An ADC circuit includes multiple comparators and a controller coupled to the comparators. Each of the comparators is operative to generate an output indicative of a difference between a first signal representative of an input signal applied to the ADC circuit and a corresponding reference signal. The controller is operative to perform at least one of: (i) activating a subset of the comparators during a given sample period being; and (ii) controlling levels of the corresponding reference signals of the comparators as a function of a level of the input signal. A number of active comparators during the given sample period is no greater than one less than a number of regions into which the input signal is quantized.

An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is a circuit that samples and converts an analog signal to a digital signal. With respect to the allowable or meaningful signal values, an analog signal is continuous while a digital signal is discrete or quantized. Usually, the signals are represented by voltage levels, varying in a continuous fashion over some specified voltage range for analog signals and discrete specified quantized levels for digital signals. An important characteristic of an ADC is its resolution, which is a function of the number of quantized voltage levels to which the analog input signal may be assigned. Resolution thus describes the fineness of the quantization performed by the ADC. Generally, the higher the resolution of the ADC, the more accurate the digital representation of the analog signal will be. A high resolution ADC divides the input range into a larger number of subranges than a low resolution converter. Resolution is usually defined as the base 2 logarithm of the number of subranges the ADC input range has been divided into.
In most applications, it is either desired or required to have as high an ADC resolution as practical. However, increased resolution also increases the likelihood that the ADC output will not be a pure thermometer code. A thermometer code works similarly to a thermometer in that if comparator outputs in the ADC are listed in a column and ordered according to increasing reference values associated with the respective comparators that produced them, the level of a boundary between logic "1's" and logic "0's" would indicate the value of the analog input signal, much as a level of mercury in a mercury thermometer indicates the temperature. By way of example, a high resolution ADC may produce an output of 1101000, which deviates from a thermometer code by the third numeral from the left being 0 instead of 1. This may result from, for example, noise and offsets due to process, voltage, temperature, etc. being larger than the difference in adjacent reference levels between two comparators in the ADC, thus causing a comparator to make an incorrect decision. Consequently, the complexity of an encoder in an ADC system becomes prohibitive in terms of both the hardware required to encode the output of the ADC and the latency of the encoding computation. Furthermore, for each additional encoded bit of the digitized code, twice the number of comparators is needed, thereby increasing the power and/or area of the ADC, which is undesirable.
Conventionally, channel equalization, for example, decision feedback equalization (DFE) or feed-forward equalization (FFE), is sometimes used in communication systems to determine the correct bit sequence of the ADC output. To determine the correct bit value during a given bit period, equalization modifies the current sampled value by a function of the values determined during some number of previous or later-occurring bit periods. Unfortunately, if an incorrect decision is made during some bit period, the error will likely accumulate to cause more incorrect decisions.
An alternative technique to determine the proper bit sequence is to use a maximum likelihood (ML) detector, for example a Viterbi encoder. ML detectors determine the correct bit value during a given bit period by calculating the maximum likelihood of the bit value (for example, either logic "0" or logic "1") based on the sampled value and the previous sequence of bits. ML detectors are disadvantageous primarily because they require substantial hardware to implement.
Signal degradation due to the channel or systems can sometimes be handled by the transmitting system. One common way a transmitting system does this is to use signal shaping techniques, such as, for example, pre-emphasizing high frequency components of the transmitted signal, vtx(t), or de-emphasizing low frequency components of vtx(t). Unfortunately, signal shaping techniques often add significant noise to the signal, which is undesirable. Even aggressive pre-emphasis may not be sufficient in many systems to permit the receiver to recover the proper bit sequence.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved analog-to-digital conversion techniques which do not suffer from one or more of the above-described problems associated with conventional analog-to-digital conversion techniques.

Analog-to-digital converter having reduced number of activated comparators


A system and method for enhanced conditioning light so a camera can capture images from it in a variety of brightness ranges is presented. A camera has an optical lens and a photochromic filter. The photochromic filter may be placed in front of the lens. The photochromic filter extends an exposure range of the camera without the need for a mechanical iris.

1. Field of Invention
The current invention relates generally to apparatus, systems and methods related to optics. More particularly, the apparatus, systems and methods relate to optics used in cameras. Specifically, the apparatus, systems and methods provide for a photochromic filter which reacts to Ultra-Violet (UV) light, reduces the transmission through the camera optics in bright sunlight; thereby extending the exposure range of the camera without the need for a mechanical iris.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, a camera that uses a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor that needs to operate over a wide range of light (bright sunlight to ¼ moon illumination) is not capable of providing a full dynamic range of coverage. Cameras in this situation normally would employ variable iris diaphragms to allow widely for varying light conditions. This mechanical solution creates extreme size, weight, and power constraints. For applications such as the Nano Unmanned Aerial Systems (Nano-UAS) and Micro-Unmanned Aerial Systems (MUAS), the size, weight, and power of a mechanical iris is prohibitive. What is needed is a better optics for use in cameras.

Extending sensor dynamic range by use of a photochromic filter

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


In a method for fabricating a semiconductor device, an insulating layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate, then a resist layer is formed on the insulating layer to have an opening therein. Next, removing the insulating layer at the bottom of the opening, then a reflow process is performed to the resist layer to have a curved surface thereon.

In fabrication of an FET, such as an FET with a T-shape short gate electrode and an FET with a heterojunction, a reflow process is performed in order to improve the quality of those FETs. The reflow process is performed to an insulating layer, for example, to avoid breaking of the gate electrode, and to improve the uniformity of etching with a fine pattern.
Conventional methods for fabricating an FET are, for example, described in Japanese Patent Publications, Koukoku, H8-15161 and Laying Open, Kokai, H5-160019. According to a method described in Koukoku H8-15161, a first resist layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate to have a first gate opening. Then, the semiconductor substrate is etched at the bottom of the first gate opening to have a recess-etching surface, and the first resist layer is removed. Next, an insulating layer is formed over the entire surface of the structure, and a second resist layer is formed on the insulating layer to have a second gate opening. Then, a reflow-process is performed to the second resist layer to have a curved surface, and the insulating layer is removed at the bottom of the second gate opening. After that, a metal layer is formed in the second gate opening, and the second resist layer is removed to form a gate electrode.
According to the conventional method, the insulating layer is removed after the reflow-process, and therefore, the gate length (channel length) may be changed during the step of removing the insulating layer. As a result, the pattern shift varies, and therefore, the characteristics of the semiconductor device may be varied. Such a problem are occurred as well in the conventional method shown in Kokai H5-160019. The pattern shift means the difference in size between the original gate pattern and the actual gate length. In general, the pattern shift occurs in every kind of etching process. In fabrication of a gate electrode, however, it is required to make the pattern shift consistent to control the size of gate length precisely.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same


The present invention provides systems, apparatuses, and methods for the treatment of containerized waste, such as hazardous, radioactive and/or mixed waste. The apparatuses and methods employ a combination of thermal decomposition and specialized lances.

Thermal decomposition is well known for use in processing hazardous waste, including organic and radioactive wastes. For several decades, thermal decomposition has been used in converting organic materials, such as biomass and municipal solid waste, into a synthesis gas, otherwise called syngas, that is rich in carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and light hydrocarbons. The syngas can thereafter be used to drive an engine, turbine, or boiler to generate power. Modern thermal decomposition systems have been built to process municipal solid waste at rates reaching several hundred tons of waste per day.
The thermal decomposition process is, therefore, well developed and well understood. Further, it is known to employ thermal decomposition for use in processing hazardous wastes in containers, typically drums, which avoids the bulk handling of these wastes. However, current methods employing these processes suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, a majority of the methods using thermal decomposition typically introduce hot gases into the system to heat the waste. If hot, high volume heating gases are present in a method, the gas flow and gas composition within the system are more difficult to control. Other methods employing thermal decomposition use internal combustion fired heat. These methods are generally incineration processes, which are becoming unacceptable from an environmental standpoint. Incinerators and related processes that utilize open-flame combustion fall under stringent and comprehensive air pollution laws that typically render the incinerators economically infeasible. Another disadvantage is that the gas is introduced into the autoclave unit not within the container itself; thus, the transfer of reaction gas to the materials within the container is very inefficient.
There exist many containers of waste created and stored, sometimes for years, because safe and efficient means for processing the waste is not available. The contents of such containers may be poorly characterized, encapsulated (e.g., in cement-like binders), contain mixtures of oxidizers and organics that require greater control of the thermal decomposition process including the contact of reactive materials with the waste inside the container, or contain resins which leave a volume of char after treatment, and, in addition, may not be fully treated due to self-insulating effects (e.g., there is untreated resin left in the container).
There remains a need for systems, apparatus and processes for safe and efficient decomposition of such waste. In particular, systems, apparatuses and processes that can supply more information, better control, and better contact of waste and reactive materials during processing to provide safer and more complete treatment.
Containers of radioactive and hazardous waste are usually sealed such that treatment using thermal decomposition leads to pressure build-up and bursting of container walls. Bursting may lead to over-pressurization and, in the worst case, failure of the autoclave boundary. In less extreme cases, the bursting of the waste container leads to significant contamination of the interior of the autoclave, which, when processing waste containing radioactive materials, creates operational issues. Puncturing sealed waste containers outside the environment of the autoclave can lead to uncontrolled spread of radioactive and other hazardous materials. A method for puncturing the waste container inside of the sealed autoclave is desired.
The description herein of certain advantages and disadvantages of known methods is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for in-container waste treatment


A method of forming a photovoltaic device that includes providing an absorption layer of a first crystalline semiconductor material having a first conductivity type, and epitaxially growing a second crystalline semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type that is opposite the first conductivity type. The first conductivity type may be p-type and the second conductivity type may be n-type, or the first conductivity type may be n-type and the second conductivity type may be p-type. The temperature of the epitaxially growing the second crystalline semiconductor layer does not exceed 500° C. Contacts are formed in electrical communication with the absorption layer and the second crystalline semiconductor layer.

