An improved method for playing a board game consisting of three boards each having 3 rows and 3 columns of squares and the boards stacked on top of one another with each board forming arranged together there are 3 rows by 3 columns by 3 vertical boards for a total of 27 squares. The game is played with two or more players. Each player has a set of normal pieces and a "star piece" distinguishable from the normal pieces. The goal of each player is to be the first to complete the formation of three straight lines each with three two normal pieces and a "star piece" randomly selected. The three straight lines can be diagonal, vertical, or horizontal in any direction. The "star piece" can only be played on the "star point", which is the middle square of the middle board. Another version of the game has four boards with two possible star points, one which is the middle square of the board next to the top board and one which is the middle square of the board next to the bottom board. Each player would have one star piece. There are a number of variants of the game. One would allow any player to play his star piece on either empty star point. Another variant of the game with only two players, would assign one star point to one player and the other star point to the other player.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of entertainment and especially to board games.
2. Prior Art
The prior art has many board games, including chess, checkers, chinese checkers and many more. Tic tac toe is an old game that can be played by two players and is played on a single board which is divided into a matrix with 3 rows and 3 columns. The players take alternate turns placing their pieces in an empty row/column location on the board and the goal for each player is to arrange 3 pieces in a line in any direction, which could be diagonal or along any row or column. Of course, each player also can play defensively to prevent the other player from achieving his goal. If all the rows/columns have been filled, then no one wins the game and the game is called a "cats game". Tic tac toe is a fairly simple game and normally with two experienced players almost all the games turn into cats games. An inexperienced player can quickly learn tic tac toe and eventually the game becomes boring, because all of the games are cats games; however, tic tac toe remains a favorite game to teach children, because it is easy and quick to play.
A game, similar in some respects to tic tac toe, is quite old and has been recently marketed as "Connect Four" by Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, Mass. In Connect Four, which is also called a vertical checkers game, there are 7 vertical columns that can each hold 6 pieces. The players take turns dropping a piece into one of the seven columns. The first player to connect four of his pieces in a line, whether diagonal, along a horizontal row or a vertical column, wins.
Another game called "Twist Tac Toe" is marketed by Alsip and Company of Bainbridge Island, Wash. and is similar in some respects to tic tac toe. Twist Tac Toe is played with three side by side rotatable spindles that each have three exposed slots within which to put the pieces and additional unexposed slots, that are exposed when a spindle is rotated. The players take turns placing pieces in an exposed slot and choosing whether to turn a spindle. A player wins when 3 exposed slots in a line are filled with his pieces. This game is rather complicated, because it requires the players to remember where his and the other players pieces are located since all of the pieces in the game are not seen at once. Another disadvantage of this game is that the apparatus required to play the game is relatively expensive.
What is needed is a game that can be enjoyed by all who understand the fundamental tic tac toe game, but is more complex so that interest in the game can be sustained. It is also necessary that the game be economical, both in cost and in the time required to learn or to play the game to enable even the hurried in today's world the time to pause for refreshment and enjoy the game. The game should also have an attractive appearance so that it can be left out for spontaneous use, while fulfilling a decorative function. There should also be a factor of chance in the game to increase its appeal. The prior art, as described above, does not incorporate any chance, but only relies on the skill of the players.

Method of playing a three dimensional game


A system for the detection of discharges over high voltage power-line insulator strings of an electrical grid. A sensor unit is deployed on a non conducting cable of the grid. The sensor feeds an array of band cut-off filters receiving each signals from said at least one sensor unit. An analogue processor is associated with each of the band cut-off filters associated each with a current peak detector. An ADC unit is associated with each one of said analogue processors. In addition a digital processor is provided for calculating data received from each one of the ADCs and one radio transmitter unit sends data to a gateway of a network. A digital processor is adapted to send data processed based on the output of the ADCs, to the radio transmitter for conveying the data to processor associated with a WAN.

Contamination over power line insulator-strings is a major source of power quality impairment. Such contamination can cause flashovers, which result in shortcuts and wide-area power sags (instantaneous voltage level drop). This causes significant damage to industrial power consumers. Electrical companies invest significant resources on washing insulator strings using helicopters and from the ground. Currently, the maintenance crews cannot get a view of the contamination level in power transmission and distribution lines, and selecting the sections that needs to be washed is based mainly on the experience of the maintenance teams.
Different systems and methods have been proposed in the past for detecting contamination over power line insulators. Most of the methods are using a dedicated sensor per each insulator string—for example see Yuan Jing, Chinese patent CN1306213A. These methods are not cost efficient as there are many strings per each tower, and many devices need to be purchased and deployed.
Other methods include using pilot isolators, which are used to sample contamination, for example see Baba Motoharu, JP patent number JP2008123805A. Since pilot insulators are used for prediction of contamination instead of using data from the actual insulator strings of the power-transmission system, these methods can offer only a limited level of prediction of flashovers on the actual transmission system.
It is well known, that partial discharges are developed over contaminated or damaged insulator string before a flashover occurs, and some prior art methods detect pulses which result from partial discharges over the insulator string in order to predict flashovers over the insulator strings. However, these methods do not prove efficient algorithms for localizing a contaminated insulator, generating partial discharges pulses, and therefore many sensors need to be deployed in order to estimate the location of the contaminated insulator, typically at least one sensor per tower. This increases the cost of the solution. Some prior art methods apply a threshold in order to count PD (partial discharge on the surface of insulators) pulses. This scheme requires setting the threshold in advance, and precludes post-measurement analysis.

System and method for assessing faulty power-line insulator strings


The present invention aims to prevent degradation in performance due to a change in image quality and deflection distortions or the like in the vicinity of both ends of a scan area and detect a defect in a sample such as a semiconductor wafer or the like with high accuracy when the defect is inspected by use of an electron beam image, and allow a monitor to confirm an image area to be checked. The present invention is provided with means for comparing and checking defects in the sample, based on an image signal in which the neighborhoods of both ends of horizontal and vertical scan areas are respectively deleted under control of a blanking signal and a vertical synchronizing signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspecting system and an inspecting method both using an electron beam, both of which inspect a semiconductor device having micro-fabricated patterns, a substrate, a photomask (exposure mask), a liquid crystal, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to detect the occurrence of abnormalities and defects in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device in early stages or in advance, the inspection of patterns on a semiconductor wafer is carried out upon completion of respective manufacturing process steps.
As a method of inspecting such defects, a method and a system for inspecting each of patterns through the use of an electron beam image high in resolution have been put into practical use.
There is a need to acquire or obtain a high SN image at a very high speed with a view toward performing high throughput and high-accurate inspections with an increase in bore diameter of a wafer and a scale-down of each circuit pattern. Therefore, the number of electrons applied through the use of a large current beam of 1000 times or more (of 10 nA or more) one for a normal scanning electron microscope (SEM) is ensured and a high SN ratio is maintained. It is also essential that secondary electrons generated from a substrate and reflected electrons are detected at high speed and with high efficiency. A low accelerating electron beam of 2 KeV or less is applied so that a semiconductor substrate with an insulating film such as a resist or the like is not placed under the influence of charging.
JP-A No. H10 (1998)-12170 discloses a technology wherein in a scan type charged particle beam device capable of varying a scanning speed, a digital circuit matches the timing for blanking-signal OFF with the timing provided to start the capturing of image data in order to prevent a distortion of an image caused by a distortion of a scan signal at an image take-in or capturing start time at the time that a scanning speed is fast.
JP-A No. 2000-100362 describes a system for digitally controlling various timings at a fast beam scan.
A SEM type inspecting system has the possibility that since a desired image acquisition area is irradiated with a beam by one pixel from its end to form an image signal, the neighborhoods of both ends in the area will differ from its central portion in conditions such as the amount of abeam current, thereby varying the quality of an image. From the necessity that the center of the beam is placed in the center of the area, large deflection distortions occur in both ends of the image acquisition area. This is not undesirable as an electron optical condition. When comparison checking is made using an image placed under such an adverse condition, the performance of inspection might be degraded.
Even if the prior art is applied to the inspection SEM, the degradation in inspection performance at both ends of the image acquisition area cannot be prevented from occurring.
A problem arises in that a screen condition related to a detection area placed under inspection cannot be confirmed through a monitor.
An object of the present invention is to provide an inspecting system or method using an electron beam, capable of confirming a screen condition related to a detection area placed under inspection by means of a monitored image.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an inspecting system or method using an electron beam, capable of preventing degradation in inspection performance due to a change in image quality and deflection distortions at ends of an inspected image, a shading phenomenon, etc.
According to one aspect of the present invention, when a defect in a sample is detected based on a detected signal of secondary charged particles, for example secondary electrons, generated by causing an electron beam to scan, such a defect is detected based on an image signal in which both ends of a scan area are deleted.
According to another aspect of the present invention, areas each having a predetermined width at its scan start end and scan completion end, and image areas lying therein are distinctively displayed on a monitor.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, blanking or a synchronizing signal for taking in or capturing an image is controlled to exclude both ends lying in a scan area from a defect inspection area.
According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention, electron beam scanning means executes a high-speed or fast scan on a sample in a first direction and a low-speed or slow scan on the sample in a second direction different from the first direction in the form of their compresence. Areas at both ends in a scan area, which are not used in image comparing means, are set by blanking as viewed in a fast scan direction, whereas they are set according to activation and inactivation of a synchronizing signal as viewed in a low-speed or slow scan direction.
Owing to these, an inspecting system using an electron beam can confirm high-accuracy timing matching in units of 10 ns on a monitored image. An inspecting system or method using an electron beam can be provided which prevents degradation in the accuracy of inspection with instability of a swing start and a swing end at both ends of a scan area as viewed in a high-speed direction or a low-speed direction and has higher-accuracy inspection performance.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be demonstrated by the description of the following embodiments.

