A force that causes tensile stress in a thread must be measured, for example in the textile industry, to avoid overstretching of the thread. Thus, small thread tensions must be maintained for many threads moving at high speeds. For this purpose a device for measuring thread tensions up to about 0.1 N (Newton) has a rod type metal component, one end of which forms a mounting member while the other end forms a thread engaging lever arm connected to the mounting member by a flat leaf spring carrying at least one strain gage. The lever arm is, e.g., conically tapering away from the leaf spring and carrying a thread engaging cylinder or extension at its end remote from the leaf spring. The signal provided by the strain gage is proportional to the force. The device forms a thread tension sensor having an eigenfrequency of about 3 kHz for measuring tensile stress on threads travelling at high speeds.

When threads are processed or used up, especially in the textile industry, it is frequently important to accurately maintain predetermined thread tensions, for example, to assure the weaving of a textile fabric having a uniform appearance. For this purpose it is necessary to continuously measure or sense the thread tension to quickly recognize any deviations from a rated thread tension so that corrections can be made, for example, by means of a respective closed loop control mechanism for returning the thread tension to the desired rated value. In this context, the thread tensions are rather small, for example, the thread tensions may be smaller than 0.1 N (Newton). Measuring these small tensions accurately has posed a problem in the past.
Furthermore, the threads are usually travelling at substantially high speeds as they are being processed or used, whereby the respective thread tension sensors must have relatively large natural frequencies up to about 3 kHz. Textile machines, such as high speed looms, handle simultaneously a substantial number of threads that may exceed more than 100 threads. Measuring individually the thread tension for each of these threads has posed a space problem for locating the respective large number of thread tension sensors. Accordingly, it is desirable to construct these sensors as compact as possible and also as a mass produceable item at low cost. Yet, the inexpensive sensors shall be able to make precision measurements. Such requirements are not necessarily compatible with each other.
It might be possible to measure the thread tension by means of a spring balance which is connected to an electrical circuit for converting a spring deflection of the balance into a corresponding electrical signal which would then have to be evaluated. For this purpose, it is possible to suspend a thread guide roller from the spring balance which would thus provide a measure for the thread tension. However, such an arrangement has its problems because, the tension to be measured is relatively small, namely less than 0.1 N as mentioned above. The measuring of such small forces would require very soft springs. The respective spring mass system has, as a rule, a very low natural frequency so that such a device would be suitable only for measurements on stationary or very slow moving threads.

Device for measuring a force causing tensile stress in a thread


A motivational alarm having a timekeeping device; alarm programming means to produce an alarm signal at a programmed alarm time, the alarm programming means being operatively connected to the timekeeping device; a digital storage device operatively connected to the timekeeping device; a plurality of recorded messages recorded on the digital storage device; and playback means for converting at least a portion of the plurality of recorded messages into an audible signal upon receipt of the alarm signal. The recorded messages preferably have a topic related to exercise, spirituality, religion, religious text, esteem-building, health and wellness, encouragement for women, invigoration for long-term caretakers, wealth-building, or tragedy/loss recovery.

Many Americans seem to sit for a living, rush home to make dinner, and then sit down to eat with their families. Next, after attending to other home-related matters, they often fall into bed. When such people wake up in the morning, they often wish they had their own personal trainer that they could actually afford. They want to have a motivating fitness coach to encourage them to work out in the morning, before the day's schedule takes over. They need their own motivational alarm.
Many people want to get fit and stay fit, but are lacking the tools to accomplish this feat. Many of today's health issues can be linked to sedentary lifestyles and inactivity, and sadly it is a large piece of the American pie. Even with those who are physically fit, workouts are often hit or miss.
Therefore, what is needed is a consistent reminder to start each day on the right foot: a motivating personal trainer to jump start people out of bed and to provide an extra nudge to get people to work out in the morning. What is also needed is a system to enhance any success, motivation, or spiritual growth program.


A method for parsing purchase information from code in a Web page. The method includes detecting at least one known product keyword and at least one product data string following that product keyword and being associated with that product keyword. The product data string can be a descriptor for the product keyword for one product in the purchase. The method also includes detecting at least one known transaction keyword and at least one transaction data string following that transaction keyword and being associated with that transaction keyword, the transaction data string being a descriptor for the transaction keyword. The data type of the descriptors can be checked to determine if they are of the same type as the corresponding product or transaction keyword. These processes can be repeated for all of the data strings in the HTML page, and this detected purchase information can be placed into an organized form.

Applications that require or benefit from the capture of purchase information from Web pages have been developed in a number of areas. Some applications, for instance, aggregate purchase information from a number of different Web sites for a given consumer. Other applications gather purchase information from a given consumer's purchases over the Internet in order to build a profile of the consumer, which can be used for targeted advertising based on the user's profile.
The accuracy of information parsed from Web pages can be important in order to provide useful information about the consumer. Some methods and systems for parsing purchase information that are currently used are specifically tailored for each Web site from which purchase information will be parsed. These parsing systems and methods, therefore, will have a number of templates for parsing Web pages, with each template being designed for one specific Web page. This results in problems if the Web site to be parsed changes or if it is desired to use the method for other Web sites. In addition, it is common for parsing systems and methods to identify these Web pages to be parsed by specific Uniform Resource Locator (URL) information. A URL identifies a network path to a specific Web site. If this URL information changes, these parsing systems and methods might not work.
A need exists for a method and system for parsing purchase information from a Web page without the need for specific knowledge about the structure of the Web page.

Method and system for parsing purchase information from web pages


A process for manufacturing a thermoplastic resin composition by melt-kneading a thermoplastic resin and fine particles or an additive, includes: introducing gaseous and/or liquid fluid containing fine particles of at most 10 .mu.m particle diameter or an additive to an unmelted granular or molten thermoplastic resin moving bed; adhering or depositing the fine particles or additive onto said moving bed, while the fluid in the gaseous state is being discharged; and then successively melt-kneading a mixture of the granular resin with the fine particles or additive. This process can be combined with a subsequent shaping step continuously that follows. The process of the invention saves energy, raw materials and labor consumptions and yields shaped articles of high quality and uniformity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing functional composite materials to be shaped into plastic articles, such as fibers, molded articles, biaxially oriented films, or the like, which have been incorporated with fine particles or additives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, the mainstream of composite materials to be processed into shaped articles, etc. has been those comprising a thermoplastic resin compounded by melt-blending or kneading with a filler having a dimension of about 1 .mu.m or more, such as glass fibers, carbon fibers, whiskers or the like (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 61-277,421). These composite materials have posed problems of appearance and impact resistance of the shaped articles that should have been improved. Alternatively, in the case where fine particles having a dimension of less than about 1 .mu.m, such as titanium dioxide, carbon black, magnetic bodies or the like, are dispersed, the mainstream of the process has been those wherein the fine particles are dispersed uniformly by blending during polymerization of the thermoplastic resin. However, such processes have also presented problems such that practically employable fine particles are limited to those with a good heat resistance, such as titanium dioxide, carbon black or the like, due to the high temperature of the reaction system. A great deal of labor and expense are necessitated by installation of an exclusive polymerization equipment as well as cleaning work thereof, due to staining of the equipment. Further, there has been well-known a masterbatching system wherein fine particles or an additive are blend-kneaded in a high concentration. However, this has also presented problems that a great deal of energy and labor is required for drying both the resin before kneading and the masterbatch after kneading and, further, deterioration of the physical properties of the shaped articles due to the thermal history in the kneading step.
In view of these problems presented by the shaped articles made from conventional composite materials, there have been desired the advent of techniques for manufacturing various shaped articles or previously non-existent higher grade articles, such as biaxially oriented films, sheets, fibers or the like from composite materials containing fine particles, having a particle size of a submicron to micron order instead of conventional fillers having a particle size of 10 to several tens of microns. Namely, it is required to develop a novel technique wherein a powder process dealing with the submicron to micron grade fine particles is combined integrally with a polymer process. The powder process and the polymer process are essentially different techniques from each other. The construction of techniques wherein these are harmonized can be achieved by harmonization of pneumatic conveying techniques of the submicron grade fine particles with the polymer processes. For this purpose, there is required a treating or collecting technique of the submicron grade fine particles which matches the polymer processes.
Generally, the typical techniques which have been practiced industrially in the polymer processes are, for example, particle size reduction by means of a sand mill and dust collection by means of bag filters. However, these are not only difficult to make completely continuous as a polymer process but also pose a problem of moisture absorption, re-aggregation or the like of collected fine particles.

Processes for manufacturing thermoplastic resin compositions


An anti-ballistic barrier system with a top shield support, a bottom shield support, and an anti-ballistic shield. A first extendable connector may extend between the anti-ballistic shield and the top shield support. Similarly, a second extendable connector may extend between the anti-ballistic shield and the bottom shield support. A polyester shield cover may extend over the anti-ballistic shield. A top mounting bracket attaches the top shield support to a vertical structure and a bottom mounting bracket attaches the bottom shield support to the vertical structure. The anti-ballistic shield is movable between a retracted position in which the anti-ballistic shield is wrapped around the top shield support and the bottom shield support is detached from the bottom mounting bracket and an extended position in which a majority of the anti-ballistic shield is unwrapped from the top shield support and the bottom shield support is engaged with the bottom mounting bracket.