The present disclosure relates to photovoltaic devices, and more particularly to photovoltaic devices such as, for example, solar cells.
A photovoltaic device is a device that converts the energy of incident photons to electromotive force (e.m.f.). Typical photovoltaic devices include solar cells, which are configured to convert the energy in the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun to electric energy. Each photon has an energy given by the formula E=hv, in which the energy E is equal to the product of the Plank constant h and the frequency v of the electromagnetic radiation associated with the photon.
A photon having energy greater than the electron binding energy of a matter can interact with the matter and free an electron from the matter. While the probability of interaction of each photon with each atom is probabilistic, a structure can be built with a sufficient thickness to cause interaction of photons with the structure with high probability. When an electron is knocked off an atom by a photon, the energy of the photon is converted to electrostatic energy and kinetic energy of the electron, the atom, and/or the crystal lattice including the atom. The electron does not need to have sufficient energy to escape the ionized atom. In the case of a material having a band structure, the electron can merely make a transition to a different band in order to absorb the energy from the photon.
The positive charge of the ionized atom can remain localized on the ionized atom, or can be shared in the lattice including the atom. When the positive charge is shared by the entire lattice, thereby becoming a non-localized charge, this charge is described as a hole in a valence band of the lattice including the atom. Likewise, the electron can be non-localized and shared by all atoms in the lattice. This situation occurs in a semiconductor material, and is referred to as photogeneration of an electron-hole pair. The formation of electron-hole pairs and the efficiency of photogeneration depend on the band structure of the irradiated material and the energy of the photon. In case the irradiated material is a semiconductor material, photogeneration occurs when the energy of a photon exceeds the band gap energy, i.e., the energy difference of a band gap of the irradiated material.
The direction of travel of charged particles, i.e., the electrons and holes, in an irradiated material is sufficiently random, and may be referred to as carrier "diffusion". Thus, in the absence of an electric field, photogeneration of electron-hole pairs merely results in heating of the irradiated material. However, an electric field can break the spatial direction of the travel of the charged particles to harness the electrons and holes formed by photogeneration.
One exemplary method of providing an electric field is to form a p-n or p-i-n junction around the irradiated material. Due to the higher potential energy of electrons (corresponding to the lower potential energy of holes) in the p-doped material with respect to the n-doped material, an electric field is generated from the direction of the n-doped region toward the p-doped region. Electrons generated in the intrinsic and p-doped regions drift towards the n-doped region due to the electric field, and holes generated in the intrinsic and n-doped regions drift towards the p-doped region. Thus, the electron-hole pairs are collected systematically to provide positive charges at the p-doped region and negative charges at the n-doped region. The p-n or p-i-n junction forms the core of this type of photovoltaic device, which provides electromotive force that can power a device connected to the positive node at the p-doped region and the negative node at the n-doped region.

Silicon photovoltaic element and fabrication method

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A resin-made base body 1 has first recessed portions 11 and 12 for respectively accommodating a plurality of pulse transformers as well as second recessed portions 13 and 14 for accommodating common mode choke coils which are respectively connected to the pulse transformers. The first recessed portions 11 and 12 are formed on one terminal fixing edge 7 side of the base body 1. The second recessed portions 13 and 14 are formed on the other terminal fixing edge 10 side. The first recessed portions 11 and 12 and the second recessed portions 13 and 14 are arranged by being longitudinally connected in a direction from the one terminal fixing edge 7 toward the other terminal fixing edge 10. The adjacent first recessed portions 11 and 12 are connected at one end portion, and the adjacent second recessed portions 13 and 14 are also formed by being connected at one end portion. Thus, provided are a package for parts for LAN and a module for LAN which is miniaturized, and the insertion loss is reduced.

The present invention relates to a surface mounted package for accommodating pulse transformers and common mode choke coils, which constitute a LAN (local area network) for connecting electronic office equipment, and a pulse transformer module for LAN using the same.
Parts for LAN consisting of pulse transformers and common mode choke coils are required to be compact and thin in conjunction with requirements for the miniaturization of electronic office equipment such as personal computers. To cope with such requirements, JP-A-2004-281727 has already proposed a package such as the one shown in FIG. 12. This package is arranged such that pulse transformers (hereafter, sometimes referred to as PTs) 51 and 52 on reception and transmission sides, as well as common mode choke coils (hereafter, sometimes referred to as CMCs) 53 and 54 which are respectively connected to these PTs 51 and 52, are accommodated in a package 55. The package 55 has recessed portions 56 and 57 for respectively accommodating the PTs 51 and 52 and recessed portions 59 and 60 for accommodating the CMCs 53 and 54.
Reference numerals 61 to 66 denote terminals which are fixed to one terminal fixing edge 67 of the package 55, and numerals 68 to 73 denote terminals which are fixed to the other terminal fixing edge 74. The terminals 61 and 62 are terminals for connecting the terminals of the primary winding of the PT 51, and the terminal 63 is a terminal which is connected to a center tap of the primary winding of the PT 51 through a wire. The terminals 65 and 66 are terminals for connecting the terminals of the primary winding of the PT 52, and the terminal 64 is a terminal which is connected to a center tap of the primary winding of the PT 52 through a wire.
Lead wires of the secondary windings of the PTs 51 and 52 are respectively wound around the CMCs 53 and 54. The lead wires of the secondary winding of the PT 51 wound around the CMC 53 are connected to the terminals 68 and 69. The lead wires of the secondary winding of the PT 52 wound around the CMC 54 are connected to the terminals 72 and 73. The terminals 70 and 71 are respectively connected to center taps of the secondary windings of the PTs 51 and 52 through wires.
Toroidal cores of the PTs 51 and 52 mounted in this package 55 have larger diameters than toroidal cores of the CMCs 53 and 54, the PTs 51 and 52 are located on both end sides of the package 55, and the CMCs 53 and 54 are disposed at the clearance between the PTs 51 and 52. In addition, as the CMCs 53 and 54 are disposed in terminal intervals a and b of the terminals 63 and 64 as well as 70 and 71 in central portions of the terminal fixing edges 67 and 74, the width W in opposing directions of the terminal fixing edges 67 and 74 of the package 55 are set to a predetermined width or less, thereby making the package 55 compact.
In the package shown in FIG. 12, the CMCs 53 and 54 are disposed in the clearance between the PTs 51 and 52, and the space where the CMCs 53 and 54 are disposed is secured by making use of the intervals between the terminals 63 and 64 and the terminals 70 and 71, thereby making it possible to set width W in the opposing directions of the terminal fixing edges 67 and 74 to a small width and realize the miniaturization. However, with such a layout, there is a drawback in that the routing of the leads of one CMC becomes long, and an adverse effect has been imparted to the insertion loss characteristic.

Package for parts for LAN and pulse transformer module for LAN


Luminescent metal complexes, methods of producing and/or designing same, methods of using same, and associated technology, are disclosed herein. A luminescent metal complex may be useful for a variety of applications, such as staining, detection, and/or identification, for example, of substances, such as poly(amino acids), for example. Further by way of example, a luminescent metal complex may be useful for staining, detecting, and/or identifying poly(amino acids) that are associated with any of various environments, such as a gel or a gel matrix, such as any associated with SDS-PAGE, for example, a surface environment, such as any associated with western blot, for example, and/or the like. Compositions, solutions, and kits comprising a luminescent metal complex are also disclosed herein.

Purification and analysis of poly(amino acids), such as proteins, for example, may be employed in various biological studies. Generally, in protein purification and analysis, a mixture of proteins may be separated into distinct protein molecules and the separated protein molecules may be quantified. Using such processes, researchers may detect and/or identify various proteins and may study how proteins are expressed and/or modified in a biological system. The expression level and/or modification of various proteins may be correlated with biological phenotypes and/or disease states. Protein purification and analysis may thus have useful application in the diagnosis and/or prognosis of disease.
Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is a method that may be used in the separation and quantification of proteins. In such a method, a protein sample may be placed in denaturing and reducing conditions and heated such that the proteins unfold. The unfolded proteins may be coated with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) detergent molecules, such that they take on an overall negative or anionic charge that is proportional to the size of the proteins. The SDS-coated proteins may be loaded onto a gel matrix and placed in an electric field, such that the negatively or anionically charged proteins migrate towards a positively or cationically charged anode electrode and separate into bands according to their molecular sizes. Since most proteins are colorless, the separated proteins may be stained using a protein stain that imparts color to the proteins, such as an absorption color that is light-absorptive in the presence of light, a fluorescence color that is fluorescent in the presence of light, or a luminescence color that is luminescent in the presence of light, for example. Stained proteins may be visualized, sensed, or detected in the presence of light.
Various protein stains may be used to stain proteins. For example, there are various protein stains that may be used to stain proteins that may be associated with, such as being present on or in, for example, gels or other media. Examples of protein gel stains include a stain comprising a silver compound, which may be referred to as a silver stain, Coomassie Blue (CB), which is an absorption color-based stain, and SYPRO Orange, SYPRO Red, and Deep Purple stains, which are fluorescence color-based stains. Each of these stains is associated with various disadvantages, such as those mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,267, for example.
The foregoing may also apply to poly(amino acids), of which proteins and peptides, for example, are subsets. Development of applications, such as staining, detection, and/or identification, for example, of substances, such as poly(amino acids), peptides, and/or proteins, for example, useful compositions therefor, the making thereof, the use thereof, and/or associated technology is generally desirable.

