Push-to-talk messages are sent via a wireless multicast channel to multiple push-to-talk groups of devices regardless of group membership. Thus, all of the devices using the multicast channel receive all of the push-to-talk messages. To separate messages bound for one push-to-talk group from those bound for another, a push-to-talk group specific orthogonal code is applied to each message. The devices in a specific group use the group specific orthogonal code to decode the received multicast messages. If a device decodes the multicast message with the correct group specific orthogonal code, then the message is decoded and the device can play the message. If a device decodes the multicast message with a different group specific code (i.e., because it is not a member of the group the message was intended for), the message is will not be properly decoded and thus will be unplayable or scrambled.

Wireless communication may be used as a means of accessing a network. Wireless communication has certain advantages over wired communications for accessing a network. One of those advantages is a lower cost of infrastructure to provide access to many separate locations or addresses compared to wired communications. This is the so-called "last mile" problem. Another advantage is mobility. Wireless communication devices, such as cell phones, are not tied by wires to a fixed location. To use wireless communication to access a network, a customer needs to have at least one transceiver in active communication with another transceiver that is connected to the network.
To facilitate wireless communications, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has promulgated a number of wireless standards. These include the 802.11 (WiFi) standards and the 802.16 (WiMAX) standards. Likewise, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has promulgated standards to facilitate wireless communications. This includes TIA-856, which is also known as Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO). The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has also promulgated a standard known as long term evolution (LTE). Additional standards such as the fourth generation communication system (4G) are also being pursued. These standards pursue the aim of providing a comprehensive IP solution where voice, data, and streamed multimedia can be given to users on an "anytime, anywhere" basis. These standards also aim to provide higher data rates than previous generations. All of these standards may include specifications for various aspects of wireless communication with a network. These aspects include processes for registering on the network, carrier modulation, frequency bands of operation, and message formats.
The significant expansion of wireless communication networks has enabled many services and applications that use wireless devices. One of these services is known as push-to-talk (PTT). PTT may also be known as Press-to-Transmit. Push-to-talk is a method of half-duplex communication lines, such as two-way radio that often uses a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode. Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC) is a service option for a wireless phone network which permits subscribers to use their wireless device in a similar manner to a walkie-talkie with unlimited range. A typical push-to-talk connection application is designed to connect almost instantly. One significant advantage of push-to-talk is that it allows a single person to broadcast to an active talk group with a single button press. The members of a push-to-talk group need not make several calls to coordinate with the group.
Overview
In an embodiment, a method of operating a wireless communication system includes provisioning a multicast session from an access node to a first group of wireless devices and to a second group of wireless devices. The first group of wireless devices includes a first wireless device. The second group of wireless devices includes a second wireless device. A first push-to-talk session is provisioned with the first group of wireless devices. A second push-to-talk session is provisioned with the second group of wireless devices. A first push-to-talk multimedia message that is addressed to the first push-to-talk session is encoded by applying a first orthogonal code of a family of orthogonal codes to the first multimedia message. This creates a first encoded push-to-talk multimedia message. Using the multicast session, the first encoded push-to-talk multimedia message is transmitted to the first group of wireless devices and to the second group of wireless devices.
In an embodiment, a method of operating a wireless device includes, in response to a command received from an access node, configuring a multicast session. A push-to-talk session associated with the multicast session is configured. The wireless device is configured to receive push-to-talk multimedia messages received via the multicast session and associated with the push-to-talk session. The wireless device is configured to receive the push-to-talk multimedia messages by decoding the received push-to-talk multimedia messages using a first orthogonal code of a family of orthogonal codes.
In an embodiment, a communication system includes a push-to-talk processing node configured to send push-to-talk multimedia messages to a first push-to-talk group of wireless devices and a second push-to-talk group of wireless devices. The communication system also includes a wireless access node configured to receive the push-to-talk multimedia messages. The wireless access node is configured to forward, via a multicast channel, the push-to-talk multimedia messages to a first wireless device belonging to the first push-to-talk group of wireless devices and to a second wireless device belonging to the second push-to-talk group of wireless devices.


There is disclosed an optical information record medium having an optical information record layer on a transparent substrate, in which the transparent substrate is made of a resin material mainly consisting of a polycarbonate resin that contains no more than 4 wt % of low molecular weight fractions having a weight average measured with respect to a polystyrene molecular weight of no more than 3500, in order to avoid a double refraction of an optical information record medium resulting in an improved signal to noise ratio and having superior thermal-transformation resistance and impact resistance.

This invention relates to an optical information record medium such as an magneto-optical recording disk, write once type optical disk, compact disks, etc., and more particularly to an improved polycarbonate resin used as a substrate material for such record medium.
The optical record system provides such characteristics, or advantages, as handiness that enables non-contact recording/reproduction, high durability against dirt or scratches, and a storage capacity several tens or hundreds times greater than a magnetic record system, for example, that they are not only utilized as so-called compact disks wherein audio signals signals are digitally recorded or video, but also are expected to be used in filing code information or image information with great storage capacity.
Among the optical information record medium, there is a wide variety of write once type optical disks, or magneto-optical disks, other than the aforementioned compact disks. However, they all have an optical information record layer formed on a transparent substrate. Furthermore, the substrate material must meet certain requirements and characteristics. For instance, the following features of the substrate material are indispensable: (1) a material having thermal resistance at the time of melt molding and can be molded with ease; (2) a material that is not deformed or changed in quality after disk molding, (3) a material having supreme mechanical characteristics, (4) a material having a small double refraction due to, for example, a molecular orientation, a matter of which is important during recording/reproduction. The following materials meet these demands: poly methyl methacrylate resins, polycarbonate resins, polymethyl pentene resins, or polystyrene resins, and so on.
Among them, polycarbonate resin is superior with respect to the aforementioned points (1) to (3), and is the most hopeful substrate material of the optical information medium. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication without examination Nos. 60-155424, 61-4726, 61-16962, 61-19656, 61-55116 and 61-55117, there are disclosed optical disks with polycarbonate resins.
However, the polycarbonate resin suffer the disadvantage of having a large double refraction at the time of disk molding because of its molecular structure. Particularly, it is indispensable for an magneto-optical disk, for example, to minimize the double refraction caused in the transparent substrate, thus the occurence of the double refraction is a serious problem for it.
Therefore, in order to use a polycarbonate resin as the transparent substrate of this kind, one must reduce the double refraction that occurs at the time of molding.


The present invention relates to a protein that interacts with the cAbl protein tyrosine kinase and to a nucleic acid sequence encoding same. The invention also relates to complexes of the protein of the invention and cAbl and to the use of such complexes in the identification of therapeutic and diagnostic agents.