Anti-ballistic barriers are widely known throughout the world in security and law enforcement industries. Such anti-ballistic barriers have been formed into clothing items, automobile and other mobile equipment paneling, building reinforcement, and backpacks, bags and holders for weapons. Although anti-ballistic barriers come in many shapes, sizes, thicknesses and levels of hardness, among the flexible anti-ballistic fabrics, poly-para-phenelyne terephthalamide, commonly sold under the brand name Kevlar®, is one of the most widely known and recognized brand of anti-ballistic barrier fabrics. Kevlar® is heat-resistant para-aramid synthetic fiber with a molecular structure that includes many repeating inter-chain bonds that cross-link with hydrogen bonds, providing a tensile strength greater than steel on an equal weight basis. Multiple ply assemblies of textile structures generated from Kevlar® or other high strength fibers result in the anti-ballistic barrier material being able to "catch" a projectile while absorbing and dissipating its energy.
Multiple layers of anti-ballistic barrier materials are often laminated, mixed or otherwise combined together to form a composite material with properties of multiple anti-ballistic material layers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,252 to Harpel titled Ballistic Resistant Fabric Articles, granted Mar. 23, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,265 to Denommee titled Ballistic Armor of Piles of Nylon Fabric and Piles of Glass Fabric, granted Aug. 27, 1974 include non-limiting examples of the variety of combinations considered.
One application for anti-ballistic barriers is in the window blind and shutter industry. U.S. Pat. No. 983,663 to White titled Device for Protection of Display Windows, granted Feb. 7, 1911, US Patent Publication 2005/0230061 to Wilkins titled Combined Window Blind and Security Shutter, published Oct. 20, 2005, U.S. Pat. No. 6,296,041 to Cicero titled Window Net Child Safety Guard, granted Oct. 2, 2001, U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,081 to Bennardo et al. titled Hurricane Net Wind Abatement System, granted Jun. 1, 2010, and U.S. Pat. No. 10,151,566 to Adrain titled Bullet Proof Blinds, granted Dec. 11, 2018 each illustrate various applications for anti-ballistic barriers applied to windows. U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,658 to Muller titled Portable Tactical Shield System, granted Aug. 17, 1999 provides an example of a mobile anti-ballistic barrier system for application to a doorway or window.

Anti-ballistic barrier with extendable retention system


A low profile integrated solar roofing tile connecting system for the formation of a solar roof. The system is aesthetically appealing because the tiles lay relatively flat with a very low profile without any bulges or ridges because all wires and connectors embedded in the tiles. This low profile optimizes the roof's ability to withstand wind loads as well as minimizes cracking or breaking of the tiles due to external load forces. The connectors produce uniform spaces between adjacent tiles as well as providing an easy way to extend or exchange tiles. An integrated shunting or bypasses diode provides a current shunt path in the event of a modules' impedance upsurge cause by shading or by non-functioning tiles. This also allows for the flexible arrangement of the PV roofing tiles for a variety of system configurations, e.g. grid-tied, and off-grid systems, while maintaining system reliability and a modularized design.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of photovoltaic power (PV) systems design and applications, specifically PV roofing tiles. Additionally, it is foreseeable that this invention can be utilized in other application where low profile connection of electrical panels is desired, such as in flat panel lighting for example. This invention is a low profile electrical interconnect system with an integrated shunting or bypass diode that enables an aesthetic integrated solar tile system to be easily installed on sloped roofs without customized roof decking.
2. Related Art
In the field of solar interconnects the height of the existing interconnects ranges from 13.5 mm to 18.5 mm in height. These plugs have large snap on connectors, screw on locks or ribbed plugs. None of the available plugs have a built in shunting or bypass diode. This condition has blocked the increased use of solar installations on roofs, because the current technology doesn't allow the solar tiles to be aesthetically laid flat on the roofing substrate without significantly increasing the cost of installation with special roof decking. If the tiles are laid flat directly on the roof decking, the existing technology is highly susceptible to tile warping and will not pass a wind test. The best available option for PV roofing tile installations with current technology incorporates an expensive system of roofing batons and frames to allow the PV tiles to be mounted with the system interconnects and wires hanging beneath the modules.

Photovoltaic roofing tile with a plug and socket on 2 opposite edges


Methods, systems, apparatus and devices to provide autonomous self-repair for programmable logic. Using Competitive Runtime Reconfiguration, an initial population of functionally identical, yet physically distinct individual programmable logic configurations are produced at design time. During operation, individuals compete for selection based on a fitness function favoring fault-free behavior and any physical resource exhibiting an operationally-significant fault decreases the fitness of those configurations which use it. Through runtime competition, the presence of the fault becomes occluded from the visibility of subsequent operations. Offspring formed through crossover and mutation of faulty and viable configurations are reintroduced into the population to enable evolution of a customized fault-specific repair, realized as new configurations using normal throughput processing operations. In an embodiment, the error detection circuit is also checked for errors.