Luminescent metal complexes and associated technology


Disclosed are various embodiments for generating and updating recommendations for merchants. A recommendation for a merchant in an electronic marketplace is evaluated to determine whether a corresponding action for the recommendation has been completed in response to a recommendation query for the merchant. A list of recommendations that correspond to actions that have not yet been completed for the merchant is generated.

Various online entities such as Google® or Yahoo® facilitate electronic marketplaces in which multiple sellers may offer products to consumers. Many of the sellers that list products may operate their enterprises in a manner that ultimately reduces their profitability due to a lack of knowledge and experience as to how to run an online enterprise.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Generating and updating recommendations for merchants


A method of selecting a network node with which a mobile terminal is to establish a connection for wireless communication. The method comprises generating a ranked list of network nodes that are available to the mobile terminal for establishing the connection, each of the available network nodes being ranked based on historical data relating to a plurality of different radio characteristics of the network node and on weighting factors associated with the plurality of different radio characteristics, each of the weighting factors having a value that is determined based on historical data relating to one or more mobile terminal usage characteristics; and selecting the network node for establishing the connection with the mobile terminal based on the ranked list of network nodes.

1. Field
Embodiments described herein generally relate to network node selection in wireless networks, and in particular but not exclusively to network node selection in multi-RAT networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems are known in which a terminal, mobile station or user equipment (henceforth referred to as a terminal or mobile terminal for convenience) communicates wirelessly with a base station or access point (henceforth referred to as a network node for convenience) within its coverage area by use of a certain radio access technology (RAT). Examples of different radio access technologies include the 3GPP family of standards including GSM, GPRS, UMTS and LTE, as well as WiMax (IEEE802.16), CDMA and WiFi (IEEE802.11).
Often, multiple network nodes may be available in the same location. A mobile terminal may therefore be able to connect to one of several network nodes. However, the mobile terminal will typically perform a default scanning and selection process to determine an appropriate network node. In many cases, such a process can lead to quick drain of battery power as well as potentially long connection times. Furthermore, the radio access technologies and radio characteristics of the available network nodes may vary. For example, although WiFi latency may be lower than cellular latency, the consistency in latency may be better with cellular access. This may impact the performance of a requested service.
It is therefore desirable to provide improved methods, systems and apparatuses for network node selection.

Network node selection in wireless networks


A connecting block assembly includes a plurality of connecting block parts for connecting electric components which are assembled to each other. Each of the connecting block parts includes a plurality of conductive terminals having electric connecting portions and extended portions extended from the electric connecting portions respectively, and an insulating resin member which fixes the plurality of terminals at positions of the extended portions. A coupling portion is formed on one side wall of the resin member in a coupling direction being perpendicular to both of an extending direction of the extended portions and an arranging direction of the plurality of terminals, and a coupled portion having a shape to be coupled to the coupling portion is formed on the other side wall of the resin member in the coupling direction.

The present invention relates to a connecting block assembly which is configured by assembling connecting block parts.
As an electric apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, there has been known an electric junction box, for example. The electric junction box has been known as a name generally calling a relay box, a fuse box, or a junction block, an electronic control unit box, etc.
In an electric junction box which is disclosed in JP-A-2006-333583, a plurality of loads are connected to a downstream side by way of a wire harness. The electric junction box has a function and a structure for distributing electric power or the like to the plurality of loads. The electric junction box disclosed in JP-A-2006-333583 will be described below.
In FIG. 15, reference numeral 101 represents an electric junction box. In this drawing, the electric junction box 101 is shown in a state where a cover member is omitted. The electric junction box 101 includes a circuit board 102, electronic components 103, connectors 104, 105 (connector blocks), a fuse block 106, an ECU connecting connector 107, and other constituent members.
The electronic components 103 are mounted on the circuit board 102. Moreover, the connectors 104, 105, the fuse block 106 and the ECU connecting connector 107 are also assembled to the circuit board 102. The electronic components 103, the connectors 104, 105, the fuse block 106 and the ECU connecting connector 107 are electrically connected to predetermined positions of a circuit pattern which is formed on the circuit board 102. The electronic components 103 include a plurality of switching transistors 108, an integrated circuit 109, and so on, which are electrically connected by way of connecting portions of their respective terminals.
The connector 104 includes a connector housing 110, and a plurality of L-shaped terminals 111. The connector housing 110, which is a resin component, has a housing body 112 adapted to be engaged with a mating connector, which is not shown, and a housing securing part to be screw-fitted to the circuit board 102. The L-shaped terminals 111 are arranged in such a manner that respective one ends thereof can be electrically connected to the mating connector, which is not shown, in a state surrounded by the housing body 112. The other ends of the L-shaped terminals 111 are passed through holes in the circuit board 102, and soldered to a predetermined circuit pattern.
The connector 105 is constructed in the same manner as the connector 104. Specifically, the connector 105 includes a connector housing 113, and a plurality of L-shaped terminals 114. The connector housing 113, which is a resin component, has a housing body 115 adapted to be engaged with a mating connector, which is not shown, and a housing securing part to be screw-fitted to the circuit board 102. The L-shaped terminals 114 are arranged in such a manner that respective one ends thereof can be electrically connected to the mating connector, which is not shown, in a state surrounded by the housing body 113. The other ends of the L-shaped terminals 114 are passed through holes in the circuit board 102, and soldered to a predetermined circuit pattern.
In FIGS. 15 and 16, the fuse block 106, which is a region where fuses of a blade type are mounted, includes a fuse cover 116, a terminal holder 117, and a group 118 of layered terminals. The fuse cover 116 and the terminal holder 117 are structures formed of resin and have insulating performance. Moreover, the group 118 of the layered terminals includes terminal groups 119 to 122 which are arranged in a state of a plurality of layers, and has electrical conductivity.
The fuse cover 116 has fuse mounting parts 123, 124, a housing 125, a connector housing 126, and a locking arm 127. The fuse mounting part 123 is arranged above the fuse mounting part 124. The housing 125 and the connector housing 126 are provided at the left side of the fuse mounting part 123. Moreover, the locking arm 127 is formed at the right side of the fuse mounting parts 123, 124.
The fuse mounting parts 123, 124 respectively have a plurality of fuse cavities 128. The plurality of fuse cavities 128 are formed so as to be arranged in a lateral direction. The fuses of the blade type are inserted into the fuse cavities 128 from a front side to a rear side thereof. The fuse mounting parts 123, 124 are arranged above and below. The housing 125 is formed as a region where a fusible link is to be mounted. Moreover, the connector housing 126 is formed as a connecting part of a main power supply and a power supply for an alternator.
The terminal holder 117 is formed for the purpose of holding the terminal groups 119 to 122 which compose the group 118 of the layered terminals. A locking projection 129 to be engaged with the locking arm 127 of the fuse cover 116 is formed on a side face of the terminal holder 117.
As described above, the group 118 of the layered terminals includes the plurality of terminal groups 119 to 122. Describing them from the below to the above, the terminal group 119 is arranged in a first layer, the terminal group 120 is arranged in a second layer, the terminal group 121 is arranged in a third layer, and the terminal group 122 is arranged in a fourth layer.
The terminal group 119 in the first layer has a plurality of L-shaped terminals 130, and is configured by arranging these L-shaped terminals 130 in the lateral direction. In addition, the terminal group 119 has a power supply input terminal 131. Fork-shaped terminal portions 132 are formed at respective one ends of the L-shaped terminals 130, and board connecting portions 133 are formed at the other ends thereof.
The terminal group 120 in the second layer has a plurality of L-shaped terminals 134, and is configured by arranging these L-shaped terminals 134 in the lateral direction. In addition, the terminal group 120 has a power supply input terminal 135. Fork-shaped terminal portions 136 are formed at respective one ends of the L-shaped terminals 134, and board connecting portions 137 are formed at the other end thereof.
The terminal group 121 in the third layer has a plurality of L-shaped terminals 138, and is configured by arranging these L-shaped terminals 138 in the lateral direction. In addition, the terminal group 121 has a terminal 139 for the fusible link. Fork-shaped terminal portions 140 are formed at respective one ends of the L-shaped terminals 138, and board connecting portions 141 are formed at the other end thereof.
The terminal group 122 in the fourth layer has a plurality of L-shaped terminals 142, and is configured by arranging these L-shaped terminals 142 in the lateral direction. In addition, the terminal group 122 has a terminal 143 for the fusible link. Fork-shaped terminal portions 144 are formed at respective one ends of the L-shaped terminals 142, and board connecting portions 145 are formed at the other end thereof.
Intermediate areas of the plurality of L-shaped terminals 130, 134, 138, 142 are respectively contained and held in the terminal holder 117. When the fuse cover 116 is locked to the terminal holder 117, the fork-shaped terminal portions 132, 136, 140, 144 are respectively contained and held in the corresponding fuse cavities 128.
By the way, in the above described related art, the mounting number of the fuses, the fusible links, etc. (the number of junctions) is inevitably determined for structural reason. Therefore, in case of increasing the mounting number of the fuses for the purpose of grading up a vehicle, for example, it is impossible to flexibly cope with. Therefore, the related art has a problem of low versatility.


