target state at the beginning of the sequence of instructions is updated to the target state at the point at which the sequence completed.
If an exception occurs during the execution of the sequence of host instructions which have been translated, the processing stops; and the entire operation may be returned or rolled back to the beginning of the sequence of target instructions at which known state of the target machine exists. This allows very rapid and accurate handling of exceptions while dynamically translating and executing instructions, a result which had never been accomplished by the prior art.
Additional speed is attained in running the new microprocessor by a scheduler which is part of the code morphing software. The scheduler reorders and reschedules the instructions as they are being translated from a naive order produced by raw translation into an order which produces the same result but allows faster execution. A scheduler attempts to place certain instructions ahead of other instructions or to run instructions together so that the execution of the rescheduled software takes less time. Schedulers function with a number of constraints the most basic of which is that the rescheduled program must still produce the same ultimate results as the original program. As an example, there are sequences of instructions in programs which must be carried out without interruption in order for the sequences to produce the correct results. A scheduler cannot interfere with such sequences without interfering with the results produced. Many processors provide hardware interlocks to assure that such sequences are, in fact, run without interruption. The need to protect such sequences of instructions poses special constraints for processors without hardware interlocks such as the advanced morph host processor being discussed. Software must somehow be aware of such sequences and assure that they are run without interruption.
Control dependencies are another traditional constraint on reordering which a scheduler faces. Control dependencies relate to branch instructions; a scheduler must assure that reordering of instructions which occur before and after a branch do not cause the program to run incorrectly.
Other dependencies affect the reordering of loads with respect to stores. For example, if updated data is to be stored to a memory address and then manipulated in a register operation, the data at the address should not be kept in a register at the time the store occurs or the data in the register may be stale.
All of these constraints cause a typical scheduler to function very conservatively and, consequently, to produce slower code.
A traditional scheduler does its best to determine those instructions which depend on one another in order to accomplish reordering. The usual scheduler can determine that some operations depend on other operations in some way and that some operations do not depend on other operations in any way, but it cannot determine anything with regard to other operations. Such a scheduler treats those operations which depend on other operations conservatively by ordering them in the normal naive order in which they originated. Such a scheduler reorders operations which do not depend on other operations at all in the manner it desires. Finally, it treats all operations about which it cannot make a determination regarding dependencies as though they depended on one another and handles them conservatively and slowly.
It is desirable to provide circuitry and software for enabling a scheduler of an advanced processor to generate code which executes at an accelerated speed.

Method and apparatus for enhancing scheduling in an advanced microprocessor


A pull-type mower conditioner includes a crop harvesting header vertically movable relative to the frame of the mower conditioner between a raised transport position and a lowered operative position, a lift mechanism to effect the movement of the crop harvesting header relative to the frame, and a transport latch mechanism to control the locking of the lift mechanism in the transport position. The lift linkage incorporates a cam mechanism that serves as an upper flotation limit under normal operating conditions and automatically converts into a device for securing the header in the transport position when the header is moved into the transport position.

This invention relates generally to a pull-type machine for harvesting crops from a field and, more particularly, to a lift linkage that defines header flotation limits and that can be secured for transport purposes.
Trailed harvesting implements, such as mower conditioners, with lift systems that are positioned with one or more hydraulic cylinders, require a mechanical device for positively locking the implement in the raised position to insure that during transport on the highway the implement will not lower due to a hydraulic leak or failure. It is desirable that a mechanism be provided to permit the operator to engage a lever before getting onto the tractor to start operation of the tractor and harvesting implement so that the locking device will automatically engage when the implement is raised into the transport position. It is also preferable that the mechanism bias the locking device in the locked position.
It would be further preferable that the same mechanism permit the operator, having arrived at the field, to engage the mechanism before getting into the tractor so that the locking mechanism will unlock when the implement is raised fully, thereby allowing the operator to commence use of the implement without again dis-mounting from the tractor to unlock the locking device. It would also be desirable that the mechanism also hold the locking device in the unlocked position such that the locking device will not engage when the implement is raised during field operation to clear the cut crop or an obstacle.
Crop harvesting headers are suspended from the harvester frame for flotational movement relative thereto. It is desirable to provide a device to define the range of operation for the flotational movement of the header. It is further desirable that the flotation limit be convertible to secure the header when in the transport position to prevent the header from bouncing during transportation thereof over the ground and, thereby, contacting other structural components of the harvester and effecting damage thereof.


A pre-hemming apparatus for use with a hemming die includes a driving member adapted to be centrally disposed below the hemming die. A plurality of link arms are operatively, pivotally connected to the driving member. A lever arm is operatively connected to each link arm. A flanging member is operatively connected to each lever arm at an end thereof. A plurality of mounts for supporting the lever arms are adapted to be mounted to a side of the hemming die. Each lever arm is pivotally connected to one of the mounts intermediate ends of the lever arm. An actuator is operatively engagable with the driving member. Actuation of the driving member moves the flanging members towards the hemming die through the lever arms and the link arms for pre-hemming, and away from the hemming die cycling the apparatus.

It is known in the art relating to robotic roller hemming to pre-hem sheet metal fabricated parts, such as vehicle closure panels or other similar workpieces, to a pre-hem condition prior to the hemming of the closure panels. A vehicle closure panel may consist of an outer panel and an inner panel, which are hemmed together in a hemming process. In the hemming process, it is known to pre-hem the outer corners of a closure panel, for example by bending the corners of the outer panel towards the inner panel. Known methods for pre-hemming closure panels utilize robotic roller hemmers to hem the corners of the outer panel over the inner panel. These methods, however, require several passes with the hem roller and therefore require a significant amount of time. Further, use of a robotic roller hemmer does not always lead to a quality corner pre-hem, as the hem roller does not have the shape required to accurately make a corner pre-hem. The hem roller is therefore often ineffective for corner pre-hem operations.


Embodiments of the invention provide an error recovery scheme that allows a data read/write error in a data storage device to be processed within a short time, and a data storage device that attempts error recovery using the error recovery scheme. In one embodiment, a data storage device conducts an error recovery process for a data access error in accordance with an error recovery procedure having multiple error recovery steps; the data storage device including a head that accesses a data region of a user data storage medium, and a controller that controls the error recovery process by using not only address information of the sector where the access error to the data region has occurred, but also an error recovery log which has address information of the data region and past error recovery information associated with the latter address information.

The present invention relates to data storage devices and error recovery methods, and more particularly, to order of execution control of error recovery steps in error recovery procedures.
As recording density improves, the frequency of occurrence of an error recovery process in a data storage device due to data read/write errors therein is increased.
Traditionally, the required error recovery procedures each consisting of plural steps have been stored and retained in data storage devices, and in case of a data read error or a data write error, the plural steps of the error recovery procedure are executed in the required order to attempt error recovery.
Along with the improvements in the processing speeds and reliability of computer systems in recent years, data storage devices are also restricted in terms of time by the host computer or storage control apparatus connected as a host. In addition, the error recovery procedures within such a data storage device are provided for by recovery time limits. The data storage device requires error recovery by executing the error recovery procedures efficiently within the recovery time limits.
Regarding how to improve the efficiency of error recovery and reduce an error recovery time, a solution by considering the execution time of each step in the error recovery procedure and changing the order of execution of the steps and a retrial count so that error recovery can be processed within recovery time limits is proposed in, for example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 11-065778).

Data storage device and error recovery method

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A display system for an aircraft is provided. The system includes a processing unit configured to receive weather information associated with a flight path of a flight plan and to generate display commands based on the weather information. The flight plan includes a first waypoint associated with a first altitude. The system further includes a display device coupled with the processing unit and configured to receive the display commands and to display symbology representing the weather information. The weather information includes first weather information for the first altitude and second weather information at a second altitude, different from the first altitude.

Modern flight deck or cockpit displays for aircraft or other vehicles provide a considerable amount of information, such as vehicle position, navigation and terrain information. In the case of an aircraft, many modern displays include a lateral situation view, generally known as a lateral map display, as a top-down view of the flight plan that may include, for example, a top-down view aircraft symbol, terrain information, political boundaries, navigation aids, waypoint symbols, flight paths, and range rings.
At times, it may be desirable to view other flight-related information in the lateral view, such as, for example, weather information, air traffic information, terminal airspace, special use airspace, instrument procedures, and the like. A user (e.g., a pilot and/or co-pilot) may select one or more of these additional categories of flight-related information for display. However, this information, such as weather information, is typically displayed in a manner that may be difficult to obtain and/or have limited use.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide weather information to the user in a more relevant and intuitive manner that improves situational awareness and decreases pilot workload. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Aircraft systems and methods for displaying weather information along a flight path


A suspension system for motor vehicles includes a piston-cylinder assembly having a working cylinder, a piston rod guidably inserted in a piston rod guide in the cylinder, and a damping piston having damping valves movably arranged in the working cylinder and connected to the piston rod. A shape-changing, enclosed envelope body is provided as an equalization space. A wall of the enclosed envelope is a gas-tight blocking layer. A connecting element connected to the enclosed envelope body is held in the piston rod guide, wherein the connecting element is non-detachably inserted into a drilled hole defined in the piston rod guide.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a suspension system for motor vehicles which includes a piston-cylinder assembly with a working cylinder, a piston rod guidably inserted in a piston rod guide in the cylinder, a damping piston having damping valves, and a shape-changing, enclosed envelope body provided as an equalization space, the wall of the envelope body being a gas-tight blocking layer, wherein a connecting element for connecting the envelope body to a flow connection is held in the piston rod guide.
2. Description of the Related Art
Level regulating elements and shock absorbers in which the volume equalization of the piston rod is performed by an envelope body which is filled with gas are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,648,309 and 6,116,585.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,309 discloses the gas filling method of the envelope body, but not the way of bringing about a secure, satisfactory attachment of the envelope body in the piston rod guide. U.S. Pat. No. 6,116,585 discloses a filling connection which Is arranged on an outer wall of the envelope body and which corresponds to an opening in an outer tube wall. However, the attachment of the envelope body is not explained in detail here.