Inspecting system using electron beam and inspecting method using same


A method of protecting a media key including obtaining the media key, obtaining an auxiliary key, calculating a split key using the media key and the auxiliary key, encrypting the split key using a wrap key to generate an encrypted split key, assembling the encrypted split key and a communication key to obtain a data bundle, and sending the data bundle to a token, where the media key is extracted from the data bundle on the token to protect data on a storage device.

Encryption is the process of protecting sensitive data. During encryption, the sensitive data is transformed into an encrypted form from which there is a very low probability of assigning meaning. In other words, the sensitive data becomes unintelligible to anyone and/or any machine unauthorized to access it. Accordingly, encryption has many uses both on a single machine and in all types of networks linking multiple machines.
Encryption often requires the use of an encrypting algorithm and one or more encryption keys. The encryption algorithm and the encryption keys work together to encode the sensitive data and at a future time, decode (i.e., decrypt) the sensitive data. The encryption keys may be of any length required by the encryption algorithm. As the encryption keys are of paramount importance during the encryption process and decryption process, the encryption keys should be protected from unauthorized individuals and machines. Accordingly, the encryption keys should never appear as clear text outside of a secure environment.


A light emitting diode comprising a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer as an active layer and a reflecting layer below the active layer, wherein the number and/or total thickness of well layers in the MQW layer is determined such that the MQW layer shows an external quantum efficiency higher than that of an MQW layer including a single well layer.

This application is related to Japanese applications Nos. 2000-267086 and 2001-126110, filed on Sep. 4, 2000 and Apr. 24, 2001 whose priorities are claimed under 35 USC xc2xa7 119, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in output of a light emitting diode (LED) comprising a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer and a reflecting layer below the MQW layer. In particular, it relates to an LED comprising an MQW layer made of an AlGalnP type material and a distribution type Bragg reflection (DBR) layer as a reflecting layer.
2. Description of Related Art
A Semiconductor device utilizing an AlGaInP type semiconductor material has been employed as a visible light emitting device, since the material is capable of lattice coupling with a GaAs substrate and shows the greatest direct transitional bandgap among III-V group compound semiconductors. As a light emitting diode, the semiconductor device performs direct transitional light emission in the range of 550 to 690 nm, which exhibits a high light emitting efficiency.
The device employs, as an active layer, a multiple quantum well (MQW) layer capable of showing higher light emitting efficiency than a bulk active layer. Higher output is obtained by increasing the number of well layers comprising the MQW layer. It is considered desirable that the number of the well layers is 10 or more (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. HEI 6(1994)-112528).
FIG. 3(a) shows an example of a conventional light emitting diode made of AlGaInP. In FIG. 3(a), reference numeral 11 signifies an n-type GaAs substrate, on which an n-type AlGaInP clad layer 13, a MQW layer (active layer) 34 of AlGaInP type material, a p-type AlGaInP clad layer 15, a p-type GaInP electric current diffusion layer 16 are formed. Further, electrodes 17 and 18 are formed on a p-side and an n-side, respectively to complete the light emitting diode. As shown in FIG. 3(b), the MQW active layer is comprised of ten or more AlGaInP type well layers 34a and ten or more barrier layers 34b that are alternately stacked.
To improve output of the conventional LED, it may be a possible manner to form a reflecting layer below the active layer to reflect and take out light emitted toward the substrate. According to the construction, light which has been absorbed in the substrate can be extracted. Therefore, it is considered that the output will be doubled if a reflectance of the reflecting layer is 100%.
Actually, an AlGaAs type reflecting layer of a DBR structure shows the reflectance of 95% by itself. However, even if the reflecting layer is applied to the LED, improvement of the output is less than 95% because the active layer absorbs light reflected on the reflecting layer when it passes through the active layer. Where the light absorption of the active layer is remarkable, the reflecting layer becomes ineffective.
An object of the present invention is to improve output by optimizing a layered structure of the MQW active layer to suppress the absorption of the reflected light by the active layer.
According to the present invention, in an LED comprising an MQW layer and a reflecting layer below the MQW layer, higher output is obtained by optimizing the structure of the MQW layer to suppress the absorption of the reflected light.
Thus, the present invention provides a light emitting diode comprising an MQW layer as an active layer and a reflecting layer below the active layer, wherein the number of well layers in the MQW layer is determined such that the MQW layer shows an external quantum efficiency higher than that of an MQW layer including a single well layer.
The present invention further provides a light emitting diode comprising an MQW layer as an active layer and a reflecting layer below the active layer, wherein a total thickness of well layers in the MQW layer is determined such that the MQW layer shows an external quantum efficiency to the maximum.
These and other objects of the present application will become more readily apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.


A data array forming circuit replaces part of software operation in a low bit rate coding system. The circuit includes a memory storing plural kinds of basic data groups, and an address generating circuit generating an address to access the memory. A data array is formed in accordance with input speech data by selectively reading plural kinds of blocks out of the basic data groups according to the address and by combining the plural read blocks containing different quantities of words. Each block contains an arbitrary quantity of word data. In a data sorting circuit to replace part of software operation in a low bit rate coding system, an index corresponding to the data is set with an initial value on initiating the sorting operation, and a value incremented successively from the initial value is set as an index of the next data. In a convolution coding circuit, test data are set in parallel into the shift register, by providing each input terminal of shift register flip-flops with a selector having two input terminals. One terminal is input with test data, or each flip-flop may be provided with a preset terminal and a clear terminal, where a preset signal according to the test datum is input to the preset terminal, and a clear signal is input to the clear terminal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital signal processing system which allows a high speed performance of compression of input speech data, that is, a low bit rate coding system, as well as relates an error correction coding system.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Shortage of radio frequency channels has become a serious problem caused by the increase in car telephones and portable telephones. Solution of the problem has been progressed by the employment of the digitalization technique and the compression technique. However, if it is attempted to solve the problem only by a software, i.e. by a firmware, the processing load becomes huge because the algorithm of the coding for decreasing the bit rate is complex and, accordingly, it is necessary to increase the memory capacity for the work area of the software. An expensive hardware, such as an efficient digital signal processor (DSP), is also needed therein for its real time processing.
On the other hand, portable equipments, such as portable telephones, are required to be small in size for the easy handling as well as to consume less power supplied from its battery in order to extend its operable period.
Various types of low bit rate coding methods have been already known to compress speech signals. For example, a vector quantizer as one of these low bit rate coding methods is such that: a code word is searched for to have a minimum residual power error of a difference between a speech input data and speech data synthesized with the linear predictive synthesis filter based on speech source data (code word) output from a codebook; then, the decrease of the bit rate is accomplished by synthesizing the speech according to the code data which minimizes the residual error power.
As for the vector quantizing method as the high efficiency low bit rate coding methods of speech signals, there have been employed a CELP (Code Excited Linear Prediction) coding method, an LD-CELP (Low Delay Code Excited Linear Prediction) coding method, and a VSELP (Vector Sum Excited Linear Prediction) coding method, etc.
In the vector quantizing method, plural word data in basic data groups are selected from the codebook as mentioned above corresponding to the input speech data so as to form a data array; speech data is synthesized with the linear predictive synthesis filter based on this data array; a residual power error of difference of the synthesized speech data and the input speech data is calculated; the residual power error data is calculated for each speech data synthesized according to the plural kinds of data arrays; then, a data array having a minimum residual power error is determined as the coded data. In this method, size of program to form the data arrays and to sort the data array that provides the minimum residual error power becomes comparatively large.
In this prior art method, the addresses to read the plural word data in the basic data groups of the codebook can be generated by the use of an address generating circuit in a processor such as digital signal processor (DSP) if the addresses change according to a simple rule. However, if the addresses of the individual word data composing the data array do not change in accordance with a simple rule, it is difficult to generate the addresses for reading the word data by the use of the address generating circuit of the processor. Therefore, the address generating operation must be performed by the use of operating function of the processor.
Algorithm of sorting processes, by which various data are compared, a maximum value or a minimum value is selected out of plural data, or a predetermined number of data are taken out in a descending order from the largest data or in an ascending order from the smallest data, have been already known. In performing these processes for plural operation results, it is usual that the operation results are once stored in a memory, and are read out of the memory after all the operation results are accomplished, for the comparison. That is, this kind of heavy processes must be performed even in a process to obtain a data array having a small residual error power.
In transmission lines where the transmission errors are apt to take place, such as radio channel, there has been employed a method to transmit the coded data in which the bit rate has been decreased by the low bit rate coding, by the use of convolution coding method according to a predetermined constraint length. In the receiver station, an error correction decoding is performed by a decoding means which employs a maximum likelihood decoding (decipherment) method such as Viterbi decoder. In such convolution coding system, there is provided a convolutional coding circuit which contains a shift register having its stages a quantity of which is in accordance with the constraint length.
Because in a prior art system the change of addresses in forming the data array by reading out plural word data out of the basic data groups in the codebook is comparatively complex, the address generating operation has been done by the operational function of the processor, that is, by a software. Therefore, there has been a problem in that the main data processing in the processor, such as the residual error power calculation, is restricted. There has been another problem in an increase in power consumption caused from an increase in processing cycles in the addressing operation, as well as in an increase in the memory capacity required for its work area, etc.
There has been still another problem in that the complex and large program is required in retrieving a predetermined number of the operation results, such as the residual power error of the difference between the input speech data and the synthesized speech data, in descending order from the maximum value, or in retrieving a predetermined number of the result data in ascending order from the minimum value; accordingly it is difficult to process the operation efficiently.
Convolution coding circuits correctly recover an erroneous signal by performing a convolution operation of a single bit of a serial input data and past plural bits. The convolution coding circuit includes a shift register by which the serial input data is shifted one by one, where it is difficult to observe the contents of the shift registers from its outside. Accordingly, it is difficult to check the match of the convolution operated results with the contents of the shift register. Thus, there is a problem in that it is not easy to check efficiently the convolution coding circuit. This is because an n-bit shift register having 2.sup.n kinds of its contents requires n cycles of the shifting operations; accordingly, nx2.sup.n cycles of the shift inputs are required in order to obtain the 2.sup.n kinds of the contents. Consequently, there is a problem in that it takes a long time in preparing test data necessary for verifying the convolution coding circuit and in verifying the convolution coding circuit.