The c-Abl protein, originally identified as the cellular homolog of the v-abl oncogene product of Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) (Goff et al, Cell 22:777 (1980); Wang et al, Cell 36:349 (1984)), is a tyrosine kinase of unknown function.
Biochemical data suggest that c-Abl may regulate signal transduction events in the cytoplasm and processes in the nucleus. c-Abl is found primarily in the nucleus (Van Etten et al, Cell 58:669 (1989)), but it is also found in association with the plasma membrane and bound to actin filaments in the cytoplasm (Van Etten et al, Cell 58:669 (1989)); Van Etten et al, J. Cell. Biol. 124:325 (1994)).
The c-Abl protein has a complex structure that includes several domains common to proteins implicated in signal transduction pathways. Among these domains are the non-catalytic Src homology 2 and 3 (SH2 and SH3) domains and the tyrosine kinase (SH1) domain. SH2 and SH3 domains are modular components present in a large number of proteins (Pawson, Nature 373:573 (1995)). These domains are critical in the formation of stable signaling protein complexes, and have also been shown to regulate protein function (Feller et al, Trends Biochem. Sci. 19:453 (1994); Cohen et al, Cell 80:237 (1995); Pawson, Nature 373:S73 (1995)). The SH3 domain suppresses the intrinsic transforming activity of c-Abl in vivo (Franz et al, EMBO J. 8:137 (1989); Jackson and Baltimore, EMBO J. 8:449-456 (1989)), while the SH2 domain is required for the transforming function of activated abl genes (Mayer et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 12:609 (1992); Mayer and Baltimore, Mol. Cell. Bio. 14:2883 (1994)). The unique carboxy(C)-terminal region of c-Abl, which is encoded by a single exon, contains several functional and structural domains that include a nuclear localization signal (Van Etten et al, Cell 58:669 (1989)), proline-rich sequences that have the potential to bind to SH3-domain-containing proteins (Feller et al, EMBO J. 13:2341 (1994); Feller et al, Trends Biochem. Sci. 19:453 (1994); Ren et al, Genes & Dev. 8:783 (1994)), a DNA-binding domain (Kipreos and Wang, Science 256:382 (1992)) and an actin-binding domain (Van Etten et al, J. Cell. Biol. 124:325 (1994); McWhirter and Wang, EMBO J. 12:1533 (1993)). Several serine/threonine residues within the C-terminal exon are phosphorylated by the cdc 2 kinase (Kipreos and Wang, Science 248:217 (1990)) and by protein kinase C (Pendergast et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:4280 (1987)). The presence of multiple structural and functional domains within the c-Abl tyrosine kinase and its localization to cytoplasmic and nuclear cellular compartments, suggest a potential role for c-Abl in the regulation of transcription, DNA replication or cell cycle progression, as well as in the control of signaling events in the cytoplasm.
The tyrosine kinase activity of c-Abl is tightly regulated in vivo (Pendergast et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:5927 (1991); Mayer and Baltimore, Mol. Cell. Bio. 14:2883 (1994)). Overexpression of c-Abl at levels 5- to 10- fold over the endogenous c-Abl protein does not lead to cell transformation but causes growth arrest (Jackson and Baltimore, EMBO J. 8:449 (1989); Jackson et al, EMBO J. 12:2809 (1993); Sawyers et al, Cell 77:121 (1994)). In contrast, structurally altered forms of Abl cause cell transformation and exhibit elevated tyrosine kinase activity when expressed at similar levels (Franz et al, EMBO J. 8:137 (1989); Jackson and Baltimore, EMBO J. 8:449 (1989); Muller et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:1785 (1991)).
Activation of the oncogenic potential of c-Abl has been shown to occur as a consequence of structural alterations in the amino(N)- or C-terminal sequences (reviewed in Wang, Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 3:35-43 (1993)). Three naturally occurring c-abl-derived oncogenes have been identified (Goff et al, Cell 22:777 (1980); Bergold et al, J. Virol. 61:1193 (1987); Pendergast and Witte, In: Balliere's Clinical Haematology 1(4):1001 (1987); Kurzrock et al, N. Engl. J. Med. 319:990 (1988)). Oncogenic activity has been shown to result from, or be associated with, deletion of the Abl SH3 domain and fusion with gag sequences following retroviral transduction (Franz et al, EMBO J. 8:137 (1989); Jackson and Baltimore, EMBO J. 8:449 (1989); Muller et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:1785 (1991)), deletion of Abl C-terminal sequences and fusion with viral sequences, while retaining the Abl SH3 domain (Bergold et al, J. Virol. 61:1193-1202 (1987)), and fusion of bcr sequences upstream of the second exon of c-abl (Muller et al, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:1785 (1991); McWhirter and Wang, Mol. Cell. Biol. 11:1553 (1991); Pendergast et al, Cell 66:161 (1991)). Mutants of c-Abl have also been generated experimentally that exhibit increased transforming activity. These include Abl proteins with deletions or alterations in the SH3 and C-terminal sequences (Franz et al, EMBO J. 8:137 (1989); Jackson and Baltimore, EMBO J. 8:449 (1989); Goga et al, Mol. Cell. Biol 13:4967 (1993); Mayer and Baltimore, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:2883 (1994)). The structural alterations in the mutated Abl proteins disrupt the negative regulatory mechanisms that control the c-Abl protein tyrosine kinase, generating transforming Abl proteins that are constitutively active and are primarily localized in the cytoplasm.
Several possible mechanisms have been suggested for the inhibition of the c-Abl tyrosine kinase. Recently, it has been shown that the inhibitory effect of the Abl SH3 domain is extremely position sensitive (Mayer and Baltimore, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:2883 (1994)). These results suggest that, in addition to the SH3 domain, other region(s) of c-Abl may be required for repression. Two potential mechanisms have been proposed. First, it is possible that the SH3 domain functions in cis by binding to another region of Abl and effectively locking the protein in an inactive conformation. A second model consistent with the available data suggests that the c-Abl protein is negatively regulated by a transacting cellular modulator that exerts its effects by interacting with the Abl SH3 domain and a second region of the Abl protein (Mayer and Baltimore, Mol. Cell. Bio. 14:2883-2894 (1994). The present invention provides such a protein.


A hand held remote control device that allows a user to select the position and movement of a cursor on a display screen or other selected functions by rotating or translating the input device in three-dimensional space. A signal is emitted from a beacon at a first location and is received by the remote control device at a second location. The remote control device detects, about two non-parallel axes, components of an angular displacement between the incident direction of the signal and a selected axis of the remote control device. Optical structures, such as cylindrical lenses, are used to project portions of the signal onto detectors in order to measure the angular displacement. Information corresponding to the detected angular displacement is transmitted to a control box, which controls the position and movement of the cursor on the display screen in response to the transmitted information.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to input devices for controlling the position of a cursor or the selection of information on a display screen. In particular, the present invention relates to a hand held remote control device that transmits data corresponding to its angular orientation to a processor, which in turn controls the position of a cursor in response to the transmitted data.
2. The Prior State of the Art
There have been developed many devices for allowing a user to interactively control the position of a cursor and to otherwise manipulate the display of information on computer display screens and the like. In general, these input devices function by transmitting data from the input device to a computer processor where the data is used to position a cursor on a display screen. Typically, input devices detect changes in their physical positioning or forces applied thereto by a user, which is then translated into changes in the position or velocity of a computer generated object on a display screen. Such manipulable input devices provide advantages over buttons such as those found in keyboards, in that the input devices frequently allow the user greater freedom to easily select information on a display screen.
A computer mouse is one example of an input device that has found widespread acceptance for positioning a cursor on a computer display screen. A mouse typically includes a freely rotatable ball partially encased in a housing so that the ball may be rolled over a flat surface. Sensors in the housing detect the rotation of the ball and transmit rotation information to the computer processor where it is converted into corresponding movement of the cursor. Computer mice have the advantage of allowing a user to precisely and easily position a cursor at a desired location on a computer display screen. Moreover, the relationship between movement of a mouse and corresponding movement of a cursor is relatively intuitive so that use of a mouse is easily learned.
Joysticks are another type of commonly used input devices in computer systems. A joystick typically includes a shaft-like handle that protrudes from a base and that may be easily gripped by the user. Force is applied onto the handle in one of any number of possible directions that are generally parallel to the horizontal plane. Sensors in the base of the joystick detect a direction and, optionally, the magnitude of the applied force, and transform this information into a corresponding response on the display screen. Joysticks are most widely used in computer applications where selection of direction is desired. For example, joysticks are especially useful in many computer games in order to select a direction of movement and, optionally, velocity of a computer generated object.
There have been developed many other computer input devices, including variations on computer mice and joysticks. For example, trackballs include a rotatable ball that is directly exposed so that it may be directly manipulated by the fingers or hands of a user. A touchpad includes a planar surface having sensors for detecting the positioning of a pointing device thereon and for transmitting this information to a computer processor. Furthermore, some computer input devices have been developed for representing three dimensional translation and/or rotational motion. In general, computer input devices convert physical displacement or applied forces to corresponding direction, position, or velocity of a computer generated object.
In recent years, interactive systems that use conventional television screens to display computer-generated or processed information have become increasingly common. For example, there are computer systems having Internet browsers that are adapted for use with conventional television screens. Moreover, one clear trend in the industry is the increasing integration of cable television, the Internet, other computer applications, and other information systems, whereby vast amounts of information may be instantaneously made available to a user. These systems require interaction between the user and a visual display, such as selection from among various menu options displayed on the television screen.
Frequently, interactive information systems displayed on a television screen are used in physical environments that are significantly different from the typical setting in which personal computers are used. For example, interactive information systems are often used in a living room setting where the user may be located on an opposite side of the room from the television screen. In addition, the user is ordinarily not seated at a table or a desk as is common for personal computer users. For this reason, the conventional practice of using a desktop keyboard and mouse for personal computers is not readily transferable to television-based interactive information systems. It can be easily understood that without an available flat surface, the use of a computer mouse is difficult or inappropriate in a living room setting.
As previously mentioned, one of the most promising uses for television-based interactive information systems is to provide Internet access on a conventional television screen. Perhaps the most common method for selecting information on the Internet is to control the position of the cursor with relation to a World Wide Web (Web) page. Because the use of a computer mouse is awkward, one solution has been to replace the cursor with a selection box that can be moved from one active are of a Web page to another by using directional arrow buttons. Under ideal conditions, directional arrow buttons work well and provide some benefits. In particular, the hardware is very simple and inexpensive and the directional arrow model is easily understandable even by very computer naive users. However, the directional arrow model fails when the Web page contains a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) map which generally requires an actual pointing operation. In the past, the directional arrow model adapts to HTML maps by reverting to an arrow key driven cursor mode, which is functional but slow and cumbersome. There are also many cases where the directional arrow model breaks down. For example, orthogonal move instructions are ambiguous when adjacent active areas on a Web page are positioned diagonally one with another.
In addition to the foregoing difficulties that arise in basic Web page navigation using the directional arrow model, this model is not readily adaptable to other common and potential desirable activities and input modes. For example, directional arrow buttons are not adequate for real time interaction required for many computer games. Likewise, they are entirely impractical for drawing. In some cases, the directional arrow model is basically sound, but the vast number of locations to be traversed limit its practicability
Another factor that limits the types of input devices that can be practically used in television-based interactive systems is cost constraints. A primary reason why television-based Internet systems have become well accepted by consumers is the cost advantages they provide over personal computers. A typical television-based Internet system is primarily dedicated to providing interactive information on a television screen, thereby allowing the elimination or the reduction in size and cost of many of the components found in conventional personal computers. For example, because television-based Internet systems may not be intended for use with a wide number of computer applications, their hard drive requirements may be much less than those of personal computers. Moreover, the processing requirements are often different, which may allow television-based Internet systems to use processors that are less expensive than those of personal computers. Furthermore, users of television-based Internet systems usually do not purchase a dedicated monitor, but instead use an existing television screen.
It has been found that many consumers readily accept the Internet-dedicated nature of television-based Internet systems because of the vast cost savings compared to conventional personal computers. If a very expensive input device were to be sold with television-based Internet systems, a portion of the foregoing savings could be lost.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have an input device that can suitably allow a user to select a position of cursor on a conventional television screen. For example, it would be advantageous to provide an input device that allows a user to accurately position a cursor on a display screen in a living room environment. It would also be desirable to have an input device for positioning a cursor that is also relatively inexpensive.