Provided are methods for introducing a sequence-specific nuclease into a plant cell comprising a cell wall. Methods are provided for genetically or otherwise modifying plants and for treating or preventing disease in plant cells comprising a cell wall.

The unique properties of nanoparticles can be exploited for delivering DNA into cells. Among the nanoparticles investigated (e.g., tungsten, aluminum, nickel, etc.), Gold NanoParticles (GNP) tend to be excellent candidates for delivery of DNA. The low cytotoxicity and ease of functionalization with various ligands of biological significance make gold nanoparticles a preferential choice for transformation. Gold nanoparticles can range in size from 1.2 nm-600 nm. The commonly used synthesis of GNP produces a negatively charged (e.g., citrate coating) surface for particles from 20 nm-400 nm, whereas smaller 1 nm-10 nm range of GNPs are positively charged. Plasmid DNA, which is sufficiently flexible to partially uncoil its bases, can be exposed to gold nanoparticles. In the case of the citrate-functionalized GNP, the plasmid DNA can partially uncoil. The negative charges on the DNA backbone are sufficiently distant so that attractive van der Waals forces between the bases and the gold nanoparticles cause plasmid DNA to be attached and coat the surface of the gold particle. Whereas, in the case of the positively charged GNP, electrostatic and van der Waals forces can contribute to coating or attachment of the DNA.
In addition to metal nanoparticles, semi-conductor nanoparticles (e.g., quantum dots) ("QD") within the size range of 3 nm-5 nm have also been used as carriers to deliver molecules into cells. DNA and proteins can be coated or linked to the QD surface that is multifunctionalized with a ligand (see, e.g., F. Patolsky et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125, 13918 (2003)). Carboxylic acid or amine multifunctionalized QDs can be cross linked to molecules containing a thiol group (see, e.g., B. Dubertret et al., Science 298, 1759 (2002); M. E. Akerman, W. C. W. Chan, P. Laakkonen, S. N. Bhatia, E. Ruoslahti, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99, 12617 (2002); G. P. Mitchell, C. A. Mirkin, R. L. Letsinger, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121, 8122 (1999)) or an N-hydroxysuccinimyl (NHS) ester group by using standard bioconjugation protocols (see, e.g., F. Pinaud, D. King, H.-P. Moore, S. Weiss, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 6115 (2004); M. Bruchez, M. Moronne, P. Gin, S. Weiss, A. P. Alivisatos, Science 281, 2013 (1998)). An alternative way is to multifunctionalize QDs via conjugation with streptavidin. The streptavidin conjugates with biotinylated proteins, oligos or antibodies (see, e.g., M. Dahan et al., Science 302, 442 (2003); F. Pinaud, D. King, H.-P. Moore, S. Weiss, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 6115 (2004); M. Dahan et al., Science 302, 442 (2003); X. Y. Wu et al., Nature Biotechnol. 21, 41 (2003); J. K. Jaiswal, H. Mattoussi, J. M. Mauro, and S. M. Simon, Nature Biotechnol. 21, 47 (2003); and A. Mansson et al., Biochern. Biophys. Res. Commun. 314, 529 (2004).
Nanoparticles have been used to deliver plasmid DNA to a variety of animal cells. It has been found that when DNA-coated nanoparticles are incubated with cells not having a cell wall, the cells take up the nanoparticles and begin expressing any genes encoded on the DNA. Where nanoparticle delivery to cells normally having a cell wall is desired, the cell wall is stripped before the addition of the particles to protoplasts (see, F. Torney et al., Nature Nanotechnol. 2, (2007). In plant cells, the cell wall acts as a barrier for the delivery of exogenously applied molecules. Many invasive methods, like the gene gun (biolistics), microinjection, electroporation, and Agrobacterium, have been employed to achieve gene and small molecule delivery into these walled plant cells. Delivering small molecules and proteins across the cell wall and into the plant cell would be advantageous for the development of enabling technologies for the in vitro and in vivo manipulation of cells, tissues, and organs of intact plants.
Although well established in bacteria, yeast, animal cells, and moss, gene addition—the introduction of foreign DNA into a predetermined genomic location—remains a significant challenge in higher plants. Site-specific transgene integration occurs at a very low frequency in plant cells as compared to random integration, even when the incoming DNA contains large stretches of sequence homologous to host DNA (Halfter et al., 1992; Lee et al., 1990; Mia and Lam, 1995). For example, a highly efficient Agrobacterium-based transfection system and herbicide selection resulted in gene targeting frequencies of up to 5×10−4 in rice. Attempts to enhance gene targeting efficiencies in plants have included the use of negative selection markers, and the use of plants genetically engineered to exhibit higher targeting frequencies. These efforts notwithstanding, random DNA integration via non-homologous processes continue to be a major impediment to gene targeting in plants. Given the general utility envisioned for targeted gene addition in the modification of crops for agricultural and industrial biotechnology, a solution to this problem is sorely needed.
In this regard, substantial increases in the frequency of gene targeting in a broad range of plant and animal model systems have been observed following the induction of a DNA double-strand break (DSB) at a specific genomic location in host cells, which stimulates a native cellular process, homology-directed DSB repair. Naturally occurring site-specific endonucleases whose recognition sites are rare in the plant genome have been used in this manner to drive transgene integration into a target sequence previously transferred into the plant genome via random integration. These studies highlight the potential of targeted DSB induction to stimulate gene targeting in plant cells, though the challenge of introducing a DSB in a native locus remains.
In animal cells, the solution to targeted genome modulation/manipulation is achieved through a variety of nucleotide sequence-specific binding proteins such as leucine zippers, zinc finger proteins, etc. These proteins are involved with gene regulation as transcription factors and/or can be used to induce DSB at a native genomic location. The DSB can be provided by several different classes of sequence-specific nucleases such as meganucleases, leucine zippers, zinc finger proteins, etc., and, more recently, the development of novel chimeric versions of these proteins. One of the best described nucleotide-specific binding proteins are the Zinc Finger Proteins (ZFP). The C2H2 zinc finger was discovered in the amphibian transcription factor TFIIIA, and has since been found to be the most common DNA recognition motif in all species of metazoa. The X-ray crystal structure of the C2H2 ZFP, Zif268, revealed a strikingly syllabic mode of protein-DNA recognition, with each zinc finger specifying a 3 or 4 bp subsite in the context of a tandem arrangement, and suggested the possibility of using this peptide motif as a scaffold for DNA binding domains with novel specificities. Since then, a large number of ZFPs engineered to bind novel sequences have been successfully used in many different laboratories in the context of artificial transcription factors and other functional chimeric proteins. The C2H2 zinc finger protein domain has been used as a scaffold for sequence-specific DNA binding (Pavelitch and Pabo 1991) and ZFNs produced by fusing zinc finger protein domains with a sequence-independent nuclease domain derived from the Type IIS restriction endonuclease FokI (Kim et al., 1996). Engineered ZFNs have been used to drive high-efficiency targeting to an endogenous genomic locus in transformed (Moehie et al., 2007) and primary human cells (Lombardo et al., 2007).
Initial attempts at using ZFNs in plants have been promising (Lloyd et al., 2005; Wright et al., 2005; Maeder et al., 2008). A construct carrying a ZFN gene under the control of an inducible promoter along with its corresponding recognition sequence was stably integrated into Arabidopsis and shown to introduce targeted mutations resulting from non-homologous end joining at the recognition site at frequencies averaging 7.9% among induced progeny seedlings (Lloyd et al., 2005). Similarly, among 66 tobacco plants regenerated from protoplasts transformed with a ZFN designed to cleave at the SuRA locus, three displayed single base pair deletions at the target site resulting from non-homologous end joining repair (Maeder et al., 2008). Tobacco cells, containing a pre-integrated, non-functional reporter gene missing 600 bp directly flanking a zinc finger recognition sequence, when co-transformed with constructs containing a corresponding ZFN gene and donor DNA homologous to the pre-integrated sequence comprising the missing 600 bp, showed evidence of homology-directed repair of the reporter gene (Wright et al., 2005). Most recently, a yeast-based assay was used to identify ZFNs capable of cleaving a plant endochitinase gene (Cai et al., 2009). Agrobacterium delivery of a Ti plasmid harboring both the ZFNs and a donor DNA construct comprising a pat herbicide resistance gene cassette flanked by short stretches of homology to the endochitinase locus yielded up to 10% targeted, homology-directed transgene integration precisely into the ZFN cleavage site. It is important to note that other zinc finger designs based on a C3H1 design have been demonstrated in plants (Shukla et al., 2009, Cai et al., 2009).
The present invention relates to methods using nanoparticles to non-invasively delivered sequence-specific nucleases into plant cells having a cell wall.