Low bit rate coding system for high speed compression of speech data


One embodiment of a mechanism may include a member having a first axis and a surface non-concentric with said first axis, a first gear rotatably mounted on said member at a second axis different from said first axis, and a device coupled to either of said member or said first gear to rotate said member when said first gear rotates about said second axis.

Imaging devices, for example, printers, copiers, scanners and facsimile machines, may include a drive assembly that may drive one or more rollers, and/or other mechanisms, to advance sheets of media through the device. The drive assembly may include a controller, a motor, a transmission, one or more drive shafts, and one or more drive rollers mounted on the drive shaft(s).

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A full face clamp pad having an engagement surface and a receiving element attached to the engagement surface, wherein the receiving element defines a closed opening that faces the engagement surface. The engagement surface and the receiving element define a second opening that faces in a direction substantially parallel to the engagement surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a full face pad for attachment to a clamping jaw.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Bar clamps and C-clamps typically employ a fixed jaw and a movable jaw that is movable towards the fixed jaw. When an object is placed between the fixed and movable jaw, the movable jaw is moved towards the fixed jaw until both jaw contact the object. There is often a concern that the pressing of the jaws against the object will damage the object. In order to alleviate this concern, plastic pads have been placed on the jaws. Examples of such plastic pads are the full face pads manufactured by American Tool Companies, Inc. which are used with the bar clamps manufactured by Petersen Manufacturing Co., Inc. made under the QUICK-GRIP.RTM. trademark. Another design for full face pads is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Design D 341,069.


Apparatus for dental treatment includes a base, a treatment unit, and a connecting piece. The treatment unit has one or more treatment instruments and one or more lines for the supply of water, air and electricity. The connecting piece is placed in between the base and the treatment unit. The treatment unit can be disconnected from and connected to the base by using the connecting piece.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an dental treatment apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to dental treatment apparatus having a base and a treatment unit in which the treatment unit includes several treatment instruments and several lines for the supply of water, air and electricity.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
Dental treatment apparatus having a base and a treatment unit in which the treatment unit has several treatment instruments and several lines for the supply of water, air and electricity is known in the art. However, the dental treatment apparatus of the prior art has a particular drawback. In particular, when the dental treatment apparatus must be serviced or when, as a result of a malfunction, repairs must be made, the entire apparatus is out of use until the repair or servicing activities are completed.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome this drawback of the prior art dental treatment apparatus.


A rechargeable battery for a headlight that can be firmly attached to a bicycle in a variety of locations including a bottle holder, and an attaching structure for attaching the rechargeable battery to the bicycle are provided. The rechargeable battery for the headlight attached to the bicycle includes a wire to electrically connect the rechargeable battery to the headlight, and a through hole to let through a belt for attaching the body of the rechargeable battery to the bicycle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rechargeable battery for the headlight of a bicycle, and an attaching structure thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
A rechargeable battery for the headlight of a bicycle is comparatively heavy in weight, and its displacement from the mounted location or jolting during traveling would cause trouble. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the battery stably in the mounted location over a long period of time of traveling. Conventionally, a bottle holder or bottle cage provided on a down tube of a bicycle frame for holding a water bottle or the like has been utilized to attach the battery to the bicycle. Further, the length of a wire for connecting the battery to the headlight has been fixedly set according to the attached location of the bottle holder.
However, unlike the bottle holder which should hold the bottle in an upward position to prevent spilling of the content, the rechargeable battery for the headlight can be attached to the bicycle frame in various locations in any position or posture. Besides, it is desired to achieve firmer attachment of the battery to the bottle holder. Accordingly, there has been a demand for development of a way of attaching the rechargeable battery for the headlight to a bicycle in any position or attitude in a location other than the bottle holder.
An object of the present invention is to provide a rechargeable battery for a headlight that can be securely attached to a bicycle in a variety of locations including a bottle holder, and to provide an attaching structure therefor.
The rechargeable battery for a headlight according to the present invention is used for the headlight of a bicycle. The rechargeable battery includes a wire to electrically connect the rechargeable battery to the headlight, and a through hole to let through a belt for attaching the rechargeable battery body to the bicycle.
The belt passed through the through hole is fastened around a bicycle frame, so that the rechargeable battery can be firmly secured. It is preferred to provide two such through holes, which are preferably arranged such that two belts are tied around respective tubes of the frame at the corner where the two tubes intersect with each other. As a result, it becomes possible to secure the rechargeable battery for the headlight more firmly to the bicycle in various locations thereof.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight may be provided with a groove to wind the wire thereon.
To allow attachment of the rechargeable battery for the headlight to a bicycle in a variety of mounting locations, the wire for electrically connecting the rechargeable battery to the headlight should have a length long enough to reach the farthest possible location. When the rechargeable battery provided with such a long wire is being attached to a location near the headlight, the loosely hanging wire may become an obstacle to pedaling, or be entangled with the spoked wheel when travelling. Provision of the wire winding groove makes it possible to prevent the slack of the wire when the rechargeable battery is attached near the headlight, and hence to prevent such undesirable conditions which may cause an accident.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight may further be provided with means for temporarily holding the wire.
When the slack of the wire is wound onto the groove, it may come loose during traveling. Provision of the temporary holding means can prevent the wound wire from coming loose.
The temporary holding means may be a tubular groove that is formed at a portion of the rechargeable battery facing the wire winding groove to temporarily hold the wire along a direction intersecting the direction of the wire wound on the groove.
Provision of such a temporary holding means makes it possible to temporarily retain the wire in close proximity to the wire winding groove along the direction crossing the wire winding direction, and therefore, the wire can be maintained stably in the anchored state. Specifically, the longitudinal direction of the tubular groove intersects the wire winding direction. Thus, even if there is a force operating to loosen the wound wire, the wire is pressed against the corner where the two directions are crossing, and such contact with the corner applies large frictional force to the wire. Accordingly, the force operating to loosen the wound wire is considerably lessened by the strong frictional force at the corner and kept from propagating any further, whereby the slack of the wire is prevented reliably. Herein, the tubular groove refers to a groove having a cross section that is greater in width at the inner room than at the opening thereof. Thus, once the wire is pressed and inserted into the groove, it will not readily escape therefrom.
The wire provided to the rechargeable battery is preferably a stretchable cord having elastic restoring force.
In this case, even if the rechargeable battery is being attached to the bicycle in a location requiring the maximum length of the cord, the elastic restoring force can be generated by winding the cord on the groove. Accordingly, the cord is maintained constantly in the strained or tense state via its portion pressed into the tubular groove, so that the slack of the wound cord can be prevented still more reliably. Examples of such an extensible cord with elastic storing force may include a curled cord and others.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight of the present invention may further include a lengthwise depression that is provided on a surface of the rechargeable battery sandwiched between openings at both ends of the through hole and extends along a direction intersecting the direction coupling the two openings.
The lengthwise depression comes into contact with the bicycle frame. It increases the contact area between the rechargeable battery and the bicycle frame, thereby enabling still more stable attachment of the rechargeable battery to the frame. The aforementioned surface of the rechargeable battery sandwiched between the openings of the through hole on which the lengthwise depression is to be formed may be either the surface on the shorter circumferential side or the surface on the longer circumferential side with respect to the openings.
The rechargeable battery for the headlight preferably includes a plurality of through holes to let belts therethrough.
For example, two such through holes may be provided to the rechargeable battery. In this case, the two through holes are preferably arranged to allow two belts to be tied around respective tubes of the bicycle frame at the corner where the two tubes intersect with each other. As a result, it becomes possible to place the rechargeable battery such that displacement of the rechargeable battery in a direction which would be difficult to prevent with one belt can be readily prevented with the other belt. This further enhances the secure attachment of the rechargeable battery to the bicycle.
The attaching structure of a rechargeable battery for a headlight according to the present invention is used to attach the rechargeable battery as described above to a bicycle, by letting a belt through the through hole and fastening the belt around a member of the bicycle.
With such an attaching structure, it becomes possible to attach the rechargeable battery for the headlight to the bicycle in a variety of locations.
The attaching structure may be provided with an anti-slippage fixing member that is attached to a bicycle frame for receiving the rechargeable battery.
Provision of such an anti-slippage fixing member attached to the frame makes it possible to attach the rechargeable battery to the frame more firmly, without employing two through holes. This further increases the number of locations where the rechargeable battery can be attached to the bicycle. Herein, the anti-slippage fixing member xe2x80x9cfor receivingxe2x80x9d the rechargeable battery may be a simple member gripping the rechargeable battery, or a holder housing the rechargeable battery therein like a bottle cage.
With the attaching structure of the rechargeable battery for the headlight of the present invention, two belts may be passed through the through hole(s) and each belt can be fastened around respective one of two crossing tubes of a bicycle frame.
With such a configuration, it is possible to place the rechargeable battery for the headlight, e.g., at a corner where a top tube and a down tube intersect with each other. In this case, two belts may be passed through a common through hole and tied around the top tube and the down tube, respectively, to secure the rechargeable battery.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Rechargeable battery for headlight and attaching structure thereof