Reliable embedded computing systems are vital to every sector of our economy and daily lives. They are frequently relied upon in mission-critical applications where safety of human life and material assets are at risk. Meanwhile, the worldwide market for programmable logic devices is about $3.5 billion and is forecasted to grow to approximately $4.5 billion in 2006 and $5.2 billion in 2007. Furthermore, field programmable gate arrays have also been displacing microcontrollers via processor softcores that configure only the necessary arithmetic/logic functional units within an embedded application.
Autonomous repair of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) is of particular interest in aerospace applications for both in-flight and Ground Support Equipment devices. SRAM-based FPGAs are of significant importance due to their high density and increasing use in mission-critical/safety-impacting applications. Meanwhile, they offer unlimited reprogrammability that can enable autonomous repair.
For in-flight applications, FPGA devices encounter harsh environments of mechanical and acoustical stress during launch, high doses of ionizing radiation, and thermal stress. Simultaneously, they are required to operate reliably for long mission durations with limited or absent capabilities for diagnosis/replacement and little onboard capacity for spares. Hence, recent research has focused on employing the reconfigurability inherent in field programmable devices to increase reliability and autonomy as described in D. Keymeulen, A. Stoica, and R. Zebulum, "Fault-Tolerant Evolvable Hardware using Field Programmable Transistor Arrays," IEEE Transactions on Reliability, (September 2000) Vol. 49, No. 3; S. Vigander, Evolutionary Fault Repair of Electronics in Space Applications, Dissertation, Norwegian University Sci. Tech., (Feb. 28, 2001), Trondheim, Norway; M. Abramovici, J. M. Emmert, and C. E. Stroud, "Roving STARs: An Integrated Approach To On-Line Testing, Diagnosis, and Fault Tolerance For FPGAs in Adaptive Computing Systems," NASA/DoD Workshop on Evolvable Hardware, (2001); J. D. Lohn, G. Larchev, and R. F. DeMara, "A Genetic Representation for Evolutionary Fault Recovery in Virtex FPGAs," In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Evolvable Systems (ICES), Trondheim, Norway, March 17-20, 2003; and J. D. Lohn, G. Larchev, and R. F. DeMara, "Evolutionary Fault Recovery in a Virtex FPGA Using a Representation That Incorporates Routing," In Proceedings of 17th International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, Nice, France, Apr. 22-26, 2003.
Ideally, recovery would be performed with the faulty device remaining online whenever possible, but few attempt this. Using Roving Self-Test Areas (STARS), testing and diagnostic process takes place in the FPGA without disturbing the normal system operation. The entire chip is tested by roving the STARs across the FPGA. The STARS multi-level fault-tolerant technique allows using partially defective logic and routing resources for normal operation and providing longer mission life in the presence of faults. In addition, the dynamic fault-tolerant method ensures that spare resources are always present in the neighborhood of the located fault, thus simplifying fault-bypassing. However, effective use of STARS requires spare resources to be available to use as substitute resources when faults are detected. A problem encountered with STARS is that the quality of recovery is restricted by a fixed routing scheme that cannot adapt and detection latency for faults can be large.
Vigander's and Lohn's methods exhibit likelihood of recovery related to the FPGA's design complexity. In other words, they attempt to design an original repair where only a single failed configuration is available for adaptation. While the quality of recovery under evolutionary approaches cannot be guaranteed, static redundancy approaches like Lach's are either completely recovered or completely beyond recovery.
Evolutionary mechanisms can actively restore mission-critical functionality in SRAM-based reprogrammable devices. They provide an alternative to device redundancy for dealing with permanent degradation due to radiation-induced stuck-at-faults, thermal fatigue, oxide breakdown, electromigration, and other local permanent damage. Potential benefits include recovery without the increased weight and size normally associated with spares. Also, failures need not be precisely diagnosed due to intrinsic evaluation of the FPGA's residual functionality through assessment of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) fitness function.
Other prior art that is made of record include U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0154552 published on Jul. 14, 2005, discloses an emulation system for testing FPGAs that includes testing during the manufacturing process with roving self-test areas in different configurations. A major limitation is that the device does not include self-testing and reconfiguration in real time during normal operation of the device.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0071716 published Mar. 31, 2005, describes methods and system for verifying functionality of the logic elements and the reconfigurable interconnections prior to operational use of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,874,108 issued on Mar. 29, 2005, describes a method of fault tolerant operation for a FPGA. The system tests an area of the device, identifies a fault and reconfigures the FPGA including estimating signal path delays and adjusting clock period or speed if required.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,839,873 issued on Jan. 4, 2005, describes a PLD having a built-in test function for testing the PLD which either passes or fails. There is no redundant circuit for self-repair or reconfiguration and the testing function is limited to during manufacturing and at start up to confirm device integrity. No provision for self-test during normal operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,718,496 issued on Apr. 6, 2004, describer a semiconductor device having an internal circuit to test, a redundant circuit for repairing the internal circuit and a test and switching for conducting the test and making the repair. The system also tests and changes the operating parameters including timing, input voltage to test semiconductor under different operating conditions. Testing is only performed during start-up operation and thus does not provide fault detection and reconfiguration during online operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,237 issued on Dec. 23, 2003, describes a testing system for testing PLDs. The test system, including hardware and software, is external to the device. The device is reconfigurable. Test and reconfiguration are not real-time and are not performed during normal operation of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,030 issued on Apr. 15, 2005 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,530,049 issued on Mar. 4, 2003, describe an external self-test for FPLAs. The testing controller and memory are external. The test circuit configures a test area of the FPLA the reconfigures the FPLA for testing a next area until the entire FPLA is tested. The prior art fails to provide apparatus, methods, systems or devices for autonomous fault handling and self repair of programmable logic devices in-situ.
As for the actual error detection circuitry, Current approaches to fault-tolerant error detection can be broadly classified into coding-based approaches and redundancy based approaches. Concurrent Error Detection (CED) schemes are a general class of fault tolerant schemes that fall into either or both of these categories. In general, the operating principle of most CED schemes can be described as comparing some special characteristic of the actual output of a system that realizes a function in response to an input to a special characteristic computed by an alternate, predicted, output characteristic of the function in response to the same input. The special characteristic in question could be the parity of the output, a count of the 1's or 0's in output, or the conformance to pre-specified codes, such as the Berger code, or a specific m-out-of-n code disclosed in Mitra, S. and E J McCluskey, "Which Concurrent Error Detection Scheme To Choose?," Proc. International Test Conf., (2000) pp. 985-994. The comparison between the predicted output and the observed output is carried out using a comparator element, which is a hardware detector or error checker.
The redundancy in CED schemes can be spatial, where the hardware circuit-under-test is duplicated, or temporal, where the outputs may be buffered for future comparison. The comparator used in CED schemes vary in architecture depending on requirements. For example, the hardware comparators may be capable of bitwise output comparison, such as the two-rail checker described in E. J. McCluskey, "Design Techniques for Testable Embedded Error Checkers", IEEE Computer, July 1990.
Equality checkers or matchers compare two input words to determine whether corresponding bits from the words have the same value. The equality checker consists of series of XOR gates whose output should always be 0 when both inputs, from the two input words being compared, are equal. The outputs of the XOR gates comprise the inputs to an OR gate, whose output should be a zero as long as none of its inputs are a one. McCluskey shows that these circuits need complemented inputs, and a two-rail checker to be verifiable as a fully self-testing system. A two-rail checker is a circuit that checks that each pair of inputs has complementary values, and this is used to convert n pairs of signals into one pair of signals that are complementary if and only if all of the n input pairs are complementary. The two-rail checker can be made testable with the addition of a test signal, and two XOR gates.
The prior art checkers described are essentially only testable error checkers. In other words, they can be tested and verified to be error-free before being utilized in a larger system. These self-testing checkers, or more precisely, testable error checkers provide no guarantee of tolerating a fault which affects the checker if the fault occurs after the system is put into service. Another problem is that these checkers are essentially checking for the presence of invalid code words in the output of the circuit-under-test for at least one valid code-word input to the checker—they do not address the case where a component in the circuit-under-test may fail completely, after the system is placed in service. Subsequent work in CED schemes rely upon comparators that have been designed with this philosophy—that of self-testing checkers being defined as checkers that are testable using the checker itself, and some test input comprising of non-code words.
Triple Modular Redundancy TMR systems provide fault-tolerance capability by utilizing three functional replicas and a voter that chooses the majority output. The majority output is propagated in the hope that faults, if any, do not affect more than one of the three functional modules. This works satisfactorily in the case of a single-fault assumption, unless the fault induces a Common Mode Failure.
Voter designs include bitwise voters are majority voting systems that calculate the majority by comparing the output of the three modules in a bitwise fashion, and word-voters which compare entire variable-length words to arrive at a result as disclosed in Wei-Je Huang, Subhasish Mitra, and Edward J. McCluskey, "Fast Run-Time Fault Location in Dependable FPGAs", Center for Reliable Computing, Stanford University and Mitra, S., and E. J. McCluskey, "Word-Voter: A New Voter Design for Triple Modular Redundant Systems," 18th IEEE VLSI Test Symposium, (Apr. 30-May 4, 2000) pp. 465-470, Montreal, Canada. TMR systems with voters have a single point of failure—the voting element. If the logic elements used for the construction of the voter are subject to a failure, then the whole system would fail. Using redundant voters is a poor alternative, as it improves fault-tolerance, but does not guarantee the reliability of the results produced.

Runtime-competitive fault handling for reconfigurable logic devices

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A crossbelt sorter system and method of sorting articles includes a track assembly and a plurality of carriers attached to each other to travel along the track assembly. Each of the carriers includes at least front and rear corner portions thereof and a trolley at each of the front and rear corner portions. Each trolley is configured to travel along the track assembly. A hitch assembly joins adjacent ones of the carriers. A propulsion system propels the carriers along the track assembly. Each trolley is mounted to the associated carrier to pivot in at least two different directions. In this manner, the track assembly may have one or more spiral portions thereof. Each trolley is adapted to pivot in the two different directions to support the associated carrier as it moves through the spiral portion.

The present invention is directed to article-handling systems and methods and, in particular, to such systems and methods utilizing a crossbelt sorter and method of sorting articles.
Article sortation is useful in many industries, including parcel and postal handling, article warehousing, and product distribution to name but a few. A crossbelt sorter utilizes a short section of conveyor belt that is mounted along with a drive motor to a carriage that is coupled with other carriages to travel along a track. The conveyor belt is oriented to convey articles in a direction that is perpendicular to the motion of travel of the carriages, which leads to the designation of a crossbelt sorter. Articles can be positioned on the conveyor belt or discharged from the conveyor belt while the carriages continue in motion by operating the belt in one of opposite directions. Articles can be positioned on the conveyor belts in conjunction with a powered induct to load articles. Articles can be discharged from the conveyor belts to one of a plurality of discharge locations to sort the articles. The discharge locations can include chutes, gravity conveyors, powered conveyors, or the like.

Crossbelt sorter system and method of sorting articles


Methods and separator suitable for separating a gas from a liquid within a gas-liquid mixture. The separator includes a tank having a sidewall and oppositely-disposed endwalls that enclose an interior of the tank. An inlet to the tank directs a gas-liquid mixture against the sidewall of the tank within a first primary separation section to impart a circumferential flow direction to the mixture along the sidewall and initiate separation of a gas and liquid from the mixture. A reservoir located in a lower region of the tank collects the liquid separated from the mixture. A passage within a second primary separation section receives the gas separated from the gas-liquid mixture through an entrance thereof located in an upper region of the tank, and the passage directs flow of the gas into a secondary separation section, from which the gas exits the tank through an outlet.

The present invention generally relates to methods and systems adapted to separate a gas from a liquid within a gas-liquid mixture, a nonlimiting example being a mixture of air and oil that may be utilized in combination with an oil-flooded rotary compressor.
Centrifugal separation techniques performed within vertical tanks are well known in the compressor industry. However, vertical tanks impose certain restrictions in terms of where they can be installed. For example, due to the size and/or orientation, vertical tanks can be difficult to implement in under-deck compressor applications for vehicles, including a wide variety of municipal, emergency and military vehicles.

Gas-liquid separation method and separator therefor


Example data compression methods disclosed herein include determining a hash chain index corresponding to a first position in an input data buffer based on a group of bytes beginning at a look-ahead offset from the first position. Such disclosed example methods also include, when a hash chain, which is indexed by the hash chain index, satisfies a quality condition, searching the input data buffer at respective adjusted buffer positions corresponding to a set of buffer positions stored in the hash chain being offset by the look-ahead offset to find a second data string matching a first data string beginning at the first position in the input data buffer. Such disclosed example methods further include, when the second data string satisfies a length condition, providing a relative position and a length of the second data string to an encoder to output compressed data corresponding to the input data buffer.