Remote control device with pointing capacity


An exemplary heat dissipation device includes a heat sink, a fan holder, and a fan secured on a front side of the fan holder. The heat sink includes a base having two first fixing ears at its two lateral sides, and fins on the base. An engaging notch is defined in a top end of four of the fins. The fan holder includes a top panel, and two sidewalls extending downwardly from two lateral edges of the top panel. The top panel has a pair of inserting protrusions at a bottom surface thereof. The two sidewalls have two fixing flanges at lower ends thereof. The top panel is partially placed on the front portion of the top ends of the fins, and the inserting protrusions are inserted into the engaging notches of the fins. The two sidewalls abut against two lateral sides of the heat sink, and the two fixing flanges are disposed on the two first fixing ears.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a heat dissipation device, and more particularly to a heat dissipation device having a heat sink and a fan holder for facilitating a mount of a fan on the heat sink, wherein the fan holder also functions as a fan duct to guide an airflow flowing from the fan to electronic devices.
2. Related Art
Generally, in order to ensure the normal running of an electronic device, a heat dissipation device is used to dissipate heat generated by the electronic device. A conventional heat dissipation device includes a heat sink and a fan attached on the heat sink to improve a heat-dissipation capacity of the heat sink.
When installing the fan to the heat sink, in general, the fan is fixed to a side of the heat sink via a fan holder with screws. Although using the screws can achieve the fastening objective, it requires a lot of manpower and material resources. Furthermore, it is necessary to remove the fan first by unscrewing the screws when disassembling and maintaining the heat dissipation device. Such unscrewing operation is tiresome for a user. In addition, it is also possible that the unscrewed screws may fall into a computer in which the heat dissipation device is mounted and cause damage to components of the computer.
What is needed, therefore, is a heat dissipation device having a design which makes assembling and disassembling of a fan to/from a heat sink of the heat dissipation device convenient and easy.

Heat dissipation device having a fan holder

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A data management platform for managing interconnected data and its derivatives is disclosed. For one example of the present disclosure, the data management platform receives data assets to a data management platform through an API gateway. The data assets are reformatted based upon a corresponding data model. A set of data management features are accessed through a corresponding API. The set of data management modules includes tagging, ownership, relationship, cataloging, discovery, lineage and provenance, and lifecycle. The management modules provide dynamic identification of interconnections between the data assets. Interconnections for the data assets are generated and the data assets and the interconnection data are stored based upon a format of the data.

Examples of the present disclosure relate, generally to data science, and more specifically to systems and methods for the storage, retrieval, and management of data, including metadata, interconnected data, and data derivatives. Many organizations have data stored in differing formats and various locations throughout the organization and often outside the organization. It is often difficult to access such data and to determine and access interconnected data and data derivatives. Conventional schemes employ data warehousing to integrate data from multiple sources for analysis or querying. Data warehousing typically uses full-text search and analytics techniques which have an inherent disadvantage of reduced relevancy. Data warehousing does not effectively manage the interconnections between data and metadata at multiple levels nor with disparate hierarchical or graphical structures, for example.


Concurrent WIMAX and GSM operation is facilitated in a user device by coordinating for WiMAX absence periods during WiMAX frames that may conflict with corresponding GSM frames.

Many modern communication devices support operation in multiple different wireless technologies. In many cases, it may be desirable to operate using two different wireless technologies at the same time. For example, a user of a device may wish to carry on a telephone conversation over a cellular wireless link at the same time that he is actively surfing the Internet. A problem that may arise with this concurrent operation is that one of the wireless technologies may interfere with the other. Such interference may occur even if the two wireless technologies operate within different frequency bands. For example, one of the wireless technologies may generate harmonics or other spurious frequency components during operation that are within the operational frequency band of the other wireless technology. Techniques are needed for reducing the amount of interference that may occur when two different wireless technologies are operating concurrently.

Method and apparatus for concurrent WiMAX and GSM operation


The invention relates to a high-pressure discharge lamp having a transparent discharge vessel, an ionizable filling which is arranged in the discharge space of the discharge vessel and electrodes, which extend into the discharge space of the discharge vessel, for the purpose of producing a gas discharge, as well as power supply lines, which are passed out of the discharge vessel, for the purpose of supplying energy to the electrodes, the discharge vessel of the high-pressure discharge lamp being provided partially with an electrically conductive coating, with the result that a capacitive coupling is produced between the coating and at least one electrode and/or power supply line. As a result, the starting properties and the luminous efficiency of the lamp are improved.

Such a high-pressure discharge lamp has been disclosed, for example, in the European patent specification EP 0 991 107 B1. On page 4, at lines 12 to 26 of column 6 of this patent specification, a high-pressure discharge lamp with a base at one end for a motor vehicle headlight is described which has a discharge vessel surrounded by a vitreous outer bulb, the outer bulb being provided with a transparent, electrically conductive layer which extends over the entire discharge space of the lamp. This layer is connected to the circuit-internal ground reference potential of the operating device of the high-pressure discharge lamp in order to improve the electromagnetic compatibility of the lamp.