Nanoparticle mediated delivery of sequence specific nucleases


The present invention relates to a process for metallizing electrically nonconductive plastic surfaces of articles. During the process, the rack to which the said articles are fastened is subjected to a treatment for protection against metallization. Subsequently, the articles are metallized by means of known processes, wherein the racks remain free of metal.

Articles made from electrically nonconductive plastic can be metallized by an electroless metallization process. In this process, the article is first cleaned and etched, then treated with a noble metal and finally metallized. The etching is typically undertaken by means of chromosulphuric acid. The etching serves to make the surface of the article receptive to the subsequent metallization, such that the surfaces of the articles are well-wetted with the respective solutions in the subsequent treatment steps and the deposited metal ultimately has sufficiently firm adhesion on the surface.
For etching, the surface of articles, for example made from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS copolymer), is etched using chromosulphuric acid, so as to form surface microcaverns in which metal is deposited and subsequently adheres there firmly. After the etching, the plastic is activated for the electroless metallization by means of an activator comprising a noble metal, and then metallized electrolessly. Subsequently, a thicker metal layer can also be applied electrolytically.
Etching solutions based on chromosulphuric acid, however, are toxic and should therefore be replaced as possible.
The literature describes attempts to replace etching solutions based on chromosulphuric acid with those comprising permanganate salts.
The use of permanganates in an alkaline medium for metallization of circuit boards as a carrier of electronic circuits has long been established. Since the hexavalent state (manganate) which arises in the oxidation is water-soluble and has sufficient stability under alkaline conditions, the manganate, similarly to trivalent chromium, can be oxidized electrolytically back to the original oxidizing agent, in this case the permanganate. The document DE 196 11 137 A1 describes the use of the permanganate also for metallization of other plastics as circuit board material. For the metallization of ABS plastics, a solution of alkaline permanganate has been found to be unsuitable since it was not possible in this way to obtain a reliable, sufficient adhesion strength between metal layer and plastic substrate. This adhesion strength is determined in the "peel test". It should have at least a value of 0.4 N/mm.
EP 1 0010 52 discloses an acidic permanganate solution which is said to be suitable for use in plastic galvanization. EP 1 0010 52 does not report the adhesion strengths achievable by this pretreatment. In-house experiments have shown that the adhesion strengths are below a value of 0.4 N/mm. Moreover, the solutions described in EP 1 0010 52 are unstable. A constant quality of the metallization therefore cannot be achieved.
As an alternative to chromosulphuric acid, WO 2009/023628 A2 proposes strongly acidic solutions comprising an alkali metal permanganate salt. The solution contains about 20 g/l alkali metal permanganate salt in 40-85% by weight phosphoric acid. Such solutions form colloidal manganese(IV) species which are difficult to remove. According to WO 2009/023628 A2, the effect of the colloids even after a short time is that coating of adequate quality is no longer possible. To solve the problem, WO 2009/023628 A2 proposes using manganese(VII) sources which do not contain any alkali metal or alkaline earth metal ions. However, the preparation of such manganese(VII) sources is costly and inconvenient.
Therefore, toxic chromosulphuric acid is still being used for etching treatment of plastics.
For industrial scale application of metallization of plastic surfaces, the articles are usually fastened to racks. These are metal carrier systems which allow the simultaneous treatment of a large number of articles with the successive solutions for the individual process steps, and last steps for electrolytic deposition of one or more metal layers. The racks are generally themselves coated with plastic. Therefore, the racks in principle likewise constitute a substrate for metallization processes on plastic surfaces.
However, the additional metallization of the racks is undesirable, since the metal layers have to be removed again from the racks after the coating of the articles. This means additional cost and inconvenience for the removal, combined with additional consumption of chemicals. Moreover, the productivity of the metallization plant in this case is lower, since the racks first have to be demetallized prior to reloading with articles. If the demetallization has to take place using semi-concentrated hydrochloric acid and/or using nitric acid, vapours and aerosols are produced, and these lead to corrosion in the environment.
A further problem is that, when rack metallization occurs, it is no longer possible to achieve a defined current density in a reproducible manner because the extent of the rack coverage is usually unknown, and the exact surface area of the rack is likewise unknown. The consequence is then usually that the metal layer applied to the galvanized plastic articles is too thin.
In the case of use of chromic acid-containing etchants, this problem is much reduced. During the etching, chromic acid also penetrates into the plastic casing of the racks and diffuses back out of it during the subsequent process steps, thus preventing metallization of the rack.
Thus, if the intention is to replace toxic chromosulphuric acid for etching treatment of plastics with environmentally safe process steps, it becomes necessary to prevent unwanted metallization of the racks.
Patent DE 195 10 855 C2 describes a process for selective or partial electrolytic metallization of nonconductive materials. In this case, the simultaneous metallization of the racks is prevented by omitting treatment steps with adsorption-promoting solutions, called conditioners. However, it is emphasized that the process for metallizing nonconductive materials in DE 195 10 855 C2 is suitable only for direct metallization.

Process for metallizing nonconductive plastic surfaces


There is now provided a cemented carbide button for rock drilling comprising a core and a surface zone surrounding the core whereby both the surface zone and the core contains WC (.alpha.-phase) and a binder phase based on at least one of cobalt, nickel or iron and that the core in addition contains .eta.-phase. In addition, in the inner part of the surface zone situated close to the core, the cobalt content is higher than the nominal content of cobalt and the cobalt content in the outermost part of the surface zone is lower than the nominal and increases in the direction towards the core, up to a maximum usually at the .eta.-phase core. The grain size distribution of the hard constituent in the zone with high cobalt content and in the .eta.-phase core is narrow in contrast to a button of the prior art in which the grain size distribution of the hard constituent in the zone with high cobalt content and the .eta.-phase core is wide. As a result, a button with improved resistance against plastic deformation is obtained. The improvement is obtained by pressing and sintering a powder mixture which has not been milled in the conventional way, but in which the binder phase has been uniformly distributed by coating the hard constituent particles with binder phase.

The present invention relates to cemented carbide bodies useful in tools for rock drilling, mineral cutting, oil drilling and in tools for concrete and asphalt milling.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,515, cemented carbide buttons are disclosed having a core with finely and evenly distributed .eta.-phase embedded in the normal .alpha.+.beta.-phase structure, and a surrounding surface zone with only .alpha.+.beta.-phase (.alpha.=tungsten carbide, .beta.=binder phase, e.g., cobalt, and .eta.=M.sub.6 C, M.sub.12 C and other carbides, e.g., Co.sub.3 W.sub.3 C). An additional condition is that in the inner part of the surface zone situated close to the core, the cobalt content is higher than the nominal content of cobalt and that the cobalt content in the outermost part of the surface zone is lower than the nominal and increases in the direction towards the core up to a maximum, usually at the .eta.-phase core.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,549 discloses an improvement of the above-mentioned U.S. patent in which the cobalt content is essentially constant in the outer surface zone resulting in further increased wear properties.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,869, it has been found that further improvement is obtained in certain rock drilling applications if the core containing .eta.-phase is exposed on the top surface.
Cemented carbide bodies according to the above-mentioned patents are manufactured according to powder metallurgical methods: milling, pressing and sintering. The milling operation is an intensive mechanical milling in mills of different sizes and with the aid of milling bodies. The milling time is on the order of several hours up to days. Such processing is believed to be necessary in order to obtain a uniform distribution of the binder phase in the milled mixture, but it results in a wide WC grain size distribution.
In U.S Pat. Nos. 5,505,902 and 5,529,804, methods of making cemented carbide are disclosed according to which the milling is essentially excluded. In order to obtain a uniform distribution of the binder phase in the powder mixture, the hard constituent grains are instead precoated with the binder phase, the mixture is further mixed with a pressing agent, pressed and sintered. In the first mentioned patent, the coating is made by a SOL-GEL method and in the second, a polyol is used.
An important restriction of the above-mentioned prior art patents is the toughness properties of the cobalt rich zone. During the heat treatment process after sintering, the .eta.-phase in that zone is transformed to WC--Co resulting in a structure with both fine and coarse WC grains. Fine WC grain size in a cobalt rich matrix gives low resistance against plastic deformation in all applications where high forces and high temperatures are present such as in rock and coal cutting and hot forming. In these types of applications, there is substantial risk for damage of the whole tool caused by plastic deformation.
Another disadvantage of the prior art structure is the presence of both fine and coarse WC grains in the cobalt rich zone and the .eta.-phase core, leading to low resistance against crack propagation.