Many data compressors, such as those based on the LZ77 compression algorithm, perform data compression by replacing repeated data strings in an input data buffer with pointers to prior positions of the repeated strings in the input data buffer. Data compression is achievable because the pointers are typically smaller than the repeated data strings they replace. To find the repeated data strings in an input data buffer, some implementations of such data compressors utilize hash chain matching. In hash chain matching, a hash table is constructed with each entry corresponding to a respective data substring that was found previously in the input data buffer. Each entry of the hash table points to a respective hash chain storing the one or more positions in the input data buffer at which the particular data substring corresponding to the respective hash table entry was found. Data compressors can utilize such hash chains to limit the number of prior positions in the input data buffer to be searched when attempting to find a prior data string that matches and, thus, repeats a current data string beginning at the current position of the input data buffer undergoing compression.
The figures are not to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts, elements, etc.

Look-ahead hash chain matching for data compression


A light source device includes a light-emitting tube and a reflector. The light-emitting tube has a light-emitting portion that generates a light beam by an electric discharge between electrodes, and sealing portions provided on both sides of the light-emitting portion. The light-emitting tube has a sub-reflection mirror that covers substantially a front half of the light-emitting portion. The reflector has a neck portion provided with an insertion hole to which the light-emitting tube is inserted, and a reflecting portion integrally formed with the neck portion and having an ellipsoidal curved reflecting surface that irradiates the light beam emitted by the light-emitting portion to align the light beam in a predetermined direction. The opening diameter of the insertion hole on the side of the reflecting surface is greater than the external diameter of the sub-reflection mirror and within the internal diameter of a valid reflection area of the reflector.

The present invention relates to a light source device that has: a light-emitting tube including a light-emitting portion that generates a light beam by an electric discharge between electrodes, and sealing portions provided on both sides of the light-emitting portion; and a reflector including a neck portion provided with an insertion hole to which the light-emitting tube is inserted, and a reflecting portion integrally formed with the neck portion and having an ellipsoidal curved reflecting surface that irradiates the light beam emitted by the light-emitting portion aligns the light beam in a predetermined direction, as well as to a projector.
Conventionally, projectors that modulate a light beam irradiated by a light source in accordance with image information to project an optical image in an enlarged manner have been used for the purpose of presentation at conferences etc in conjunction with personal computers. Besides, such projectors are recently used for the purpose of home-theater for serving the needs of watching movies etc. on a wide screen at home.
The known light source device used for the projector is that houses an electric discharge light-emitting tube such as a metal halide lamp or high-pressure mercury lamp and a reflector in a lamp housing etc. by integrating each other.
The light-emitting tube, or a high-pressure mercury lamp for instance, has a light-emitting portion in which a pair of tungsten electrodes spaced apart by a predetermined distance, mercury, rare gas and a small amount of halogen are sealed, and sealing portions provided on both sides of the light-emitting portion with molybdenum foils electrically connected to the electrodes inserted and sealed by glass material etc.
The reflector has a neck portion with an insertion hole to which the light-emitting tube is inserted, and a reflecting portion integrally formed with the neck portion and having an ellipsoidal curved reflecting surface that irradiates the light beam emitted by the light-emitting portion and aligns the light beam in a predetermine direction.
When the light-emitting tube and the reflector are integrated, the sealing portion of the light-emitting tube is inserted to the insertion hole of the reflector, positioned so that the light-emitting portion is positioned at a predetermined position inside the reflector, and consequently the light-emitting tube can be fixed inside the reflector by curing a silica-alumina inorganic adhesive after filling it from the side of the base end of the insertion hole to the part between the insertion hole and the sealing portion.
Note that, it would be difficult to fill the inorganic adhesive if the gap between the insertion hole and the sealing portion is too small whereas the inorganic adhesive would be overflowed from the gap to the reflecting surface of the reflector if the gap is too large.
Therefore, such configuration is conventionally suggested that a narrow part is formed on the insertion hole of the reflector at a part adjacent to the reflecting surface, so that the inorganic adhesive does not overflow to the reflecting surface (see JP2002-62586A, JP6-203806A).
However, in the above prior arts according to the above references, the filling of the inorganic adhesive from the side of the reflecting surface may be difficult when the opening diameter of the insertion hole on the side of the reflecting surface of the reflector is small.
Additionally, in the narrow part of the above prior arts according to the above references, it is difficult to completely eliminate the gap between the light-emitting tube and the insertion hole. Thus, if the adhesive adheres on the reflecting surface of the reflector, a reflection film thereof would be corroded.
An object of the present invention is to provide a light source device that makes an adhesive to be easily filled to an insertion hole of a neck portion of a reflector but not to be adhered on a reflecting surface of the reflector, as well as a projector.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An electricity generator having variable capacitors that each includes a repeatedly stretched and relaxed sheet (20, FIG. 3) of SM (stretchable material) and electrodes (22, 24) lying against opposite faces of the sheet, which includes a power extraction unit (110, FIG. 9) coupled to the electrodes of at least a pair of capacitors that are activated out of phase with each other. The unit directs an electrical charge (current) from a first pair of electrodes that have a higher voltage, to one or more second pairs of electrodes that have a lower voltage, to recharge the second pairs of electrodes. During the current flow electrical power is extracted by the drop in voltage of current passing through the unit. The power extraction unit can be provided with a control unit that has voltage detectors (54) and that selectively connect capacitors, based on their voltages, for maximum efficiency in generating power output.

Energy conversion systems are known that can obtain power from varying environmental conditions such as from sea waves by using the waves to move parts repeatedly back and forth.
Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 7,632,041 discloses a system for generating electrical power from waves, where an electricity-generating stretchable material (SM) is coupled to a static part and to a displaceable part that move with the waves. The SM material functions like a variable capacitor. As a part of the system is moved back and forth, it can be made to repeatedly stretch and relax a quantity (e.g. a sheet) of SM which is preferably EAP (electro active polymer) material. A pair of electrodes lies against the opposite surfaces of a sheet of SM material to create a capacitor, and an electrical charge is applied to the pair of electrodes. When the sheet is stretched, the surface is increased while at the same time the distance between its opposite surfaces is decreased. As a result, the capacitance between its pair of electrodes increases, and the voltage resulting from the charge on its electrodes decreases. Conversely, when a stretched sheet of SM material is partially relaxed, its capacitance decreases and the voltage between the electrodes lying at its opposite surfaces, increases. Electrical power is drawn from a capacitor consisting of pair of electrodes that lie on opposite sides of a relaxing SM sheet, by flowing out the charge (between its pair of electrodes). When the SM sheet is stretched again so the voltage decreases, an electrical charge is again flowed (as current) to the electrodes to recharge them, so the charge can flow out when the voltage has increased again. The fact that electricity flows out of the pair of electrodes (they are discharged) that are at a higher voltage than the voltage at which the electrodes are recharged, results in obtaining power from the system.
The need to repeatedly recharge the electrodes that lie on opposite surfaces of a SM sheet, results in the need for an electrical source that supplies current at the required recharge voltage (e.g. 2500 volts) at the proper times in each cycle of operation. This can require AC/DC conversions and voltage step ups or step downs, which result in power losses that can greatly reduce the efficiency of the energy conversion system. A system that used an internal source for recharging a pair of electrodes could have a greatly increased efficiency. Such a system should be capable of extracting energy from the environment like sea waves, currents or waterflows, using a relatively simple construction.


An apparatus for developing web portals includes a portal decomposer configured to generate a plurality of modules from a web portal, a portal composer configured to generate a plurality of portal versions using a plurality of selections of the modules, wherein the selections of modules include a local module deployed on a host of the web portal and a remote module deployed on a second host coupled to the host of the web portal. An application for decomposing and composing web portals includes plurality of instructions that cause a processor to decompose a first web portal into a plurality of portal modules; and compose a second web portal that is a version of the first portal from a set of selected modules from the portal modules.

A web portal, also referred to as a portal, is a website comprising one or more web pages that bring together information from one or more sources in a unified way. Typically, each information source is dedicated an area, also referred to as a portlet, on a web page for displaying information, e.g., a window on the web page. The portlet may be one of the modules that constitute the portal. Web portals are used for different web features and services, such as search engines, email services, news, stock prices, information, databases, entertainment, other applications, or combinations thereof. The portals allow enterprises (e.g., Internet and online businesses) to provide a consistent or familiar look and feel with access control and procedures for different applications and databases.
Portals may be public web portals for general public use and access. Examples of public web portals include Microsoft Network (MSN)™, iGoogle™, Yahoo™, and America Online (AOL)™. Other portals may be designed for specified use and access, such as portals for ecommerce, healthcare benefits information, cloud storage, etc. Web developers may design, package, and customize portals and portlets for customers, such as Internet based businesses and other industries that use web based applications for providing services. For example, a healthcare payer (e.g., a healthcare insurance company) may use a healthcare befits information portal to allow healthcare insurance plan members and/or healthcare service providers to access healthcare benefits eligibility information online.