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for performing a location update of a user equipment in a mobile network, wherein it is decided on the basis of the result of a negotiation with an old location register whether to use an identification information obtained from the old location register or to retrieve the identification information from a user database. Accordingly, whenever a fall-back to a protocol version not supporting the required identification information is determined, the identification information is retrieved from the user database, to thereby guarantee that the correct identification information is used in the new location register. The identification information may comprise security or authentication parameters.

While a subscriber roams in a mobile network, the mobile terminal updates its location by using a location update procedure. The procedure is initiated when the current location area identifier either broadcast or sent as a dedicated system information by the radio access network changes. In this process, the authentication or security parameters used to enable security, authentication or ciphering procedures e.g. in the air interface are required for the new connection leg as well.
When the location area changes, the serving Visitor Location Register (VLR) may change, too. In such a situation, the new VLR receives an identification confirmation information, such as security or authentication parameters and an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) from the previous or old VLR.
Then, the relation between an old Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI), allocated to the mobile terminal, and the IMSI is lost in the old VLR. Moreover, as a part of the location update procedure, the HLR sends the subscriber parameters which need to be known by the new VLR for proper call handling.
In particular, data related to the location of the mobile terminal and to the management of the subscriber is exchanged between the HLR and the VLR. The main service provided to the mobile subscriber is the capability to set up or to receive calls within the whole service area. To support this, the location registers have to exchange data. The HLR sends to the VLR all the data needed to support the service to the mobile subscriber. The HLR then instructs the previous VLR to cancel the location registration of this subscriber. Exchanges of data may occur when the mobile subscriber receives a particular service, when he wants to change some data attached to his subscription or when some parameters of the subscription are modified by administrative means. Accordingly, the HLR is a database in charge of the management of the mobile subscribers.
A mobile network may contain one or several HLRs depending on the number of subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment and on the organisation of the network. Two kinds of information are stored in the HLR: the subscription information and some location information enabling the charging and routing of calls towards the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) where the mobile terminal is located. Two types of numbers are attached to each mobile subscription and are stored in the HLR: the IMSI and one or more Mobile Station International ISDN numbers (MSISDN). The IMSI or the MSISDN may be used as a key to access the information in the database for a mobile subscription.
The VLR contains a database which includes the IMSI, the MSISDN, a Mobile Station Roaming Number for mobile terminals having an ongoing call, the TMSI if applicable, a Local Mobile Station Identity if used, the location area where the mobile terminal has been registered and which is used to call the station. The above information is passed between the VLR and the HLR by the procedures described in the GSM specification 03.12. The organisation of the subscriber data is outlined in the GSM specification 03.08.
Furthermore, an Authentication Centre (AuC) is associated with the HLR and stores an identity for each mobile subscriber registered with the associated HLR. This key is used to generate data used to authenticate the IMSI and a key used to cipher communication over the radio path between the mobile terminal and the mobile network. The procedures used for authentication and ciphering are described in the GSM specification 03.20.
The development of the third generation UMTS network has led to a release 99 GSM/UMTS system in which a new type of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) is introduced as the UMTS Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), and new security parameters associated with it. The security function associated with the GSM SIM utilise GSM Authentication Vectors (AVs), i.e. GSM triplets. The new security functions associated with the UMTS USIM utilise UMTS AVs consisting of UMTS quintuplets comprising additional authentication parameters required for the UMTS network.
However, a problem arises, when a USIM mobile terminal roams from a non-UMTS capable GSM MSC/VLR (release 98 MSC/VLR) to a UMTS capable GSM MSC/VLR (release 99 MSC/VLR), for the following reasons.
Initially, the release 98 MSC/VLR contains the subscriber data and the security parameters for the subscriber. Due to a subscriber movement, the following scenario is executed. The UE notices the change of the location area and starts a location update procedure by sending a L3-MM LOCATION UPDATE REQUEST message to the mobile network. The new MSC/VLR identifies that the old location area from where the UE is coming is controlled by another MSC/VLR. It initiates a MAP (Mobile Application Part) version 3 negotiation towards the old MSC/VLR, and a fall-back to MAP version 2 is performed, since the old release 98 MSC/VLR only supports MAP version 2. The new MSC/VLR sends the old location area identifier and the TMSI to the old MSC/VLR in order to retrieve the IMSI and the authentication parameters. In response thereto, the old release 98 MSC/VLR returns the IMSI and the GSM triplets (GSM AVs) of the subscriber. Here, the problem arises, since the new release 99 MSC/VLR does not know whether the subscriber has a USIM in the mobile terminal and whether UMTS AVs should be used.
In the new MAP version 3 operations, a SEND IDENTIFICATION message used between VLRs and a SEND AUTHENTIFICATION INFO message used between the VLR and the HLR are already specified in the release 99 GSM-UMTS to support the transmission of UMTS AVs. However, the way they are used in the specification does not cope with the above problem.
Furthermore, a mechanism for achieving intersystem operability between UMTS and GSM networks has been suggested for allowing secure interoperation between both networks for GSM users (SIM). According to the suggested mechanism, the MSC/VLR is able to derive a UMTS authentication vector from a received GSM authentication vector, by means of standardised conversion functions, in order to provide the UMTS security parameters to the UMTS radio access network. On the mobile side, the UE derives the UMTS authentication parameters from the GSM authentication parameters by means of the standardised conversion functions when the mobile terminal is located in the UMTS radio access network.
However, also in this case, the above problem arises in case a new MSC/VLR does not know the SIM type provided in the mobile terminal.

Method and apparatus for electing an identification confirmation information


A high frequency transmission line structure has a reference potential plane conductor layer, a plurality of strip line conductors, a dielectric material layer interposed between the reference potential plane conductor layer and the strip line conductors and a shielding conductor unit provided between adjacent two strip line conductors. The shielding conductor unit includes first and second slender conductor portions extending substantially in a direction parallel with a lengthwise direction of the strip line conductors and connected to be integral with each other at their first ends. The second ends of the first and second slender conductor portions being electrically connected with the reference potential plane conductor layer.