Cemented carbide body with increased wear resistance


A machine for dispensing food items has a cooling unit for accommodating packages of edible inner part and separately outer baked dough part; a unit for opening a package with the edible inner part; a unit for withdrawing individual edible inner part from the open package; a unit for thermal processing of each edible inner part; a unit for opening a box with outer baked dough part; a unit for placing the thermally treated edible inner part into the outer baked dough part in the open package; a unit for warming up the outer baked dough part with the edible inner part located inside the outer baked dough part so as to form a finished food item; a unit for dispensing the thusly formed finished food item; and a transporting a unit for displacing packages with the edible inner parts, the individual inner part, the boxes with the outer baked dough part, and the finished food items between said preceding means.

The present invention relates to a machine and method of dispensing food items with edible inner part and outer baked dough part, in particular to a hot dog dispensing machine and to a method of dispensing hot dogs.
Hot dog vending machines are known in the art. One of such hot dog vending machines is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,390,277. In this reference a sausage and a roll are packed together. Heating of the sausage is performed by passing electric currents through it with electrodes which pierce through a pack of the sausage and roll. U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,384 discloses a machine in which the sausage and the roll are packed in a box, and the ends of the sausage project outwardly of the box. The heating of the sausage is performed by electric current passing through the sausage. Then, the ends of the sausage which touch the electrodes are cut off. In the machine disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,511 the sausage and the roll are packed together so that the sausage is arranged in a box above the roll of V-shaped so as to be supported on special cardboard spaces. The heating of the sausage is performed by passing of electric current through the sausage with the electrodes which pierce through the pack, and the roll is heated by a special heater introduced into a slot of the roll. In all these references the sausage and the roll are packaged and/or dispensed together. Since the sausage is packaged together with the rolls their storage has to be performed at a low temperature so that they are actually frozen to prevent spoilage of the sausage.
In all of the prior art the taste and flavor of the hot dogs was not attained because the components became stale before they were heated and the sausages were not properly grilled.

Machine and method of dispensing food items with edible inner part and outer baked dough part


A computer system, typically a postage member system, has a processor, a memory, an address decoder, and a window circuit. The window circuit selectively couples the write strobe output of the processor with the write strobe input of the memory in response to the processor's setting and clearing of a latched signal. A counter resets the processor if the latched signal is set and not cleared within a predetermined time period.

The invention relates generally to the protection of important or critical data in memory devices, and relates particularly to protection of such data in postage meters.
When important information is stored in a computer system it is commonplace to provide security against loss of some or all of the information, for example by making a backup copy of the information. In some systems, however, the information as stored in the system is what must be capable of being relied upon, and the theoretical feasibility of relying on backups is of little or no value. An example of such a system is the electronic postage meter, in which the amount of postage available for printing is stored in a nonvolatile memory. The user should not be able to affect the stored postage data in any way other than reducing it (by printing postage) or increasing it (by authorized resetting activities). Some single stored location must necessarily be relied upon by all parties (the customer, the postal service, and the provider of the meter) as the sole determinant of the value of the amount of postage available for printing. In electronic postage meters that single stored location is the secure physical housing of the meter itself. Within the secure housing one or more items of data in one or more nonvolatile memories serve to determine the amount of postage available for printing.
Experience with modern-day systems employing processors shows that it is advantageous to guard against the possibility of a processor running amok. Generally a processor is expected to execute its stored program and it is assumed the stored program contains no programming errors. Under rare circumstances, however, a processor may commence executing something other than the stored program, such as data. Under other rare circumstances the processor, even though it may be executing the stored program, nonetheless behaves incorrectly due to the incorrect contents of a processor register or a memory location. The former may occur if, for example, the instruction pointer or program counter of the processor changes a bit due to, say, absorption of a cosmic ray. The latter may occur if the contents of the processor register or memory location are changed by that or other mechanisms.
In pragmatic terms it is not possible to prove the correctness of a stored program; testing and debugging of the program serve at best to raise to a relatively high level (but not to certainty) the designer's confidence in the correctness of the code. Nonetheless an unforeseen combination of internal states, or an unforeseen set of inputs, has been known to cause a program that was thought to be fully debugged to proceed erroneously.
For all these reasons in systems where crucial data are stored in what is necessarily a single location under control of a processor running a stored program, it is highly desirable to provide ways to detect a processor running amok and to reduce to a minimum the likelihood of the processor's harming the crucial data. In the particular case of a postage meter, it is desirable that the amount of postage available for printing, also called the descending register, be recoverable by an authorized technician even if the system is completely inoperable from the customer's point of view, even after any of a wide range of possible processor malfunctions.
Numerous measures have been attempted to protect crucial data in such systems as postage meters. In a system having an address decoder providing selection outputs to the various memory devices in the system, it is known to monitor all the selection outputs of the address decoder, and to permit the processor's write strobe to reach certain of the memory devices only if (a) the address decoder has selected one of the certain memory devices, and (b) the address decoder has not selected any memory device other than the certain memory devices.
In another system having an address decoder providing selection outputs to the various memory devices in the system, it is known to monitor the selection outputs associated with certain of the memory devices, and to take a predetermined action if any of the selection outputs is selected for longer than a predetermined interval of time. The predetermined action is to interrupt the write strobe and selection outputs to the certain of the memory devices.
Although these approaches isolate the certain memory devices (typically the devices containing the crucial postage data) upon occurrence of some categories of malfunction, they do little or nothing to cure the malfunction when it is caused by a processor running amok. That is, it is important to distinguish the problems just mentioned from the problem of physical malfunction of a processor or other system component. Simple physical malfunction can be quite rare if conservative design standards are followed and if the system is used in rated ambient conditions, so that the frequency of occurrence of such physical malfunctions can be low. But many of the above-mentioned failure modes are not of a lasting physical nature and, if appropriately cleared, need not give rise to permanent loss of functionality.
It is also well-known to provide "watchdog" circuits in computerized systems. In such a system the code executed by the processor includes periodic issuance of a watchdog signal which serves to clear a watchdog circuit. If an excessive time passes without receipt of the watchdog signal, the watchdog circuit takes protective action such as shutting down the system or resetting the processor. The latter action has the advantage that it may restore normal processor function if, for example, the malfunction was due to a spurious change in the value of the instruction pointer or program counter. But the watchdog circuit only triggers after the passage of a predetermined interval, and processor malfunction could conceivably alter crucial data during the predetermined interval and prior to a watchdog-induced reset. It would be most desirable if crucial data could enjoy more comprehensive safeguards against processor malfunction, with the safeguards implemented in such a way as to permit restoration of proper processor function if possible.

Protection system for critical memory information


A method for altering interior illumination in a motor vehicle includes provisions for adjusting the interior lighting conditions to improve visibility of the illuminated objects under different ambient lighting conditions. In some cases, the method can also include provisions that adjust interior lighting conditions quickly if sudden changes in ambient light are detected.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of motor vehicles, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing adjusting the interior illumination in a motor vehicle.
2. Related Art
Motor vehicles generally provide some kind of interior illumination or lighting. Interior lighting can be provided to a number of different locations and can be used to illuminate different components and systems associated with the interior of a motor vehicle. Some examples of interior illumination include a dome light and a map light. Dome lights generally provide illumination to most of the passenger cabin. This can assist drivers and occupants in entering or exiting a motor vehicle at night time. Map lights can provide directed illumination to assist in reading maps or directions. Unlike dome lights, map lights can be designed to operate while the motor vehicle is in motion.
Other components are also illuminated to assist with visibility during low light conditions. Low light conditions include night time, dawn, dusk and low light conditions caused by objects that obstruct sunlight. Examples of obstructions include trees, woods, bridges, buildings and tunnels. In some cases, certain components are illuminated to assist with their visibility during low light conditions. Some examples of components that are illuminated include switches, the dashboard, the instrument cluster and the center console. These components can be back lit, directly lit or these components can include elements that illuminate like LCD's or LED's.
Various lighting control systems have been proposed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,484 to Asano discloses a lighting control apparatus on a control panel in an automobile including brightness control means responsive to an operation of a dimmer knob for giving brightness setting information, for giving a brightness signal for controlling a luminosity of an instrument panel, and for giving a luminosity of the control panel, which is provided near the instrument panel to a luminosity corresponding to the operation of the dimmer knob.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 2003/0214242 to Berg-Johansen discloses a system for controlling light including a display readable in fall daylight conditions as well as at the other extreme, in complete darkness. Sudden changes in the interior cockpit lighting conditions may occur, such as when the general cockpit lighting is turned on or off or when clouds block direct sunlight. An appropriate amount of backlight illumination is required to ensure consistent, readable avionics displays under a variety of changing lighting conditions.
Japanese Patent Number 4143134 to Takesato and assigned to Mazda, discloses lighting for appliances such as liquid crystals and fluorescent lamps provided for the instrument panel and its peripheries of a vehicle. The lighting appliances are dimmed by dimming commands from a dimming circuit which is operated with both a switch in a small lamp system and a head lamp switch turned on. A dimming adjust circuit is interposed within a control unit and sends a mode signal to the dimming circuit in response to an input from a sunshine sensor so the degree of dimming can be adjusted in response to external brightness.
While the proposed lighting systems discussed above include some features; none of the proposed lighting control systems provides a system that can rapidly respond to sudden changes in ambient lighting conditions. There is currently a need for a system that improves the visibility of interior elements by addressing the noted shortcomings.