A system for obtaining frequency domain interferometric super-resolution of a target scatterer, having a first and a second coherent transceivers, a mutual coherent sub-system and an estimation system. The first and second coherent transceivers are operative to produce a plurality of first and second sampling signals separated from each other by a predetermined frequency difference within the first and second sub-band, respectively. The mutual coherent sub-system is coupled to the first and second coherent transceivers to receive phase and amplitude of the first and second sampling signals, so as to evaluate an ambiguous range estimate from a pair of the first and second sampling signals and an unambiguous range estimate from a pair of the first and/or second sampling signals. The estimation system follows the mutual coherent sub-system to reconcile the ambiguous and unambiguous range estimates so as to obtain a target signature with a super-resolution defined by a frequency offset between the first and second sub-bands.

The present invention relates in general to a method of obtaining super-resolution in range for sensor systems such as electromagnetic, acoustic, electro-optics and other spectral regimes particularly where the individual sensors are limited in bandwidth. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for producing two-dimensional (range-Doppler) images with super-resolution from a system having multiple narrow-band radars.
For both radar and sonar systems, high range resolution is a desirable property to improve the ability of the sensor in regard of target identification and discrimination. A desire to obtain resolution beyond the operating bandwidth defined by the Fourier operation has led to numerous techniques such as the Burg Algorithm which extrapolates data in the frequency domain. However, the resolution achieved by the Burg Algorithm is limited to a factor of 2 or 3 (see P. R. Wu, "A Criterion for Radar Resolution Enhancement with Burg Algorithm", IEEE Trans., Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 31, No. 3, July, 1995), the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Other techniques have been proposed for fusing the data collected by two sensors with different operating frequencies. These techniques use estimated signals derived from two different bands to fill the empty gap so as to create a continuous ultra-wide bandwidth. The fidelity of these estimated signals is directly proportional to the inherent bandwidths of the two sensors. See "J. E. Piou, K. M. Cuomo and J. T. Mayhan, "A State-Space Technique for Ultrawide-Bandwidth Coherent Processing", Technical Report 1054, Lincoln laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 20 Jul. 1999 and K. M. Cuomo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,940, "Coherent Ultra-wideband Processing of Sparse Multi-sensor/Multi-spectral Radar Measurements" Aug. 31, 1999, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. However, none of these prior art techniques has taken advantage of the interferometer principle; and therefore, full-resolution benefit implied by the frequency separation of the sensors has not been achieved.

Super-resolution based on frequency domain interferometric processing of sparse multi-sensor measurements


An interactive computer simulation system includes one or more processors for performing an interactive computer simulation in an interactive simulated environment based on user input and for generating images related to the interactive computer simulation. The system includes a dome for displaying the images, the dome being cut by a base below an equatorial plane of the dome, the images being displayed on the dome at a general-projection distance. The system further includes an adjusted-projection panel having an adjusted-projection surface defining an adjusted-projection distance smaller than the general-projection distance for addressing a vergence-accommodation conflict when simulated ground images are displayed.

In dome-type simulators, such as dome-type flight simulators, a vergence-accommodation conflict arises due to the difference between the distance to a virtual object being displayed in simulated imagery on a dome and the focusing distance to the surface of the dome on which the imagery is projected. In a dome-type simulator, the eyes of the viewer accommodate to the fixed distance of the dome yet verge to the perceived distance of the virtual object that is being displayed. This conflict between accommodation and vergence frequently can cause eyestrain and disorientation and can deleteriously affect the viewer's perception of the virtual object.
The dome-type simulator is typically designed to enable the viewer's eyes to focus and converge on the dome surface at a comfortable viewing distance that provides good close-range depth perception. However, during landings, this can create a misleading cue that the ground is too far away for small aircraft, such as for example helicopters. In other words, there is a discrepancy between the real-world distance to the ground and the perceived distance to the simulated ground in the simulated environment increases. The discrepancy hinders training for maneuvers such as landing or hovering because the viewer's perception of the distance to the ground is inaccurate.
A simulator that addresses this technical issue is highly desirable.

Adjusted-projection panel for addressing vergence-accommodation conflict in a dome-type simulator


Disclosed is tagged ammunition, methods for making it, using it and detecting it to reduce gun violence. When implemented together with a smart phone coupled readers, standalone readers, or at a security center, software is included to allow integration of signals detected by multiple readers in the vicinity to map detectable ammunition detected by readers designed to detect tagged ammunition as a proxy for loaded firearms. This makes possible securing an area of interest, when combined with placing of at least one networkable reader in the vicinity of the area of interest; and connecting the one or more readers to a monitoring center. Such monitoring centers may be associated with schools, shopping malls, streets, public meetings, public events, housing complexes, an area being swept for loaded guns, an area being monitored for gang activity, or even a residence.

Efforts to control the ownership and use of guns have posed a legal and social challenge. Regulating the use of guns, in particular loaded guns, poses challenges in America. In many other countries the right to own and use a firearm is severely curtailed or even absent. In the United States, on the other hand, the right to bear arms guaranteed in the Constitution precludes outright right regulation of firearms to the extent of depriving most citizens of firearms. While many folks insist on responsibly using their guns in hunting and self-defense, the availability of guns empowers others to commit crimes. There is no way to a priori distinguish between the two types of individuals. The US Constitution assures due process and precludes prejudging a person as being a threat to society absent some overt act or indication. Add to the mix the expectation of not being unreasonably searched, and one has the mix for making possible mass shootings, rage killings, and firearm accidents.
Since, some policies adopted in foreign jurisdictions with low gun violence—the banning of gun ownership—are not practical in jurisdictions like the United States, there are no good answers. The measures adopted so far, such as profiling based on race, gender and ethnicity run, if implemented sufficiently generously, afoul of other Constitutional assurances. As a result the first intimation of a shooter is when the shooting has already started. Despite this reality, reducing gun violence to improve public safety presents a long-standing unmet need.
Just about every functional gun poses the risk of violence—provided it is loaded. Conventional cartridges for rifles and machine guns, as well as larger caliber weapons are usually made with brass casings or composite casings that include metal, plastic, paper or combinations thereof. The casing includes an integrally formed head containing a primer cup to receive a primer adapted to ignite a charge at one end, and at the other end provides a mechanical fit to a bullet. The grip of the cartridge upon the bullet, together with the amount and characteristics of the powder/charge, the interior volume of the powder chamber and other factors determine the chamber pressure levels developed during the firing cycle. The bullet or other projectile is held in place with a crimp or frictional engagement, the strength of which is a factor in determining the pressure needed to initiate bullet movement into the barrel of the rifle.
Cartridges are typically made with bullets in metal casing. Shot gun cartridges may have paper or plastic shell casings. It has been known to make shell casings with materials such as plastic, which provide less shielding against electromagnetic signal reception and transmission compared to metal casings. U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,319 discloses a sectional cartridge including a plastic shell that will be converted to gas during the firing phase to assist in propelling the projectile and thereby permit reduction in the use of the propelling powder charge. U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,802 discloses a cartridge made using light weight thermoplastic materials. U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,924 discloses a plastic cartridge whose ballistics are equivalent to existing metallic cartridges and which can be fired in existing firearms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,739 discloses a plastic cartridge with a cartridge case having a plastic body has a metallic tubular mouth member affixed thereto, which may be crimped to securely hold a projectile. U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,294 discloses a center fire cartridge case for high pressure cartridges with a plastic body and a metallic head. U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,326 discloses a composite cartridge casing having a plurality of component parts, which may be of dissimilar materials such as metal and plastic.
There are additional patents that teach the making of hybrid cartridges that have non-shielding materials as part of their body, which improves transmission of electromagnetic signals. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,657 discloses plastic shell receiving a propellant charge with even the cartridge being expelled by the ignited gases from a rifle to approximate a shell-less cartridge. U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,107 discloses plastic shell with a metal bottom that is suitable for rifles. The'107 patent explains that the "use of a plastics material for ammunition cartridge cases offers considerable advantages over usual metal cases in regard to cost and production, but necessitates a bottom insert of metal which is suitable as a groove or edge for engaging the usual cartridge extractor and ejector and for receiving and holding a detonator or percussion cap". U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,555 discloses plastic cartridges suitable for rapid-fire weapons. The '555 patent's disclosed cartridge has a plastic case with a pressure regulating baffle or wall. The '555 patent teaches that a plastic rifle cartridge should have a metal cap or head to carry the primer and to provide the ejection groove necessary to eject the spent cartridge from the firing chamber. When used in a modern automatic weapon the need is also present for a reinforced cap or head area to contain residual pressures in the cartridge occasionally encountered when the ejection cycle begins removal of the cartridge from the chamber before the pressure effects of the recent firing have fully dissipated. U.S. Pat. No. 8,186,273 discloses that plastic casings for ammunition may be made using injection molding processes for combat ammunition, target ammunition and blanks.
There are patents describing the improvements and variant ammunition designs that modify the primer or the bullet part of a piece of ammunition or both to achieve delayed detonation of some part of the charge such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,722 disclosing an exploding bullet with more than one primer portion built therein. U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,330 describes cartridge ammunition with known magnetic tags for identification therein for rifles and pistols, particularly for civilian use. Ammunition is of two basic types: center-fire and rimfire. The projectile portion is fitted into a casing portion. An explosive material, such as smokeless gunpower, is disposed within the casing and sealed therein by the projectile portion of the cartridge. Additionally, in center-fire ammunition there is disposed a primer located at the end of the casing opposite the open end into which the projectile is fitted. The primer comprises a primer case and a primer explosive which is typically detonated by the impact of a firing pin on the primer case. Thus, in center-fire ammunition cartridges, the detonation of the primer acts to detonate the main explosive powder charge which accelerates the projectile along the barrel of the rifle or pistol into which the cartridge has been inserted. Rimfire ammunition cartridges work in the same way except that the primer explosive is not centrally located and typically is not disposed in its own casing. The presence or absence of magnetic particles with defined Curie temperatures allows tagging of the ammunition to identify it after the firing of the ammunition.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,060 describes a shapeable primer composition that can be solidified from a melt state into a solid of a desired shape. It should be noted that there are many additional primer compositions known that provide other benefits from prolonged lifetimes to other detonation related parameters. U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,441 describes a primer seating tool for centerfire cartridges. U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,980 describes a method and device for reloading a centerfire cartridge. U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,465 describes an improved ammunition cartridge with modifications to the primer portion.
One way to limit firearm mediated violence is to introduce identification tools to allow quick identification of perpetrators to dissuade violent acts. Many identification devices and methods of making them for use with firearms are known. In particular, it is known how to identify retail purchasers of ammunition cartridges and even the bullets within them. Typically a physically readable mark serves as an identifier, which mark is placed either directly on the bullet, on a casing of a bullet, or on a barrel of a gun. In addition there are devices that can store information about a buyer or handler of ammunition in an electronic memory in the cartridge—as is described, for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 7,533,614. Many additional identification strategies are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,293,204; 6,462,302; and 6,886,284. This list is not exhaustive with many ways to mark a serial number and the like proposed over time.
Such tracking of buyers or possessors of ammunition in a database is difficult to manage, and raises privacy concerns. Another limitation is that it is more difficult to effectively manage distinct identifiers, as they are constrained by the physical limitations of the bullet surface on which marking can occur. Still another significant limitation is that by applying different marks to munitions cartridges requires changing the manner in which such ammunition cartridges are made from a bulk manufacturing process, in which all ammunition cartridges are made the same way, to a batch manufacturing process, in which different batches of ammunition cartridges are made (such as divided by the box size of the ammunition cartridge), in order apply a different identifier to all the ammunition cartridges in a single box.
But even more significantly being able to track the last buyer or possessor of ammunition is of little use in preventing accidental or deliberate incidents and the problem of minimizing or at least reducing undesirable gun violence remains unsolved.