A reel for tightening an article includes a housing and a spool positioned within the housing. A knob is coupled with the spool to cause the spool to rotate within the housing and thereby wind a tension member about a central post of the spool. A load holding mechanism is coupled with the spool and the housing and includes a first friction element and a second friction element that are frictionally engageable to prevent rotation of the spool in a second direction to prevent unwinding of the tension member from the spool's central post. Rotation of the knob in a first direction reduces frictional engagement of the friction elements to enable rotation of the spool in the first direction and tension in the tension member biases the spool toward rotation in the second direction which increases the frictional engagement of the friction elements.

The embodiments described herein are related to closure devices for various articles, such as braces, medical devices, shoes, clothing, apparel, and the like. Such articles typically include closure devices that allow the article to be placed and closed about a body part. The closure devices are typically used to maintain or secure the article to the body part. For example, shoes are typically placed over an individual's foot and lace is tensioned and tied to close the shoe about the foot and secure the shoe to the foot. Conventional closure devices have been modified in an effort to increase the fit and/or comfort of the article about the body part. For example, shoe lacing configurations and/or patterns have been modified in an attempt to increase the fit and/or comfort of wearing shoes. Conventional closure devices have also been modified in an effort to decrease the time in which an article may be closed and secured about the body part. These modifications have resulted in the use of various pull cords, straps, and tensioning devices that enable the article to be quickly closed and secured to the foot.

Failure compensating lace tension devices and methods


A dynamic type semiconductor memory device includes a sense amplifier connected between complementary bit lines on which memory cells are connected, dummy cells each connected on at least one bit line and having a charge accumulation node or a node, at which charge is accumulated, to be linked to the bit line when selected, and a circuit for controlling the potential at a charge accumulation node in a dummy cell during a precharge period during which the complementary bit lines are precharged, so that the potential at the bit line will be set to a given potential. The given potential is set to a potential lower than an intermediate potential of the potential at a high-potential power supply and the potential at a low-potential power supply attained when a potential difference between the complementary bit lines is amplified by the sense amplifier. Owing to this configuration, an increase in area and an increase in power consumption can be suppressed. The potential at a bit line can be changed by a necessary and sufficient magnitude by merely giving relatively simple control. A margin to be maintained for reading data represented by a high-level signal can be expanded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamic-type semiconductor memory device (hereinafter referred to as a "DRAM") and, more particularly, to an art helpful in expanding a margin to be maintained for reading data from cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 schematically shows a major portion of a DRAM of a prior art, that is, the circuitry involved in reading data from a cell and ranging from a cell array to a sense amplifier.
In the drawing, there are shown complementary bit lines Bl0 and Bl0X and word lines WL00 and WL01. A dynamic memory cell MS is located at each of intersections between the word lines and bit lines. The memory cell Ms has a one-transistor and one-capacitor structure and consists of a capacitor Cs for accumulating charge as stored data and an n-channel transistor Qs for transferring charge over the bit line BL0 or BL0X associated with the capacitor. Also shown are a sense amplifier (S/A) 1 connected between the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X, and a precharge circuit 2 connected between the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X. The sense amplifier 1 includes p-channel transistors Q1 and Q2 and n-channel transistors Q3 and Q4 connected between a high-potential power line SAP and low-potential power line SAN and constituting a flip-flop. The precharge circuit 2 includes n-channel transistors Q5 and Q6 connected in series with each other between the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X and an n-channel transistor Q7 connected between the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X. A line voltage VPR used for precharging is applied to a node between the transistors Q5 and Q6. The transistors Q5, Q6, and Q7 respond to a precharge signal EQL. Moreover, there are shown n-channel transistors Q11 and Q12 for isolating the sense amplifier 1 from the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X, and n-channel transistors Q13 and Q14 for isolating the sense amplifier 1 from complementary bit lines (bit lines shown on the right hand of the drawing). The transistors Q11 and Q12 respond to an isolation control signal IS0, and the transistors Q13 and Q14 respond to an isolation control signal IS1.
In the foregoing circuitry, when the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X are precharged, the precharge signal EQL is driven high. All the transistors Q5 to Q7 included in the precharge circuit 2 are therefore turned on. A precharge voltage or a voltage used to precharge the bit lines BL0 and BL0X becomes equal to the line voltage VPR used for precharge. In the past, the precharge voltage has been set to an intermediate potential of the potential at a high-potential power supply (nearly identical to the potential at the line SAP) and the potential at a low-potential power supply (nearly identical to the potential at the line SAN) attained when a potential difference between the bit lines BL0 and BL0X is amplified by the sense amplifier 1.
However, during a standby period during which the transistors Qs in the memory cells MS and the sense amplifier 1 are inactive, that is, a precharge period during which the bit lines BL0 and BL0X are precharged, charges accumulated in the capacitors Cs in the memory cells MS leak out. In a memory cell in which a charge inducing a high-level signal is accumulated, the potential at a charge accumulation node or a node in the memory cell at which charge is accumulated decreases because of leakage. A potential difference from an associated bit line gets smaller due to the decrease. In contrast, in a memory cell in which charge inducing a low-level signal is accumulated, the accumulated charge hardly leaks out and the potential at the charge accumulation node in the memory cell hardly changes. A potential difference from an associated bit line does not get very much smaller.
A potential difference between the complementary bit lines BL0 and BL0X maintained during data reading is dependent on a difference between the potential, which has decreased because of leakage, at the charge accumulation node in a cell at which charge corresponding to a high-level signal is accumulated and a precharge voltage. A margin to be maintained for reading of data represented by a high-level signal gets smaller than that for reading of data represented by a low-level signal. In other words, a difference voltage tends to get smaller during data reading of a high-level signal than that during data reading of a low-level signal, and the margin is therefore smaller.
For expanding the margin to be maintained for data reading of a high-level signal, several methods have been proposed for changing the potential at a bit line during data reading in the past. The proposed methods were, for example, a method using a power supply for generating a third voltage different from an intermediate potential between the potentials at bit lines over which a high-level signal and low-level signals are transmitted, and a method in which a dummy capacitor is used as a coupling capacitor to raise the potential at a bit line (a potential, which has decreased because of leakage, at a bit line over which a high-level signal is transmitted).
However, according to the method using a power supply for generating a third voltage, it is necessary to improve the ability of the power supply to drive a current. This leads to an increased power consumption and the complex circuitry of a power circuit. Moreover, there is a problem that an effort to improve an operating speed is obstructed. On the other hand, the method of using a dummy capacitor makes it necessary to increase the ratio of the area of the capacitor to the area of a semiconductor substrate or to raise a voltage used to drive the capacitor. Thus, there is a problem that the area gets relatively larger or the power consumption increases.

Dynamic type semiconductor memory device


A signal transmission system: that includes a signal transmission unit (101) that includes a MPEG decoder (102), which receives digital broadcasting and outputs a luminance signal Y and two color difference signals PB/PR, and a transmission path encoding circuit (103), which encodes the YPBPR outputted from the MPEG decoder (102) into signals in the forms suited to a transmission path and transmits the encoded signals; and a signal reception unit (104) that includes a transmission path decoding circuit (105), which receives the encoded YPBPR and decodes them, a Y processing circuit (106), which processes the decoded luminance signal Y, a chrominance processing circuit (107), which processes the respective decoded color difference signals PB/PR, a signal conversion circuit (108), which converts the YPBPR outputted from the Y processing circuit (106) and the chrominance processing circuit (107) into RGB signals, and a display device (108) which displays the RGB signals.