The present invention relates to a wiring technique for various electronic components such as IC device packages, wiring circuit boards, and semiconductor chips, and in particular to a technique which is effective in application of transmission of high frequency signals.
A multi-layer wiring circuit board aiming at reduction of crosstalk noises caused between signal conductors is disclosed in JP-A-63-155791 (laid-open on Jun. 28, 1988). In the above described multi-layer wiring circuit board, it is attempted to reduce crosstalk noises caused by signal propagation by forming ground conductors on both sides of a signal conductor sandwiched between upper and lower ground plane conductor layers, connecting electrically the above described ground conductors to the upper and lower ground plane conductor layers, and thus shielding each signal conductor with these ground conductors and ground plane conductor layers.

High frequency signal transmission line structure having shielding conductor unit


A method for producing a barrier film substrate with excellent gas-barrier capability having, on at least one surface of a plastic film, a barrier layer that contains at least one inorganic layer and at least one organic layer, which includes forming the organic layer by polymerization of a monomer mixture containing a vinyl monomer that has a sulfinyl group or a sulfonyl group and a tertiary carbon atom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a barrier film substrate having excellent gas-barrier capability. More precisely, the invention relates to a barrier film substrate favorably usable in various organic devices such as image display devices, in particular, to a barrier film substrate useful as a substrate for flexible organic electroluminescent devices (hereinafter referred to as "organic EL devices") and to a method for producing it, and also to an organic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a barrier film laminate fabricated by forming a thin metal oxide film of aluminium oxide, magnesium oxide, silicon oxide or the like on the surface of a plastic substrate or a film is widely used for wrapping or packaging articles that require shielding from various gases such as water vapor or oxygen and for wrapping or packaging edibles, industrial articles and medicines for preventing them from being deteriorated. Apart from its applications for wrapping and packaging articles, in addition, the barrier film substrate is being used in liquid-crystal display devices, solar cells and EL devices.
In recent development of image display devices such as liquid-crystal display devices and EL devices, the transparent substrate to constitute these devices is required to be lightweight and has a large panel size and, in addition, it is further required to satisfy high-level requirements in that it has long-term reliability and has a lot of latitude in designing its shape and that it enables curved-face display. For the transparent substrate capable of satisfying such high-level requirements, a plastic substrate is being used as a new type of substrate substitutable for a conventional glass substrate that is heavy and readily cracked or broken and hardly worked into a large-size panel. Not only satisfying the above requirements, but also the plastic substrate is applicable to a roll-to-roll system, and therefore it is more advantageous than a glass substrate in that the producibility with it is high and the production cost with it is low.
However, the film substrate of transparent plastics or the like is problematic in that its gas-barrier property is inferior to that of a glass substrate. When a substrate having a poor gas-barrier property is used, water vapor and air may penetrate through it; and, for example, when it is used in liquid-crystal display devices, the liquid crystal in the liquid-crystal cell may be degraded and the degraded part may be a display failure, thereby worsening the display quality of the devices. For solving the problem, a barrier film substrate that comprises a thin metal oxide film formed on a film substrate has been developed. For example, as a barrier film substrate for use in wrapping materials and liquid-crystal display devices, there are known a plastic film coated with silicon oxide through vapor deposition (see JP-B 53-12953), and a plastic film coated with aluminium oxide through vapor deposition (see JP-A 58-217344). These have a water-vapor barrier level of 1 g/m2/day or so.
However, large-panel liquid-crystal display devices and high-definition display devices developed these days require plastic film substrates having a further improved gas-barrier capability, for example, having a water vapor permeability of at most 0.1 g/m2/day or so. Further recently, the development of organic EL display devices and high-definition color liquid-crystal display devices is being more promoted, and they require transparent substrates having a further improved barrier capability (especially having a water vapor permeability of less than 0.01 g/m2/day). To satisfy these requirements, some methods expected to produce a higher barrier level have been investigated, for example, a sputtering method of forming a thin film by the use of a plasma generated through glow discharge under low pressure, and a CVD method for film formation. In addition, also proposed is an organic light-emitting device provided with a barrier film having an alternate laminate structure of organic layer/inorganic layer fabricated according to a vacuum evaporation method (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,268,695 (page 4 [2-5] to page 5 [4-49])). Further, for giving the necessary folding resistance enough for application to flexible image displays to a plastic film, disclosed is a technique of using a polymer formed through polymerization of an acrylic monomer and having a volume shrinkage of less than 10% as an organic layer of the film (see JP-A 2003-53881 (page 3 [0006] to page 4 [0008])).
However, for use for flexible organic EL device substrates, they are still unsatisfactory in point of the adhesion between the organic layer/inorganic layer, and further improving them is desired. Given that situation, taken is a trial of using a resin crosslinked with a diacrylate having, as a polar group, an ether group as the organic layer thereby improving the adhesiveness of the organic layer to the inorganic layer to be laminated thereon (see JP-A 2004-9395 (page 3 [0005] to page 4 [0008], page 7 [0017] to [0022])); however, this is still insufficient in point of the gas-barrier capability necessary for organic EL devices.

Barrier film substrate and method for producing same, and organic device


An optical system is provided with a laser device for emitting a multiplet laser beam with two types of frequencies F1, F2, and a sample rotator on which a reference sample and a test sample containing substances are set for rotating both the test sample and the reference sample to separate the substances contained in the test sample. The test sample and the reference sample are irradiated with the multiplet laser beam one after another to shift the phase of the laser beam. The optical system is further provided with a polarizer for polarizing the multiplet laser beams transmitting through the test sample and the reference sample to produce both a test sample signal with a frequency .DELTA.F=F1-F2 and a reference sample signal with the frequency .DELTA.F, and a signal analyzer for analyzing a phase difference between the sample signals to determine an index of refraction of the test sample. Therefore, the substances containing in the test sample are specified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical system in which various substances in a sample are analyzed while rotating the sample in a centrifugal separator, and, in particular, to an optical system in which a sample such as polysaccharide and/or glycoprotein having no light absorption property is analyzed by irradiating the sample with light.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sample containing various substances is generally set in a rotator of a centrifugal separator to optically analyze the various substances. For example, the sample contains polysaccharide and/or glycoprotein which have no light absorption property within a measuring wavelength.
In detail, because each of the various substances has its specific gravity, the various substances are separated from one another by a centrifugal force after the sample is rotated in the rotator. Thereafter, the sample is irradiated with light. In this case, because each of the various substances also has its index of refraction, the phase speed of the light penetrating a substance with a high index of refraction is smaller than that of the light penetrating another substance with a low index of refraction. Therefore, a phase difference occurs between the lights penetrating the substances. Thereafter, the phase difference is analyzed by measuring interference fringes produced by optically interfering the lights to determine the shift of the specific gravity of the sample along a radial direction of the rotator.
2.1. Previously Proposed Art
A conventional optical system for analyzing a sample by utilizing a centrifugal separator is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional optical system for optically analyzing samples by utilizing a centrifugal separator, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of both a test sample and a reference sample arranged in a sample cell shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional optical system 11 is provided with a columnar sample rotator 12 and a plurality of sample cells 13 arranged in hollow portions of the sample rotator 12. The sample rotator 12 is accommodated in a vacuum vessel 14, and the sample cells 13 are positioned at equal distances from a rotation axis 15 of the sample rotator 12. As shown in FIG. 2, both a test sample 16 and a reference sample 17 are arranged side by side in each of the sample cells 13. The test sample 16 consists of various substances which each have both a specific gravity and an index of refraction. The reference sample 17 consists of a reference substance, and an index of refraction of the reference substance is known in advance.
The system 11 is further provided with a mercury lamp 18 for generating monochromatic light 19, an incident light window 20 arranged on a surface of the vacuum vessel 14 for transmitting the monochromatic light 19 generated by the mercury lamp 18 into the vacuum vessel 14 to irradiate the sample cells 13 with the monochromatic light 19, a pair of reflecting mirrors 21, 22 for simultaneously reflecting both a light 23a which transmits through the test sample 16 and a light 23b which transmits through the reference sample 17, a light window 24 arranged on another surface of the vacuum vessel 14 for transmitting the lights 23a, 23b reflected by the reflecting mirror 22 towards the outside of the vacuum vessel 14, and a pair of prisms 25, 26 for producing interference fringes by optically interfering the lights 23a, 23b.
The light 19 generated by the mercury lamp 18 transmits through both the test sample 16 and the reference sample 17 in the sample cell 13 without being absorbed by the samples 16, 17.
In the conventional optical system 11 having the configuration outlined above, an operation for optically analyzing the substances in the test sample 16 is described.
Various types of test samples 16 are initially arranged in the sample cells 13. Also, the sample cells 13 respectively accommodate the same reference sample 17. Thereafter, the sample rotator 12 is rotated about its rotation axis 15. In this case, because the test sample 16 consists of various substances with various specific gravities, the various substances are separated from one another by a centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the sample rotator 12. The centrifugal force acts in a radial direction Rd of the sample rotator 12. That is, substances having small specific gravities are moved towards the rotation axis 15 of the sample rotator 12, and other substances having large specific gravities are moved towards the periphery of the sample rotator 12. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the specific gravity of the test sample 16 is increased from an rotation axis region of the sample rotator 12 to a periphery region. Specifically, in cases where the test sample 16 consists of two main substances, the specific gravity of the test sample 16 is suddenly increased at a middle region.
In addition, because each of the various substances of the test sample 16 has an index of refraction, the index of refraction of the test sample 16 changes along the radial direction Rd of the sample rotator 12 in the same manner as the specific gravity, as shown in FIG. 3.
On the other hand, because the reference sample 17 consists of the reference substance, the specific gravity of the reference sample 17 does not change along the radial direction Rd in the sample cell 13. Also, the index of refraction of the reference sample 17 does not change along the radial direction Rd.
Thereafter, both the test sample 16 and the reference sample 17 in one of the sample cells 13 are simultaneously irradiated from just above with the monochromatic light 19 which is generated by the mercury lamp 18 and transmits through the incident light window 20. Therefore, the phase velocity of the monochromatic light 19 is reduced in both the test sample 16 and the reference sample 17 so that a phase difference occurs between the light 23a transmitting through the test sample 16 and the light 23b transmitting through the reference sample 17. In addition, the monochromatic light 19 is not refracted by either the test sample 16 or the reference sample 17 because the samples 16, 17 are irradiated with the monochromatic light 19 from just above. Also, because the index of refraction of the test sample 16 changes in the sample cell 13 in accordance with the distribution shown in FIG. 3, the degree of the phase difference changes in accordance with the index of refraction of the test sample 16 changing along the radial direction Rd of the sample rotator 12.
Thereafter, the lights 23a, 23b reflect on the reflecting mirrors 21, 22 and transmit the prisms 25, 26 through the light window 24.
FIG. 4 shows the lights 23a, 23b refracted by the prisms 25, 26 in the conventional optical system 11 shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, the light 23a transmitting through the test sample 16 is refracted by the prism 25, and the light 23b transmitting through the reference sample 17 is refracted by the prism 26. Thereafter, the shifted lights 23a, 23b refracted by the prisms 25, 26 are projected on a screen 27 to show interference fringes.
FIG. 5 shows the interference fringes projected on the screen 27, the interference fringes extending in the radial direction Rd of the sample rotator 12 being shown.
As shown in Fig. 5, the interference fringes consist of curved lines arranged at equal distances from each other and extending in the radial direction Rd. In contrast, the interference fringes would otherwise consist of straight lines arranged at equal distances from each other in cases where the various substances in the test sample 16 is not separated.
Thereafter, the interference fringes projected on the screen 27 is taken a photograph by a camera to analyze the phase distribution of the light 23a transmitting through the test sample 16 by utilizing the interference fringes.
Therefore, the distribution of the index of refraction of the test sample 16 can be relatively measured on the basis of the uniform distribution of the index of refraction of the reference sample 17. In addition, the distribution of the specific gravity of the test sample 16 can be relatively measured so that the various substances contained in the test sample 16 can be specified.
However, because the interference fringes projected on the screen 27 must be taken a photograph, it takes a lot of time to analyze the phase distribution of the light 23a transmitting through the test sample 16 by utilizing the interference fringes. Therefore, it is impossible to efficiently specify the substances contained in many test samples 16.
In addition, because an operator must take reading the interference fringes taken by a photograph with the eye, the accuracy to measure the interference fringes is limited to a scale of one-tenth of the spacing between the interference fringes. Therefore, it is impossible to accurately specify the various substances contained in the test sample 16.