Various computer-implemented methods are provided. One method includes determining errors across a field of a lens of a lithography system based on wafer measurements. In addition, the method includes separating the errors into correctable and non-correctable errors across the field. The errors may include dose errors, focus errors, or dose and focus errors. In another embodiment, the method may include determining correction terms for parameter(s) of the lithography system, which if applied to the parameter(s), the correctable errors would be eliminated resulting in approximately optimal imaging performance of the lithography system. Another method includes controlling one or more parameters of features within substantially an entire printed area on a product wafer using a limited number of wafer measurements performed on a test wafer. The wafer measurements may be performed on a first feature type, and the features that are controlled may include a second, different feature type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for improved monitor and control of lithography processes. Certain embodiments relate to a computer-implemented method for separating errors into correctable and non-correctable errors across a field of a lens of a lithography system. Other embodiments relate to a computer-implemented method for controlling one or more parameters of features within substantially an entire printed area on a product wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The performance of a lithography system lens has an impact on the features that are printed by the lithography system. Currently, there are two basic methods used to track lens performance. In the simplest approach, the user measures critical dimensions (CDs) for different feature types at a large number of points across the lens field. The raw CD measurement method is simple and well understood. The metrology results will show if the range of CD values measured across the field are within the specification limits or not. Pass/fail decisions are made based on the range of the measured values or another statistical summary of the results. For example, all of the data may be pooled together to get an overall CD distribution. The lens passes if the width of the distribution is within spec.
No other information on lens quality is collected. The exception is that vertical and horizontal features may be looked at separately, which could indicate an astigmatism problem if there is a marked offset between the two. For example, the CD of horizontal and vertical features, usually at fixed CD and pitch but sometimes at a few different values of CD and pitch, may also be measured. CD measurements may also be performed in a few fields at + and − defocus. Global tilt may be removed from the data, but is inadvisable. The process of lumping all of the data together and computing the range is fairly simple, even if flier rejection algorithms are included.
However, due to the interaction between different feature types and the optical aberrations of the lens system, a great number of measurements may be required on different types of features at different locations in the lens field. In addition, the results are equally simplistic. For example, there is no indication of the spatial pattern of the CD distribution and no way to tell if specific locations within the lens field are behaving anomalously. This approach makes it difficult to detect spatial drifts, i.e., changes in the performance of specific locations in the lens over time, or changes in the spatial signature of the lens over time. More importantly, it also makes it difficult (if not impossible) to tell why the lens performance is changing. For example, if the CDs on the right side of the lens begin to be larger than those on the left, it is not possible to determine if there is a problem in the lens itself or just a tilt of the field which could easily be corrected in the focusing system. If the user just subtracts an average value to try to compensate the tilt, the user could miss seeing a serious problem. Therefore, it is not possible to determine if the cause of any excessive CD variation is due to systematic, correctable terms such as a focus offset or focal plane tilt or if the variation is due to non-correctable terms. This method cannot separate correctable from non-correctable contributions to the CD error.
A more complex method is to determine the Zernike aberrations across the pupil plane of the lens as viewed from any point in the lens field. Examples of methods that may be used to determine lens aberrations are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,486 to Dirksen et al., "Novel aberration monitor for optical lithography," P. Dirksen et al., Proc. of SPIE Vol. 3679, p. 77-86 (1999), and "Impact of high order aberrations on the performance of the aberration monitor," P. Dirksen et al., Proc. of SPIE Vol. 4000, pp. 9-17 (2000), which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Knowing the Zernike coefficients, the CD of any feature can be simulated based on how the image will be projected through the pupil plane.
The method involving the determination of the Zernike aberration coefficients is more rigorous, but also much more difficult to apply in practice and does not provide a direct measurement of the CD performance on the wafer. CDs can be predicted through simulation, but the results will be imperfect due to other lens errors, especially flare, and the detailed interaction of the light with the photoresist. It is difficult to negotiate pass/fail specifications with suppliers based on Zernike values due to the highly proprietary nature of lens design. If a lens fails a qualification test due to one or more Zernike terms being out of spec, the supplier would still insist on time consuming tests to prove that the lens performance has been degraded beyond its specifications for specific photoresist features. Although a large number of methods to determine Zernike coefficients have been proposed, many of these lack adequate sensitivity to the lowest order terms to determine the focal plane error (Z0) at each point in the lens field.
The lithography process often plays a significant role in the success or failure of semiconductor manufacturing. Therefore, lithography processes are often closely monitored for process control purposes. Some methods for monitoring lithography process performance involve measuring features printed on a wafer. For example, currently, users measure a metrology test target (often a "tuning fork" with an isolated and dense array at a fixed CD) at a limited number of points within the scribe line. In some cases, users may also measure the CD at a very limited number of points within the device die itself. If the metrology measurements are within specified limits ("in spec"), the entire lot of wafers is assumed to be acceptable.
A state of the art integrated circuit will have tens or hundreds of millions of structures, all of which must be within spec in order for the device to function properly. These structures will vary widely across the circuit including isolated and dense structures as well as those of intermediate pitch and with varying target CDs across the device. Some process layers may contain mixtures of lines and spaces or contact holes and linear patterns. Knowing that a limited number of test structures within the scribe line is in spec for a fixed CD and a fixed pitch is not a clear indication that all of the device geometries everywhere within the device are within acceptable limits. In addition, the change in dose or focus which will give the optimal dimensions of the test structures may not be the correct dose/focus combination to optimize the CD distribution of the patterns within the device die.
The lithography exposure tool's optical characteristics and the exact type of features being patterned both have a strong influence on CD performance when patterning advanced design rule integrated circuits. Of particular importance are the optical aberrations of the lithographic lens system as well as the systematic dose and focus errors across the field. Many examples exist today of methods used to quantitatively measure these optical aberrations. Three examples of these, each based on slightly different physical principles, are the Litel reticle concept, the Artemis concept by ASML, and the phase shift grating of Toshiba. In each case, the output of the analysis tool is typically provided in terms of Zernike polynomial coefficients, which can accurately describe the induced phase error across the exit pupil of the lithographic lens, and which can be easily interpreted in optically meaningful terms such as spherical, astigmatic, and coma aberrations. Furthermore, a Zernike polynomial description of the aberrations is required for each field point of interest. Although these aberration descriptors are generally accepted as quantitative metrics for the quality of lens systems, it is a non-trivial problem to quantitatively estimate the impact they will have on CD, or more specifically, on the specific dimensions of different types of features within the integrated circuit. Such calculations require detailed knowledge of other process parameters such as the exposure tool illumination configuration, partial coherence, the geometry of the pattern, and the response of the photoresist process to different aerial image profiles.