A prior art example will be described with reference to FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional signal transmission system.
In FIG. 17, reference numeral 1701 denotes a video signal output unit (transmitting end) such as a STB (Set-top box), which outputs a video signal. Numeral 1702 denotes an MPEG decoder, which receives digital broadcasting and outputs baseband Y color-difference signals. Numeral 1703 denotes a signal conversion circuit, which converts the Y color-difference signals into RGB signals. Numeral 1704 denotes a transmission path encoding circuit, which encodes the signals converted by the signal conversion circuit 1703 into signals in formats suited to the transmission path. Numeral 1705 denotes a display unit (receiving end) such as a TV monitor. Numeral 1706 denotes a transmission path decoding circuit, which decodes the signals encoded by the transmission path encoding circuit 1704. Numeral 1707 denotes a signal conversion circuit, which converts the RGB signals outputted from the transmission path decoding circuit 1706 into YPBPR signals. Numeral 1708 denotes a Y processing circuit, which processes luminance signals Y out of the output from the signal conversion circuit 1707. Numeral 1709 denotes a chrominance processing circuit, which processes chrominance signals out of the output from the signal conversion circuit 1707. Numeral 1710 denotes a signal conversion circuit, which receives the outputs from the Y processing circuit 1708 and the chrominance processing circuit 1709 and converts the Y color-difference signals into the RGB signals. Numeral 1711 denotes a display device, which receives the output from the signal conversion circuit 1710 and outputs it to a LCD or CRT.
An operation of the so-configured signal transmission system will be described.
The MPEG decoder 1702 receives digital broadcasting and outputs baseband video signals. As the data format of the MPEG is based on Y color-difference signals, the output here is YPBPR, or YUV, or YCbCr. Further, this signal must be converted into RGB signals to encode it adaptively to a transmission path, and thus the Y color-difference signals are converted into RGB signals by the signal conversion circuit 1703. The converted RGB signals are encoded into signal forms suited to the transmission path by the transmission path encoding circuit 1704.
On the other hand, on the TV monitor 1705 side, the transmission path decoding circuit 1706 receives the signals encoded by the transmission path encoding circuit 1704 and generates the original RGB signals. The RGB signals are converted into the YPBPR of the Y color-difference signals by the signal conversion circuit 1707. Here, to perform independent processing on the TV monitor 1705 side, the Y signals are processed by the Y processing circuit 1708, and the chrominance signals PBPR are enhanced by the chrominance processing circuit 1709, respectively, and these signals are outputted. The enhanced and outputted Y color-difference signals are converted into the RGB signals by the signal conversion circuit 1710 so as to be outputted to the final display device 1711. The display device 1711 outputs the RGB signals which have been outputted from the signal conversion circuit 1710, thereby to perform display.
However, in the above-described conventional signal transmission system, since the transmission path encoding is performed on the RGB signals, the output from the MPEG decoder is once converted into the RGB signals, encoded, and transmitted through the transmission path and, thereafter, the RGB signals must be converted into the YPBPR to perform signal processing again on the monitor side and, further, the Y color-difference signals must be converted into the RGB signals once again to output the RGB signals to the final display device, resulting in a drawback of requiring a lot of hardware.
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems and has for its object to provide a signal transmission system in which hardware configurations of the video signal transmitting end and receiving end can be simplified

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Vehicle safety devices, seam tapes for use in safety airbags along with their methods of formation and use are provided. The vehicle safety device can comprise an airbag and a pyrotechnic device positioned within working proximity to an aperture defined in the airbag and configured to fill the interior space of the airbag with a gas upon ignition. The vehicle safety device can also comprise a seam tape positioned over the seam joining a first fabric section and a second fabric section of the airbag. The seam tape can be configured to melt enough to flow into the needle puncture holes formed along the seam upon ignition of the pyrotechnic device.

An airbag is a vehicle safety device that generally includes a flexible envelope (e.g., a nylon fabric) designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision. The airbag's purpose is to cushion occupants during a crash and provide protection to their bodies when they strike interior objects such as the steering wheel or a window. Vehicles may contain multiple airbags in various side and/or frontal locations of the passenger seating positions, and sensors may deploy one or more airbags in an impact zone at variable rates based on the type and the severity of impact.
Most airbag designs are inflated by the ignition of a gas generator propellant via a pyrotechnic device to rapidly inflate the flexible envelope. The pyrotechnic device can generally include an electrical conductor wrapped in a combustible material and can activate quickly (e.g., less than 2 milliseconds) with a current pulse (e.g., of about 1 to about 3 amperes). When the conductor becomes hot enough, it ignites the combustible material (e.g., a solid propellant), which initiates the gas generator. The burning propellant generates inert gas which rapidly inflates the airbag (e.g., typical rate of inflation in current technology is about 20 to about 30 milliseconds).
These hot gases and hot particulates are particularly concentrated in the area within the airbag proximate to the pyrotechnic device. As, a solution, attempts have been made to include a sacrificial fabric within the airbag in the area proximate to the pyrotechnic device to help protect the airbag fabric. In use, this sacrificial fabric is burnt by the hot gas and/or hot particulates. However, due to the need to ensure that the sacrificial layer can sufficiently protect the airbag fabric, multiple layers of the sacrificial layer is included (either unbonded or as a laminate) within the device dependent upon the combustion temperature required Thus, these sacrificial heat shield fabrics add significant thickness and complexity to the construction of the airbag, device.
In addition to this primary heat shield, the complete air bag cushion structure needs to resist tearing and/or penetration during the virtually instantaneous inflation of the device. The cushion structure is typically made up of a series of cut pieces of woven nylon fabric that are then sewn together to create an enclosure or envelope that, when activated by a pyrotechnic device, fills with hot inert gas to form a relatively deformable gas filled structure between the vehicle occupant and the hard surfaces of the vehicle. Where the fabric sections are sewn together to create the cushion, a reinforcement strip of woven nylon material 35 mm wide is typically sewn over the joint to provide a structural tie between the two sewn fabric components and also to provide a secondary gas seal when the air bag is activated.
The panels of fabric that comprise the airbag cushion, or envelope, are best held together by sewing them together. Likewise, the attachment of the reinforcement strips to the airbag cushion is best performed through sewing. The needle puncture holes at the seams of the airbags formed where the nylon panels of the airbag are sewn and, in embodiments, where the reinforcement strip is sewn to the airbag also create leakage points within the airbag cushion that allow the inert gas filling the airbag cushion to leak from the airbag cushion structure while it is filling. This leakage slows the deployment of the airbag cushion. Due to the nature of the cause for deployment of an airbag cushion within a vehicle, i.e., a vehicular crash, every additional millisecond that it takes an airbag cushion to deploy can have an impact on the effectiveness of that airbag cushion to reduce injury to a passenger or drive in the crashing vehicle.
As such a need exists for vehicle safety devices, such as airbag cushions, that can more effectively deploy within a crashing vehicle as well as components that can be used in facilitating the increase in the effective deployment of such vehicle safety devices.

Vehicle safety devices, seam tapes for use in airbag and related methods


An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises an ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving unit for transmitting ultrasonic signals to a subject and receiving reflected echo signals reflected from the subject; a unit for controlling the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving unit such that the ultrasonic signals repetitively scan the subject at a predetermined scan period; an image memory unit for storing a plurality of image data pieces; a detection unit for detecting biophysical signals of the subject; a unit for setting a reference timing on the basis of the biophysical signals; an image display unit for displaying an image corresponding to the image data piece being delivered out of the image memory unit, the image display unit displaying the image at a predetermined display unit; a unit for controlling the image memory unit so as to store the plurality of image data pieces based on the reflected echo signals, wherein the plurality of image data pieces respectively correspond to two-dimensional images of the subject at different time points and the time points associated with the plurality of image data pieces are sequentially displaced by a first time interval and in synchronism with the reference timing; and a control unit for controlling the memory unit so as to sequentially deliver the plurality of image data pieces stored in the image memory unit at second time intervals longer than the first time interval during scanning of the ultrasonic signals.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for producing two-dimensional images of a region of interest of a subject by utilizing ultrasonic waves.
A conventional ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises an ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving unit for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, a two-dimensional scan unit for repetitively producing data of two-dimensional images inside a subject inclusive of a moving tissue at a predetermined period by using reflected echo signals from the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving unit, an image memory unit for storing time-sharing images produced from the two-dimensional scan unit, and an image display unit for displaying image data delivered out of the image memory unit. Particularly, in a diagnostic ultrasound equipment for cardiac study, electrocardiographic electrodes are attached to hands and legs of a subject to detect biophysical signals and obtain an electrocardiogram (ECG) and the thus obtained ECG is utilized through ECG synchronous method to display a still image of a region of interest at a desired timing. Also, in a recent ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus, an image memory of large capacity is used as an image memory unit and image data pieces of a moving region collected during real time (during transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves) are stored in the image memory and after being frozen or after completion of the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves, are readout of the image memory of large capacity sequentially so as to be reproduced and displayed in slow motion fashion ("Study of Image Memory System for High Frame Rate Ultrasound Equipment" by K. Kawano et al, Collection of Lectures of the Japan Society of Ultrasonics in Medicine, Oct. to Nov. 1990, pp. 601-602).