High-pressure discharge lamp having electrically conductive transparent coating

OSRAM Gesellschaft mit beschraenkter Haftung


A signal transmission tube may be made by disposing a reactive polymeric material within a confinement tube and leaving a portion of the tube interior unoccupied. The tube may be formed by disposing a layer of paint comprising the reactive polymeric material on the interior surface of the confinement tube, extruding the confinement tube over an elongate rod that comprises the reactive polymeric material. The rod preferably has a high surface area configuration, e.g., the rod may comprise a longitudinal bore therethrough or may be star-shaped, cross-shaped, etc. Alternatively, the signal transmission tube may be made from the reactive polymeric material. Optionally, a sheath may be extruded over the tubular reactive polymeric material. In various embodiments, the confinement tube or sheath may be configured to be fractured or substantially consumed by the reaction of the reactive polymeric material. Optionally, the reactive polymeric material may comprise a glycidyl azide polymer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to initiation signal transmission lines used in mining and other blasting operations and, in particular, to tubular initiation signal transmission lines such as shock tube and low velocity signal tube.
2. Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,904 entitled "Azido Polymers Having Improved Burn Rate", issued Oct. 28, 1997 and relates to azido polymers, especially cross-linked azido polymers that can be used as high-energy materials. As disclosed starting at column 1, line 10, azido-containing compounds and polymers are important in the fields of explosives and propellants because the azido group is highly energetic and can easily be incorporated into a polymer or oligomer at high weight percent loadings. One especially useful class is described starting at column 1, line 14, as azido-substituted polyethers, for example, glycidyl azide polymer. Although hydroxylated azido-substituted polyethers are often cured with polyisocyanates via a urethane-forming mechanism for energetic material applications, as disclosed starting at column 2, line 9, it has been discovered that liquid azido polymers can be cross-linked to some or all of the azido groups with a multi-functional dipolarophile having a reactive group selected from acrylic and acetylenic esters or amides to produce a polymer material containing triazoline and/or triazole groups. These materials are said to have advantages relative to the polyisocyanate-cured polymers. Such polymers, including glycidyl azide polymers ("GAP") are commercially available from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company ("3M Company") of St. Paul, Minn. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,904 is incorporated by reference herein.
It is conventional practice in mining and other blasting operations to employ non-electric initiation signal transmission tubes to transmit initiation signals from an igniter device to an initiator device such as a detonator that is used to initiate another reactive device, e.g., to set off an explosive charge such as a borehole explosive charge, e.g., a PETN-containing booster charge which, in turn, may initiate a borehole blasting agent such as ANFO. Two well-known types of non-electric signal transmission tubes are known in the art as shock tube and low velocity signal transmission tube, and are referred to collectively as signal transmission tubes. Typically, a signal transmission tube comprises a flexible but resilient tube having a thin layer of reactive powder material adhered to the inner wall, leaving a continuous open channel along the length of the tube.
Generally, signal transmission tube may be formed from an extruded synthetic polymeric material such as EAA (ethylene/acrylic acid copolymer), EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) or a SURLYN™ such as SURLYN™ 8940, an ionomer resin available from E. I. DuPont de Nemours Company of Wilmington, Del., low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low or medium density polyethylene, linear low, medium and high density polyester and polyvinylidene chloride (PVC), and suitable blends or polymer alloys of such materials. A signal transmission tube may comprise multiple, concentric, co-extruded layers, the outer layer or layers usually being made of a mechanically tougher polymer than the innermost layer. The material used to manufacture the signal transmission tube is generally chosen so that the finished tube will be sufficiently flexible to permit the necessary handling, but will also be of sufficiently high tensile strength and resiliency to resist breakage and sufficiently tough to resist abrasion, cutting or nicking of the tube during use. In fact, conventional signal transmission tubes are so resilient and strong that an initiation signal passing therethrough does not substantially affect the physical integrity of the tube, which remains intact after the signal passes there-through. This allows signal transmission tubes to be used advantageously on the surface of a blasting site where air blast and associated noises are unwanted, as well as for the transfer of an initiation signal through explosive material (such as a borehole charge) to a detonator for the explosive material without causing premature detonation or disrupting the explosive charge in the borehole.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,973 to Gladden et al, dated Jan. 28, 1997, entitled "Signal Transmission Fuse", is concerned with shock tube of specific and inventive dimensions and proportions, and which contains a pulverulent reactive material disposed on the inner surface of the tube. For example, see column 2, line 38 et seq of U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,973.
Another of many patents dealing with shock tube is U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,398 to Rabotinsky et al, dated Jan. 9, 2001, entitled "Signal Transmission Fuse", which discloses a shock tube which encases a support tape which has a reactive coating adhered to one side of the tape by a binder.
In most cases in the prior art, the reactive material is a pulverulent material which adheres to the interior of the hollow tube by the attraction of the powder particles to the plastic from which the interior wall of the tube is made. That material is usually an ionic ethylene methacrylic acid polymer, such as that sold under the trademark SURLYN® by E. I. DuPont de Nemours Company of Wilmington, Del. The pulverulent reactive material is mainly "unembedded", meaning that it is not held on the tube wall by an adhesive, binder or the like.
One art-recognized difficulty is migration of the unembedded pulverulent reactive material, which is conventionally held in place only by electrostatic or other attraction to the plastic of which the interior surface of the tube is made. During shipment, handling or installation, portions of the pulverulent reactive material tend to detach from the tube wall, possibly resulting in bare spots on the interior of the tube and/or accumulation of powder, especially in kinks or in curved portions of the tube, which then may be plugged with the loose reactive powder that may interrupt the transmission of a signal therethrough, resulting in a misfire. Powder migration is a problem because, in products where lengths of the signal transmission fuse are connected to devices such as detonators, migrating powder can collect atop the explosive or pyrotechnic contained within the detonator and shield the explosive or pyrotechnic from the signal generated in the shock tube, thereby resulting in a misfire. Localized concentrations of powder can lead to blow-outs of the tube wall which will result in undesired variations of the reaction pressure. Of course, if powder migration is so severe as to leave sections of the fuse with insufficient powder adhered thereto to sustain the reaction, a propagation failure will occur. Reliability of performance of shock tube is always of vital importance, especially in certain applications, e.g., air bag devices, where malfunctioning can lead to injuries.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,250 to Dias dos Santos, dated Jul. 12, 1988, entitled "Non-Electric and Non-Explosive Time Delay Fuse, discloses fuses comprising hollow tubes into which pyrotechnic mixtures are blown to deposit pyrotechnic material into the tubes.
Adhering the reactive material to a tape contained within the tube by means of a binder as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,398 is an attempt to overcome the problem of powder migration, but requires a more complicated manufacturing technique.
One disadvantageous result of the resilience, toughness and tensile strength of conventional signal transmission tube such as shock tube is that after the blasting operation, the blasting area is littered with spent but intact tube carcass. The tube carcass may clog up mine processing equipment and may tangle in rotating parts of mining equipment such as the axles or shafts in earth-moving equipment and crushing machinery employed at the blasting site shortly after the tube is used, and may require frequent removal. For example, tube carcasses often snag on earth-moving equipment such as bulldozers, forcing the operator to stop the bulldozer to cut tube carcass from the equipment and to collect and remove tube carcass from the work site. Prior attempts to address this problem have included providing tube that splits upon functioning. On a longer time frame, those portions of conventional tube carcasses, or fragments thereof, that remain on the blasting site or that are transported elsewhere constitute solid waste that is not very susceptible to biodegradation.

Tubular signal transmission device and method of manufacture


Diamonds are marked by applying apertured stencils bearing identifying indicia to the girdles, applying a fusible coating material over the apertured stencils, and then heating the coating material to fuse the material on the girdles. The stencils can be eliminated, and the indicia can be formed by directing a source of radiant energy at the coating material, and by moving the source and/or the girdle relative to each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to marking and inscribing gemstones, particularly diamonds, with indicia identifying the gemstones by heating surface portions of the gemstones upon exposure to radiant energy in a fused marking pattern corresponding to the identifying indicia.
2. Description of the Related Art
Laser etching or inscribing of a diamond surface for the purpose of permanently identifying a diamond is well known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,392,476; 4,467,172; 5,753,887; 5,932,119; 6,211,484; 5,149,938; 5,410,125; 5,573,684 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/785,631 filed Feb. 16, 2001 are representative of known laser marking systems that employ lasers, beam delivery and imaging components, gemstone fixtures, servomotors, optical encoders, and programmed computers for controlling the marking procedure.
Such marking systems not only occupy a large volume of space to accommodate all of their various components, but also are costly to purchase and operate. As a result, such systems are typically installed at one or more authorized sites, such as a gemological laboratory or institute. Jewelers and like customers desiring gemstones to be marked send the gemstones to the site of the marking system, and wait for the marked gemstones to be returned.
Many jewelers dislike sending precious items out of their hands and, hence, out of their sight and control, but perhaps, more importantly, dislike having to wait for their return. Yet, the size and cost of laser marking systems dictate against any one jeweler's purchasing and installing such a system at the jeweler's premises. Such systems also require skilled, trained personnel to operate the system. This requirement is typically difficult for the average jeweler to meet.
Another U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/858,846 filed May 16, 2001, etches a diamond by igniting a flammable substance applied in a burn pattern to the diamond. This technique requires close monitoring of the flame produced after ignition to avoid the risk of fire.


A device for opening-closing jaw guard of a helmet is disclosed. The device has a hinge means 400 comprising fixed plates 410 which are fixed on both the left and right sides of the helmet body 1 and each of which has a long hole 411, operating plates 420 which are fixed on the inside of the left and right extending portions 4a of the jaw guard 4 and each of which has an arc-shaped internal gear 421, a planetary gear 430 which is engaged with the internal gear 421 of the operating plate 420, and has a protuberance 431 formed on either side, and a cutaway portion 432 formed on the outer circumference; and a pivoting lever 440 which has a shaft protuberance 441 of front end inserted into the cutaway portion 432 of the planetary gear 430 and a penetration hole 442 of rear end inserted into the main boss 423 of the operating plate 420.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for opening-closing jaw guard of a helmet, and more specifically to a device for opening-closing jaw guard of a helmet which can improve the appearance of the helmet by making the jaw guard operate without interference with other parts of the helmet in the process of opening and closing the jaw guard.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a motorcycle helmet has an opening portion for securing the field of vision ahead, and there are a full-face type in which the jaw guard portion below is in one body and an opening-closing type in which the jaw guard can be opened and closed.
The jaw guard of the opening-closing type of a helmet in which the jaw guard can be opened and closed goes up to the top of head when it is turned up, and when it is turned down to be closed, the locking mechanism is locked and at the same time it is fixed in close contact to the front of the jaw.
The pivoting of such a conventional opening-closing jaw guard is made on hinge shafts provided as fulcrum on both the left and right sides of the helmet. But in the conventional helmet, just simple pivot action only is allowed, so it has a drawback that the jaw guard being opened or closed interferes with the front of the helmet or other attachments such as vent parts.
In other words, because the occasionally opened and closed jaw guard grazes other parts of the helmet when it is opened and closed, the grazing makes the appearance bad and sometimes causes the lifetime of the helmet to shorten.