Methods for improved monitor and control of lithography processes


A handheld fieldmeter is implemented with an automatic function to drive the voltage on an output node of signal processing circuitry to circuit ground while a sensing electrode is disposed in a static-free environment. In response to a binary signal indicating whether the output node voltage is above or below ground, a microprocessor repeatedly increments/decrements a stored auto-zero multibit number, and generates successive PWM pulse streams of differing duty cycles determined by the incremented/decremented auto-zero number. The successive PWM pulse streams are integrated to ultimately produce fine zero adjustment current used by the signal processing circuitry to drive the output node voltage essentially to circuit ground. The fieldmeter also includes a pair of LEDs relatively positioned with the sensing electrode to emit light beams that intersect at the surface of a charged object when the sensing electrode is positioned a prescribed distance from the charged object. The LEDs are energized to emit their beams in alternation so as to provide a clear indication when the sensing electrode is so positioned by a user.

Numerous situations require close monitoring of static charge buildup on objects, including personnel, such as in the manufacture and testing of voltage sensitive electronic components and equipment, so that steps can be taken to establish a "static-free" electronic workshop. Manufacturing operations that involve continuous movements of web, sheet, particulate, and powder materials invariably pickup hazardous static charges, which must be safety dissipated. Thus, it is important to measure and monitor the static charges on these materials, so that appropriate grounding provisions can be implemented. Measurement of electrostatic charge is also necessary in the testing of ionizers and electrostatic precipitators.
All of these situations require that measurement of static charge buildup be conducted without contacting the material, otherwise the consequent charge dissipation will result in inaccurate voltage measurements and possible violent static discharge hazardous to personnel and equipment.
Non-contact fieldmeters or voltmeters are known in the art, such as exemplified by commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,639, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Such prior art fieldmeters may be in the form of a handheld, battery-powered instrument that includes a probe or electrode, which is positioned to in the electrostatic field produced by a charged object and thus may be capacitively coupled with the charged object. The voltage produced on the probe, which is indicative of the electrostatic voltage on the object surface, is processed to generate a readout of the electrostatic voltage on, for example, a meter scale or an LCD display. Since the magnitude of the probe voltage is a function of its position in the electrical field, accurate voltage readings require that the probe be placed in predetermined spaced relation to the charged object.
Other important considerations for voltage reading accuracy include zero adjustment of the fieldmeter, which is frequently required Heretofore, fieldmeters have typically been equipped with a user adjustable potentiometer included in the electronic signal processing circuitry. To zero the voltage readout, the user positions the probe away from any charged objects and turns, for example, a thumbwheel linked to the zero-adjust potentiometer until a zero voltage readout is obtained. While this manual zero adjustment procedure is generally effective, it is nevertheless inconvenient and time consuming.

Electrostatic voltage metering apparatus


The present invention mainly provides a new imidazole compound, which can be used to produce electronic devices that are able to operate at low driving voltage and at high current efficiency. The new imidazole compound of the present invention is represented by the following formula (1):

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new imidazole compound, material for electronic device use, electroluminescent device, and electronic device; and more particularly, the new imidazole compound may be used as host material of a luminous layer of an electroluminescent device that makes up an organic electroluminescent device and material for electronic device use, electroluminescent devices containing the new imidazole compound, and electronic devices containing the material for electronic device use, including electroluminescent devices.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Up to the present time, there are still many and varied discussions regarding the materials for electronic device use, especially luminescent materials and host materials of a luminous layer making up an organic electroluminescent device.
For example, Japan Patent Document 1 discloses using 2,4,5-triaryl to replace an imidazole compound and 1,2,4,5-tetra-aryl to replace an imidazole compound, the resulting compounds being used in blue fluorescence luminescent materials.
In addition, Japan Patent Document 2 discloses using benzylpyridine derivatives in luminescent materials, and using 2,4,5-tri(6-pyridyl biphenyl) imidazole derivatives to use as a phosphorescent host material.
Moreover, Japan Patent Document 3, in one aspect, discloses using imidazole having at least 1 or 2 electron withdrawing groups, and in another aspect, uses imidazole with electron donating groups, namely, producing a compound to use as a host material use.
Furthermore. Japan non-Patent Document 1 discloses using CBP (4,4,-N,N,-biz(carbazoly-9-yl) biphenyl) or mCP (1,3-di(carbazoly-9-yl) benzene) to use as a host material.
In addition, Japan non-Patent Document 2 discloses using benzodifuran derivative to use as a bipolar host material.
In luminescent devices using phosphorescence luminescent material to use as a luminescent material (dopant), the host material must have the full capacity to transport electrons and electron holes, as well as having good film-forming properties.
However, the stability of a thin film using the well known host compound CBP is inadequate. Moreover, mCP still has the problem of low thermal stability of the devices formed therefrom,
In addition, with a view to achieving high luminescence efficiency, in recent years, component structures are constructed from multilayer structures assembled from a great many layers. Hence, there is a need to reduce the number of layers of the component structure to enable simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing the costs. If an electroluminescent device uses benzodifuran derivatives as disclosed in Japan non-Patent Document 2, then an organic single layer or a reduction in the number of layers may be achieved. However, such a distinctive feature of the component structure makes manufacture difficult. Moreover, the film forming manufacturing process is restricted to using a vacuum evaporation method. And the manufacturing process still has the problem of being complicated. As for the present situation, simplification of the materials used in electronic devices is needed both in the component structure and the manufacturing process, nevertheless, up to the present time, no such materials have come to light.
In addition, with a view to achieving high luminescence efficiency, emphasis is first placed on the host material used, however, under the situation where the luminous layer of the host material has low stability, and with the trend moving toward the practicality of the driving stability of the electroluminescent device, problems still remain.

Imidazole compound, material for electronic device, electroluminescent device, and electronic device thereof

Abstract: (In the formula (1), R1 and R2 are respectively the same as described in the specification).

E-RAY OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A signaling transfer point (STP) includes a communications controller, node maintenance unit, and a plurality of link-interface units, and designates to the individual link-interface units primary responsibility for management of resources coupled to the STP. When one of the resources experiences a problem, a prime link-interface unit for that resource assumes management of the resource and controls communication by the STP with the resource. If a prime link-interface unit fails, either the node maintenance unit or look-up tables within the other link-interface units designate which other link-interface unit will become prime for the resource covered by the failed link-interface unit.