An electric power generating apparatus having an electric generator is mounted on a hybrid vehicle which has a propulsive electric motor powered by a battery and an internal combustion engine for actuating the electric generator to generate an electric power output to charge the battery. A goodness-of-fit calculator and a generator operational amount calculator determine an operational amount for the electric generator based on a membership function and fuzzy rules stored in a fuzzy reasoning memory according to fuzzy reasoning from vehicle operating conditions including a charged and discharged condition of the battery and a vehicle speed of the hybrid vehicle, detected by operating condition detectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system for controlling an electric power generating apparatus on a hybrid vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric vehicles propelled by a propulsive electric motor which is powered by a battery include hybrid vehicles which carry an electric power generating apparatus including an electric generator powered by an internal combustion engine for improving the mileage of the vehicle and increasing the service life of the battery. While the hybrid vehicle is running, the electric generator is operated by the internal combustion engine to output electric power which is supplied to charge the battery.
It is customary for such hybrid vehicles to detect, from time to time, the remaining electric energy stored in the battery and control the internal combustion engine or the electric generator to produce an amount of electric power depending on the detected remaining electric energy stored in the battery.
If the amount of electric power generated by the electric generator is controlled depending on only the remaining electric energy stored in the battery, however, the battery tends to be excessively charged at the time the vehicle runs at a lower speed when the propulsive electric motor consumes a smaller amount of electric power, and the battery tends to be insufficiently charged at the time the vehicle runs at a higher speed when the propulsive electric motor consumes a greater amount of electric power because the electric generator generates the same amount of electric power in either case insofar as the remaining electric energy stored in the battery is the same. As a consequence, the electric generator cannot generate electric power to charge the battery efficiently in a manner to make up for the consumption of stored electric energy by the battery in various running conditions of the vehicle.
The inventors have proposed an electric power generation control system for detecting, from time to time, the remaining electric energy stored in a battery and the speed of a hybrid vehicle and controlling the electric power generated by an electric generator depending on the remaining electric energy stored in the battery and the speed of the vehicle which have been detected, as disclosed in Japanese patent applications Nos. 6-197071 and 6-197072, for example. According to the proposed electric power generation control system, a target electric power to be outputted by the electric generator and a target rotational speed to be achieved by an internal combustion engine to operate the electric generator are determined from predetermined maps and tables depending on the remaining electric energy stored in the battery and the speed of the vehicle which have been detected. The current of the electric generator and the throttle opening of the internal combustion engine are controlled in order to achieve the target electric power and the target rotational speed.
The proposed electric power generation control system allows the electric generator to generate electric power to charge the battery efficiently in a manner to make up for the consumption of stored electric energy by the battery depending on the remaining amount of electric energy stored in the battery and in various running conditions of the vehicle.
With the proposed electric power generation control system, however, when the vehicle runs at frequently varying speeds, a target electric power to be outputted by the electric generator and a target rotational speed to be achieved by the internal combustion engine are determined exactly depending on such frequently varying speeds, so that the actual electric power outputted by the electric generator and the actual rotational speed of the internal combustion engine are subject to frequent variations. Accordingly, when the vehicle runs at frequently varying speeds, the load on the internal combustion engine and the rotational speed thereof are liable to vary, resulting in limitations posed on efforts to increase the emission and vibration control capabilities of the internal combustion engine.

Control system for electric power generating apparatus on hybrid vehicle


Embodiments relate to a system, program product, and method for information extraction and annotation of a data set. Neural models are utilized to automatically attach machine annotations to data elements within an unlabeled data set. The attached machine annotations are evaluated and a score is attached to the annotations. The score reflects a confidence of correctness of the annotations. A labeled data set is iteratively expanded with selectively evaluated annotations based on the attached score. The labeled data set is applied to an unexplored corpus to identify matching corpus data to populated instances of the labeled data set.

The present embodiments relate to cognitive processing and active learning. More specifically, the embodiments relate to optimizing one or more active learning algorithms to optimize information extracting and annotation from a large data set, such as those used in visual recognition, natural language processing, machine-aided human translation, weather reporting, etc. The active learning shown and described herein re-utilizes one or more previously trained model for similar tasks, thereby leveraging the knowledge and work previously entailed and decreasing annotations for new tasks.

International Business Machines Corporation


A safety control device for ensuring safety of an object to be controlled, including: communication unit which is used for communication with another safety control device and uses a frame including a test bit string T having correlation with a base bit string B; and detection unit which compares with the base bit string B the test bit string T included in a frame having been received from another safety control device, thereby determining the number of bit errors in the frame.

Conventionally, control apparatuses, such as programmable controllers (PLCs), have been employed in factory automation (FA) for controlling mechanical devices. In recent years, such a control apparatus is desired to have a safety function of stopping a mechanical device when an anomaly occurs, to thus ensure safety. Hence, safety control devices equipped with such a safety function have been proposed (see, e.g., JP-A-2002-358106).
In FA, a plurality of control apparatuses are connected by way of communication lines and form a network system, to thus perform simultaneous control of a plurality of mechanical devices. Hence, a communication error which arises between safety control devices must be detected accurately for enhancing the reliability of the safety function.
Meanwhile, among safety control devices forming a network system as described above, communication is carried out with use of frames in accordance with, e.g., the high-level data link control (HDLC) protocol. During the course of communication, a communication error is detected by a parity check or by a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and corrected.

Safety control device, safety control system, and method for detecting communication error


The invention relates to a computer tomograph comprising a detector unit (2) consisting of a plurality of detectors (1) for identifying X-ray radiation (40). According to the invention, the individual detectors (1) of the detector unit (2) are configured to receive incident quanta of the X-ray radiation (40) and to record the received X-ray radiation (40), both in terms of its intensity and in terms of the quantum energy of the individual X-ray quanta of the received X-ray radiation (40). The invention also relates to a corresponding method for identifying X-ray radiation by means of a computer tomograph that comprises a detector unit (2) consisting of a plurality of detectors (1).

Examinations are carried out with the aid of computer tomographs in many medical problem situations. Examinations such as these are also carried out for test purposes in a number of machine construction fields, in particular in materials science and flight safety.
X-ray radiation is used in this case because these solid bodies, for example non-metallic bodies, can be partially penetrated, so that it is possible to obtain knowledge about the distribution of materials within the body being analyzed.
The use of X-ray radiation has the disadvantage that, beyond a certain dose, it can damage biological tissue. Therefore, particularly in medicine, it is desirable to keep the radiation dose required for a measurement low.
In order to verify X-ray radiation, it is known that this radiation can be absorbed by specific scintillation materials, with the energy in the absorbed X-ray quanta being converted to light. The number of photons produced per X-ray quantum is in this case generally approximately proportional to their quantum energy.
A photodiode converts the light to a current which is digitized by an analog/digital converter. Since the self-absorption of the light in the scintillation material frequently has molecules added to it, which cause the frequency of the light that is produced to be shifted, in order in this way to prevent self-absorption of the light that is produced.
Furthermore, specific semiconductor materials in which the incident X-ray radiation can produce charge carriers, are also known for verification of X-ray radiation. The number of charge carriers produced per X-ray quantum is in this case generally approximately proportional to their quantum energy.
The known detectors for verification of X-ray radiation make use of the effects described above. In this case, it should be noted that the known integrating detectors produce only one measured value per measurement. The light flashes or charges which are produced by the large number of X-ray quanta received in each measurement period are thus integrated up over the duration of the measurement period. The intensity of the received X-ray radiation (the number of received X-ray quanta of medium quantum energy per unit time) is then obtained by division of the value integrated up by the detector by the medium quantum energy per X-ray quantum, which can be determined stochastically.
Since the measurement X-ray radiation emitted for measurement purposes in computer tomography normally has a polychromatic spectrum, hardening effects must be taken into account in this context. When the measurement X-ray radiation emitted from a radiation source passes through a measurement object, the X-ray radiation is subject in some cases to severe suppression of low-energy components of its spectrum, depending on the materials it is passing through and on the length of the beam path through the materials. The scattered radiation is thus shifted in the same way as the medium quantum energy of the received X-ray quanta toward higher energies in the spectrum.
In order to verify the two-dimensional distribution and thus to create an image of the incident X-ray radiation, it is known for a large number of identical detectors to be combined to form a detector unit for detection of incident radiation, and for emission of corresponding image information. The detectors are in this case preferably arranged alongside one another on a plane, in the form of an array.
This results in a different value for the actual medium quantum energy per X-ray quantum, as a result of hardening effects for each detector in a detector unit as a function of the material distribution in the measurement object being analyzed. This actual value can be determined only approximately by means of stochastic methods. Particularly in areas in which different materials in the measurement object being analyzed are adjacent to one another (for example bone edges), the approximate determination of the medium quantum energy per X-ray quantum is subject to major errors, despite numerical corrections.
A further disturbance variable on the measurement of X-ray radiation by use of computer tomographs is the scattered radiation, which is pronounced to a greater or lesser extent depending on the measurement object being analyzed. The scattered radiation may make up several tens of percentage points of the emitted measurement X-ray radiation, depending on the spectrum of the emitted measurement X-ray radiation and on the nature of the measurement object being analyzed. This leads to a considerable deterioration in the contrast in the measurement result obtained from the detectors in the detector unit.
A scattered radiation grid, through which only X-ray quanta which are in a specific direction and which have a specific energy (and which are thus important for the measurement) can pass, is therefore provided upstream of the detector unit in known computer tomographs. The scattered radiation grid generally has a specific collimator system in the form of a lamella arrangement, so that X-ray quanta of the emitted measurement X-ray radiation which strike the lamella walls are also absorbed.
The provision of a scattered radiation grid accordingly means that a certain percentage of the radiation quanta of measurement X-ray radiation which is emitted for measurement purposes is absorbed in the scattered radiation grid, and can thus no longer be detected by the detectors.
In consequence, the intensity of the radiation emitted for measurement purposes must be increased appropriately, owing to the scattered radiation grid.
In medical applications, this unavoidably leads to an increased patient dose. Furthermore, the scattered radiation can frequently also not be sufficiently well suppressed by the provision of a scattered radiation grid.