Device for opening-closing jaw guard of helmet


A method and circuit for automatically lowering a quiescent current at a predetermined threshold. A compact and low power current comparator is employed to detect the power consumption conditions, and issues a control signal to lower current consumption within a power management circuit. By dynamically resizing bias device geometries, a minimum quiescent current of an electronic device may be further reduced. Moreover, the control signal may also be used to engage modification of circuit dynamics to improve circuit performance and mitigate a response profile during recovery from a low power operation.

Power management is one of the most important areas of electronic design. With the proliferation of portable devices and complex, multi-functional integrated circuits, a variety of regulated supply voltages are generally provided to various circuits within a microchip or in a plurality of microchips.
Present CMOS technologies for Low-Dropout Voltage (LDO) regulators of moderate output current (e.g. up to half ampere) dissipate more than a few mA quiescent current at low loading or no loading conditions. Some specialty LDOs of very low power may provide just a few mA's, which may be adequate to power real-time clock and RAM memory circuits. The minimum quiescent current dissipated by a circuit generally relates to a maximum output power requirement of the circuit. Thus, transistors size and their biasing conditions are determined by the size of a series pass transistor and the LDO's overall power handling specification. If bias devices are sized smaller or biased leaner, lower quiescent current may result, but this could heavily compromise the LDO's output power capability and circuit performance characteristics. In the area of portable devices, typical general purpose LDOs may provide 50 mA to over 500 mA.
Thus, it is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Power conservation by reducing quiescent current in low power and standby modes


The present invention provides a polypropylene resin composition in a mixture of a pellet (A) and a pellet (B), which is characterized by mixing them with various inorganic fillers and additives, wherein the pellet (A) comprises a long fiber-reinforced composite resin (a) obtained via a pultrusion impregnation process, and the pellet (B) comprises a composite resin (b) that includes polypropylene and thermoplastic elastomer. The polypropylene resin composition of the present invention can directly replace thermoplastic elastomer overmolding or painting in automotive parts to which such processes are routinely applied (e.g., interior components of the vehicle), which makes it possible to simplify and reduce the cost of the production process for such parts.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a polypropylene resin composition having excellent tactility and scratch resistance. More particularly, it relates to a polypropylene resin composition in which reinforcing fibers (e.g., long fibers) are added to thermoplastic elastomer, which enhances the tactility of the thermoplastic elastomer while satisfying requirements for hardness, impact strength and formability (including ease and/or efficiency of formation).
(b) Background Art
In general, automotive interior parts have been manufactured according to various product specifications, which include leather wrapping, polyurethane spraying, in-mold graining (IMG), thermoplastic elastomer sheeting, thermoplastic elastomer over-molding, painting, non-painting and the like, depending on quality requirements. Expensive materials with high quality textures such as leather wrapping or polyurethane spraying have been widely applied to luxury vehicles, and in-mold graining or over-molding processes have also been applied to varying extent in intermediate class vehicles. For cheaper vehicles, painting or non-painting has generally been used, and such processes are also applied to a sizable number of parts even in high/middle-priced vehicle types. Recently, as the importance of enhancing surface tactility has been recognized, paints possessing high elasticity have been more broadly used. However, implementing a painting process that uses a high elasticity paint can cause production costs to rise while also provoking additional issues related to environmental safety and regulations.
Korean Patent No. 10-0857185 discloses a fiber-reinforced polypropylene resin composition having high rigidity, impact resistance and heat resistance, which is obtained by mixing polypropylene resin, inorganic fibers, thermoplastic rubber elastomer, inorganic fillers and a compatibilizing agent. This resin composition satisfies requirements for high rigidity, heat resistance and impact resistance for automotive parts; however, its tactility is very poor. Thus, a limitation of such resins is that a product using such resins must still be painted prior to releasing such a product.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop a polypropylene resin composition that possesses excellent tactility and scratch resistance while also maintaining good physical properties suitable for broad applications as automotive exterior and/or interior materials.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Composition of polypropylene having improved tactility and scratch resistance and methods of use thereof


An apparatus for heating an insulation fluid in a medium-voltage or high-voltage switchgear comprises an infrared source which is adapted to emit infrared radiation of at least one wavelength. Thus, at least one vibrational or rotational mode of at least one component of the insulation fluid is excited by absorption of at least a part of the infrared radiation, and condensation of the insulation fluid is efficiently prevented by this direct heating of the insulation fluid. A closed loop temperature regulator is used to heat only when required. A circulator in a heating chamber further provides for a mixing of the insulation fluid, thus preventing steep temperature gradients.

Insulation fluids like SF6, CO2, or C5F10O (C5 perfluoroketone) can be used in switchgear for, e.g., medium or high-voltage current interruption applications because of their excellent arc quenching capabilities and dielectric strengths. However, when these substances are subjected to low temperature conditions, they can begin to condensate or resublime from their gaseous into their liquid or solid forms, thereby interfering with the functionality of the switchgear due to this phase change. In other words, at low temperatures, liquefaction of the insulation fluid can occur and this diminishes the effective density of the remaining insulation fluid being still in the gaseous physical state.
In current attempts to inhibit the condensation of insulating fluids in switchgear by heating the insulation fluids to suitable levels, conventional heating technologies often utilize resistive heaters or heating blankets on an exterior side of an insulation fluid tank.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,333 discloses a heating blanket encircling a circuit breaker tank.
DE 101 29 747 C1 discloses a high-voltage power circuit breaker of the dead-tank type that is suitable for use at very low temperatures. To this end, the power circuit breaker is provided with a heat insulation that is embodied as a container.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,102,101 B1 discloses a high voltage circuit breaker with a tank internal heater.
DE 3101964 C2 discloses heat transfer members and tank-external electric heaters for a compressed-gas circuit interrupter.
Another known method is to collect the condensed insulation fluid, evaporate it with a heater and transfer it back to the common gas volume of the switchgear, as described, e.g., in FR 2598026 B1.
For heating up the circuit breaker tanks, U.S. Pat. No. 3,602,669 combines the use of tank-external radiant energy heaters with tank internal resistive heaters.
These known solutions suffer from the drawback, however, that they heat parts of or the complete switchgear hardware due to their indirect nature for heating the insulation fluid.

Insulation fluid heating apparatus and method


Method for monitoring the presence of a point-of-sale display in a shop, at the sight of consumers, the method comprising: acquiring signals from mobile devices by at least one signal sensor, sending one output from the signal sensor to an analyzing device, wherein the analyzing device: calculates an audience rate of the point-of-sale display on the basis of the output, and determines, on the basis of the audience rate, if the point-of-sale display is in the shop at the sight of consumers or not.

Point-of-sale materials are provided to shops by the manufacturers of products. The point-of-sale materials can present products that are not owned by the owner of the shop, but the point-of-sale materials are contracted to be placed in a position which is visible by the consumers. A processor can be provided, as well as a point-of-sale display.
Manufacturers of the products displayed on the point-of-sale display generally arrange contractually with the owner of the shop to sell some of the products presented by the point-of-sale material.
When a manufacturer of a product has a plurality of such point-of-sale materials, in a plurality of shops, a large sales force has to be physically employed to verify the point-of-sale displays. For example, such verification includes checking if the point-of-sale display is in the shop, at the sight of the consumers.
Document US2003/0227384 describes a system for verifying the presence and absence of a point-of-sale display. The system includes a localization sensor, and a presence sensor. The measures taken by the presence sensor are analyzed to determine the proximity of people potentially viewing the display and the localization sensor is used to know the actual location of the display. The outputs of the sensor are compared to predetermined values to determine if an abnormal condition affecting the viewability of the display exists.
However, the measures used by the sensor are not sufficient to determine if a point-of-sale display is in the shop in an accurate way.

Method and system for monitoring the presence of a point-of-sale display in a shop, at the sight of consumers


Video coding efficiency is improved by jointly coding the x and y components of motion vectors with a single variable length code. The motion vector components for a block of pixels are predicted based on motion vectors of neighboring blocks of pixels. The predicted x and y components are then jointly coded by assigning a single variable length code corresponding to the pair of components, rather than a separate code for each component. If the x and y components do not have a corresponding entry in the coding table, they are coded with an escape code followed by fixed length codes.