Optical system for analyzing samples separated by a centrifugal separator


A method of making a cutting insert using powder metallurgical methods including using a press with a main pressing direction and a press tool setup with a die, a male core rod, a female core rod, a bottom punch, a top punch and a feed shoe. The insert has a noncylindrical hole perpendicular to the main pressing direction, herein referred to as a cross-hole. A cross-hole with increased dimensional accuracy is obtained if the powder also is compacted by the two core rods.

In the discussion of the background that follows, reference is made to certain structures and/or methods. However, the following references should not be construed as an admission that these structures and/or methods constitute prior art. Applicant expressly reserves the right to demonstrate that such structures and/or methods do not qualify as prior art.
Manufacture of cutting inserts by powder metallurgical methods includes compaction in a press of a powder into a body, and subsequent sintering of the body to produce a cutting insert. Compaction takes place under high pressures obtained through large axially opposing forces generated by top and bottom punches moved into a cavity formed in a die containing the powder. The pressed body generally has a shape such that it easily can be removed from the die. This means that the chip breakers generally provided on the rake face of an insert are formed by the top and bottom punches.
Cutting tool inserts generally have a hole for clamping them to a tool holder by a screw. The holes generally have a noncylindrical shape such as trumpet style in order to more securely fasten the inserts to the holder.
Inserts can be either radial or tangential. Radial inserts are oriented in such a manner that the cutting forces are directed along a thinner dimension of the insert. The clamping hole extends from a rake face to an opposite face, i.e., a bottom face or a rake face. The rake faces generally having chip breakers formed by the punches in the pressing operation. Clamping holes are in this case parallel to the main pressing direction and are easily formed with satisfactory accuracy.
Tangential inserts are oriented in an insert holder in such a way that during a cutting operation the cutting forces are directed along a thicker dimension of the insert. An advantage of such an arrangement is that the insert withstands greater cutting forces. In other cases limitations in the available space for mounting may motivate the choice of a tangential insert design. In the case of a tangential insert the clamping hole is perpendicular to the main pressing direction and such inserts have to be produced by more complex methods.
Methods for manufacturing tangential cutting inserts having a noncylindrical cross-hole, FIG. 1, include a method in which the powder is compacted in a die by top and bottom punches to a body. The cross-hole is subsequently machined in the body which then is sintered. The hole obtained in this way fulfills the dimensional requirements. However, the machining of the body is very time consuming which makes the insert expensive to manufacture. It is therefore desirable to produce inserts with a cross-hole directly in the pressing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,645,426 discloses a method comprising a step of filling powder into a cavity formed of a die having in a vertical direction a die hole including a cross-hole. The powder is filled in the cavity and pre-compacted by the top and bottom punches. A punch-out pin is then inserted into the powder, the shape of the cross-hole is punched out by the punch-out pin. Thereafter, the powder is compacted by means of the top and bottom punches to its final density. The punch-out pin is thereafter pulled out of the green compact and the green compact is taken out so that a completed product can be obtained. A major weakness with this method is its limitation to produce only cylindrical cross-holes and the waste of powder due to the punched-out volume. There is also a potential risk of defects around the hole entrances.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,866 discloses a method to produce inserts with a cross-hole directly in the pressing operation based on uni-axial pressing in a die by top and bottom punches by:                positioning the bottom punch in the die below a core bore,        positioning movable core rods in the cavity in a position where the rods are in contact with each other,        filling the cavity with powder,        positioning the powder about the core rods to control the location of the opening after sintering,        compressing the powder uniformly about the core rods,        retracting the top and bottom punches for decompression of the green part,        retracting the core rods from the cavity and        ejecting the green part from the die.
In this manufacturing method it is difficult to obtain a uniform density due to significant differences of the ratio of pressed height to fill height which makes it necessary to modify the shape of the core pins in order to obtain the desired shape and dimensions after sintering. Another drawback is the obvious risk of powder sticking to the end surfaces of the core rods making it impossible to move them into the desired closed position or causing damage of the core rods in the contact area. A third drawback is the flash formed in a direction radial to the core rods where the core rods meet.
JP 10-146695 discloses a method to obtain a green compact by means of uni-axial pressing using two top and/or two bottom punches and a core rod during the compaction of the powder and thereby avoid modifications of the core pin. The problem with this method is to obtain a sufficiently uniform density distribution around the hole since the surface of the hole towards the top punches and bottom punches is curved. The method will also cause flashes in the partings between the divided top and bottom punches.

Method of making a cutting insert with a hole for clamping


In one embodiment, a unified pointer message 300 may describe in a single type of pointer message a coordinate input from a user via multiple types of pointer devices. An input device interface 150 may receive a coordinate input 350 from an input device. A processor 120 may execute an application programming interface layer 430 that creates a unified pointer message 300 for the coordinate input 350. The processor 120 may send the unified pointer message 300 to an application. The processor 120 may process a device specific data set 244 unhandled by the application.

A coordinate input device, or pointer device, may interact with a computing device to indicate to the computer a selected virtual location. The virtual location may be represented by a point on a display or other visual presentation device. A pointer device may be a mouse, an electronic pen, a touch input device, a gesture recognition device, or other device indicating a set of coordinates to the computing device. A touch input device may be touch screen, a track pad, or touch recognition system.

