According to the present invention, a temperature sensing part of temperature sensing means is arranged to come into contact with the surface opposite to the image surface of a recording material at the time of one-sided printing without providing such an opposed member that comes into contact with the image surface of the recording material at least in a position corresponding to the position of the temperature sensing part that is in contact with the recording material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or printer using electrophotography or electrostatic recording. In particular, it relates to an image forming apparatus having temperature sensing means for sensing the temperature of a recording material after fusing.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or printer, using electrophotography or electrostatic recording is provided with a fuser for heat-fixing or fusing a toner image onto a recording material. In this case, various techniques are employed to increase the fixability of the image.
One of such techniques, there is proposed a technique for sensing the temperature of a recording material after fusing, and feeding it back so that it will be brought close to a control target temperature. For example, see Japanese patent application laid-open No. H01-150185 (1989), Japanese patent utility model laid-open No. H01-160473 (1989), and Japanese patent application laid-open Nos. H03-53276 (1991), H04-181250 (1992), H06-308854 (1994), H07-230231 (1995), H07-239647 (1995), H10-161468 (1998), 2000-66461, 2001-13816, 2002-23555, 2002-214961, and 2003-29485.
For example, FIG. 9 shows an example of a fusing device using a non-contact sensor for sensing the temperature of a recording material after fusing. In such a fusing device, a non-contact sensor 20 such as an infrared sensor is placed downstream of a fixing area or nip so that it measures the temperature of the recording material in a non-contact manner.
FIG. 10 shows an example of a fusing device using a contact type sensor for sensing the temperature of a recording material after fusing. In such a fusing device, a temperature sensor 18 such as a thermistor is placed downstream of a fixing nip, and an opposed member 19 such as a rubber roller is placed to face the temperature sensor, so that the recording material is nipped between the temperature sensor and the opposed member, allowing the temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the recording material.
In the structure for sensing the temperature of the recording material to feed back the sensed temperature, temperature sensing accuracy is crucial.
Upon fusing the recording material, since the moisture contained in the recording material is also heated, water vapor is produced from the surface of the recording material. In the case of temperature detection using the non-contact sensor, the water vapor fogs the surface of the non-contact sensor, and this makes it difficult to detect the temperature of the recording material accurately.
On the other hand, in the method of bringing the opposed member into contact with the temperature sensor so that the temperature sensor can detect the temperature of the recording material nipped between the temperature sensor and the opposed member, the opposed member draws heat from the recording material, and this also make it difficult to detect the temperature of the recording material accurately.

Image forming apparatus having temperature sensing element for sensing temperature of recording material


A method of curing a low Ca/Mg cement composition is described that includes providing a predetermined quantity of the low Ca/Mg cement composition in uncured form; and reacting the uncured low Ca/Mg cement composition with a reagent chemical for a time sufficient to cure said cementitious material, wherein said reagent chemical is a compound synthesized from CO2 and comprises dicarboxylic acids, tricarboxylic acids, or alpha-hydroxycarboxylic acids.

In this specification where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge, or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.
Concrete is omnipresent. Our homes likely rest on it, our infrastructure is built from it, as are most of our workplaces. Conventional concrete is made by mixing water and aggregates such as sand and crushed stone with ordinary portland cement ("OPC"), a synthetic material made by burning a mixture of ground limestone and clay, or materials of similar composition in a rotary kiln at a sintering temperature of around 1,450° C. OPC manufacturing is not only an energy-intensive process, but also one that releases considerable quantities of greenhouse gas (CO2). The cement industry accounts for approximately 5% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions. More than 60% of such CO2 comes from the chemical decomposition or calcination of limestone. Conventional concrete production and use is not optimal in terms of both economics and environmental impact. Such conventional concrete production technologies involves large energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission, leading to an unfavorable carbon footprint. Furthermore, increasing scarcity of the supplies of limestone also negatively impacts the sustainability of the continued use of ordinary hydraulic cement formulations such as OPC.
Cement is typically made of limestone and shale to form the major phases of alite (C3S in cement chemist notation, Ca3SiO5, sometimes formulated as 3CaO.SiO2) and belite (C2S in cement chemist notation, Ca2SiO4, sometimes formulated as 2CaO.SiO2). Both alite and belite are rich in calcium and hydrate in the presence of water. OPC reacts with water to form calcium silicate hydrate phases and calcium hydroxide. The higher the calcium content in a calcium silicate phase, the more reactive it becomes. For example, CaO.SiO2, which can take the form CaSiO3, the mineral name Wollastonite, does not react with water. 3CaO.2SiO2, the mineral name rankinite does not react with water either. However, when the Ca/Si ratio increases to 2, 2CaO.SiO2, this calcium silicate phase reacts with water. When this ratio increases to 3, 3CaO.SiO2, the resulting phase reacts with water even faster. However, this increased reactivity comes with a cost. The more calcium used, the more CO2 will be emitted because the source of calcium is calcium carbonate.
There have been several attempts to decrease the CO2 emissions in the production and curing of OPC. The first approach is to increase the efficiency of the cement kilns. Today, the most efficient cement kiln can reduce the CO2 emissions from 1 ton to 816 kg per ton of OPC. The second approach is to blend the cement clinker with supplementary cementitious materials ("SCM"), which are mainly fly ash, slag and sometimes with burnt oil shale. These SCM's are by-products of other processes. However, the major problem with SCM is the variation from source to source, abundance, and geographical dependence of the sources. The desire to reduce CO2 has also been a factor leading to the development of carbonatable cement formulations having relatively low Ca content. Carbonatable cement refers to cement that is principally cured by reaction with carbon dioxide, CO2, in any of its forms, such as, gaseous CO2 in the presence of water, CO2 in the form of carbonic acid, H2CO3, or in other forms that permit the reaction of CO2 with the non-hydraulic cement material. The curing process sequesters carbon dioxide gas within the cured material, thus providing obvious environmental benefits. By way of example, Solidia Cement™ has been heralded as a breakthrough technology, having been recognized, for example, as one of the top 100 new technologies by the R&D 100 awards. The production of Solidia Cement™ reduces the CO2 footprint by up to 70% when compared with portland cement and its use in traditional hydraulic concrete. In addition 80% of the water used in Solidia Cement™ based concrete making can be easily reclaimed and reused.
Although the above described curing mechanism of low Ca cement via a carbonation through exposure to carbon dioxide is advantageous and beneficial in many respects, in certain environments or applications, creating an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide, and exposing the uncured cement or concrete to carbon dioxide, may be impractical or undesirable. Therefore, there is a need for providing cement formulations and compositions that may, under normal circumstances do not possess reactivity with water, with the capability of curing when exposed to water, yet also possess a more favorable environmental profile than conventional hydraulic OPC chemistries.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate disclosure of the invention, Applicants in no way disclaim these technical aspects, and it is contemplated that the claimed invention may encompass or include one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.


A method and apparatus for performing ink reduction error diffusion are described. In one embodiment, the method comprises performing vector error diffusion and mapping anchors to printing colors, where performing vector error diffusion includes quantizing each input pixel value to a closest anchor in an anchor set, calculating errors based on differences between the input pixel values and the anchors, and performing error filtering based on calculated errors.