Full-motion video displays based upon analog video signals have long been available in the form of television. With recent advances in computer processing capabilities and affordability, full-motion video displays based upon digital video signals are becoming more widely available. Digital video systems can provide significant improvements over conventional analog video systems in creating, modifying, transmitting, storing, and playing full-motion video sequences.
Digital video displays include large numbers of image frames that are played or rendered successively at frequencies of between 30 and 75 Hz. Each image frame is a still image formed from an array of pixels based on the display resolution of a particular system. As examples, VHS-based systems have display resolutions of 320×480 pixels, NTSC-based systems have display resolutions of 720×486 pixels, and high-definition television (HDTV) systems under development have display resolutions of 1360×1024 pixels.
The amounts of raw digital information included in video sequences are massive. Storage and transmission of these amounts of video information is infeasible with conventional personal computer equipment. Consider, for example, a digitized form of a relatively low resolution VHS image format having a 320×480 pixel resolution. A full-length motion picture of two hours in duration at this resolution corresponds to 100 gigabytes of digital video information. By comparison, conventional compact optical disks have capacities of about 0.6 gigabytes, magnetic hard disks have capacities of 1-2 gigabytes, and compact optical disks under development have capacities of up to 8 gigabytes.
To address the limitations in storing or transmitting such massive amounts of digital video information, various video compression standards or processes have been established, including MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and H.26X. These video compression techniques utilize similarities between successive image frames, referred to as temporal or interframe correlation, to provide interframe compression in which motion data and error signals are used to encode changes between frames.
In addition, the conventional video compression techniques utilize similarities within image frames, referred to as spatial or intraframe correlation, to provide intraframe compression in which the image samples within an image frame are compressed. Intraframe compression is based upon conventional processes for compressing still images, such as discrete cosine transform (DCT) encoding. This type of coding is sometimes referred to as "texture" or "transform" coding. A "texture" generally refers to a two-dimensional array of image sample values, such as an array of chrominance and luminance values or an array of alpha (opacity) values. The term "transform" in this context refers to how the image samples are transformed into spatial frequency components during the coding process. This use of the term "transform" should be distinguished from a geometric transform used to estimate scene changes in some interframe compression methods.
Interframe compression typically utilizes motion estimation and compensation to encode scene changes between frames. Motion estimation is a process for estimating the motion of image samples (e.g., pixels) between frames. Using motion estimation, the encoder attempts to match blocks of pixels in one frame with corresponding pixels in another frame. After the most similar block is found in a given search area, the change in position of the pixel locations of the corresponding pixels is approximated and represented as motion data, such as a motion vector. Motion compensation is a process for determining a predicted image and computing the error between the predicted image and the original image. Using motion compensation, the encoder applies the motion data to an image and computes a predicted image. The difference between the predicted image and the input image is called the error signal. Since the error signal is just an array of values representing the difference between image sample values, it can be compressed using the same texture coding method as used for intraframe coding of image samples.
Although differing in specific implementations, the MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and H.26X video compression standards are similar in a number of respects. The following description of the MPEG-2 video compression standard is generally applicable to the others.
MPEG-2 provides interframe compression and intraframe compression based upon square blocks or arrays of pixels in video images. A video image is divided into image sample blocks called macroblocks having dimensions of 16×16 pixels. In MPEG-2, a macroblock comprises four luminance blocks (each block is 8×8 samples of luminance (Y)) and two chrominance blocks (one 8×8 sample block each for Cb and Cr).
In MPEG-2, interframe coding is performed on macroblocks. An MPEG-2 encoder performs motion estimation and compensation to compute motion vectors and block error signals. For each block MN in an image frame N, a search is performed across the image of a next successive video frame N+1 or immediately preceding image frame N−1 (i.e., bi-directionally) to identify the most similar respective blocks MN+1 or MN−1. The location of the most similar block relative to the block MN is encoded with a motion vector (DX,DY). The motion vector is then used to compute a block of predicted sample values. These predicted sample values are compared with block MN to determine the block error signal. The error signal is compressed using a texture coding method such as discrete cosine transform (DCT) encoding.
Object-based video coding techniques have been proposed as an improvement to the conventional frame-based coding standards. In object-based coding, arbitrary shaped image features are separated from the frames in the video sequence using a method called "segmentation." The video objects or "segments" are coded independently. Object-based coding can improve the compression rate because it increases the interframe correlation between video objects in successive frames. It is also advantageous for variety of applications that require access to and tracking of objects in a video sequence.
In the object-based video coding methods proposed for the MPEG-4 standard, the shape, motion and texture of video objects are coded independently. The shape of an object is represented by a binary or alpha mask that defines the boundary of the arbitrary shaped object in a video frame. The motion of an object is similar to the motion data of MPEG-2, except that it applies to an arbitrary-shaped image of the object that has been segmented from a rectangular frame. Motion estimation and compensation is performed on blocks of a "video object plane" rather than the entire frame. The video object plane is the name for the shaped image of an object in a single frame.
The texture of a video object is the image sample information in a video object plane that falls within the object's shape. Texture coding of an object's image samples and error signals is performed using similar texture coding methods as in frame-based coding. For example, a segmented image can be fitted into a bounding rectangle formed of macroblocks. The rectangular image formed by the bounding rectangle can be compressed just like a rectangular frame, except that transparent macroblocks need not be coded. Partially transparent blocks are coded after filling in the portions of the block that fall outside the object's shape boundary with sample values in a technique called "padding."
In both frame-based and object-based video coding, the encoded bit stream typically includes many interframe-coded frames (P frames). Each of these P frames includes at least one motion vector per macroblock, and each motion vector includes X and Y components that coded independently. As such, motion vectors contribute a significant amount of data for each coded P frame. There is a need, therefore, for more efficient motion vector coding schemes.

Efficient motion vector coding for video compression


Embodiments of the present invention provide a method of fabricating a magnetic head slider realizing high-recording density at high-yields by preventing formation of a short circuit on the air-bearing surface of a magnetic head slider and preventing formation of an oxidized layer with significant film thickness which increases the effective magnetic spacing, on the air-bearing surface of the magnetic head slider. According to one embodiment, after air-bearing surface mechanical lapping of a row bar or a magnetic head slider, cleaning is performed by ion beam bombardment to remove a conductive smear. Oxygen exposure is performed to recover a damaged region which was formed by ion beam bombardment at the end face of an intermediate layer of a magnetoresistive film 5. Thereafter, air-bearing surface protection films are formed and followed by rail formation. If the processes are performed on the row bar, the row bar is cut into individual separated magnetic head sliders.