Method for adjusting interior illumination


A camera system comprising an optical unit, a mounting device moveably mounting the optical unit on a mounting surface, an actuator generating an actuation movement, wherein the actuator is coupled to the optical unit and/or to the mounting device, so that the optical unit is moved relative to the mounting surface around a swivel range when the actuator is actuated, a sensor device adapted to detect orientation information, a controlling device controlling the actuator and adapted to determine a compensation movement based on the orientation information for compensation for a backlash-based relative movement between the actuator and the optical unit, wherein the optical unit comprises a center of gravity out of the swivel range, wherein the compensation movement is varied in dependence of a position of the center of gravity relative to the swivel range.

The present invention relates to a camera system.
Camera systems are commonly known in a surveillance monitoring field. These camera systems normally comprise a camera which can be positioned by a positioning system. Due to a mechanical tolerances and gap reservation for thermal expansion of materials, the positioning system has a mechanical play. This mechanical play will cause an inaccuracy in positioning, which can be partially or fully mitigated by a backlash compensation.
The document US 2003 077 082 A1, which probably forms the closest prior art, describes a pan/tilt camera system that includes a sensor, spaced from a rotational shaft of a pan/tilt camera, a detected piece rotated with the rotational shaft so as to correspond to the sensor, an origin setting unit rotating the rotational shaft in a first direction upon turn-on of a power so that the detected piece corresponds to the sensor and thereafter, rotating the rotational shaft in a second direction opposite to the first direction so that the sensor detects a rear end of the detected piece with respect to the rotation direction of the detected piece, setting an origin, a pulse counter applying a predetermined number of pulses to the motor after set of the origin so that the rotational shaft is continuously rotated in the second direction and further so that the rotational shaft is subsequently reversed at a speed equal to the predetermined speed, the pulse counter counting pulses applied to the motor until a front end of the detected piece with respect to the rotation direction of the detected piece is detected, and a backlash calculating unit comparing a count of the pulse counter with the predetermined number of pulses applied to the motor thereby to calculate an amount of backlash of the drive mechanism. Position control of the pan/tilt camera is compensated for on the basis of the amount of backlash calculated by the backlash calculating unit.

Camera system for positioning an optical unit of the camera system


A device is provided that aids in the medical compression process. One example of such a device is a medical compression device that can be added to medical machinery, such as the Hologic® Multicare Prone Biopsy table or a Hologic® upright biopsy table/system. The device can be configured to be placed into and partially through an “operating window” of a compression paddle component used in the biopsy table. The device advantageously does not require modification of the biopsy table or modification of the compression paddle/guide for use.

Certain medical procedures can cause many unwanted side effects. For example, bleeding with the development of a hematoma after minimally invasive breast biopsies performed with stereotactic guidance can have a significant negative impact on patient satisfaction and may complicate and delay definitive post procedure care.
For example, large post biopsy hematomas can distort regional breast anatomy at the biopsy site and lead to significant delays of up to six weeks in performing lumpectomy for biopsy proven small breast cancers due to distortion and displacement of the tumor site. Large or painful post biopsy hematomas can also lead to reluctance in patients to undergo future medical interventions including recommended breast biopsies. Furthermore, post procedure hematomas may also increase post biopsy infection rates and, for some patients, the pain and delay in treatment may alter negatively the relief that a curable cancer was accurately diagnosed with the biopsy.
Currently, a breast biopsy may be performed by medical personnel using a variety of different modalities employing ultrasound, MRI or stereotactic guidance. For example, medical personnel may use a machine-operated unit to perform the biopsy using digital X-ray and stereotactic targeting techniques followed by manual compression of the biopsy site to prevent bleeding and hematoma formation.
One example of such a unit is the Hologic® MultiCare Prone Biopsy table or a Hologic® upright biopsy table/system. With the prone biopsy table, a patient lies prone on the biopsy table with her breast pendulant thru a hole in the table. Medical personnel may then target and perform a breast biopsy and other related procedures. Typically, a medical technologist or nurse will then apply manual compression to the biopsy site of the patient as part of a medical procedure to limit bleeding and hematoma development.
Currently, manual compression after biopsies requires valuable medical technologist or nursing time averaging 10 to 15 minutes per case and up to 40 minutes in more difficult cases if persistent bleeding is noted or the patient is on "blood thinners"/anticoagulant therapy. The degree, effectiveness, and duration of manual compression are variable among medical personnel potentially leading to bleeding and hematoma formation.
Hematomas are difficult to control once they have evolved and hence early effective compression preventing hematomas from developing is desirable.
There is thus an opportunity to improve the existing technology, especially with respect to medical manual compression procedures.
In certain example embodiments, a device is provided that aids in the medical compression process. One example of such a device is a medical compression device that can be added to medical machinery, such as the Hologic® Multicare Prone Biopsy table, for example. The device can be configured to be placed into and partially through an "operating window" of a compression paddle component used in the biopsy table. The device advantageously does not require modification of the biopsy table or modification of the compression paddle/guide for use.
In another example embodiment, the medical compression device can be affixed to the "operating window" of the compression paddle component by using a latch design to fasten the device to the paddle. The medical compression device may also be affixed to the "operating window" without the use of latches also. For example, the medical compression device may have a grooved portion that is configured to allow the device to be affixed to the "operating window" of the compression paddle without the use of latches.


Apparatuses and methods are provided for an infant support apparatus that can be used to support an infant and can permit an infant to develop motor skills and musculature. A support mat in one aspect can have first and second ends and a bolster around which the support mat can be overwrapped to form a head portion. The head portion can be removably attachable to the support mat. The support mat can be adjustably extended and retracted in length to accommodate for infant growth. A foot portion can be positioned opposite the head portion and can be used for engagement by lower extremities of an infant. The head portion can be of any suitable shape, such as for example, the shape of a cylinder, an hourglass, a wedge, or a modified wedge shape.

The motor skills and muscular development period in the lives of infants is inevitably crucial to their conditioning and musculature growth. This period of growth is considered to be a difficult and potentially hazardous time for infants. The need to properly strengthen muscles and coordinate muscle movement can be assisted with appropriate development and strengthening tools. Current and available mechanisms, however, do not provide leg strengthening configurations adapted to permit infants to kick and push against a resilient structure to develop motor skills and strengthen their lower extremities.
Additionally, pediatricians recommend that infants receive "tummy time" beginning at two months of age. Tummy time refers to placing infants in a prone position on their stomachs. When placed in a prone position, infants develop upper body muscular strength, coordination, and head control. Furthermore, tummy time promotes development of physical skills required for rolling over, sitting, and crawling. Moreover, the prone position aids in minimizing recent concerns of positional plagiocephaly, which is the development of flat surfaces on the head of an infant caused by infants sleeping so many hours on the back of their heads.
Also, while attempting to develop motor skills and muscle strength in their lower extremities, infants will kick and push with their legs as they become older. During this development, parents may place infants on a chair, couch, or other soft surface to stand and develop muscle strength so that when the infant loses his balance and falls there will be a soft landing waiting. This, however, requires constant attention by the parent to ensure the infant does not fall off the couch or chair.
Current infant support pads with dual cushions on opposite ends are merely for maintaining the infant in a stationary position while sleeping or riding in a vehicle. Also, restraining devices are available for maintaining an infant in a stationary position to prevent the infant from rolling, but none function to build motor skills and musculature in an infant. Other structures available simply accommodate resting adults by providing adaptable cushioning for the legs and head to conform to at rest. Moreover, no apparatus is available that permits an infant to develop leg muscles and lower extremities safely while in either a prone or supine position and wherein the apparatus is adjustable to accommodate infant growth.

Apparatuses for infant support and development


A device that synchronizes circuits over asynchronous links is disclosed. Some embodiments of the invention include a device that comprises a plurality of circuits. One of the plurality of circuits is designated as a “master” circuit. The master circuit is configured to send a first synchronization signal to one or more of the plurality of circuits, and each circuit that receives the first synchronization signal is configured to responsively send a second synchronization signal to one or more of the plurality of circuits.