Ink or toner can be a significant cost over the lifetime of a printer or copier. Therefore, using less ink results in overall cost savings. In general, the amount of ink used contributes significantly to the cost of printing the page. If each printed page uses less ink, then that ink savings translates into direct cost savings. Also, environmental benefits may come in the paper recycling process where use of less ink can result in needing fewer toxic chemicals. Furthermore, the paper recycling process is a hydrodynamic process, and thus less ink on paper may result in less water usage and less power to pump the process.
While ink reduction is a desirable result, current color printers do not efficiently use ink. Methods for reducing ink usage includes draft mode technology, pre-halftoning technologies, and halftoning algorithms that reduce ink while maintaining image quality. With respect to the draft mode technology, some current printers provide a 'draft' option that reduces ink by reducing image quality. For example, a draft document may be printed by only printing alternate dots of an image, essentially halving the brightness of the 8 bit C, M, Y and K values before halftoning, or decreasing the saturation of an image before halftoning. Because draft printing reduces the quality of the document, this technique provides only limited usefulness in reducing the quantity of ink used by a color printer or copier.
Another set of technologies changes or limits the 8-bit data before the halftoning. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,925, entitled "System, Method, and Program for Saving Toner/Ink in a Color Printer Without Sacrificing Image Quality," issued Nov. 6, 2001 to Decker et al. Special undercolor removal functions are sometimes used.
Previous work has modified error diffusion to compensate for dot gain. See, for example, Henry Kang, Digital Color Halftoning, SPIE Press, 2001 and Joseph Shu, "Error Diffusion With Ink Reduction for High Quality and High Resolution Ink Jet Printing," IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 1995. Shu refers to his algorithm as "Error diffusion with ink reduction." He states that he compensates for the dot gain in order to reduce ink to prevent ink overflow on the ink jet media and to reduce worm-artifacts. Shu's work also appears in patent form. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,592,592, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Minimizing Artifacts in Images Produced by Error Diffusion Halftoning Utilizing Ink Reduction Processing," issued Jan. 7, 1997 to Shu.
Another relevant body of technologies is the set of halftoning algorithms that do not allow K overprinting. There are many dither methods. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,446, entitled "Color Digital Halftoning Using Black and Secondary Color Replacement and Color Vector Dithering," issued Dec. 5, 1995 to Perumal, et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,243, entitled "Method for Forming Color Images Using a Hue-Plus-Gray Color Model and Error Diffusion," issued Jul. 26, 1994 to Best et al., describes a novel error diffusion method in which only one color (R, G, B, C, M, Y, K, W) is printed at a time. This disallows the possibility of printing K on top of a color. The system decides which color to print by noting which color has the current largest error. Error is passed as in normal error diffusion. Such methods require special undercolor removal or limitations on the input or else the error will overflow. For example, the CMYK input value (255, 0, 0, 50) would cause this method to have increasingly large errors.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,245, entitled "Bi-level digital color printer system exhibiting improved undercolor removal and error diffusion procedures," issued Mar. 28, 1995 to Motta et al., an error diffusion algorithm is described in which a decision is first made to print K or not based on whether the input k value is the largest input value and if it is greater than the error diffusion threshold. If it is decided to print K, then no other colors (C, M, Y) are considered. Again, special undercolor removal or limitations on the input are necessary to ensure that the error does not overflow. For example, the CMYK input color (50, 0, 0, 255) would cause this method to have increasingly large errors.
Work by Motta and Dispoto includes the idea of a mapping between the quantizer and the output halftone signal. In their work the error diffusion steps of quantizing, error calculation, and error distribution happen in one space (such as CIELab, or RGB space) and then the output from the quantizer is mapped to an appropriate color in the printing device space. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,545, entitled "Image production using color error diffusion," issued Apr. 15, 1997 to Motta et al. However, this patent only describes mapping to CMY space.


A method of forming a contact opening between two conductive features over a semiconductor substrate. Oxide spacers are formed adjacent to the conductive features. A doped oxide layer is then deposited over the semiconductor substrate. Finally, the contact opening is etched through the doped oxide layer between the conductive features such that the oxide spacers are exposed within the contact opening.

The present invention relates to semiconductor processing and more particularly to a method of forming contacts and vias for semiconductor devices.
As the demand for cheaper, faster, lower power consuming integrated circuits increases, so must the device packing density of the integrated circuit (IC). Minimizing transistor dimensions is of paramount importance to the advancement of semiconductor technologies. Minimizing transistor dimensions allows more transistors to be formed in a given area. Minimizing the dimensions also allows the transistors to operate at higher speeds. The ability to place more high speed transistors in an IC allows more complex and sophisticated functionality to be incorporated into the IC device. Therefore, as a result of reducing the size of transistors in an IC, and improving the speed of the IC, products which use these IC""s, such as, for example, home computers, will be able to operate faster and with greater functionality than ever before.
Increasing the device packing density of an IC by minimizing transistor dimensions inherently requires that the interconnect technology used to couple transistors together be similarly minimized. In a typical interconnect technology scheme, after transistors are formed on a semiconductor substrate, a layer of dielectric material is used to coat the surface of the transistors to physically and electrically insulate them. Once this dielectric material is deposited, openings are etched through the dielectric material to the underlying semiconductor substrate. Conductive material is deposited into these openings in order to make electrical contact to the substrate surface. These openings filled with conductive material are called contacts.
Once a first layer of interconnects has been deposited on the surface of the first dielectric layer, a second dielectric layer is deposited to coat the surface of this first interconnect layer. Openings are then etched into this second dielectric layer to permit electrical coupling to the first interconnect layer by filling these openings with conductive material. These openings filled with conductive material are called vias. Once the interconnects of the second interconnect layer have been formed, a third dielectric layer is deposited to coat the second interconnect layer, and vias are again formed in the third dielectric layer. This process of forming an interconnect layer, coating with a dielectric layer, forming vias in the dielectric layer, and forming another interconnect layer on its surface may be repeated any number of times in IC manufacturing technology.
The dimensions of these contacts and vias have historically been limited by the photolithographic technology used to define the size and location of contact and via openings. For example, conventional photolithographic technologies are currently capable of defining, or xe2x80x9cresolvingxe2x80x9d, an opening having a minimum width of approximately 0.4-0.5 microns. This minimum resolvable dimension significantly limits the device packing density of the IC.
For example, since contact openings cannot be smaller than 0.4 microns, transistors cannot be spaced any closer than this minimum resolvable dimension or else the contact opening will be etched through a transistor, destroying it. Furthermore, since the accuracy in aligning a contact opening to an underlying semiconductor substrate region between two transistors is imprecise, transistors must be spaced far enough apart to account for any potential misalignment of the contact opening. In addition, some practitioners make contact openings wider than the minimum resolvable dimension because it is difficult to fill such small contact openings with conductive material. Therefore, to account for enlarged and misaligned contact openings, transistors may ultimately be spaced as far as 1 micron apart from each other, lowering the transistor packing density of the IC.
While more advanced and complex photolithographic technologies have been developed to resolve smaller dimensions, these advanced technologies are expensive, typically unreliable, and currently unmanufacturable. What is needed, then, is a manufacturable process whereby contacts and vias can be formed having widths less than the minimum resolvable dimension of the photolithographic technology employed to define the openings.
A method is described for forming a contact opening between two conductive features over a semiconductor substrate. Oxide spacers are formed adjacent to the conductive features. A doped oxide layer is then deposited over the semiconductor substrate. Finally, the contact opening is etched through the doped oxide layer between the conductive features such that the oxide spacers are exposed within the contact opening.

Contact and via fabrication technologies


A water supply control apparatus and method for an ice maker, in which an amount of supplied water is controlled so as to supply an accurate amount of the water to an ice tray. The method includes the steps of (a) supplying water to an ice tray for a predetermined time; (b) determining whether or not a proper amount of water has been supplied to the ice tray after the predetermined time has elapsed; and (c) resetting the predetermined time based on predetermined water supply data, in case that it is determined that the proper amount of water has not supplied to the ice tray.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a water supply control apparatus and method for an ice maker, and more particularly to a water supply control apparatus and method for an ice maker, in which additional water supply, after initial water supply is completed, is performed based on the initially supplied amount of water, or an initial water supply time is reset.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a refrigerator comprises a main body including a freezing chamber and a refrigerating chamber, and a compressor for compressing a refrigerant and a heat exchanger for generating cool air, which are installed at the rear portion of the main body. The cool air generated from the heat exchanger is supplied to the inside of the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber by means of a fan, and is circulated in the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber. Then, the heated air obtained by the circulation again passes through the heat exchanger, and the obtained cool air is again supplied to the inside of the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber. The above repetitive circulation of the cool air keeps foods stored in the freezing chamber or the refrigerating chamber fresh.
In an ice-making device installed in the freezing chamber of the above refrigerator, water is automatically supplied to an ice tray, and an ice-making state of the ice tray is checked. When it is determined that the ice-making is completed, the obtained ice cubes are automatically separated from the ice tray, and are then stored in an ice storage container. The ice-making device produces ice cubes without separate user' manipulation, thereby being popular among consumers now.
Now, a conventional water supply control apparatus for an ice maker will be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional water supply control apparatus comprises a water supply pipe 3 connected to a water supply source 1 for supplying water to an ice tray 6, a water supply valve 4 installed at a designated point in the water supply pipe 3 for adjusting the amount of water flowing in the water supply pipe 3, and a rotary hydraulic turbine 5 installed between the water supply valve 4 and an outlet of the water supply pipe 3 and rotated by water pressure. The conventional water supply control apparatus further comprises a purification filter 2 installed at another designated point in the water supply pipe 3 for purifying the water flowing the water supply pipe 3, and the ice tray 6 for receiving water supplied from the water supply pipe 3 and generating ice cubes.
Hereinafter, an operation of the above-described conventional water supply control apparatus will be described. First, when instructions to generate ice are inputted to the water supply control apparatus, a controller (not shown) opens the water supply valve 4. When the water supply valve 4 is opened, water is supplied to the water supply control apparatus through the water supply pipe 3 connected to the water supply source 1. Here, the water flowing along the water supply pipe 3 is purified by the purification filter 2, and is then supplied to the ice tray 6.
During the water supply, the controller determines whether or not a predetermined water supply time has elapsed, and closes the water supply valve 4 when it is determined that the predetermined water supply time has elapsed. Thereby, a process of supplying water to the ice tray 6 is completed.
The above-described conventional water supply control apparatus and method for an ice maker simply control the water to be supplied to the ice tray during the predetermined time, and do not consider variation in the water pressure or other factors, thus causing a difficulty of supplying an accurate amount of water to the ice try.