In recent years, magnetic read and write devices have rapidly developed in high-recording density as the amount of handled information has increased. Along with this tendency, high-sensitivity and high-output magnetic heads have been requested. To meet the request, magnetic heads using giant magnetoresistive (GMR) films providing high-output have been developed and further improved. However, there is concern that even the magnetic heads using the GMR films lack output for a recording density of greater than 9.3×109 bits/cm2. Therefore, a magnetic head has been researched and developed which uses a tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) element or CPP (Current Perpendicular to the Plane) GMR film allowing electric current to flow perpendicular to GMR surface, as the next-generation magnetoresistive element of the GMR film.
The magnetic head using the GMR film is largely different in structure from the magnetic head using the TMR film or CPP-GMR film. The former has a CIP (Current Into the Plane) structure which allows sensing current to flow in the direction parallel to the magnetoresistive film surface. The electrodes supplying the sensing current are provided on both sides of the magnetoresistive film. On the other hand, the latter has a CPP structure which allows the sensing current in a direction perpendicular to the film surface of the magnetoresistive film comprising the TMR film or CPP-GMR film. Therefore, the electrodes supplying the sensing current are provided to be laminated on the magnetoresistive film.
If a path which short-circuits upper and lower magnetic shields serving as electrodes exists in the magnetic head having the CPP structure, it forms a short-circuit for the sensing current. This poses a problem with a reduction in the signal of the magnetic head. In particular, when a short circuit is formed across an intermediate layer (a tunnel barrier layer or a current confined layer), the signal is significantly reduced.
A short circuit may be formed mainly at the following two places: (1) an end face of a magnetoresistive film perpendicular to a stacked surface, the end face forming a portion of a magnetic recording medium-facing surface; (2) an end face of a magnetoresistive film in contact with a refill film formed in an element height direction and in an track width direction.
The short circuit formed at (2) is formed in a process for forming the element height of the magnetoresistive film and a process for forming the track width. In the processes, an unnecessary region is removed by the Ar ion beam etching method. At this time, a phenomenon called re-adhesion occurs in which the etched material removed adheres to the side wall of the magnetoresistive film. The etched material is a metal laminated film, which is conductive, and so it can form a short circuit. As a method of preventing leakage of the sensing current due to the re-adhesion, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-86861 ("patent document 1") discloses a method of preventing the short circuit by oxidizing the re-deposited material after the etching.
It is known that in the air-bearing surface lapping process of a magnetic head slider, the short circuit formed at (1) occurs when the air-bearing surface of the magnetoresistive film is lapped by using a plate embedded with minute diamond abrasive grains. In the air-bearing surface lapping process, the air-bearing surface is mechanically lapped for smoothing by the grinding operation of the hard grains and plastic flow operation. A metal element which forms a magnetic shield layer, a magnetoresistive film or a magnetic domain control film plastically flows to form a smear at an end face forming a portion of a magnetic recording medium-facing surface thereof. Since the smear is made of metal, it is conductive, which forms a short circuit for sensing current. A method of preventing short-circuit due to a smear is disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication No. 1999-175927 ("patent document 2"). This method involves removing a smear getting across a magnetoresistive film produced by mechanical lapping by plasma or ion-used dry etching after the mechanical lapping.
The method of removing the short-circuit formed at (1) is achieved not only by the dry etching method but also by applying the method described in patent document 1 used to remove the short-circuit formed at (2), to the magnetic recording medium-facing surface to form an oxidized layer on the air-bearing surface.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-108355 ("Patent document 3") describes a method of forming an oxidized layer on the air-bearing surface by using air, ion beams, ozone or the like in an air-bearing surface protection film forming process although the purpose of the method is as below. Even if a magnetoresistive element is placed high-temperature environment, the change of the resistance value of the magnetoresistive element before and after the placement is reduced to thereby enhance the stability of the characteristic relative to the high-temperature environment.
If dry etching is performed after the air-bearing surface lapping of the magnetic head slider, it is possible to remove the smear resulting from the plastic flow during the lapping. However, a damaged region produces the lowering of output or of withstand voltage. This damaged region is formed on an end face which forms a portion of the air-bearing surface of a magnetoresistive film, a magnetic domain control film, a refill film or a magnetic shield film. In addition, the damaged region is a region where a short-circuit or magnetically insensitive layer is formed at a portion of the air-bearing surface of a magnetoresistive film, a magnetic domain control film, a refill film or a magnetic shield film due to film quality alteration by the dry etching or to element interdiffusion with an adjacent film. In particular, if the tunnel barrier layer of a TMR film is damaged, the magnetoresistive effect of the TMR film is reduced to significantly lower output. Similarly, if the current confined layer of a CPP-GMR film is damaged, the magnetoresistive effect of the CPP-GMR film is reduced to significantly lower output.
On the other hand, when an oxidized layer is formed on a air-bearing surface by ozone exposure, air exposure, or oxygen ion beam bombardment, the damaged region may be removed in some cases. However, the oxidized layer formed on the air-bearing surface of a magnetic head cannot maintain sufficient corrosion resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to further form an air-bearing surface protection film after formation of the oxide film. Consequently, effective magnetic spacing is increased according to the thickness of the oxidized layer. This lowers read and write resolution when the magnetic head slider is caused to fly.
If the dry etching is not used in order not to form a damaged region on a air-bearing surface, it is impossible to remove a conductive smear formed by mechanical lapping, which significantly lowers signal.
Because of the problems described above, a method of manufacturing a high-recording density magnetic head at high-yields has not been realized under existing circumstances.

Method for fabricating magnetic head slider

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


An optical system has a diffractive optical element. A diffractive optical surface of the optical element has a blaze-shaped diffraction grating. The grating heights are smaller in the peripheral region of the grating than in the central region of the grating around its optical axis. The optical element acts as a lenses a result of light rays being deflected by the light-diffracting action of the diffractive optical surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element that has light-diffracting properties, to an optical system having such an optical element, and to a method for manufacturing such an optical element. More particularly, the present invention relates to all optical element having a blaze-shaped diffraction grating (i.e., a diffraction grating that has a serrated cross section composed of a series of rectangular triangles), to an optical system having such an optical element, and to a method for manufacturing such an optical element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, various techniques have been proposed for correcting chromatic aberration with as few lens elements as possible through the light-dispersing action of a lens surface that has light-diffracting properties.
For example, the taking lens of a single-lens camera employs resin-molded lens elements that help minimize chromatic aberration, and, as one preferable example of such resin-molded lenses, Japanese Patent Publication No. H8-508116 proposes a diffractive optical element that adopts a light-diffracting construction to correct chromatic aberration.
This prior-art lens is a refraction/diffraction-hybrid-type achromatic lens (i.e., a lens that is made achromatic through the action of both refraction and diffraction) made of transparent resin, and is suitable for a single-lens camera that operates in the visible-light region. More specifically, at least one of the optically relevant surfaces of this lens is not only curved to form a refractive region having a refractive power but also provided with a diffractive region having a diffractive power to reduce the chromatic aberration caused by the refractive region.
In a diffractive optical element, as described above, that acts as a lens through the action of a diffraction grating, it is essential that the element have a stronger diffractive power in its peripheral region, than in its central region such regions being with respect to and around the optical axis of the optical element. To make the diffractive power in the peripheral region stronger, the pitch of the grating in that region needs to be made finer. Inconveniently, however, a fine-pitched diffraction grating is difficult to produce. European Patent No. 0412751 proposes a diffractive optical element in which a relatively strong diffractive power is achieved not by making the grating pitch finer but by designing a grating of a higher order. In this diffractive optical element, to obtain a grating of a higher order, the diffraction grating is designed to have larger grating heights in its peripheral region than in its central region, such regions being with respect to and around the optical axis of the optical element.
Inconveniently, however, the diffraction grating proposed in this European Patent No. 0412751 exhibits poor diffraction efficiency in its peripheral region and causes eclipse in that region.
To cope with these problems, Japanese Published Patent Application No. H7-50206 proposes a grating that is so shaped as to selectively produce diffracted light of the orders 0 (zero) and .+-.1 (the shape is defined in terms of the bi-level heights of the grating, the inclination of the surfaces forming the convex regions of the grating, and the difference in the refractive index between the convex and concave regions); on the other hand, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. H5-150108 proposes a grating that is so shaped as to offer desired phase-shift characteristics. However, these gratings are not so shaped as to act as lenses, and therefore the use of such grating shapes in a diffractive optical element does not help prevent reduction in the diffraction efficiency or eclipse as mentioned above.
When a diffractive optical element is manufactured through resin molding by the use of a mold, a blaze-shaped pattern formed on the surface of the mold is transferred onto resin material. At that time, the finer the pitch of the diffraction grating, the less negligible the transfer errors that occur during the transferring process, particularly in the peripheral region. Inconveniently, this adds to the difficulty of producing a fine-pitched diffraction grating.

Diffractive optical element, an optical system having a diffractive optical element, and a method for manufacturing a diffractive optical element


An amide represented by the following formula (1): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are C1-C24 alkyl, etc.; B is C2-C10 alkylene, etc.; A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 are C1-C6 alkylene, etc.; Y.sup.1 and Y.sup.2 are ##STR2## wherein R.sup.3, R.sup.4, and R.sup.5 are C1-C4 alkyl, etc., and X.sup.1 is halogen; or a salt of the amide and detergent compositions containing the amide or salt are mild to the skin or hair, provide a pleasant sensation to the skin or hair, and have excellent latherability and emulsion stability. These compounds are useful as components of various detergents and cosmetic compositions, emulsifiers, and conditioners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel amides useful as components of detergents for the skin and hair, as emulsifiers in cosmetic compositions, or as conditioning agents. The invention also relates to methods for preparing the amides as well as detergent compositions containing the amides.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, surfactants such as alkyl sulfates, polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfates, and alkylbenzene sulfonates have been used as detergents and emulsifiers. However, most of them have the problem that they give relatively strong stimulation to the skin during use. Therefore, certain surfactants which are mild to the skin, e.g., alkyl phosphates and acylated amino acids, have come to be used as bases or emulsifiers incorporated in hair care or skin cosmetic compositions or as detergents for the skin, etc.
As consumer demand has become diversified and quality-oriented, improved properties are required for these products, including not only mildness to the skin but also good latherability and a pleasant sensation to the skin. The surfactants mentioned above do not necessarily satisfy such needs.
A variety of quaternary ammonium salts, which are categorized as cationic surfactants, are used as conditioners for the hair and finishing compounds. Quaternary ammonium salts, however, have proven useful only within very limited fields because they have insufficient latherability and are not necessarily mild to the skin. Thus, they are not used as bases or emulsifiers in hair-care or skin cosmetic compositions, nor as detergents for the skin, etc.
The present inventors found that 2-hydroxypropanediamine derivatives have excellent latherability and are mild to the skin, and they previously filed a pertinent patent application (WP95/01955). Nevertheless, compounds having better properties are still desired.
Under the above circumstances, the present inventors conducted extensive studies and found that the new amides represented by formula (1) described hereinbelow provide a pleasant sensation to the skin without giving irritation to the skin and have excellent latherability and emulsion stability. The present invention was accomplished based on this finding.