Computer tomograph comprising energy discriminating detectors


The solar tracker comprises a base (1) and a solar panel (2) having first and second opposite ends (2a, 2b). The first end (2a) can be connected to the base (1) by a first shaft (E1) and the second end (2b) can be connected to the base (1) by a second shaft (E2), such that said solar panel (2) can pivot with respect to the base (1) alternately around the first shaft (E1) and around the second shaft (E2) under the drive of a lifting mechanism. An automatic connection/disconnection device connects the second end (2b) of the solar panel (2) to the base (1) while at the same time disconnecting the first end (2a) of the solar panel (2) from the base (1), and vice versa, every time the solar panel (2) reaches a position parallel to the base (1) for inverting the inclination of the solar panel (2) with respect to the base (1).

For better efficiency of solar panels, for example photovoltaic panels, the sun rays should strike them in the most perpendicular direction possible. To that end, solar trackers are usually provided with a first tracking mechanism for orienting the solar panels in the east-west direction and a second tracking mechanism for orienting the solar panels in the north-south direction for the purpose of tracking the relative movements of the sun during the day, including the yearly cycle variations occurring during the seasons. East-west direction tracking is the most important because it involves a movement covering a very broad arc, whereas north-south direction tracking involves a movement covering a considerably smaller arc.
The implementation of the two aforementioned tracking mechanisms in a two-shaft solar tracker entails a complex construction and increase manufacturing cost.
Accordingly, the present invention proposes a light-weight and economical solar tracker provided with a single tracking mechanism for orienting at least one solar panel in the east-west direction, taking into account that the solar panel and the tracking mechanism are supported in a base which can be installed in a stationary manner at a mid-point inclination in the north-south direction according to the latitude of the site where it is installed. The slight loss of efficiency due to tracking in a single shaft is offset with the low cost, light weight, ease of transport and ease of installation of the solar tracker of the present invention.
Document US 2011/0061644 A1 discloses a low-profile solar energy collection system comprising a base for assembling the system on a suitable substrate and a plurality of solar panels arranged next to one another on the base. A first set of solar panels are movable relative to a second set of solar panels for tracking the relative movements of the sun during the day. The solar panels of the first set are arranged in an alternating manner with the solar panels of the second set. In one embodiment, the solar panels of the second set are arranged in a stationary manner and in another embodiment they are movable relative to the solar panels of the first set. A drawback of this system is that in at all times only one set of solar panels, i.e., only half of the solar panels, receive the rays of the sun in suitable conditions.
Document CN 101098113 A describes a solar tracker comprising a horizontal rotating support on which a solar panel is installed having a first lower end connected in a pivoting manner to the horizontal support by a horizontal shaft. A first actuator drives rotational movements of the horizontal rotating support around a vertical shaft for orienting the solar panel in the east-west direction and a second actuator drives a lifting mechanism pivoting the solar panel with respect to the horizontal rotating support around the aforementioned horizontal shaft for orienting the solar panel in the north-south direction according to the relative movements of the sun. A drawback of this solar tracker is that it needs two tracking mechanisms in two orthogonal shafts, making it more expensive and complex.
If for simplicity's sake a person skilled in the art decided to use only the main tracking mechanism in the east-west direction in the solar tracker of the mentioned document CN 101098113 A, it would correspond to the rotational movement of the horizontal support around the vertical shaft, which entails greater constructive complexity in comparison with the pivoting movement mechanism. If the person skilled in the art decided to use the pivoting movement mechanism of the solar panel around the horizontal shaft for tracking in the east-west direction, the angle covered by this mechanism would be insufficient.


A display device includes a cathode for emitting electrons and a permanent magnet. A two dimensional array of channels extends between opposite poles of the magnet. The magnet generates, in each channel, a magnetic field for forming electrons from the cathode into an electron beam. A screen receives an electron beam from each channel. The screen has a phosphor coating facing the side of the magnet remote from the cathode. The phosphor coating comprises a plurality of pixels each corresponding to a different channel. A grid electrode is disposed between the cathode and the magnet for controlling flow of electrons from the cathode into each channel. A deflection sequentially addresses the electron beam from each channel to each pixel of the corresponding group. Rotational alignment APPARATUS aligns electron beams from the channels with corresponding pixels of the phosphor coating. The rotational alignment comprises a resistive deflector and apparatus for generating a differential voltage across one or more elements of the deflector. The magnitude and direction of the differential voltage across one or more elements of the deflector is used to provide rotational alignment.

A magnetic matrix display of the present invention is particularly although not exclusively useful in flat panel display applications such as television receivers and visual display units for computers, especially although not exclusively portable computers, personal organisers, communications equipment, and the like.
Conventional flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal display panels, and field emission displays, are complicated to manufacture because they each involve a relatively high level of semiconductor fabrication, delicate materials, and high tolerances.

International Business Machines Corporation


The method for the restoration and reinforcement of scarps and a resulting reinforced structure is provided. The method includes of clearing the scarp surface under restoration, and of creating a pit (an excavation). The bottom of the pit is filled with mineral soil and is compacted as a foundation of a retaining wall. A protective filter made from draining mineral soil is installed on the foothill of the scarp, where the protective filter is surrounded by draining geotextile. The geogrid is placed on the surface of the regressed scarp and then anchored to the soil of the scarp by tensile ropes. A rigid support, such as a crib (grillage), is created on the protective filter and batter piles are driven under the rigid support. Then the retaining wall is constructed, consisting of layers of compacted soil that are surrounded by draining geotextile. The retaining wall is covered by erosion control mats, anchored to the draining geotextile of the soil layers of the retaining wall. Protrusion in the scarp is covered with large granite boulders or concrete elements.

The coastal scarps of a water body (such as an ocean, sea, river, lake), a valley or artificial pit become weathered and disintegrate by the effect of wind, rain, contained surface water, water flow and significant alteration between minus and plus degrees of outdoor temperature (incl. disintegration resulting from volumetric expansion of freezing soil and then shrinking of the expanded soil in the course of thawing). In addition, numerous landslips of the scarp soil occur as a result of human activity or earthquakes.
Natural slopes or scarps have predominantly a very complex structure and the quantity and state of surface water contained in the scarp as well as the causes of erosion are dependent on very many factors (such as rainfall, wind, outdoor air temperature, etc.). Whilst these factors and the intensity of their effect change in time. Numerous factors have been determined empirically, wherefore it is necessary to make significantly allowance for high safety margins in solution planning. Therefore the solutions for ensuring the stability of a scarps, for example, when building a retaining wall, should also account for various climatic, geological and hydrogeological conditions and thus these solutions are by nature very elaborate, resource-intense, multifaceted and diverse.
Well-known methods of scarps reinforcement include facilities from artificial materials, such as retaining walls of steel, stone, reinforced concrete and composite materials, or stabilization of soil by means of hardening compounds and reinforcement with geo-materials. These solutions change the natural environment on a major scale, have high substantially costs, are resource-intense and also in addition to creating the systems for draining the rainwater and surface from the soil require the application of measures for soil hardening.
These well-known solutions are noted below:
Noted solution (WO9839518, Eardley D. J, Martin B, published Nov. 9, 1998), where for the purpose of reinforcement a base frame is installed at the bottom of the body of water. A ballast supporting member is fixed to the base frame, and ballast, such as rocks, can be mounted to the frame, and the frame can be anchored in position. A barrier wall is fixed to the frame.
Noted solution (TW1262974, Lee Der-Her, Yang Yi-En, published Jan. 10, 2006) for slope protection, with the following structure: filter layers, metal frames, soil with vegetation, a retaining wall and drains. The slope is excavated to form steps, platforms and transverse drains in the slope. Drains and platforms are laid at the foot of each step in the slope. The fastening elements of the metal frames are positioned on the retaining wall, platform and drains. The vertical elements of the metal frame are assembled to form vertical units of the metal frame along the slope. The transverse elements of metal frames are assembled to cover the slope. Vegetation soils and vegetation belts are laid on the metal frame, the plants grow through the metal frame and protect the slope against erosion.
Noted solution (EP0174253, France Etat, Mur Ebal Sarl, published Dec. 3, 1986), which uses the covering of a bank with compacted soil, while the mass of earth is reinforced with plates of geotextile. The facing for the bank is formed of plates that are individually hooked to the bank by means of flexible elements. The plates are installed mainly in horizontal rows, while the plates of one row partially overlap the plates of the row immediately beneath.
Noted solution (EP0603460, RDB Plastotecnica SPA, published Jun. 29, 1994), which uses an internally reinforced geotechnical structure with an exposed surface, suitable for the formation of slopes, walls and systems for the prevention of erosion. The structure comprises of several layers, which are superimposed and have their exposed surface either in a vertical or tapered form aligned from the base to the top. Each layer consist of at least one primary reinforcement and a separation element, which is arranged so that the primary segment lies along the horizontal plane: Then it is folded onto itself, the folded segment continues with a second segment in order to contain at least one portion of material. Outwards by the folded segment, i.e. towards the first segment, each layer has a second reinforcement element that preferably consists of a containment frame for containing the bulk material, which covers the first reinforcement layer.
The most technically similar to the presented one is the method for slope reinforcement by means of geosynthetic materials (US2007041793, MEGA, INC, published Feb. 22, 2007). The presented solution contains the following stages: preparation of the soil remaining under the reinforcement; containers made from geosynthetic material are placed on the prepared surface; the containers are filled with fine-grained material; then the reinforcement structure is erected and at least one structure is reinforced for supporting the container structure; the material for covering the surface of the structure and the fill material of containers is selected; the area behind the containers is filled with soil and a drain layer and water guiding pipelines are installed in the slope prior to the installation of containers.
These noted solutions, however, fail to provide scarps with sufficient stability against extreme as well as normal exposure factors occurring over time. Protection is needed for the slopes of soil or scarps against freeze-thaw effects and against various impacts of erosion, waves of water bodies, flow of water, ice, earthquakes or human activity. The systems for draining surface water from behind the retaining wall and the retaining walls themselves require maintenance, repair, and are destroyed in earthquakes due to dislocation resulting from compaction of scarp soil or substantial or abrupt changes in the state and volume of the surface water in the scarp. Retaining walls that are produced from soil stabilised with cement or oil-shale ash, or from fine-grained (i.e. non-drain or low-drain) soil also require drainage pipelines.