Water supply control apparatus and method for ice maker


A modular building system (100) including preformed extrusion-molded polymeric material (116). Parts include integral connector elements (160, 162) which can be slidably and snappingly reversibly interconnected to form the basic frame (102) and panel structures (108) of an overall building. The interconnected region permits limited ranges of angular as well as translational relative motion between adjacent, connected elements. Parts are assembled simply and quickly in the field, without requiring skilled labor or specialized tools, to form a functionally solid and stable building which responds to loads and temperature changes with yieldable, accommodating deformations that minimize the likelihood of building structural damage, and effectively transmit necessary loads to the ground via load-transfer paths through the building.

This invention pertains generally to a unique modular building system, and to buildings which can be constructed from the modular elements of that system. In particular, the invention relates to such a system which includes a relatively small number of different parts, many of which are preferably formed of an extrusion-molded polymeric plastic material. Such extrusion-formation of these system parts is especially promoted by the fact that the proposed structural elements in this system, or at least most of them, are slender elongate elements which have uniform cross sections throughout their entire respective lengths. Certain ones of the building components, or elements, of the present invention are employable interchangeably and differentially in different specific operational settings in a building constructed in accordance with the invention, including in settings with one another wherein they are joined to form and coact as structural frame components, such as columns, beams, rafters, etc. These special invention components thus lead to an overall system which requires only a modest inventory of differentiated parts, and which, nevertheless, produces a system offering a large range of operational versatility in terms of the constructions of different kinds of final overall buildings.
In general terms, the system of the present invention includes, in an assembled overall building, a skeletal framework structure formed of long slender parts, and of cooperative assemblies of plural, selected ones of such parts, that act, inter alia, as horizontal foundation components, as upright columns, as horizontal beams, as inclined rafters, as perimetral boundary frame elements for and in different kinds of planar, framework-spanning panels (spanner elements), and as connective interfaces along the confronting long edges of adjacent panels.
Extending integrally along selected sides or edges of these parts are nominally exposed and accessible connector elements which can selectively coact, in a reversible, relatively sliding and/or snap-together fashion, with counterpart connector elements present in adjacent parts, all for the purpose of joining such adjacent parts. Such joined/interconnected parts can be thought of (from one point of view) as being joined through what are sometimes referred to herein as being receptive-channel, received-flange-type connectors.
Assembled slid/snapped-together parts, in relation to the kinds of configurations proposed for their associated connector elements according to the invention, are intentionally permitted certain limited ranges of angular and/or translational (in several directions) relative motion. The important reasons for making such limited relative motions possible will be described more fully shortly. This snap/slide-together kind of assembly procedure is quickly and easily performed to assemble individual parts into the forms of framework elements, such as the previously-mentioned columns, rafters, panel frames, etc., and to join such frame structural components with selected, different, broad-area panel structures. Easy component assembly (which is, for the most part, non-destructive reversible assembly) can be performed by relatively unskilled labor, and with no requirement for specialized tools. Whole buildings are easily put together with relative ease on different kinds of selected building sites, with foundation placement made especially easy because of certain convenient leveling and stabilizing features offered by the system of the invention.
Panels which are assembled to span different generally planar spaces that are defined, and which exist, between different stretches or groups of elongate framework parts, are floatingly (for permitted relative-motion purposes) and reversibly, though captively, disposed in such spaces. Importantly, and as distinguished from related prior art structures, such floating but captured dispositions for such panels promotes, in an overall building constructed with components made in accordance with this invention, a significant relative-motion response capability in that building with respect to both different kinds of externally applied loads, and to the effects on materials of changes in ambient temperature.
The facts that substantially all of the fundamental building elements of the system can be formed, and preferably are formed, by an extrusion-molded polymer material, and that a high degree of interchangeability and multiple-use possibility attaches to these elements, lead to a system which not only is relatively simple in fundamental construction, but also one which, from many points of view, is very inexpensive, and can lead to the constructions of buildings which also are relatively and strikingly inexpensive.
The fundamental modular building components in the system of this invention are, because of the presence of the above-mentioned slide/snap-together connector elements, easily and quickly assembled in varieties of different ways to form myriad types of buildings without the need for additional fasteners. Because of these novel connector elements, a building formed in accordance with the system of the invention can be assembled, on site, by relatively unskilled labor (as was earlier mentioned), and in a very short period of time in relation to conventional building approaches.
Very interestingly, when components constructed in accordance with this invention are fitted together (interconnected) on a job site to create a building, the interconnected components effectively snap and slide together into final, properly structurally and soundly connected relationship. Ultimately in a completed building, the components in each pair of adjacent components are permitted certain limited ranges of unrestrained relative motion with respect to one another.
One important consequence of this condition is that a building constructed in accordance with this invention is internally shiftable and changeable in configuration. Such a building can effectively change its size both in an enlargement sense and in a shrinkage sense in response to an applied external load, and to other phenomena, such as ambient temperature changes. These operational and performance qualities thus produce a building structure which reacts and responds in very unique ways regarding external phenomena of the types just generally mentioned.
Thus, and with very few exceptions, all interconnections created in a building so constructed are intentionally established through clearly load-bearing-capable, though relative-motion-permitting, interlock connections—a feature sharply distinguishing this system from prior art systems wherein interconnected components (or elements) are, for the most part, fixedly anchored to one another against any permitted relative motion. These connections offer substantial structural integrity in the sense of vigorously resisting accidental disconnection.
Not only do the components of the present system thus create a unique shiftable-configuration overall building, but also they create a building which, in response to an applied external load, adaptively self-selects a most-appropriate load-bearing path through the system, which path is uniquely and directly related to the nature, size and point of application of such a load. For example, differently directed loads applied to the very same point of application in a building constructed in accordance with this invention will seek different load-bearing paths through the structure. This unique behavior is especially promoted by the ubiquitous relative-motion interconnection characteristic of the building, and by the natural, resulting selective "bottoming-out" (ending of relative-motion capability) between relevant, adjacent, affected components that define the resulting load-bearing path. The building thus "chooses" different, most-appropriate load-reaction paths "on the fly", so-to-speak, as loads are exerted on the building.
A number of important consequences flow from this path-choosing capability. One is that the most appropriate load-reaction path required for a given applied load will substantially always be selected. Since such a path is basically selected through a particular combination of (but not all) interconnected building elements, there are always other elements not required for use in such a load-reaction path. These other elements are therefore effectively unloaded by that load, and thus are in "dwell" periods regarding load transmission. Accordingly, over time, each component in a building constructed in accordance with the system of this invention is called upon perhaps only infrequently to carry a load, and thus potentially has a significantly longer effective operational life-span than would a comparable component in a more conventional structure where rigid interconnection is "the rule of the day".
When deformation-creating loads are applied to a building constructed with components offered by the system of this invention, various interlock connections that are present between adjacent components in the building effectively tighten and become more "solid" and "robust". Associated panels are placed more fully in tension to carry and distribute such loads, and accordingly, these panels offer what can be thought of as high-level reactive responses to such loads. The term "high-level" is employed herein to emphasize the fact that a panel so placed in tension operates desirably in what may well be, and often is, its maximum-capability load-handling mode of behavior. In other instances, a panel may bow in its perimeter frame to accommodate a load. Such bowing is freely permitted by the fact that the panel expanse effectively floats in its perimeter frame.
Also proposed by the system of the present invention are several distinct embodiments of ground-engaging foundation structures, certain ones of which result in the superstructure in the building, i.e., that structure which rests upon the foundation, being elevated above the ground (for low-level ventilation), and other ones of which permit the superstructure of the building to rest simultaneously both on the foundation and upon the underlying ground. These several different modifications include both ground-penetrating and non-ground-penetrating possibilities for foundation construction.
Delivery structures (fluid conduits, wires, etc.) employed for conducting and conveying conventional utilities which may be furnished in a particular building such as water, electricity, gas, heating and cooling, fire suppression, television, cable and telephone lines, and so on, are accommodated by self-establishing and pre-configured ways and chases provided, by intentional design, within the various building components. Such ways and chases are pre-designed, according to the invention, into, and with respect to, these building components, and they effectively come together into an organized whole automatically as interconnecting components are brought together to form a building. These utility-accommodating passages form a logical vertical and horizontal utility distribution network throughout a building, and this network is constructed in a manner which makes the ways and chases readily accessible both during initial building construction, and later on if and when utility routing changes are desired. Preferably, and at appropriate locations within a building constructed in accordance with the invention, different required utilities are distributed in what is referred to herein as a manifold-delivery way.
Void spaces intentionally provided in wall panel structures, and in columns and regions of joinder between two adjacent panels, allow for the ready flow of air, and drainage of water. Draining water both from such wall, column and joinder regions, as well as any water that requires drainage from within a building's floor structure, flows by design downwardly into passages made directly accessible in the foundation structure, thus to allow for confident, automatic water discharge from regions in a building where it could eventually (or even in a short period of time) cause serious problems.
The various different building structures whose assemblies are made possible by the system of present invention can uniquely include a number of additional, very interesting features. For example, the novel foundation structure proposed by the invention is one which can be equipped with appropriately controllable vents or ports that allow for the flow of air under flooring in the system, and for the containment (in large reservoirs) of stored water which may be employed for fire-suppression purposes, for heat-sinking and temperature-stability purposes, and for anchor-weighting of a building which may, for example, sit directly on top of the ground.
A structure constructed in accordance with the system of this invention also allows for easy incorporation into a building of various moveable structures, such as moveable panels/screens which can control the amount of light admitted at different locations, and for other purposes. Buildings can, because of convenient system modularity and versatility, be differently rendered in different climates to achieve maximum environmental (such as solar) efficiency. Walls within the overall building (internal walls), as well as external walls, can easily be removed, added, repositioned, etc. substantially without any destructive consequences, and freely at will over time. The respective placements or positions of certain panels can be changed as desired. For example, a panel containing a window and/or a door may readily be positionally switched with another kind of panel.
According to a preferred embodiment of a foundation structure constructed in accordance with this invention, the same takes the form of a two-component organization including a central solid core, preferably formed of poured concrete, and rigid-plate jacketing structure, preferably formed with several components created out of molded and extruded polymeric material. This jacketing structure coacts with the core to transmit overhead superstructure loads to the ground. Such two-component foundation structure preferably has a lateral outward flare, or splay, progressing downwardly through it from the region of the superstructure to the ground. With such a flare, and because of the presence of the lateral jacketing structure, this kind of foundation structure delivers load to the ground in a unique fashion. Specifically, such a foundation employs and permits various respective and differentiated reactions to loads that need to be transmitted to the ground, all as determined by the direction and character of such a load, and all in relation to the cooperative but differentiated handling of loads, on the one hand by the core, and on the other hand by the jacketing structure. A foundation structure constructed in this fashion itself offers a degree of variable selection of the most efficient and effective path through the foundation for the transmission of loads to the ground.
The use of polymer plastics to form substantially all of the fundamental building components proposed in accordance with this invention results in a created building construction which is especially resistant to decay, to other deterioration, to insect invasion, and to other invasive and lifetime-shortening problems that are associated with many of the usual materials found in a conventional building structure.
As was mentioned earlier, building assembly (construction) in the field is characterized by quick and easy slide/snap-together interfitting of components. Such activity, as has already been stated, requires no specialized tools or costly labor. It also avoids conventional time-consuming on-site fabrication procedures, such as the cutting and fitting of parts.
Components that are shipped to a job site for assembly into a building can be shipped very handily in "disassembled", low-volume-occupying space, and thus can be transported effectively as a pile or collection of components stacked, for example, in conventional load containers.
Many other features and advantages that are realized and offered by the system of the present invention will become apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Optical systems and components thereof are disclosed which may be used for efficiently coupling laser energy into an optical conduit while maintaining a homogenous beam output from the optical conduit. Some embodiments are directed more specifically to far field beam homogenization of optical fiber coupled radiation.