Amides, method for preparing the amides, and detergent compositions containing the amides


Superconducting transition metal oxide films are provided which exhibit very high onsets of superconductivity and superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K. These films are produced by vapor deposition processes using pure metal sources for the metals in the superconducting compositions, where the metals include multi-valent nonmagnetic transition metals, rare earth elements and/or rare earth-like elements and alkaline earth elements. The substrate is exposed to oxygen during vapor deposition, and, after formation of the film, there is at least one annealing step in an oxygen ambient and slow cooling over several hours to room temperature. The substrates chosen are not critical as long as they are not adversely reactive with the superconducting oxide film. Transition metals include Cu, Ni, Ti and V, while the rare earth-like elements include Y, Sc and La. The alkaline earth elements include Ca, Ba and Sr.

Superconductors of many types are known in the prior art, including both elemental metals and compounds of various types, such as oxides. The recent technical break-through reported by Bednorz and Mueller in Z. Phys. B, 64, 189 (1986) was the first major improvement in a superconducting material in the last decade, wherein the critical transition temperature T.sub.c at which the material becomes superconducting was increased substantially.
Bednorz and Mueller described copper oxide material including a rare earth element, or rare earth-like element, where the rare earth element could be substituted for by an alkaline earth element such as Ca, Ba or Sr.
The work of Bednorz and Mueller has led to intensive investigation in many laboratories in order to develop materials having still higher T.sub.c. For the most part, these high T.sub.c oxide superconductors consist of compounds of La, Sr, Cu and O, or Y, Ba, Cu and O. In particular, copending application Ser. No. 024,653, filed Mar. 11, 1987 and assigned to the present assignee, describes a high T.sub.c oxide superconductor that is a single phase bulk superconductor having the general formula EQU A.sub.1.+-.x M.sub.2.+-.x Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y
where A is Y or a combination of Y, La, Lu, Sc or Yb; M is Ba, or a combination of Ba, Sr or Ca; x is between 0 and 0.5 and y is sufficient to satisfy the valence demands of the material. A particularly preferred single phase composition described in that copending application is Y Ba.sub.2 C.sub.3 O.sub.y.
For many applications, it is necessary to be able to provide the superconducting material in film form, i.e., in a range of thin films (for example, about 1000 angstroms) to thick films (for example, in excess of 1 micron). Heretofore, there has been no reported satisfactory way to provide films of these new high T.sub.c oxide superconductors where the films must exhibit superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide films of high T.sub.c oxide superconductors having superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K, and methods for preparing these films.
It is another object of this invention to provide copper oxide superconducting films exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K, and methods for preparing these copper oxide high T.sub.c films.
It is another object of the present invention to provide transition metal oxide superconductive films having superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K, and methods for preparing these transition metal superconducting oxides.
It is another object of the present invention to provide films of transition metal oxide superconductors exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K, where the films are continuous and smooth, and exhibit compositional uniformity over useable areas.
It is another object of the present invention to provide continuous, smooth copper oxide superconductive films exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K and methods for making these films, where the films exhibit perovskite-like structure.
It is another object of this invention to provide transition metal oxide superconductive films including a rare earth element, or rare earth-like element, where the films exhibit superconductivity at temperatures greater than 40.degree. K, and methods for making these films.
It is another object of the present invention to provide films having the nominal composition .LAMBDA.BO.sub.3-y or .LAMBDA.BO.sub.y exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures greater than 40.degree. K, where .LAMBDA. stands for a rare earth or near rare-earth element or a combination of a rare earth element and an element selected from the group consisting of Ca, Ba and Sr, B stands for a transition metal, and y is sufficient to satisfy the valence demands of the film composition.
It is another object of this invention to provide superconductive oxide films having the nominal composition AB.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.9-y, and methods for making these films, where the films are superconducting at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K and A is a rare earth or rare earth-like element, B is an alkaline earth element, and y is sufficient to satisfy valence demands of the composition.
It is another object of the present invention to provide smooth, continuous copper oxide superconducting films having a perovskite-like crystal structure and exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures in excess of 40.degree. K, and to provide methods for making these films.

Thin film high T.sub.c oxide superconductors and method for making the same

International Business Machines Corporation


A cooking apparatus such as a rice cooker includes means for obtaining a value or a combination of values indicative of an amount of food that is to be cooked, and a fuzzy inference section for operating on that value or combination of values to determine a level of heating power to be supplied to a heater element of the apparatus, during at least one part of the cooking process. The amount-indicating value can be obtained for example as a rate of change of temperature of the food while it is being heated to boiling point. The apparatus can further be configured to determine a plurality of cooking control parameters, by fuzzy inference operation, based on a specified degree of final hardness of the cooked food, which can be selectively inputted by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking apparatus whereby optimum control of a cooking process can be automatically achieved, in accordance with factors such as an amount of food that is to be cooked, a specific degree of hardness of the finally cooked food, etc.
The invention moreover relates to a cooking apparatus whereby a degree of hardness of the food resulting from the cooking process can be freely adjusted to a desired value by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although the present invention is applicable to various types of cooking apparatus, for use with various types of food material, embodiments of the invention will be described which are designed for cooking rice by heating the rice together with water.
With a usual prior art type of rice cooking apparatus, heating power for the cooking process is generated by a heater element, with the level of heating power being controlled by a switch (such as a thyristor), which is alternately set in a conducting and non-conducting state for supplying and cutting off a supply voltage to the heater element. The conduction factor of the heater element (i.e. the ratio of the duration of each interval for which the switch is set in the ON state to the period of successive OFF-to-ON state transitions) determines the level of heating power that is generated by the heater element, and the value of conduction factor that is to be utilized in the cooking process is determined as follows. The rice cooking apparatus is provided with a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the food material. Firstly, the conduction factor is set to 100% in the first part of a cooking interval in which the food material (i.e. mixture of rice and water, in this case) is rapidly heated to be brought to the boiling point, and is thereafter maintained at the boiling point for a certain time. That cooking interval, extending from the start of the rapid temperature increase, will be referred to in the following as the boiling interval. During that first part of the boiling interval, the conduction factor is held at 100% until the food material attains the boiling temperature. Thereafter, the conduction factor is set to a value that is determined as follows. Designating the value of conduction factor that is to be used thereafter in the cooking process as .alpha., and designating the temperature gradient of the food material prior to reaching the boiling temperature as .theta. (where temperature gradient here signifies the rate of change of temperature of the food material with respect to time), the value of is obtained from the following linear equation: EQU .alpha.=a.times..theta.+b (1)
Where "a" is a negative constant, and "b" is a positive constant.
The value determined for the temperature gradient provides an estimate of the quantity of food material that is to be cooked. That is to say, the smaller the amount of food material, the greater will be the value of the temperature gradient, and conversely the greater the amount of food material the smaller will be the value of temperature gradient.
With another type of prior art rice cooking apparatus, the apparatus includes a microcomputer, which controls the apparatus to execute a cooking process that has been previously judged by the manufacturer as being optimum. Thus the cooking is fixedly executed in accordance with that process.
However in the case of a rice cooking apparatus which utilizes the method of equation (1) above, the result obtained from such a linear equation is only theoretically valid. In actual practice, such linear relationships do not exist in such a cooking process, due to the effects of such factors as the characteristic of the temperature sensor that is used to obtain the temperature gradient, etc. Thus it has not been possible for a prior art rice cooking apparatus to set the conduction factor of the heater element such as to reliably provide optimum results.
In the case of a rice cooking apparatus which is controlled by a microcomputer in accordance with a predetermined program, since the operation is fixedly predetermined, it will not be capable of compensating for the effects of variable factors such as variations in the amount of food that is to be cooked, etc.
Moreover, with certain types of cooking apparatus such as a rice cooking apparatus, it is desirable to have a capability for cooking the food to a desired degree of hardness, in accordance with the particular requirements of different users. However with a prior art rice cooker, that can only be achieved through the user changing the ratio of the amount of water to the amount of rice, prior to the start of the cooking process. In addition to being inconvenient, such a method has the disadvantage that it is difficult for the user to accurately correctly judge the required amount of water that must be used, in order to achieve the desired degree of hardness in the finally cooked rice.
Although the above prior art problems have been described only for the case of a rice cooking apparatus, such problems will also arise with other types of cooking apparatus, which operate on the basis of fixedly predetermined linear equations or computer programs, such as a cooking apparatus for cooking stewed meat, for example.

Cooking apparatus providing accurate control of cooking process and capability for specifying hardness degree of cooked food

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.