Device specific data in a unified pointer message


A solar cell having backside contacts is economically fabricated through use of acceptor and donor polymers which are inkjet printed in interleaved patterns on the back surface as the carrier accepting electrodes of the solar cell. The polymers can be placed on a tunnel oxide on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, or the polymers can be in direct contact with the semiconductor substrate. Electrical patterns interconnecting the acceptor and donor polymer patterns can also be formed by inkjet printing a seed layer and then electroplating the seed layer. Advantageously, high temperature processing is not required in the process as is required in conventional solar cell fabrication using dopant implants into the semiconductor substrate. In alternative embodiments, doped contacts are diffused in the top surface and a polymer contact is formed over the back surface.

This invention relates generally to photovoltaic solar cells, and more particularly the invention relates to a solar cell structure which is efficient in operation and economical to manufacture.
The use of photovoltaic cells for the direct conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy is well known, see Swanson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,352 for example. Briefly, the photovoltaic cell comprises a substrate of semiconductive material having a p-n junction defined therein. In the planar silicon cell the p-n junction is formed near a surface of the substrate which receives impinging radiation. Radiated photons create mobile carriers (holes and electrons) and the substrate which can be directed to an electrical circuit outside of the cell. Only photons having at least a minimum energy level (e.g., 1.1 electron volt for silicon) can generate an electron-hole pair in the semiconductor pair. Photons having less energy are either not absorbed or are absorbed as heat, and the excess energy of photons having more than 1.1 electron volt energy (e.g. photons have a wavelength of 1.1 μm and less) create heat. These and other losses limit the efficiency of silicon photovoltaic cells in directly converting solar energy to electricity to less than 30%.
Solar cells with interdigitated contacts of opposite polarity on the back surface of the cell are known and have numerous advantages over conventional solar cells with front side metal grids and blanket or grid metallized backside contacts, including improved photo-generation due to elimination of front grid shading, much reduced grid series resistance, and improved "blue" photo-response since heavy front surface doping is not required to minimize front contact resistance because there are no front contacts. In addition to the performance advantages, the back-contact cell structure allows simplified module assembly due to coplanar contacts. See Swanson U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,770 for example.
While interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cells have been fabricated, cost considerations have limited commercialization of the IBC solar cell. Heretofore, conventional microelectronics (integrated circuit) processing has been employed in fabricating IBC solar cells, including the use of backside diffusions, contacts, and metal lines fabricated by conventional microelectronics photolithography, thin film metallization, and etching processes. This fabrication process is capable of producing high efficiency solar cells, but the process is not cost effective for application in conventional low-cost, flat-plate solar panels. The key problem with practical realization of an IBC solar cell by this process is the high cost of fabrication, including etching, doping and mask alignment, and the use of thick metal conductor deposition by vacuum evaporation or sputtering. Further, the processing must be carried out in a clean room environment. Thus IBC solar cells fabricated using these methods have been restricted to application in high concentration solar cells or in very high value one-sun applications.
Polymers are known which can provide electrons and holes when stimulated by radiation. In a pair of coupled donor-acceptor conjugated polymer chains, it is possible for an exciton photo-excited on either polymer to decay and to a hole in the donor polymer surveillance band and an electron in the conduction band of the acceptor polymer. See Wu et al. "Theory of Photo-induced Charge Transfer in Weakly Coupled Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Polymers" Chem. Phys. 227,11 (1998). Bulk photovoltaic have been fabricated using blends of conjugated polymers. See for example Shaheen et al. "Polymer Based Nanostructure Donor-Acceptor Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices," NCPC and Solar Program Review Meeting 2003.
The present invention utilizes donor and acceptor polymers in a semiconductor base solar cell to provide a cost effective back contact solar cell.

Solar cell having polymer heterojunction contacts


A system and method for tactile sensing using thin film optical sensing networks is disclosed. A sensing network includes an array of optical pathways arranged in a flexible material. Each optical pathway has an input at a first end and an output at a second end. A light source is coupled to the input of each respective associated optical pathway. Each light source directs a light signal having a first predetermined frequency and characteristic into the associated optical pathway. A light detector is coupled to the output of each respective associated optical pathway. Each light detector receives a light signal from the associated optical pathway and generates an output signal corresponding to the magnitude of the received light signal at a second predetermined frequency. A processor receives the output signals from each light detector and determines an amount of pressure applied to the sensing network based on the received signals.

Many areas exist where it is beneficial to implement an artificial sense of touch. A tactile sensor is a transducer that can be used to provide this artificial sense of touch by measuring the force applied between a surface of the transducer and an object in contact with the transducer surface. Tactile sensors are commonly used in applications which involve handling or manipulation of an object (e.g., robotic grippers) to ensure that the amount of force applied to such object remains well below a level that might cause damage to the object but with enough force to adequately grip and control the object. Tactile sensors formed from pressure sensor arrays, strain gauge rosettes, or other electro-mechanical sensing systems are subject to permanent deformation when subjected to repetitive stresses during operation, providing shifting sensitivity, less than optimal reliability and a short life span.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for tactile sensing which overcomes the problems recited above.

System and method for tactile sensing using thin film optical sensing networks


Provided is an ointment which has excellent drug stability and excellent drug uniformity. The ointment, which comprises 1 to 5% by weight of 1-[2-[(4S)-4-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolin-1-yl]-4-pyridyl]-2,3-bis(hydroxymethyl)-6,7-dimethoxynaphthalene·3/2 hydrate, 3 to 7% by weight of a separation inhibitor, 15 to 50% by weight of a hydrocarbon gel, a pH controller and 0.05 to 0.4% by weight of an antioxidant, has excellent drug stability and excellent drug dispersibility. In the present ointment, polyoxyethylene (196) polyoxypropylene (67) glycol is preferred as the separation inhibitor, diisopropanolamine is preferred as the pH controller, and dibutylhydroxytoluene is preferred as the antioxidant.

Hitherto, as ah active ingredient having a PDE4 inhibitory effect, reports have been made about naphthalene derivatives each having a specific chemical structure. Known have also been medical compositions for preventing or treating asthma, therapeutic agents for dermatitis, and therapeutic agents for skin, injury that each make use of advantageous effects of any one of the derivatives (for example, Patent Literatures 1 to 4 listed below).
However, such an active ingredient is a drug that does not easily ensure the stability of a formulation thereof. As a solving solution for ensuring the uniformity or bleeding of the drug in an ointment, a method of increasing the hardness of the formulation is easily conceivable. In this case, however, a problem is caused that it s difficult to apply the ointment.

Ointment with excellent formulation stability


The creation of a video-game console for use with an allied touchscreen device or device plurality such as a smartphone and/or tablet is described. The allied touchscreen device may serve as the external media source for the video-game console assembly and further in modelling the input and output dynamics of said device under the ascendency of serviceable mapping systems. A series of specialty-input controllers for interaction with the present invention are also advanced by the inventor; including those designed for remote manipulation of an actionable sensor input where salient to the input dynamics of an engaged gaming title.

Many pundits believe the future of gaming is via a touchscreen device interface. Traditional touchscreen gaming, in its present state, lacks the more advanced controllers and heightened gaming experience that may only be enjoyed under the more robust gaming platform of traditional video-game consoles and additionally lacks the delivery system present under a traditional video-game console environment. The present invention seeks to introduce a new delivery system, interactive platform and specialty controller compliment for video games played on touchscreen devices by virtue of developing a novel video-game console designed for coupling or synergistic integration with touchscreen-devices (exempli gratia, introducing an allied touchscreen device to act as the external media of the video-game console assembly and modelling the input and output dynamics of said device under the ascendency of serviceable mapping systems). As an intermediary device, the video-game console is capable of acting as an automating agent for more seamless and expeditious game start up and for advanced operative delivery in a fluid gaming environment. The video-game console's operational assimilation with compatible remote input controllers and a remote live output, as advanced by the present invention, are designed to replicate the layout of apparatus familiar to traditional gaming consoles and to advance a closer degree of operational parallelism between the two platform offerings.