Applications requiring light energy and, in some embodiments, laser energy, may benefit from the use of solid state light sources such as laser diodes which are commonly available, reliable to operate and relatively cost effective as a laser energy source. Such devices may include a plurality of laser emitters in a single bar that each emit laser light simultaneously in a substantially parallel orientation. In addition, multiple solid state or laser emitter bars may be disposed in a stacked configuration so as to generate even higher power levels in some instances. Laser diode bars are often used for communication technology devices, medical applications and other applications such as military applications. For some of these applications, as well as others, it may be desirable to couple the output of all the emitters of a single solid state emitter bar or multiple bars in a stacked configuration into a single optical fiber or other optical conduit.
In some circumstances, coupling laser radiation from a linear array of multiple discrete emitters into an optical conduit may result in a non-homogeneous output from the optical conduit in the far field pattern emitted from the optical conduit. Such a non-homogeneous far field pattern may result from the discrete angular distribution of the multiple emitters being coupled into the optical conduit relative to a longitudinal input axis of the optical conduit. This may be particularly true in optical system embodiments which require each beam to be spaced from adjacent beams while propagating through at least some of the optical components of the optical system. For some systems, the separation includes gaps between adjacent beams which may then result in discrete launch angles for each beam or set of beams into the optical conduit. The discrete launch angles into the optical conduit generate a non-homogeneous far field pattern of emission from the optical conduit. This type of far field pattern may include low intensity regions that cause inefficient coupling or transmission of the light in the far field. In addition, this type of far field pattern may include high intensity regions or hot spots that may cause damage to materials with which the far field beam interacts.
What has been needed are methods and devices for generating a homogenous or substantially homogeneous far field beam distribution for the output of an optical conduit. More specifically, what has been needed are methods and devices for generating homogeneous far field beam patterns from an optical conduit from an input source with multiple beams having discrete launch angles.

Homogenization of far field fiber coupled radiation


A platform cooling system usable in a turbine engine together with an airfoil for preheating cooling fluids before the cooling fluids enter a cooling system in the airfoil in a turbine engine. The platform cooling system includes cooling channels in either the ID or OD platforms, or both, of the airfoil. The channels transfer heat to the cooling fluids flowing through the platform cooling system and thereby heat the cooling fluids. The preheated cooling fluids are particularly useful with cooling composite ceramic airfoils, which are susceptible to damage from large temperature gradients developed between combustion gases outside the airfoil and cooling fluids inside the airfoil. The platform cooling system may be combined with an airfoil cooling system to create a serial cooling system in which cooling fluids may enter the platform and flow through the platform and airfoil without being supplemented with additional cooling fluids along the flow path.

Typically, gas turbine engines include a compressor for compressing air, a combustor for mixing the compressed air with fuel and igniting the mixture, and a turbine blade assembly for producing power. Combustors often operate at high temperatures that may exceed 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Typical turbine combustor configurations expose turbine vane and blade assemblies, to these high temperatures. As a result, turbine airfoils, such as turbine vanes and blades must be made of materials capable of withstanding such high temperatures. In addition, turbine airfoils often contain internal cooling systems for prolonging the life of the airfoils and reducing the likelihood of failure as a result of excessive temperatures.
Typically, turbine airfoils, such as turbine vanes are formed from an elongated portion having one end configured to be coupled to an outer shroud vane carrier and an opposite end configured to be movably coupled to an inner shroud. The airfoil is ordinarily composed of a leading edge, a trailing edge, a suction side, and a pressure side. The inner aspects of most turbine vanes typically contain an intricate maze of cooling circuits forming a cooling system. The cooling circuits in the vanes receive air from the compressor of the turbine engine and pass the air through the ends of the vane adapted to be coupled to the vane carrier. The cooling circuits often include multiple flow paths that are designed to remove heat from the turbine vane. At least some of the air passing through these cooling circuits is exhausted through orifices in the leading edge, trailing edge, suction side, and pressure side of the vane.
Composite airfoils have been developed for use in turbine engines as composite materials are typically suitable to use in higher temperature environments that conventional metals forming airfoils. Composite airfoils are often constructed as laminate layers formed from high strength fibers woven into a cloth that is saturated with a ceramic matrix material. The multiple laminate layers are stacked, compacted to the desired thickness, dried, and fired to achieve the desired structural properties. The laminates have desirable in-plane structural properties but significantly less strength in the through plane direction. The composite airfoils are often formed from an inner solid core, a laminate layer, and a FGI insulating thermal barrier coating. A ceramic bond exists between the laminate and solid core and at the interface of the laminate and thermal barrier coating.
The composite airfoils have been cooled in conventional composite airfoils by passing cooling air from a compressor through the airfoil. Typically, the cooling fluids are passed through a plurality of cooling channels and exhausted through the trailing edge of the composite airfoil without use of film cooling. While outer surfaces of composite airfoils are typically exposed to temperatures of about 1,600 degrees Celsius in a turbine engine, the laminate layer of the airfoil is generally kept at a temperature less than about 1,100 degrees Celsius. Typically, cooling air used in a composite airfoil cooling system is about 450 degrees Celsius. The extreme temperature gradient between the combustion gases at 1,600 degrees Celsius outside of the airfoil and the cooling gases at 450 degrees Celsius in the interior cooling channels creates thermal stress in the composite airfoil that can delaminate the laminate layer and destroy bonds between the laminate layer and the inner core and between the laminate layer and the thermal barrier coating. Such problems with thermal stress do not exist in metal airfoils because of the high thermal conductivity of the metal forming the airfoil and high strength of the metal. Thus, a need exists for reducing the thermal stresses created by cooling fluids in composite airfoils in turbine engines.