Many types of devices comprise a plurality of circuits. Such devices may include network switches, hubs, and routers. The circuits in the device may perform specific tasks, such as storing, routing, and manipulating data. For the device to properly operate, the timing of the circuits may need to be aligned with each other. The process of aligning the timing of circuits to ensure proper operation may be referred to as synchronization. Efficient techniques that synchronize circuits are desirable.

Circuit synchronization over asynchronous links


A blower for a furnace is provided where the blower has a housing with an industry standard 4xe2x80x3 diameter exhaust port. The discharge of the blower housing is coupled directly to exhaust piping without the use of transition pieces or expender pieces.

(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a blower for a furnace that is used to remove combustion products and exhaust gases from the furnace. Specifically, the invention pertains to the construction of a housing for the blower where the housing has a 4xe2x80x3 diameter discharge that couples directly to industry standard 4xe2x80x3 exhaust piping.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Furnaces utilize a blower to induce a draft through the furnace to draw combustion air into a combustion chamber of the furnace where the combustion air is mixed with fuel and ignited to produce heat for the furnace. The combustion products are drawn through a heat exchanger where the heat from the combustion products is transferred to temperature controlled circulating air which is directed through the house. The combustion products exit the heat exchanger and enter the furnace blower where they are propelled from the furnace blower into exhaust piping that leads to the outside atmosphere.
The blower housings that have been used to construct these furnace blowers have been conventionally made of sheet metal. The sheet metal is stamped to form the housing with a generally flat top wall and depended side wall that extends around a peripheral edge of the top wall. The top wall and side wall generally define a hollow interior for the blower housing. Typically, a motor is mounted on the top wall and a motor shaft is directed through a shaft hole in the top wall into the hollow interior of the blower housing. The motor shaft is coupled to an impeller, and the rotation of the impeller moves the combustion products and exhaust gases through the furnace. Generally, the impeller compresses the gases against the side wall of the blower housing where the exhaust gases are pressurized and directed toward a discharge formed in the blower housing. The discharge is then coupled to the exhaust pipe so that the exhaust gases and combustion products may be propelled into the exhaust pipe to be vented to the atmosphere.
In the prior art, the discharge generally has a rectangular cross-section and the exhaust piping has a generally circular cross-section. Moreover, exhaust piping in residential housing has an industry standard 4xe2x80x3 diameter. Thus, in order to couple the discharge to the exhaust, conventional blowers utilize a transition piece. The transition piece is attached to the blower housing and converts the rectangular discharge into a circular exhaust port that can be connected to the circular exhaust pipe. Moreover, this transition piece expands the discharge of the exhaust port into the industry standard 4xe2x80x3 exhaust piping connection.
These transition pieces are typically made of cast aluminum and are expensive to manufacture. The transition piece increases the cost of the blower and the associate furnace with which the blower is assembled. In the prior art, the exhaust transition pieces are often attached to the rectangular blower housing exhaust port by screws. Usually, 3 or 4 sheet metal screws are used to attach the exhaust transition piece to the discharge of the blower housing. A manual operation is required to attach the transition pieces to the blower housing. This increases manufacturing costs associated with production of the blower. Additionally, the screws sometimes loosen, causing the exhaust transition piece to become loosely connected to the discharge. This sometimes causes leaks and may product undesirable noise as the exhaust transition piece rattles and vibrates when the blower is operated.
In order to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art cast aluminum pieces, the inventor has succeeded in developing an exhaust transition that is considerably less expensive to manufacture and eliminates the problems with leakage and undesirable vibration. In a pending application Ser. No. 09/651,645 filed on Aug. 30, 2000, entitled xe2x80x9cFurnace Blower Housing With Integrally Formed Exhaust Transition,xe2x80x9d (incorporated herein by reference) a two-piece exhaust transition is described. In this arrangement, the exhaust transition has a first section which is integrally formed with the blower housing body and a second section which attaches to the first section to form the exhaust port of the discharge in a circular configuration that can be easily coupled to the exhaust pipe. The first and second sections may be joined together by crimping or other mechanical fastening methods so as to produce a seamless exhaust transition from the blower housing to the exhaust pipe.
Generally speaking, furnace manufactures specify the size and configuration of the blower and require that the blower fit in a predetermined envelope on a furnace. Thus, the blower manufacturer must design the blower to meet the size requirements while assuring the blower has sufficient air moving capacity to remove combustion products and other gases from the furnace. Typically, in most residential housing furnace constructions, the blower housing must have an axial height of no more than 2xc2xcxe2x80x3. This poses a problem for the blower manufacturer when forming an exhaust transition at the discharge that directly meets the industry standard 4xe2x80x3 exhaust piping requirement. In order to reduce costs of blower housing, the housings are generally stamped from metallic stock blanks. As described previously, the blank is formed with a top wall and a depending side wall. The side wall is generally sized with an axial height of 1xc2xdxe2x80x3 to 2xe2x80x3. With an overall diameter constraint and the side wall dimension constraints, the maximum size exhaust transition that may be formed is approximately 3xe2x80x3. Thus, in order to couple the exhaust transition portion of the discharge to the exhaust piping, a 3xe2x80x3 to 4xe2x80x3 expander piece is required. Use of the 3xe2x80x3 to 4xe2x80x3 expanded case is problematic as described previously in that it increases the parts associated with the furnace, increases assembly labor of attaching the blower to the exhaust piping, and increases the possibility of leakage.
In order to avoid use of the transition piece, several attempts have been made to form the blower housing discharge with an exhaust port at 4xe2x80x3 that may be directly coupled to the exhaust pipe. However, in attempting to stamp the discharge exhaust port at 4xe2x80x3, several manufacturing problems occur. The extreme rapid change of the axial dimension at the discharge causes failure of the blower housing by separation of the top wall from the side wall. This is also coupled with extreme distortion and insufficient thickness of the top wall in the area around the discharge. Due to size constraints, the overall discharge exhaust port cannot be extended outward from the blower housing. Thus, in order to create a more gradual increase in the axial height of the blower housing to the discharge, the transition point has been formed within the interior of the blower housing. However, as the transition point is moved into the interior of the blower housing, overall blower performance is degraded. The rapid increase in area at the discharge of the blower leads to a decrease in the overall pressure that can be developed by the impeller in the blower housing.
Thus, what is needed is a blower housing having an integrally formed 4xe2x80x3 transition piece which may be easily manufactured without causing failure of the blower housing and without degrading overall performance of the blower. Such a blower housing would eliminate parts and reduce assembly labor. The blower housing would directly couple to the exhaust pipe and provide a seamless transition to the exhaust pipe to reduce the possibility of leakage.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a blower housing with a discharge that couples directly to the 4xe2x80x3 industry standard exhaust pipe. The blower of the present invention reduces the number of parts associated with the blower, reduces assembly labor, and increases reliability by reducing the possibility of leakage. The blower of the present invention provides a blower housing which is easily manufacturable and meets the furnace designer""s requirements for size and air moving capacity.
The blower of the present invention includes a housing with a top wall and opposite bottom wall with a side wall extending between the top and bottom walls. The top, bottom and side walls define a hollow interior of the blower housing and the blower housing has a discharge in communication with the hollow interior. An impeller is rotatably disposed in the blower housing and compresses the exhaust gases in the blower housing so that they may be propelled from the blower housing to the exhaust pipe. The top wall has a generally conically shaped expanding portion formed adjacent the blower housing side wall that extends from the discharge of the blower housing to the interior of the blower housing. The conically shaped expanding portion forms a tapered transition from the top wall and side wall to the discharge. The conically shaped expanding portion is configured to form a 4xe2x80x3 discharge port that meets the industry standard to couple directly to the exhaust pipe while maintaining required performance for air moving capacity to meet the furnace manufacturer""s requirements.
The blower of the present invention provides a discharge that can be seamlessly connected to the exhaust piping to reduce transition pieces and other added parts previously required in the prior art to couple the blower to the exhaust pipe. Moreover, the blower of the present invention fits directly on the furnace without the attendant problems found in blowers of the prior art.