The present invention relates generally to a technique for managing resources in a Common Channel Signaling (CCS) network, and specifically to a method and apparatus for decentralizing the management of network resources to interface units within a signaling point.
Common Channel Signaling (CCS) provides a dedicated supervisory network for segregating signaling information from voice and data information in a telecommunications network. CCS was developed to meet the increased demands placed on the public telecommunications network by the growing market for voice, data, and information services. Previous signaling systems sent call setup and routing information over the same trunk circuit used for voice transmission. With CCS, a single out-of-band channel conveys signaling information relating to call setup, routing, and network management, among other things. Signaling System No. 7 (SS7), an international protocol standard for CCS communications, creates a universal format for communicating signaling information in a CCS network (CCS7).
CCS7 networks also provide numerous advanced features for telecommunications users. By enabling communication between processors in central offices, CCS7 permits on-line or external databases to be queried. This capability opens access to such features as network-wide automated calling card service, Advanced Intelligent Network-based residential and business services, Custom Local Area Signaling Services, and Virtual Private Networking. Other advantages provided by CCS7 include Calling Number/Name Delivery and Automatic Callback to work across an entire network rather than just between subscribers served by the same central office.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical CCS7 network configuration with three key signaling points: a Service Switching Points (SSPs) 12; a Service Control Points (SCPs) 14; and a Signaling Transfer Point (STPs) 16. SSPs 12 are located at a central office to provide CCS 7 trunk signaling and the capability to query a database to determine call routing. SCPs 14 house databases with call routing information that SSPs and other network elements use to provide advanced services in a telecommunications network. STPs 16 route CCS7 messages between the signaling points and control access to the CCS7 network.
Unlike other nodes in a CCS7 network 10, STPs 16 do not generally act as a source or ultimate destination of CCS7 application messages. Instead they function as both a static and dynamic routing database that control access to, and direct call signaling between, a variety of CCS7 nodes and networks. STPs 16 monitor, maintain, and report different levels of information concerning the availability and unavailability of CCS7 nodes, routes, and services.
Signaling points such as STPs 16 support external resources in the CCS7 network 10, such as links, linksets, routes, routesets, and subsystem databases resident in other signaling points. Each signaling point relies on these resources to effectively transmit signaling information or to access appropriate sources of information within the CCS7 network 10.
Managing these resources by the signaling point must take place to ensure the continued and reliable availability of the resources. Generally, resource management by an STP 16 includes both network management and subsystem, or application, management. Through network management, the STP 16 ensures the integrity of individual signaling links by monitoring the links and accessing errors that occur on them.
Typically, network management separates into three categories: link management, traffic management, and route management. Link management checks for continued integrity of the links. Traffic management enables the signaling point to route traffic around failed links within a linkset. Route management addresses the accessibility of signaling points in a CCS7 network, and advises other signaling points in the network if one of the signaling points cannot be reached. Similarly, subsystem management focuses on the availability of an application or subsystem database within the CCS7 network. Overall, resource management by a signaling point requires persistent attention to the status of resources through monitoring and communication.
Conventional signaling points, such as STPs 16, include a central processor for controlling functions performed by the signaling point, as well as for managing resources in the CCS7 network. Interface units within the signaling point provide the immediate interface between the signaling point and the external CCS7 network 10. The interface units within a conventional signaling point typically gather management information and pass it to the central processor for consideration. For instance, if a subsystem database within an SCP stops responding, the central processor within the STP will take appropriate action to poll the SCP to derive the database's status. In the meantime, the central processor will, if possible, route relevant communications of the STP to an alternate SCP.
The conventional signaling points with centralized control of resource management have several drawbacks. For one, the central processor of the signaling point has numerous other processing functions to perform, so resource management adds an unnecessary burden to the processing capacity of the central processor. This drawback becomes especially acute as the number of network resources supported by a signaling point grows. Similarly, if several management conditions arise simultaneously, e.g. numerous resources experience problems, the central processor within a signaling point may become a bottleneck for managing the resources and may slow the responsiveness of the signaling point.
In light of the foregoing, a need exists for a signaling point and a method for managing communication with network resources that does not burden the central processor of the signaling point. A need also exists for a signaling point and a method for managing network resources that enables rapid response to a plurality of simultaneous network resource management conditions.


The invention relates to a transgenic wild type plant species from Nicotiana glauca transformed with the phytochelatin synthase TaPCS gene from wheat for the phytoremediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is of application in the metal elimination that contaminates soils and aquatic zones.
2. State of the Art
At present, the state of the art provides alternative ways of solving the problem. The most habitual are also the costliest and they base on, fundamentally chemical and physical methods, as they are: the committal of the contaminated soils with inert materials, the cleanliness "in situ" with the machines and chemical suitable material, the storage as poisonous residues in the places regulated for it (with correspondent license), etc.
In the United States there have been carried out experiences of recovery of the contaminated soils, using natural plants, of the type of the corn, tomato, sunflower, Brassica juncea, etc., and trees principally willow and black poplar. Most of these pioneering experiences has been realized by the American army moved by the desire to recover soils been contaminated with the metallic garbage that provoke the bullets that are in use in the tests of shot. These metals contain fundamentally lead.
Also another type of experiences have been performed in New Jersey. It was carried out a selection of cultures of Brassica juncea (Brassica juncea (L) Czem) with aptitude to accumulate the elected metals; it was used enmendants of the soil or chelants substances. Later they allowed them to glow, and to be harvest, and the contain in metals have been analyzed. In these two cases, the used techniques have been fundamentally: treatment of contaminated soils, and regeneration by metal accumulation in the cultivated plants. The "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency", also acquaintance as EPA, has been the pioneering institution in the study of these processes of phytoremediation. Together with the company "Phytotech" was the manager of realizing the mentioned process of recovery of the contaminated soils in New Jersey. In the experiments in which the objective has been the recovering of munition, as the one mentioned above, it has participated actively the engineers' body of the American army (Army Corps of Engineers). The company Phytotech is one of pioneers in the whole world. In Spain there exist references of ELECNOR, which it applies technologies of bioremediation patented by the North American company ECS.
Some examples of vegetable used material:                hybrid trees of black poplar have been in use for extracting nickel, cadmium and zinc of contaminated soils (University of Georgia, USA, "Savannah River Ecology Laboratory").        In the department of energy of Ashtabula, Ohio, plants of sunflower have been in use for remediation of soils and waters contaminated by uranium.
Some examples of important patents are the following ones:                U.S. Patent. Phytorecovery of metals using seedlings. U.S. Pat. No. 911,655, Aug. 15, 1997, Phytotech, Inc. (Monmouth Junction, N.J.).        U.S. Patent. Method of using pelargonium sp. as hyperaccumulators for remediating contaminated soil. U.S. Pat. No. 185,797, Nov. 4, 1998, University of Guelph (Guelph, Calif.).        U.S. Patent. Methods for removing pollutants from contaminated soil materials with a fern plant. U.S. Pat. No. 546,941, Apr. 11, 2000, University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.). The invention describes the use of a variety that is less extensive geographically that N glauca. It is a question of a fern that basically accumulates enormous quantities of arsenic. Methods are described to carry out the decontamination using one or different varieties of ferns. The use of this type of plants has fundamentally the disadvantage of which there is located in very humid habitats which limits his use. Besides the need to receive very much water contribution can have negative effects for the soil where they grow since, on having contributed big quantities of water, this one can displease the metals at deeper levels or spread them.
Since it parts with the information contributed in the exposed patents, the work it has centred on processes of bioremediation, especially using hyperaccumulators (those plants that possess an extraordinary capacity of absorption of metals, and of accumulation in his biomass).
The phytoremediation consists basically of the use of plants or of vegetable material, to decontaminate soils with high concentrations of harmful elements. Recently a review has been realized, about the topic, by two Spanish investigators, in the publication: "Phytoextraction: to cost-effective plant-based technology for the removal of metals from the environment". Carlos Garbisu, Itziar Alkorta. Bioresource Technology 77 (2001) 229-236. Where the state of the investigation is described in phytoremediation, topcoat being based on the concrete aspect of the phytoextraction.
One key article (review), for the importance of the works realized by the authors are the followings:    Chaney, R. L., Malik, M., Li, Y. M., Brown, S. L., Brewer, E. P., Angle, J. S., Baker, A. J. M., 1997. Phytoremediation of soil metals. Current Opin. Biotechnol. 8, 279-284.    Salt, D. E., Smith, R. D., Raskin, I., 1997. Phytoremediation of soil metals. Current Opin. Biotechnol. 8, 279-284. This is an article of reference for the punctual contribution andCorn and buckthorn are two species that accumulate lead. (Huang, J. W., Cunningham, S. D., 1996. Lead phytoextraction: species variation in lead uptake). As for the cadmium, Salix viminalis, Thlaspi caerulescens and Alyssum murale seem to be the best species (SALIX EXPERT PHYTOEXTRACTOR, Maria Greger, Dept of Botany, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden).
Concerning to the molecular biology of metal absorption, fundamentally researchers have worked with plants of the genre of Brassica, and among them especially Brassica juncea. In these type of plants genetic transformations have been realized by means of skills of biotechnology. Also they have been carried out in another type of vegetable varieties as black poplar and certainly Arabidopsis. Regarding the genes that have been in use for decontaminating heavy metals, it is necessary to distinguish basically three families: metallothioneins, phytochelatins, and genes that regulate the processes of oxidation-reduction. It is necessary to emphasize the pioneering work realized with bacterial genes that are specialized in the absorption of mercury, which marked a milestone in this field: Rugh, C. L., Wilde, H. D., Stack N. M., Thompson, D. M., Summers, A. O., Meagher, R. B., 1996. "Mercuric ion reduction in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing to modified bacterial mere gene". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 93, 3182-3187.
The most important works in this field, apart the mentioned one, have been carried out by Schroeder, Rea, and Therry. During the same year, Schroeder studied for the first time the enzyme produced by the gene TaPCS1, which is a phytochelatin of wheat. (The EMBO Journal Vol. 18 Not 12 pp. 3325-3333, 1999. "Tolerance to toxic metals by to gene family of phytochelatin synthases from plants and yeast". Stephan Clemens, Eugene J. Kim, Dieter Neumann and Julian I. Schroeder). The second one cloned, the homolog phytochelatin of Arabidopsis (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 96, pp. 7110-7115, June 1999). "AtPCS1, to phytochelatin synthase from Arabidopsis: Isolation and in vitro reconstitution". Olena K. Vatamaniuk, Stéphane Mari, Yu-Ping Lu, and Philip A. Rea). And the third one transformed in several occasions, Brassica juncea with genes that increase the metal absorption ("Cadmium Tolerance and Accumulation in Indian Mustard Is Enhanced by Overexpressing γ-Glutamylcysteine Synthetase". Yong Liang Zhu, Elizabeth A. H. Pilon-Smits, Alice S. Tarun, Stefan U. Weber, Lise Jouanin, and Norman Terry. Plant Physiology, December 1999, Vol. 121, pp. 1169-1177).