Cooling fluid preheating system for an airfoil in a turbine engine


A flat knitting machine which can carry out changing of knock over timing and changing of an elevating amount of a needle, in which a knock-over plate provided at its extreme end with a loop pressing plate having an end edge in contact with a knitting yarn is inserted into a bottom of a needle groove of a head portion of a needle bed so that the knock over plate can be slidably moved in a direction of forward and backward movement of a needle. Further, a knock over plate cam for operating the knock over plate in engagement with the knock over plate is provided on a carriage, and the knock over plate is moved forward and backward by the cam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat knitting machine in which a needle at the time of knitting knitted fabrics can adjust timing of its elevating stroke and a knock over for drawing a new loop from an old loop.
2. Prior Art
In a needle bed of a flat knitting machine, needle plates are inserted into grooves provided parallel on a needle bed base plate, a needle groove is formed between the needle plates adjacent to each other, and a needle is slidably inserted into the needle groove. A sinker is locked at an extreme end of the needle bed base plate at the same pitch and the same phase as that of the needle plate and connected by a sinker wire. A knitting yarn supporting wire is secured to a tooth mouth (a center line of the confronting needle beds) parallel with the extreme end of the needle bed base plate, and the needle fed with a yarn at a raising position moves down while engaging the knitting yarn with a hook, is contacted with the knitting yarn supporting wire passing through the old loop at a knock over position.
A raising amount of the needle for receiving a feed of the knitting yarn is a position at which a latch of the raising needle is escaped from the old loop engaged with a shank and an extreme end of the latch is moved up in a predetermined amount from the position escaped from the old loop. This position is a position at which the latch can be surely moved away from the old loop. Accordingly, this position can be suitably selected to control the raising amount of the needle.
When a next new stitch is formed, timing of the knock over of the knitting yarn in the form of a loop engaged with a hook of the needle which moves backward in the needle groove is different in dependency of a position where the needle contacts with the knitting yarn supporting wire. The timing is fast as the knitting yarn supporting wire is positioned at the extreme end of the needle bed and slow as it enters from the head of the needle bed. Timing of this knock over varies with the kind of the knitting yarn, thickness of the yarn and the like, and it is desirable to adjust the knock over timing whenever they change.
It has been contemplated that in order to change a position of the knitting yarn supporting wire, a plurality of small holes through which the knitting yarn supporting wire is inserted are provided in a sinker to which the knitting yarn supporting wire is secured so that the inserting position of the knitting yarn supporting wire is suitably changed. According to this means, adjustment of timing of the knock over is carried out stepwise and is not carried out continuously. Further, it takes time for the work for changing the position of the knitting yarn supporting wire.


An automobile tire pressure monitoring system and tire identification method that includes a transmitting and detecting unit provided on each tire, as well as a receiving and display unit that includes a receiving unit, a main control unit and a display unit. A plug-in encoding memory is plugged into the receiving and display unit. One fixed ID code, which is the same as that for the encoding memory, is provided for each transmitting and detecting unit. When the power is on, the receiving and display unit reads the ID code in each plug-in encoding memory plugged into the socket of the display unit, and saves the information on the corresponding relationships between ID codes saved in memories and the tire identity. After receiving the signal from the transmission unit, the receiving and display unit reads the ID codes in it, and determines whether these codes are identical with those in the memories. If the signal is valid, the receiving and display unit compares the corresponding relationships, determines on which tire the detection unit is transmitting the signal, and displays the information about pressure and temperature in corresponding display areas.

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems, abbreviated as TPMS, are mainly used to automatically monitor tire pressure and provide an early warning of low tire pressure caused by air leakage or high tire pressure caused by high temperature so as to avoid tire rupture and ensure safety driving.
Generally, a tire pressure monitoring system consists of a transmitting and detecting unit (one for each tire) and a receiving and display unit (only one):
The circuit of the transmitting and detecting unit consists of a temperature and pressure sensor, a MCU (Main Control Unit), a transmitter, and a battery. The unit includes a protective casing that protects the electric circuit and includes a device for fastening the casing on the run of the tire.
The circuit of the receiver consists of battery unit, a receiver, a MCU and a display unit. The structure for the circuit comprises a casing, a function switch set on the surface of the casing and a display screen.
As shown in FIG. 1, an automobile tire pressure monitoring system generally consists of a transmitting and detecting unit 92 and a receiving and display unit 91, which thereupon comprises display unit 9101, receiving unit 9102 and receiving antenna 9103.
The left side of FIG. 1 is a front sketch diagram of the display unit, i.e., the screen that is displayed on the automobile instrument panel. The display unit 9101 of an ordinary automobile includes four data display areas 91011, that display the parameters of the four tires respectively. The broken lines in FIG. 1 represent the correlations between the display area 91011 and the respective tires.
The operation process is as follows: The sensor in the transmitting and detecting unit 92 onverts variations of the tire pressure into electric parameters which vary accordingly to electronic component induction. Then the electric parameters are processed by a MCU in the transmitting and detecting unit into digital code signals. After identification of the ID of the digital code signals in this unit (used to distinguish it from other units) is completed, these code signals are transmitted via a carrier frequency by a transmitter. The original data is recovered after the radio signals are received and demodulated by the receiver antenna 9103. Then, after being processed by the MCU of receiving and display unit, the data is displayed on the corresponding tire data area of the user's interface by the display screen installed in the vehicle. In this way, the driver can clearly know the pressure in each tire. When the received data shows the pressure in the tire is lower or higher than the set limit, the MCU will show an alarm icon on the display screen. The driver can then take appropriate action for the tire according to the data of tire pressure shown so as to ensure safe driving.
One transmitting and detecting unit is available for each of the four tires. In the MCU memory of the transmitting and detecting unit, the ID code of that unit has been set (Used to distinguish it from other identification codes). The identification code of the unit is provided in the signals. Through comparing an ID code that is pre-saved in the MCU memory with the received ID code, MCU of the receiving and display unit identifies the relation between IDs and determines which tire the data is associated with. After processing, the corresponding pressure and temperature information on the respective area will be displayed on the screen. With the judgment for ID codes, the receiving and display unit can determine the received information sent by other transmitting and detecting units to be unwanted and discard it.
The tire transposition is usual:
Because of the different loads on the four tires, caused by the front-wheels being responsible for veering, and the rear and front axle hanging in different angles, the degrees and the positions of abrasion for each tire are usually different. In order to improve the stability while turning, the rear wheels of most front-driving and front-veering vehicles have a larger tilt angle than the front wheels taking an outward shape of Chinese character  (Several kinds of vehicles take an inward shape of Chinese character  which is decided by the hanging design.). As a result, the rear wheels are liable to abrade on the inside and outside rim, i.e., the section that forms a trapezoid. Similarly, the same abrasion may occur to the rear wheels. In order to prolong the service life of the tire, and for the purpose of four tires abrading synchronously and equably, regular tire rotation is required.
In the process of tire rotation the corresponding transmitting and detecting units will be transposed. This will cause the original correlation between ID code saved in MCU memory of the receiving and display unit and the tire identification information to be miscorrelated so that the information displayed on the screen about the pressure and temperature as correlated with the tire is wrong.
When a new tire is installed, or when the transmitting and detecting unit on a tire is replaced as it becomes damaged, the ID code of the new unit will be different from the original ID. Consequently, the identification information of the ID code saved in the MCU memory of the receiving and display unit and the corresponding tire is no longer applicable to the ID code of the newly replaced unit. The receiving and display unit will discard the information received from the replaced unit. The pressure and temperature information sent by the new unit will not be displayed on the screen.
Nowadays, four methods are mainly adopted in the world to solve the problem of tire identification during tire transposition and replacement. The technologies and their respective characteristics for the four identification methods are as follows:                1 Fixed encoding method: The correlation between ID code in the MCU memory of the receiving and display unit and the tire identification information is fixed at the factory. The same ID code is also fixed in the MCU memory of the transmitting and detecting unit and is marked on the surface of the transmitting and detecting unit. During the installation, the transmitting and detecting units are installed on the corresponding tires in accordance with the marks and no change is allowed during application. This method is quite simple and its shortcoming is that wrong installation is not allowed. Otherwise, identification confusion may arise. Meanwhile, if a transmission unit is damaged, the user has to go to the manufacturer for repair or replacement. The transmitting and detecting units must be reinstalled in accordance with their marked positions when the tires are rotated.        2. The method of interface input: This kind of identification technology is to print the ID code of each transmission unit on the packing of the product or on the product itself. However, after a tire is rotated or a transmission unit is damaged, the ID code should be input into the receiving port to make a correct identification. The shortcoming of this method that since the ID codes are 16 or 32 digits, the input procedure is complicated and the user is liable to mis-input the code set. Furthermore, the numerous buttons cause inconvenience and awkward layout in the automobile.        3. The method of low frequency (LF) wake-up: This technology makes use of the near-field effect of the LF signals (for example 125 KHZ). As shown in FIG. 2, there is a LF antenna 9104 near each tire in this scheme. By sending LF signals to the LF antenna near the corresponding tire, the monitoring system can trigger the corresponding tire's transmitting and detecting unit 92 respectively, which transmits the ID code through RF. The receiving unit 9102 obtains the corresponding identification code of the tire's TPMS unit via this signal and thus automatically locates the tire. The shortcomings of this method are that: 1) Four LF antennae 9104 should be installed near the corresponding tires. To install and lay out the wires involves a considerable amount of work; 2) The LF signals may mistakenly trigger an adjoining transmitting and detecting unit; and 3) Due to the complicated electromagnetic environment and disturbances, the LF signals can be disturbed, which leads to the ineffectiveness of the identification process.        4. The method of antenna near field receiving: As shown in FIG. 3, this technology includes four receiving antennae of the receiving and display unit 9103 which stretch over the near field within 20-30 cm around each tire and are controlled by numerical controlled microwave switch 9108. When the information sent by the transmitting and detecting unit of a certain tire needs to be received, it is only when the microwave switch of the receiving antenna near that tire is on and the others are off that the pressure and temperature of the tire, which the RTPM unit is connected to, can be displayed on the receiving screen. The shortcomings of this identification technology are that: 1) The layout of the antennae is complex and the microwave switch is costly. Moreover, the isolation of the RF switches is not good enough at the present time, so there exists the possibility of mixed code, i.e. receiving the information from other tires; and 2) Due to the complicated electromagnetic environment and all kinds of disturbance in an automobile, the LF signals will be disturbed, which will lead to the ineffectiveness of the identification process.
To summarize, the above-mentioned identification technologies have one or more of the defects as follows:                1. The transmission unit installation cannot be displaced. So faulty transmission units have to be sent to the factory for burning the corresponding identification code.        2. It is a tedious job to input the identification code. The users may mis-input the identification code.        3. The design or the layout may be influenced.        4. Four LF antennae are required to be installed, which will cause difficulties.        5. LF signals may mistakenly trigger adjoining transmitting and detecting units.        6. The antenna design is complex, the RF switch is costly, and RF isolation is not sufficient.