Stamped blower housing with 4xe2x80x3 transition


A device and method for determining the flow rate of gas entrapped fluids delivered in a pulsating flow, such as milk, wherein the invention boasts an improved fluid level detection arrangement for determining flow rates with improved accuracy, and an improved temperature sensing arrangement for determining the temperature of the gas entrapped fluid with improved accuracy.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for measuring flow rates. More particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method for determining the flow rate of gas entrapped fluids delivered in a pulsating flow, such as milk wherein the invention boasts an improved fluid level detection arrangement for determining flow rates with improved accuracy, and an improved temperature sensing arrangement for determining the temperature of the gas entrapped fluid with improved accuracy.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
In recent years, it has become increasingly important for farmers to monitor and document the productivity of the cows within a given herd so as to ensure that dairy operations are being conducted with the highest degree of efficiency. A principal indicator of productivity is milk output, that is, the amount of milk that each cow is capable of rendering over a given period of time. By monitoring the milk output of each cow, a farmer can maximize the total amount of milk generated by the entire herd by singling out low-producing cows and replacing them with cows having greater ability to provide milk. Moreover, in that milk output is related to the overall health of a cow, farmers may also reduce the likelihood of having "tainted" milk enter the main holding tank by removing the low-producing, potentially ill cows from the milking herd, thereby improving the overall quality of the milk within the holding tank. In order to properly monitor milk output, it is essential to determine the true flow rate of the milk being delivered. However, obtaining an accurate assessment of flow rate during milking operations is particularly challenging due to the turbulent, pulsatile nature of the milk flow, as well as the foaming which results therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,083,459, issued to Lind et al., illustrates an exemplary metering device for determining the flow rate of gas-entrapped fluids delivered in a pulsating flow, such as the milk rendered from cows during dairy operations. The flow meter of the '459 patent includes a multi-section, separable housing having a velocity reduction chamber for reducing the velocity of the incoming milk, a turbulence reduction chamber for reducing the amount of turbulence of the milk flow and for separating out foam, and a measurement chamber having a plurality of vertically spaced probe members for measuring the fluid level of the milk passing therethrough. More specifically, a "common probe" fluid level detection arrangement is employed, wherein a base probe is disposed proximate the bottom of the measurement chamber for receiving a driving signal and the upper probes are monitored the determine when conductivity is established between the base probe and any of the upper probes due to the rising and falling of the fluid within the measurement chamber. In this fashion, the fluid level within the measurement chamber can be continuously tracked and further correlated into flow rate such that the milk output for each cow within a herd may be monitored and documented.
Although the physical structure of the housing is highly successful in reducing the turbulent, pulsatile fluid flow into a manageable fluid stream, the above-identified "common probe" fluid level detection arrangement occasionally results in inaccurate fluid level assessments when high and low fluid levels exist within the measurement chamber. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, this stems from the fact that the base probe is common to all fluid level measurements. More particularly, the impedance between the base probe and each upper probe is unique and fixed such that the impedance associated with a particular fluid level is different than the impedance associated with other fluid levels. By basing each fluid level determination on different base probe-to-upper probe impedances, the sensitivity of the "common probe" fluid level detection arrangement varies depending upon the particular fluid level. In practice, the varying sensitivity of the "common probe" fluid level detection arrangement may cause it to fail to detect when continuity is established between the base probe and the upper probes at high fluid levels, as well as detect continuity between the base probe and upper probes at low fluid levels when in actuality continuity has not been established. Missing continuity "hits" and detecting false continuity "hits" in this fashion causes the resulting determination of flow rate to be inaccurate and therefore less valuable in monitoring milk production.
In addition to monitoring milk production, agriculturalists oftentimes find it helpful to monitor the temperature of each cow within a herd as a way to further ensure that the cows are in good health for optimizing the milk production of the herd. The traditional technique for assessing cow temperature requires manually inserting a thermometer in the rectum and/or vagina of the cow so as to obtain a direct assessment of body temperature. While this method does provide highly accurate cow temperature assessments, it is nonetheless is disadvantageously time consuming as well as undesirably messy. To avoid these drawbacks, various efforts have been undertaken to monitor cow temperature via indirect means so as to eliminate the need for manually inserting thermometers in the cows as described above. For example, in the system disclosed in the '459 patent to Lind et al., a temperature sensing element is typically inserted into the fluid line extending between the milk flow meter and the holding tank to monitor the temperature of the milk being extracted from each cow. Milk temperature, it is found, provides a general indication of the temperature of the cow being milked. While this method for indirectly monitoring cow temperature is generally useful, it is nonetheless flawed in that the temperature sensing element is positioned a fair distance from the actual cow and requires permanently altering the fluid line to insert the temperature sensing element therein. Disposing the temperature sensing element distal to the cow in this fashion subjects the temperature sensing element to fluctuations unrelated to cow temperature, such as temperature variations within the milking parlor, such that the resulting milk temperature measurements may not accurately reflect the true temperature of the cow. Permanently altering the fluid line results in increased costs in terms of both the time required to alter the fluid line, as well as the cost of material.
A need therefore exists for an improved flow meter having an improved fluid level detection arrangement capable of consistently rendering accurate fluid level assessments for reliable flow rate determination. A further need exists for an improved flow meter having an internally disposed temperature sensing element for providing milk temperature assessments which accurately reflect the actual temperature of the cow.


A zipper pull with a cover member, which has a simple structure and can be manufactured at a low cost, can realize a good and stable receiving and holding ability of a pull-tab over a long period of time, and also can prevent swinging between respective component parts, is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zipper pull, and particularly relates to a zipper pull with a cover member capable of realizing stable and good receiving and holding property of a zipper pull-tub for a long period of time and further, capable of preventing backlash among respective component parts with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for example, zippers are widely used as fasteners for articles, such as bags and rucksacks, and for clothing articles, such as jackets, sweat suits, etc. As one example of the zippers, there is a common zipper pull attached to an opening of the aforementioned articles, which comprises a slider body selectively engaging and disengaging opposed engaging elements of a pair of co-operating zipper stringers by operation of a zipper pull, and a pull-tab that is made of a rigid material and is movably connected to the slider.
In addition, as the other example of the zippers, there is a zipper pull, which comprises three members including the slider body, the pull-tab and a cover member. This cover member is connected to the pull-tab and is adapted to be movable between a first position in which the pull-tab is concealed and a second position in which the pull-tab is revealed. This zipper provided with the cover member is often used as fasteners of clothes used by motorcyclists. The clothes can be made of leather, imitation leather, or similar materials, and which in general are rather costly. In such clothes, a prolonged and frequent bouncing of the pull-tab in use may, besides being annoying the rider, causes wear and damage of the portions of the clothes adjoining the zipper pull because the zipper pull directly contacts the adjoining portions of the clothes, and thereby representing inconvenience.
An example of a zipper provided with such kind of cover member is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,988,761. In the zipper pull disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 1,988,761, a flat, rigid cover plate is hingedly connected to the pull-tab. The cover plate is resiliently biased at the first position (a rest position), in which an unornamental assembly comprising the slider body and the pull-tab is concealed, in a direction contacting the adjoining portions of the article. Consequently, more neat and ornamental articles can be obtained.
On the other hand, as the other example of this zipper pull, for example, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,538 discloses the other zipper pull having a pull-tab. A portion of a ring is integrally fixed to a free end of the pull-tab disclosed in this specification so as to surround this pull-tab, at the same time of molding the ring. This ring is always biased to an element side such that this ring is located on the same plane as the pull-tab. Therefore, when the ring is rotatably operated in a direction at which the ring is detached from the elements at a certain angle, its rebound resilience has been increased. This attaching position and the resilience of the ring acts for reducing the tendency of the zipper pull to bounce, which can be particularly annoying a person involved in a ritmic activity such as jogging. This resilient ring however leaves the pull-tab and the slider body of the zipper substantially unconcealed.
As described above, the zipper pull disclosed in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 1,988,761 is biased to the first position in which the assembly is concealed in a direction contacting the adjoining portions of the article. Therefore, structurally, this zipper pull may be easily affected by the above mentioned defects and in this point, this zipper pull remains the same as before. Further, according to this conventional zipper pull, a connected portion shaped in a hinge between the rigid cover plate and the pull-tab is embossed upward and as well, the free end of the cover plate conceals the pull-tab with being abutting on a top surface of the slider body. Thus, for example, when this zipper pull is used as the fastener of the clothes used by the motorcyclist and the zipper pull bounces for a long time during use, the free end of the cover plate hits the top surface of the slider body hardly and this also involves a defect such that backlash among respective component parts may be generated as well as the hitting sound may annoy the motorcyclist.
In addition, the zipper pull disclosed in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,538, as described above, has a function to reduce the tendency of the zipper pull to bounce by the attaching position of the ring for fixing the free end of the pull-tab and the resilience of the ring, however, the ring does not conceal the pull-tab and the slider body of the zipper. Therefore, not only the slider body of the zipper but also the structure around the connected portion with this pull are revealed to the outside, so that the article looks unattractive. In addition, according to this conventional zipper pull, the ring contacts the engaging elements more than the art disclosed in the above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 1,988,761, so that the ring resiliently abut on a row of the engaging elements upon each turning the pull-tab via this ring. In this case, the ring may hit the adjoining portion of the clothes or the other articles and it is possible that the ring may damage the elements and their adjoining portion.

Abstract: The cover member of the zipper pull is made of a soft material and has a shape so as to prevent the condition that the pull-tab substantially and directly contacts adjoining portions of an article in the immovable state at the first position. When a slider body and the pull-tub are received in a receptacle, at least the cover member and the slider body are supported and fixed with moving interruption means for interrupting a relative movement of the cover member and the slider body.