Video-game console for allied touchscreen devices


A hybrid vehicle control apparatus includes an engine, a motor, first and second engaging elements, an input rotational speed and a controller. The first engaging element is arranged between the engine and the motor to selectively connect and disconnect the engine and the motor. The second engaging element is arranged between the motor and a drive wheel to selectively connect and disconnect the motor and the drive wheel. The input rotational speed detecting section is configured to detect an input rotational speed of the second engaging element corresponding to a rotational speed of the motor. The controller is configured to determine whether the second engaging element is seized based on the input rotational speed when a disengagement command or a slip engagement command has been issued to the second engaging element and a drive force of at least one of the engine and the motor has been changed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid vehicle control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle having an engine and a motor as power sources.
2. Background Information
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2001-255285 discloses a conventional hybrid vehicle having a first engaging element that selectively engages or disengages an engine and a motor, and a second engaging element that selectively engages or disengages the motor and a drive wheel. The conventional hybrid vehicle operates in one of a motor drive mode in which the motor alone is used as a power source and a hybrid drive mode in which the engine is also included as a power source. Therefore, the fuel efficiency (fuel consumption) of the vehicle is improved by switching the drive mode in accordance with a running state of the vehicle.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved hybrid vehicle control apparatus. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


Disclosed embodiments pertain to apparatus, systems, and methods for mixed reality. In some embodiments, a camera pose relative to a tracked object in a live image may be determined and used to render synthetic images from keyframes in a 3D model without the tracked object. Optical flow magnitudes for pixels in a first mask region relative to a subset of the synthetic images may be determined and the optical flow magnitudes may be used to determine pixels in each of the subset of synthetic images that correspond to pixels in the first mask. For each pixel in the first mask, a corresponding replacement pixel may be determined as a function of pixels in the subset of synthetic images that correspond to the corresponding pixel in the first mask.

In computer vision and computer graphics, 3-dimensional ("3D") reconstruction is the process of determining the shape and/or appearance of real objects and/or the environment. In general, the term 3D model is used herein to refer to a representation of a 3D environment being modeled by a device. 3D reconstruction may be based on data and/or images of an object obtained from various types of sensors including cameras. For example, a handheld camera may be used to acquire information about a small 3D scene and produce an approximate virtual model of the scene.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) applications are often used in conjunction with 3D reconstruction. In AR, real images may be processed to add virtual objects to the image. In Mixed Reality (MR) effects, such as Diminished Reality or Mediated Reality, may be implemented based on a 3D model of an existing scene to remove and/or alter objects in the images. In Diminished Reality, a real object is seamlessly removed from the scene, whereas, in Mediated Reality, a real object is seamlessly replaced by a virtual one. Conventional real-time or near real-time AR/MR methods often perform less than optimally because the methods may use inpainting techniques, where portions of the current image are copied over the object to be removed. Inpainting can cause artifacts, which may be exacerbated from a lack of accuracy and/or other errors in scene reconstruction and live camera tracking.
Therefore, there is a need for image processing methods to enhance the quality of rendered MR images to achieve a more optimal user experience.

Diminished and mediated reality effects from reconstruction


An OFDM receiver includes a timing error detection unit that determines error information based on a difference between receiving timing of a desired signal from a counterpart transmitter and receiving timing of an undesired signal from a non-counterpart transmitter. The timing error detection unit includes a pilot signal detection unit configured to detect a pilot signal of the desired signal and a pilot signal of the undesired signal from an FFT-processed received signal; a first converting unit configured to convert a frequency-domain channel estimate derived from the pilot signal of the desired signal to a first time-domain channel impulse response; a second converting unit configured to convert a frequency-domain channel estimate derived from the pilot signal of the undesired signal to a second time-domain channel impulse response; and an error information determination unit configured to determine the error information based on the first and second channel impulse responses.

Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) is a known network control protocol, in which a carrier sensing scheme is used to allow multiple radio transceivers to share the same frequency band for radio communications under collision avoidance control, and it may be applied to wireless LANs (local area networks). With CSMA/CA, a transceiver performs carrier sensing prior to data transmission in order to determine whether there is another user carrying out radio communication. The transceiver can start transmitting data packets only if no users are sensed. Presence or absence of other users can be determined by, for example, measuring an interference level in the environment. If there is another user detected, data transmission is retried after a random period of time.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a typical CSMA/CA transceiver, in which an interference level is measured at a received signal power level measuring unit to determine availability of a data transmission channel. Since with CSMA/CA a user cannot start transmission when another user is communicating, unacceptable delay may be produced in real-time communications and streaming transmission. In addition, as the number of users increases, communication may be restricted for a long period of time depending on the user environment.
Meanwhile, a technique for spatially multiplexing independent signals on the transmission side and separating the signals from each other by making use of channel differences on the receiving side is proposed. See, for example, Hiromasa Fujii, et al., "A Turbo Equalizer with Simplified MMSE Filtering for MIMO Channel Signal Transmission", 2003 IEEE 58th Vehicular Technology Conference VTC, fall, 2003. This technique allows multiple transceivers to carry out radio communications at the same time. The two transceivers communicating with each other are obviously in sync with each other; however, the transceivers communicating parallel to each other may be out of synchronization, as illustrated in FIG. 2. When multiple transceivers perform radio communication at asynchronous timing, detection accuracy of pilot symbols (or channels) from the respective transceivers and channel estimation accuracy are degraded. To this end, it is desired for communication pairs A-A′ and B-B′ to perform synchronous transmission, as illustrated in FIG. 3. In addition, when communication group 1 including the communication pair A-A′ is approaching close to or merging with another communication group 2 including communication pair C-C′, it is desired that all the communication pairs in the communication groups 1 and 2 be in sync with each other. Bringing all the transceivers to operate in sync with each other can improve the accuracy in signal detection from a spatially multiplexed signal, as well as increase the system capacity. In order to maintain appropriate synchronization, it is necessary to measure signal receiving timing (to be more precise, the difference between receiving timings of a desired signal and an undesired signal) precisely.
To bring multiple transceivers to operate in sync with each other, the global positioning system (GPS) may be used, or alternatively, a synchronizing signal (such as a beacon) may be transmitted from prescribed communication equipment. However, using GPS is disadvantageous indoors or when not in line-of-sight, and using a synchronizing signal requires additional expense. With the latter method, synchronization cannot be assured if the transceivers are out of the service area.
Another publication, JP 10-190562A, employs a structure shown in FIG. 4, in which a reference base station A is determined in advance, and other base stations B and C are in sync with the reference base station A to control the transmission timing of each of the transceivers. Still another publication, JP 2004-297756A, discloses a transmission timing control technique in code division multiple access (CDMA), in which mobile stations located under a base station communicate with each other in sync with the base station. With these methods, however, counterpart transceivers (or mobile stations) with which a certain transceiver is going to communicate are restricted by the base-station configurations, and accordingly, they cannot be applied as they are to an adhoc network. In addition, it is difficult in reality in a rapidly changing environment to select and fix a base station most suitable for the reference base station in advance from among many base stations.
Under the multi-path environment, many delayed waves arrive from various angles through different propagation paths from a transmitter to a receiver. A set of delayed waves are measured at the receiver as channel impulse response. Ideally, a certain correlation value appears like a delta function at each of the path timings, while the value in a no-path section becomes zero.
However, if autocorrelation of a currently detected pilot signal is imperfect, the level of the no-path section does not become zero, and it is detected as a signal of a certain level. An undesirable signal component is also contained in the measured channel impulse response due to imperfection in orthogonality between pilot signals. These undesirable facts prevent accurate measurement of the receiving timing of each path.

Radio receiver and radio signal receiving method


An audio data communication method and a wireless audio system are disclosed. The audio data communication method is performed by dual-channel wireless audio equipment that includes a primary audio device, a secondary audio device, and a communication link with an audio source device. The method includes transmitting, by the source device, audio data in a preset time interval to the primary and secondary audio devices. The primary and secondary audio devices generate first feedback information and second feedback information. The first and second feedback information are transmitted to the audio source device based on a Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance protocol. The disclosed techniques address issues such as information interaction between the primary and secondary audio devices during transmission of the feedback information.

As Bluetooth communication technologies become increasingly mature, audio devices (including sound boxes and headsets) have gained an expeditious evolution from wired to wireless. Among such audio devices, dual-channel (left and right) wireless audio equipment, which features wireless connection, portability, and rich stereo sound-field effect, is popular among consumers and applied more and more extensively.
Owing to characteristics of Bluetooth piconet, a peer-to-peer communication mechanism is mainly adopted between devices. Conventionally, there are two approaches to ensure that both audio devices (one primary and one secondary) in the dual-channel wireless audio equipment can both receive the audio data transmitted by an audio source device. The first approach is that the audio source device first transmits the audio data to the primary audio device, and then the primary audio device transmits the audio data to the secondary audio device; the second approach is that the audio source device first transmits the audio data to the primary audio device, and then the secondary audio device obtains the audio data by sensing a communication link between the audio source device and the primary audio device.
However, besides receiving audio data, the primary audio device and the secondary audio device are both needed to provide to the audio source device a feedback on whether the audio data have been correctly received, such that the audio source device may decide whether to retransmit the audio data or proceed to transmit new audio data based on the feedback information. As the audio source device can only receive the feedback information from one audio device, a conventional practice is to additionally establish a link between the primary audio device and the secondary audio device and leverage one of the audio devices to transmit the feedback information agreed between the peers to the audio source device. However, that practice induces information interaction between the primary audio device and the secondary audio device and causes operation complexity.

Audio data communication method and wireless audio system

Shanghai WuQi Microelectronics Co., Ltd.