Automobile tire monitoring system and tire identification method


The intent of this invention is to provide an apparatus for substrate transportation that is to carry the substrate without any mechanical contact when the substrate is required to be transported in various manufacturing processes including semiconductor, display and the like.

Conventional technologies in semiconductor manufacturing processes for OLED devices and the like have employed mechanical measures including robot arms to transport in vacuum the substrate, supporting the weight of and carrying them. The technologies exploiting the mechanical measures, however, are complicated incurring high costs and requiring large space with significant weight and may bring about adverse effects on the devices they produce due to unwanted particles. The mechanical measures aforementioned require a chucking procedure that attaches the substrate to the transporting apparatus. A variety of chucks including vacuum, electrostatic, magnetic type are used in the procedure and the electrostatic chuck, inter alia, in general, lets the substrate be attached to the substrate holder (namely "chuck plate") by means of electrostatic force and carries them. (Refer to Korea Registered Patent No. 10-1001454, etc.). The electrostatic type, however, also employs mechanical measures subsequent to the chucking procedure, thus the said problem naturally remains unchanged.

Apparatus for substrate transportation using electrostatic floating


An attachment for use with a clamp having a pair of jaws operable to clamp a workpiece therebetween, such attachment comprising a body member of such size as to be accommodated in a space between one of the jaws and the workpiece. The body member of the attachment has a first contact surface adapted to bear against a surface of the workpiece and a second, opposite contact surface adapted to bear against one of the jaws. The second contact surface is so configured as to enable the attachment body member to be substantially universally rockable relative to the jaw engaged by such attachment body member, thereby enabling the body member to occupy a position in engagement with and substantially parallel to that surface of the workpiece engaged by the attachment body member.

A vise or clamp having jaws movable toward and away from one another commonly is used to clamp a workpiece while some operation is performed on such workpiece. Many workpieces are of irregular shape. Typical of such workpieces are tapered furniture legs, dowel rods, angled pieces of wood, and the like which do not lend themselves to secure clamping by the jaws. As a consequence, when an irregularly shaped or cylindrical workpiece occupies the space between the clamping jaws, the irregularity of the shape of such workpiece makes it difficult to apply clamping forces on the workpiece uniformly, thereby subjecting the workpiece to the possibility of damage due to an excessive concentration of clamping force on some part of the workpiece. If a workpiece is only partially engaged by the opposing jaws of a vise or clamp, the secure retention of the workpiece in place is jeopardized because the engaged surfaces of the workpiece and the clamp jaws may be of such small area as to enable slipping of the workpiece as operations are performed on the latter.
A principal object of the invention is to provide an attachment for use in clamping an irregularly shaped workpiece between movable jaws of a clamp or vise and in such manner as to overcome the objectionable characteristics referred to above.


A magnetic head structure having enhanced protrusion and having a first pole structure, a second pole structure forming a yoke with the fist pole, a coil structure disposed in the yoke, and a layer of partially cured polymer operatively coupled to the yoke. Also disclosed is a magnetic head having a first pole structure, a second pole structure forming a yoke with the fist pole, a coil structure disposed in the yoke, and a layer of at least partially insulative material operatively coupled to the read and/or write head for providing enhanced protrusion, the at least partially insulative material having a coefficient of thermal expansion higher than a coefficient of thermal expansion of fully cured hard bake novalac. Further embodiments include disk drive systems having the head structures described herein.

In a disk drive, a magnetic recording head is made of read and write elements. The write element is used to record and erase data bits arranged in circular tracks on the disk while the read element plays back a recorded magnetic signal. The magnetic recording head is mounted on a slider which is connected to a suspension arm, the suspension arm urging the slider toward a magnetic storage disk. When the disk is rotated the slider flies above the surface of the disk on a cushion of air which is generated by the rotating disk.
The read element is generally made of a small stripe of multilayer magnetic thin films which have either magnetoresistance (MR) effect or giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, namely which changes resistance in response to a magnetic field change such as magnetic flux incursions (bits) from magnetic storage disk. Recorded data can be read from a magnetic medium because the external magnetic field from the recorded medium (the signal field) causes a change in the direction of magnetization in the read element, which in turn causes a change in resistance in the read element and a corresponding change in the sensed current or voltage.
FIGS. 1 and 2A-2C illustrate examples of a conventional composite type thin-film magnetic head 10. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the head 10 perpendicular to the plane of the air bearing surface (ABS). FIG. 2A shows the slider 11 flying above the disk 13.
In these figures, the reference numeral 12 denotes a substrate, 15 denotes an undercoating, 20 denotes a lower shield layer of the MR reproducing head part, 21 denotes an upper shield layer of the MR head part, which can also act as a lower pole of an inductive recording head part, 22 denotes a MR layer provided through an insulating layer 23 between the lower shield layer 20 and the upper shield layer 21, 26 denotes a write gap layer, 27 denotes a lower insulating layer deposited on the upper shield layer 21, 28 denotes a coil conductor formed on the lower insulating layer 27, 29 denotes an upper insulating layer deposited so as to cover the coil conductor 28, 30 denotes an upper pole, and 34 denotes a pad that would connect the read or write coil to other components in the drive. In general, there would be a plurality of pads 34 on the slider 11. Note that the pad 34 connects directly to the coil conductor 28. The upper pole 30 is magnetically connected with the lower pole (upper shield layer) 21 at its rear portion so as to constitute a magnetic yoke together with the lower pole 21.
As recording density and data transfer rate have increased over the past a few years, critical dimensions in the recording device such as track width read and write gap and coil size have decreased accordingly. Also, the fly height between the air bearing surface (ABS) 32 and the media have become smaller and smaller. For reference, recording heads with 40 gb/in2 products typically have fly heights of about 12 nanometers. This fly height will continue to decrease in the future. This reduction in head critical dimensions and fly height, while beneficial to magnetic performance, also comes with cost on thermal and mechanic reliability.
The thermal expansion coefficients for the substrate and the various layers of the head differ, so when the head becomes heated during use, some layers will begin to protrude from the ABS. FIG. 2B depicts the head 10 when the write element is not operating, and particularly that the spacing may vary due to recession of various materials and structure due to the ABS fabrication process. FIG. 2C is a detailed diagram of the heat transfer and protrusion profile of the head 10 when the head is active (e.g., when the write coil is energized). One issue with heads is that the write-induced protrusion of the pole and overcoat can cause head-media contact, resulting in errors. This can affect the write head signal to noise ratio with alterations in the magnetic spacing between the head and the media. In older generations of heads, this was not a problem because the head was flying much higher and device size was bigger leading to easier heat dissipation. However, the coil length in modem heads has decreased to accommodate high data rate advancement. Consequently, ohmic heating from write current through coil and eddy current in write pole/yoke and magnetic hysteresis of magnetic materials are confined in a tiny space near the ABS, which typically lead to unacceptable thermal protrusion and drive reliability concerns. As can be seen in FIG. 2C, the top write pole 30 and overcoat protrude from the ABS 32 toward the media 13. The protrusion amount can be 1-4 nanometers.
The thermal expansion is proportional to the temperature, so it would be desirable to reduce the temperature in order to limit the thermal expansion. This in turn would reduce protrusion.
There are several factors that limit the reduction in slider flying height. These factors might reasonably be ignored at flying heights of above 20 nanometers, but would become major concerns at flying heights on the order of <5 nanometers. These include variations in the sliders themselves, variations in the structure that supports the sliders, and media surface roughness.
More particularly, normal tolerances in slider fabrication lead to structural variations among the sliders in any given batch. Consequently, the flying heights of sliders in the batch are distributed over a range, although the flying height of each slider individually is substantially constant.
Variations in supporting structure occur primarily in the transducer support arm, the suspension or gimballing structure, slider geometry and load arm. These variations influence the flying height, and the nature of a given slider's reaction to any disturbances, e.g. due to shock or vibration.
Disk roughness also becomes more of a problem at lower slider flying heights. With maximum peaks more likely to protrude into a normal range of slider operation, the probability of unintended and damaging slider/disk contact increases. The risk of damage from these discontinuities is greater at lower slider flying heights.
Thermal effects also are exaggerated by minute slider flying heights. Thermal effects include the natural tendency of materials to expand when heated, quantified by a temperature coefficient of thermal expansion more conveniently called a thermal expansion coefficient. Materials with higher coefficients expand more in response to a given temperature increase. When materials having different thermal expansion coefficients are contiguous and integral, their differing expansion when heated leads to elastic deformations and elastic restoring forces in both of the materials. Reduced flying heights increase the need to take thermal expansion and thermally induced elastic deformation into account.
One proposed design of a slider would drag on the disk surface, thereby more precisely fixing a head/disk spacing based on a peak roughness of the disk surface. Any improvement in setting the transducer/recording surface gap, however, would be at the cost of excessive wear to the slider, media recording surface, or both.
What is needed is a way to allow the head to fly at a higher physical spacing when the head is not in a read or write mode, thereby protecting the head, yet be in close proximity to the media during reading and/or writing for allowing heads to read and write with reduced track width, bit length and error rate.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Large protrusion recording head for controlled magnetic spacing recording/reading