A method of fabricating a semiconductor device includes the steps of forming an inter-layer insulating film, forming a contact hole in the inter-layer insulating film, forming a thin conductive film filling the contact hole and covering the inter-layer insulating film, and forming a contact plug filling the contact hole by etching the thin conductive film and thus exposing the surface of the inter-layer insulating film. The etching is conducted such that, from the time when a surface of the inter-layer insulating film is about to be exposed, the thin conductive film and the inter-layer insulating film are etched under substantially the same etching speed. Plug loss in the contact hole is suppressed so that wiring breakage in the contact hole can be prevented.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fabricating semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a method of fabricating a semiconductor device involving a step of forming plugs in contact holes.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A prior art method of forming a contact plug using a polysilicon film (hereinafter referred to as the first prior art) will be described with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1D. First, as shown in FIG. 1A, a BPSG (boronphosphosilicate glass) film 102 is grown on a silicon substrate 101. Then, photosensitive etching resist (hereinafter referred to as a photoresist) 103 is coated, and its portion corresponding to a contact hole formation area is removed by using a photolithographic technique. Then, a contact hole 104 is formed using a dry etching process, and thereafter the photoresist 103 is removed.
Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 1B, a polysilicon layer 105 is grown such that it fills the contact hole 104 and has a substantially flat surface. Thereafter, this semiconductor wafter (SDW) is set on a lower electrode 703 of a dry etching apparatus which has a pair of upper and lower parallel electrodes 702 and 703 arranged in a chamber 701 as shown in FIG. 7. The lower electrode 703 is connected to a radio frequency (RF) power source 705 via a matching box 704. In this etching apparatus, a first stage of etching is carried out under the conditions of SF.sub.6 set to 100 sccm, a pressure set to 360 mTorr and an RF power density set to 2.7 W/cm.sup.2 until the residual film of the polysilicon film 105 on the BPSG film 102 becomes 0.1.about.0.2 .mu.m. In a subsequent second stage of etching, the polysilicon film 105 is etched under the conditions of CF.sub.4 set to 50 sccm, the pressure set to 360 mTorr and the RF power density set to 2.7 W/cm.sup.2 until the BPSG film 102 is exposed, as shown in FIG. 1C. Thus, a contact plug 106 is formed.
Finally, as shown in FIG. 1D, a silicide film 107 is formed using a spattering device or the like, and metal interconnects are formed.
In the above first prior art, great plug loss 108 is expected, as shown in FIG. 1C. Therefore, it is highly possible that the subsequent wiring formation results in breakage 109 of wiring as shown in FIG. 1D. The second prior art which has been intended to cope with this deficiency will be described with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2D.
First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a BPSG film 202 is grown on a silicon substrate 201, and then a photoresist 203 is coated and removed for a contact hole formation area using the photolithographic technique. Then, one-third to one-half of the thickness of the BPSG film 202 is wet etched, and the remaining BPSG film 202 is anisotropically dry etched, thus forming a contact hole 204. The resist 203 is then removed.
Then, as shown in FIG. 2B, a polysilicon film 205 is formed to fill the contact hole 204. Then, as shown in FIG. 2C, the polysilicon film 205 on the BPSG film 202 is dry etched, thus forming a contact plug 206. Finally, as shown in FIG. 2D, wiring is formed from a silicide film 207.
In this contact plug formation process, the contact hole 204 is formed by isotropic wet etching so that the contact hole 204 has a tapered opening portion. It is thus possible to form a wiring interconnect free from breakage irrespective of slight plug loss generation.
Where a contact plug is formed in the above first prior art, the amount of plug loss in the contact hole is, as shown in FIG. 3, 0.075 .mu.m with a contact hole diameter of 1.0 .mu.m, 0.5 .mu.m with a contact hole diameter of 0.8 .mu.m, 0.6 .mu.m with a contact hole diameter of 0.6 .mu.m and 0.85 .mu.m with a contact hole diameter of 0.4 .mu.m. This means that the prior art process of contact plug formation has a problem in that the range of contact hole diameter which is free from breakage 109 of wiring is 1.0 .mu.m or above and, if the contact hole diameter is less than 1.0 .mu.m the process cannot be applied because of the possibility of the breakage 109 of wiring due to the increase in plug loss.
The reason why the plug loss begins to occur as the contact hole diameter becomes less than 1.0 .mu.m is that, when the BPSG film 102 underlying the polysilicon film 105 is exposed and the polysilicon film 105 remains only in the contact hole, there is a sudden increase in the rate of etching of the polysilicon film 105. Experiments conducted by the inventor reveal that under the conditions of the second stage etching in the prior art (i.e., when the rate of etching of the BPSG film is one half or below the rate of etching of the polysilicon film), the rate of etching of the polysilicon film is high when the film is present only in the contact hole compared to the case when the film is entirely covering the BPSG film, as shown in FIG. 4. This trend is more pronounced with smaller contact hole diameters and becomes highly significant when the contact hole diameter (CHD) becomes less than 0.4 .mu.m. Within the accuracy of the currently adopted etching end detection technique, certain overetching is necessary in order to eliminate etching residue on the BPSG film. Therefore, great plug loss is prone particularly with contact plug of small size.
Further, in the first prior art process, as shown in FIG. 1B, the polysilicon film 105 is grown until it becomes flat over the entire semiconductor wafer surface before execution of the etching-back. However, with a contact hole diameter of 0.4 .mu.m or below, it is necessary, in order to obtain the flatness, to grow the polysilicon film 105 to a thickness twice the contact hole diameter if the diameter is 0.4 .mu.m and three times or above if the diameter is 0.3 .mu.m to an aspect ratio of 3, for instance. Therefore, it is necessary to etch a very thick film to form a small size contact plug. This means that, in the formation of a small diameter contact plug, the reproducibility of etching is deteriorated, thus making the etching end detection far more difficult.
In the second prior art noted above, the above problem in the first prior art is solved to a certain extent. However, in the second prior art process, wet etching is adopted to form the contact hole 204. Therefore, if the photoresist 203 and the BPSG film 202 are in an imperfect adhesive state, that is, if they are not closely in contact with each other, the etching proceeds through the semiconductor wafer to a greater extent in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG. 5, and therefore it has been difficult to form an isotropic contact hole as shown in FIG. 2A with good reproducibility. In addition, since the wet etching is used, there is a limitation imposed on the miniaturization of the semiconductor device.

Method of fabricating semiconductor device having step of forming plug in contact hole


Determining contextual confidence of images for associative deep learning includes receiving an image including a representation of a subject. Text data related to the image is received. One or more physical properties of the image are determined. Context information of the image is determined using natural language processing. The image is classified based upon the contextual information and the one or more physical properties using a classification model to determine a classification. An emotional state of the image is determined based upon the physical properties. A confidence of the classification and emotional state is determined.

The taking of "selfies" and other images by users is becoming increasingly popular. A "selfie" is a self-portrait image of a user that is typically captured by an imaging device such as a camera or smartphone held in the hand of the user. Selfies generally depict a current location, event, environment, or other context associated with the image at the time of capture. Selfies are often casual in nature and depict the user in a particular context such as at a sporting event or party. Selfies are often shared on social network services along with related text provided by the user such as a textual description of the location and/or event.

Determining contextual confidence of images using associative deep learning

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A low profile medical lens protector (100) for a medical viewing device having a given diameter, comprising: a rotatable view-through element; a motor which rotates said view-through element; and a housing (140) enclosing said view-through element and said motor, characterized in that said housing has an outer diameter less than 10 mm greater than said given diameter.

Various optical systems are required to operate in adverse environments, in which various solid particles and/or fluid droplets etc. and/or other agglomerations of one or more materials of various stickiness or viscosity (herebelow collectively termed "debris") may adhere to the lens and reduce image quality.
One solution is a centrifugal lens protector, in which a spinning glass disc is placed before the lens, so that all the particles are intercepted by the disc. The centrifugal force generated by the disc as it rotates throws the particles towards the circumference of the disc, where they fall off and/or otherwise stop interfering with the image.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,880 to Rapp, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a camera protector in which the disc is integrated with a rotor of a magnetic motor, with a casing surrounding the disc being the motor housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,333 to Nash, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides a single motor coupled to the disc using a band. The disc is mounted on two lines of bearings. The lens protection device is mounted on the camera, to isolate lens from gyroscopic and vibration forces.
Australian application 9515074, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes another band-based system, in which the disc is said to rotate at between 2600 and 3000 RPM. It is suggested to use a curved or hydrophobic surface to assist in water removal. The motor can be powered using the camera battery pack or using a separate battery.
A particularly difficult environment to view is the inside of the human body. Various medical instruments have been devised for this purpose, for example: the endoscope, the laparoscope which is used for treatment, for example surgery or cauterization or alternative methods of treatment. Commonly an endoscope lens becomes at least partially occluded by body fluids and particles, becoming inoperative. In such circumstance the lens must cleaned. One method of cleaning the lens is to stream a jet of water at the lens, the stream coming from a tube which generally is an integral part of the endoscope assembly. Sometimes the endoscope must be withdrawn for cleaning and reinserted, a time-consuming, risk-increasing and often uncomfortable procedure.