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A prosthesis for replacing a selected portion of the anatomy is disclosed. Also disclosed is an exemplary method and apparatus for performing a procedure. The procedure can be minimally or less invasive.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Generally, portions of the anatomy, such as a human anatomy, include bony portions that can articulate relative to one another in joints. At the joints, the articulations provide movement of the various bony portions relative to one another to allow for movement of the anatomy and mobility thereof. For example, a femur can articulate with a tibia at a knee joint to allow for movement of the legs of an anatomy.
The natural anatomy generally allows for substantially smooth and pain free articulation at the various joints in the anatomy. For various reasons, such as injury, disease, and for other reasons, the articulations may become damaged or painful. The damaged articulations, in certain circumstances, can be replaced to substantially return the anatomy to its natural articulation.
To perform a procedure to allow for natural articulation to replace a damaged joint, it may be desirable to substantially minimize the amount of intrusion of the soft tissue surrounding the joint. Such reduced invasive procedure can be desirable to achieve various results. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a prosthesis and system allowing for implantation of a prosthesis in a substantially less invasive manner.


An electronic document delivery system and methods of its use are provided. A document preferably in a portable format is forwarded to a remote server (e.g. using HTTP to xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d the document to the server). The server sends a generic notification of the document to an intended recipient and the recipient can download the document from the server using local protocols. In preferred embodiments, the invention is used for the controlled delivery of portable documents from a sender to a large number of recipients. Using a network of servers that route the documents and notifications in a store and forward manner while providing routing and accounting information back to the sender.

The invention relates to the field of computer networks. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for the delivery of electronic documents to users over the Internet.
The development of computerized information sources, such as those provided through the Internet or other on-line sources, has led to a proliferation of electronically available information. Currently, a user who subscribes to the Internet manually navigates through the Internet to visit sites which may or may not be of interest.
An inherent problem in this Internet system is that the available information is distributed through a xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d type infrastructure, where the user who wants to receive information must manually search sites of interest, or use a finder application, to search and download appropriate information. For a user who wishes to publish and distribute information or documents, either an individual or a larger entity that has information that is desired to be distributed, the present xe2x80x9cpullxe2x80x9d system doesn""t allow the freedom to send and distribute to a recipient or group of recipients, in a xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d fashion.
Facsimile technology is widely used at the present time for the distribution of simple documents, but has numerous drawbacks, including lower quality printed documents, costly and bulky paper copies (particularly if the recipient doesn""t care to have a paper copy), loss of content (e.g. text and graphics can""t be edited or manipulated), and time requirements for transmission, particularly for long or complex documents.
Electronic Mail (E-mail) provides a means for sending electronic messages from computer user to another. E-mail has advantages of convenience, format and storage of messages for later retrieval. As such, E-mail has been accepted and widely used for basic communication. E-mail is typically an ASCII based format, however, and proves to be very limiting for the communication of long or formatted documents. As well, E-mail is not the medium of choice for the distribution of complex documents, such as reports, articles, advertisements and art which can include page layout grids, postscript-formatted objects, multiple fonts with tracking and kerning, graphics, imbedded tables and spreadsheets, and other complicated information. Some E-mail systems provide a means for appending an ASCII based E-mail message with an associated file, to be downloaded along with the E-mail message. Most systems that allow the appending of an associated file are designed to allow a single user to send unsecured files to an associate or friend, and neither allow for controlled automated distribution to multiple recipients, nor do they provide advanced accounting, billing or other such features (e.g., receipt notification). E-mail gateways also limit the applicability of attachments, and do not solve the problems of security and receipt notation or acknowledgment.
C. Baudoin, Interenterprise Electronic Mail Hub, U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,557 (Apr. 11, 1995) discloses an interenterprise communications center, which has a computer hub comprising a common core and a plurality of input and output modules. The input modules connect to a first end user, and convert a message sent by the first end user into a universal format. The hub core queues the message and forwards it to the output module for conversion into the format of the destination user. While the disclosed hub discloses techniques to relay simple e-mail messages, it is designed to convert the e-mail message formats, thus losing the integrity of the original text-based file.
The disclosed prior art systems and methodologies thus provide some methods for the delivery of documents, but fail to provide an economical, fast document delivery system that operates in a push-fashion, while conserving the integrity of the original electronic file. The development of such an electronic document delivery system would constitute a major technological advance. In addition, the ability to distribute electronic portable high content-quality documents to many recipients in a controlled, economical and accountable fashion would constitute a further technological advance.
An electronic document delivery system and methods of its use are provided. A document delivery architecture dynamically generates a private Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to distribute information. Each private URL (xe2x80x9cPURLxe2x80x9d) uniquely identifies an intended recipient of a document, the document or set of documents to be delivered, and (optionally) other parameters specific to the delivery process. The intended recipient of a document uses the PURL to retrieve the document. The server, upon retrieval of the document, customizes the behavior of the retrieval based upon attributes included in the PURL, as well as log information associated with the retrieval in a data base. This architecture and usage of PURLs enables secure document delivery and tracking of document receipt.

Electronic document delivery system in which notification of said electronic document is sent a recipient thereof


A method of processing a signal in a hearing instrument with at least one outer microphone oriented towards the environment, an ear canal microphone oriented towards the user's ear canal, and at least one receiver capable of producing an acoustic signal in the ear canal includes the steps of:                Processing a first signal from the outer microphone and a second signal from the inner microphone to yield an ambient sound portion signal estimate and an own voice sound portion signal estimate;        Processing the ambient sound portion signal estimate into a processed ambient sound portion signal;        Processing the own voice sound portion signal estimate into a processed own voice sound portion signal; and        Adding the processed ambient sound portion signal and the processed own voice portion signal for obtaining an input for the receiver.

An important issue in signal processing in hearing instruments is perception of the own voice by a hearing instrument user.
The own voice reaches the tympanic membrane via two different paths:                Air conduction: the main contribution as long as the ear canal is not occluded        Bone conduction: a significant contribution as soon as the ear canal is at least partially occluded.
These two contributions undergo an acoustic summation in the ear canal before being perceived.
The naturalness and pleasantness of this perception among others may depend on three distinct aspects:                Occlusion (increased low-frequency contents of the bone conducted portions of the own voice)        Ampclusion (increased low-frequency contents of the hearing instrument sound, including the air-conducted portion of the own voice);        Individual preferences (users might have gotten used to an 'unnatural' (influenced by their hearing capabilities) perception of the own voice or prefer their own voice to sound differently, for example less squeaky, from what would be 'natural').
In traditional hearing instruments, only the air conducted portion of the own voice can be affected by the processing (i.e. ultimately the frequency dependent amplification). A hearing instrument featuring active occlusion control can additionally affect—i.e. frequency-dependently decrease—the bone-conducted portion.
Even if the occlusion—especially the unwanted increase of low-frequency contents of the bone-conducted portion of the own voice—is fully removed by the active occlusion control, there is still a trade-off in terms of ampclusion. Specifically, the optimal setting of the hearing instrument gain in terms of ambient sounds might not be optimal in terms of the own voice.
In order to solve this problem, the state of the art proposes to detect own voice activity and to then, during own voice activity, temporarily change the hearing instrument settings so that they are optimal for the perception of the own voice.
WO 2004/021740 discloses such an example where an ear canal microphone is used to detect conditions leading to occlusion problems. EP 2 040 490 discloses approaches to detect ampclusion effect situations by a MEMS sensor. In order to account for the ampclusion effect and also for individual preferences, WO 03/032681 discloses to hold a training session in which the user may adjust parameters until the processed own voice is perceived as having a satisfying sound quality. The parameter values are stored and used when the own voice is detected.
However, the temporal change in the hearing instruments settings implies that the perception of ambient sounds is different while the user speaks than when he is quiet.
The state of the art does not propose any solution to this problem.

Own voice shaping in a hearing instrument


A transmission power control method and an apparatus, which includes a base station and a mobile stations, can lower a transmission power of a counterpart station and assure a communication quality, such as a desired bit error ratio, block error ratio, and so forth. A control reference value is set for generation of a control instruction controlling the transmission power of the counterpart station in a closed loop, when error correction coding and interleaving are used together. The transmission power control method includes steps of receiving a signal transmitted from a communication counterpart station, measuring a reception quality value of each received time slot, control instruction determining step of periodically determining a control instruction depending upon the reception quality values of the plurality of slots and transmitting the control instruction to the counterpart station, whereby the control instruction is used for transmission power control of the counterpart station.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a transmission power control method, a transmitting and receiving apparatus, a base station and a mobile station. More particularly, the invention relates a transmission power control method for controlling a transmission power in a base station and a mobile station in a radio communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a code division multiplexing type mobile communication system, the same frequency is used by a plurality of channels. Therefore, a signal power of a certain channel becomes an interference power to jam other channels. Accordingly, in an up-link channel, in which signal is transmitted from a mobile station and received by the base station, if a signal power to be transmitted from the movable station becomes unnecessarily large, the interference power is increased to cause reduction of a channel capacity.
In order to prevent this, a closed loop type transmission power control is employed. In the closed loop type transmission power control in the up-link channel, the base station measures a reception quality value, such as a signal to interference power ratio, to transmit a control instruction for reducing a transmission power to the mobile station when the reception quality is excessively larger than a control reference value, and to transmit the control instruction for increasing the transmission power to the mobile station when the reception quality value is smaller than the control reference value. Then, the mobile station increases and decreases the transmission power in accordance with the control instruction.
Such transmission power control method has been discussed in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,109 to Gilhousen et al. for "Method and Apparatus for Controlling Transmission Power in a CDMA Cellular Mobile Telephone System".
On the other hand, in a down-link channel, the closed loop type transmission power control so that the reception quality value becomes the predetermined control reference value is performed to realize high channel capacity. In the closed loop type transmission power control in the down-link channel, the mobile station measures the reception quality value of the down-link channel to compare with a control reference value to transmit a control instruction for decreasing the transmission power to the base station when the reception quality value is smaller than the reference control value and to transmit the control instruction for increasing the transmission power to the base station when the reception quality value is larger than the reference control value. Then, the base station increases or decreases the transmission power according to the control instruction.
An information bit series to be transmitted and received between the base station and the mobile station is transmitted as divided per time slot (hereinafter simply referred to as slot) both in the up-link channel and in the down-link channel. Then, in the closed loop type transmission power control, the base station and the mobile station transmit the control instructions per slot and the counterpart station updates the transmission power at every occasion of reception of the control instructions. Assuming that the slot is a period about 1 msec, the control instructions are transmitted about thousands times per 1 second to control the transmission power at high speed to compensate fading fluctuation and maintain the reception quality value substantially constant.
However, when the mobile station moves at high speed, it becomes difficult to maintain reception quality constant even with the closed loop control due to high speed fluctuation of fading. On the other hand, it is also possible that the counterpart station erroneously receives the control instruction. Even in such case, reception quality cannot be maintained constant. Accordingly, in order to obtain desired bit error ratio even if the reception quality fluctuates in certain extent, it becomes necessary to set the control reference value in the closed loop type transmission power control at large value. As a result, the transmission power becomes large to decrease channel capacity.
Therefore, by providing error correction coding for the information bit series to perform transmission and reception between the base station and the mobile station, correcting the bit received in error can be realized even when reception error is caused in a part of bits due to instantaneous lowering drop of the reception quality value. Furthermore, a frame is consisted of a plurality of slots and interleaving is provided for exchanging order of the bit series to be transmitted back and forth in an interleaved block with taking one or more frames as the interleaved block.
By this, even if the reception quality value is lowered for a relatively long period to continuously receive bits in error, when the bits can be accurately received in a rate greater than a predetermined rate within the same interleaving block, substantially all bits can be received accurately by using with error correction coding. Thus, bit error ratio can be reduced and hence the reception error ratio of information block, namely block error ratio can be reduced.
Accordingly, for significant fading fluctuation, the block error ratio can be reduced even if the reception quality value cannot be maintained completely constant by the closed loop type transmission power control. Therefore, even if the control reference value is set at relatively small value, the transmission power can be reduced in certain extent with realizing the desired block error ratio.
However, in the conventional closed loop type transmission power control, when the error correction coding and interleaving are used together, the control reference value cannot be set at sufficiently small value to encounter a problem in that the transmission power cannot be reduced satisfactorily. The reason will be discussed as follow.
When the reception quality value is fluctuated due to fading fluctuation, if a ratio of a period, in which a reception quality value is lowered within each interleaving block, is less than or equal to the predetermined ratio, the block error ratio can be efficiently lowered by the error correction coding. However, in the conventional closed loop type transmission power control, the transmission power of the counterpart station is controlled by comparing the reception quality value per slot with the control reference value.
Therefore, in the already received slots in the same interleaving block, even if the slots having low reception quality value is large in number, the transmission power of the counterpart station can be reduced if the reception quality value of the finally received slot is greater than the control reference value. As a result, in the interleaving block, the ratio of the period where the reception quality value decreases becomes large to make probability larger to make it impossible to obtain the bit error ratio lowering effect due to error correction coding.
When the transmission power control, in which the reception quality value is controlled toward the predetermined control reference value per slot, is performed, fluctuation can be caused in a ratio of period to lower the reception quality value in each interleaving block. Therefore, setting the control reference value at relatively large value becomes necessary. Accordingly, even if both of the error correction coding and interleaving are used together, the reference control value becomes sufficiently small to make it impossible to make the transmission power sufficiently small.

Transmission power control method, transmitting and receiving apparatus, base station and mobile station


A head rest system for an automotive vehicle seat movable between an extended position when the seat back of the vehicle seat is in its upright position and a retracted position when the seat back is in its lowered position. The system includes a seat base, a seat back pivotably attached to the seat base, a head rest movably attached to the seat back by a head rest attachment assembly, and a head rest movement balancing portion. The head rest attachment assembly includes a fixed portion attached to the seat back and a movable portion. The fixed portion includes a spool assembly. The movable portion includes a pair of spaced apart posts attached to the underside of the head rest and a latching assembly. The spaced apart posts are slidably attached to the fixed portion. The head rest movement balancing portion includes a pair of spaced apart constant force springs. Each of the springs has a spool attachment end and a latching assembly attachment end. A cable is provided. One end of the cable is operatively associated with the latching assembly and at the other end is attached to the seat base. A series of pulleys restrain the cable and guide its operation. The disclosed system fixes the head rest at the required height, prevents the passenger from adjusting the head rest when the seat is in an occupiable position, and retracts the head rest automatically when the seat back is folded thereby providing sufficient clearances.

Seat head rests have been used for many years in automotive vehicles. These head rests generally extend vertically from the seat back and may prevent neck hyperextension. For optimum effectiveness, such head rests must be adjusted properly. Frequently, however, the seat occupant incorrectly adjusts the height of the headrest, often making the position choice for reasons of comfort only.
Complicating the proper positioning of the head rest relative to the seat back is the fact that many automotive vehicles today are configured so that one or more seat backs may be folded flat or relatively flat against the seat base, thereby allowing the back of the seat back to be used as storage space for packages. Often the head rest interferes with proper movement of the seat back from its upright position to its lowered position when the operator is arranging the seat for package storage. The head rest is then moved to its lowered position and in some instances it remains in its lowered position when the seat back is returned to its upright position for occupant seating. The lowered position may not be optimum for passenger safety.
A further complication relates to the anticipated requirement for taller head rest positions than current products can provide. However, this greater fixed height often precludes existing seat designs from other functions such as the above-described seat back lowering for use in storing packages, or an inability to meet the height requirement without relying on the customer to adjust the position of the head rest.
Accordingly, what is desired is a system that fixes the head restraint at the taller required height when a passenger is sitting in the seat, prevents the passenger from adjusting the head restraint height while sifting in the seat, and which retracts the head restraint automatically when the user lowers the seat back thereby providing sufficient package clearances. Known systems are not capable of simultaneously achieving both the height degree anticipated to be required for proper operation of a seat assembly and the capability of moving from an upright position to a lowered position.

System for seat-actuated head rest extension and retraction