Restoration and reinforcement of a scarp


A parallel bit reversal device and method. The device includes a parallel bit reversal unit, a butterfly computation and control unit, and a memory. The butterfly computation and control unit is coupled to the memory via a data bus. The parallel bit reversal unit is configured to bit-reverse butterfly group data used by the butterfly computation and control unit. The parallel bit reversal unit includes an address reversing logic coupled to the butterfly computation and control unit, and configured to perform mirror reversal and right-shift operations on a read address from the butterfly computation and control unit.

Signal processing systems are typically required to convert signals between time and frequency domains. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm enables such signal conversion between time and frequency domains. Compared with other transform algorithms, FFT has advantages of uniform structure and less computation, and thus has been widely used in signal processing systems.
FFT takes N points of data as input and outputs N points of data. In general, a transform from time domain (TD) to frequency domain (FD) is called forward transform, while a transform from frequency to time domain is called inverse transform. The order in which TD data are arranged according to sampling time is called "natural order," that is, the sampling time of the data points is incremental. Also, the order in which FD data are arranged according to their frequencies is called "natural order," that is, the frequencies corresponding to the data points are incremental. As opposite to the "natural order," "bit reversal" refers to mirror-reversing a binary representation of an index of each data point in the natural order. The resultant index is an index of the data point in a "bit-reversed order." Assuming that an index is represented with 3 bits. The index 3 in the natural order is (011)2 in the binary form, and it will become (110)2 in the binary form, i.e., 6 in the decimal form, after being mirror-reversed. Accordingly, "6" will be an index for the data point in the bit-reversed order.
Many implementations have been proposed for the FFT algorithm, and are generally classified into to two types of TD decimation and FD decimation. FIG. 1 shows an algorithm using the FD decimation. The original data 100 are sorted in the natural order, and should go through a bit reversal operation 103 to be in the bit-reversed order before the data are used for computation. Output data 102 obtained from the computation on the reversed data 101 are arranged in the natural order. In the TD decimation-type algorithm, the input data are in the natural order, while the output data are in the bit-reversed order. Therefore, the output data should be transformed to be in the natural order before being used for any further processing.
Some patent documents have proposed methods for bit reversal of data. An example is US application publication 2003/0028571A1 ("Real-time method for bit-reversal of large size arrays") which provided a two-step reversal method. The first step includes implementing data bit-reversal of large size arrays between an external storage and an on-chip memory using DMA. The second step includes implementing internal data bit-reversal of small size arrays using a processor. There are problems with the method when implementing internal data bit-reversal of small size arrays using a processor. First, the internal sorting process needs a number of iterations, and specifically, log2N−1 iterations are required for data of a length N. Second, data read/write operations in each iteration can be conducted in a scalar fashion, and thus parallel sorting of multiple data cannot be achieved. As a result, the bit-reversal method described in the document is less efficient.
The U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,284B1 ("Bit Reversal Methods for a Parallel Processor") discusses that the company, nVidia, utilizes multiple processing cores or SIMD execution components in a graphic processing unit (GPU) to implement parallel bit reversal. Although the disclosure achieves parallel bit reversal, there are still some problems. First, each processing core or execution component needs to conduct lookup table access and shift operation for many times when calculating bit reversal addresses. Thus, the address calculation alone requires multiple clock cycles, and the execution efficiency is lowered. Second, as described on page 21 line 10 of the patent document, the method can reduce, but not eliminate, memory access conflicts among the multiple processing cores or SIMD execution components. Such memory access conflicts further reduce efficiency of the bit reversal operation.

Parallel bit reversal devices and methods

Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences


A defect-free vitreous carbon material having a three-dimensional (x,y,z) size in which each of the x, y and z dimensions exceeds twelve millimeters. A process of making such vitreous carbon material employs a three-dimensional fiber mesh that vaporizes at elevated temperature, in which the mesh is impregnated with a polymerizable resin and thereafter the resin is cured. During the initial stage(s) of pyrolysis, the mesh volatilizes to yield a residual network of passages in the cured resin body that thereafter allows gases to escape during pyrolysis of the cured resin material to form the vitreous carbon product. As a result, it is possible to form defect-free vitreous carbon material of large size, suitable for use in structural composites, and product articles such as sealing members, brake linings, electric motor brushes, and bearing members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vitreous carbon material and methodology for making vitreous carbon substantially free of pressure-induced cracking and manufacturing-related morphological defects.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the manufacture of vitreous carbon, a variety of manufacturing methods are employed. All of the currently known methods, however, are severely limited in the size of defect-free vitreous carbon material that they can produce.
Specifically, in considering bulk vitreous carbon material of three-dimensional character in an x,y,z-Cartesian coordinate system, where x and y are length and width dimensions, and z is the thickness dimension, the x and y dimensions can be of virtually any size, but the thickness z is effectively limited to no more than about 10 millimeters if defect-free pure vitreous carbon material is to be achieved. Above such thickness, all of the currently known methods for making pure vitreous carbon produce material that is cracked, pitted, chipped (spalled) or otherwise has morphological defects that render it unsuitable for commercial use.
This thickness constraint has severely limited the commercial utility of vitreous carbon for numerous applications for which it otherwise would be highly suitable.
Burton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,166 describes a process for incorporating a reinforcement material in vitreous carbon to enable large-size composite bodies to be manufactured. Burton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,482 describes use of metal fiber as a reinforcement medium in vitreous carbon to form a composite that is essentially free of foam and fume indicia, with each of its dimensions being at least 25 millimeters. By adding metal or other reinforcement materials, as described in these patents, larger-sized bodies can be made, but the resulting vitreous carbon is not homogeneous, being adulterated by metal fibers, metal mesh or other necessary reinforcement materials. The presence of such reinforcement in many instances sufficiently alters the chemical, electrical, mechanical, tribological and other properties of the vitreous carbon composite in relation to the pure vitreous carbon materials per se, as to render the resulting composite material unsuitable for the intended use. For example, metal reinforcement elements during the long pyrolytic vitrification process can form metal carbides that are brittle and substantially impair the strength and structural integrity of the composite.
There is accordingly a need for improved vitreous carbon manufacturing processes that enable pure defect-free vitreous carbon material of large size to be economically achieved.

Vitreous carbon material and process for making the same


At a conveyance direction downstream side of a contact portion between a heat roller and a downstream side pressure roller and at a conveyance direction upstream side of a contact portion (conveyance position) between a conveyance roller and an upstream side pinch roller in a conveyance mechanism part, the conveyance roller is disposed to come in contact with a surface of a sheet opposite to a surface having come in contact with the heat roller. Besides, a first guide member for guiding the sheet to the conveyance position of the conveyance mechanism part is disposed to face the conveyance roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal fixing device and an image forming apparatus including the thermal fixing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a laser printer is generally provided with a thermal fixing device for thermally fixing a toner transferred on a sheet.
Such a thermal fixing device includes a heat roller, a pressure roller disposed to face the heat roller and for pressing a sheet to the heat roller, and a pair of conveyance rollers disposed to face each other at a conveyance direction downstream side of the sheet with respect to the heat roller and the pressure roller and for conveying the thermally fixed sheet.
The sheet on which a toner is transferred enters between the heat roller and the pressure roller so that the toner on the sheet comes in contact with the heat roller, and the sheet is heated under pressure between the heat roller and the pressure roller so that the toner on the sheet is melted and thermally fixed, and then, the sheet enters between the pair of transfer rollers and is ejected while being held between the conveyance rollers.
However, in the thermal fixing device as stated above, since the sheet is heated under pressure between the heat roller and the pressure roller, the sheet having passed through between the heat roller and the pressure roller becomes apt to get a curl having the same shape as the circumferential shape of the heat roller. Then, a jam occurs when the sheet having the curl enters between the pair of conveyance rollers.
In order to overcome the above problem, there is proposed a technique that a guide member for guiding a sheet or the like sent out by a fixing rotation body toward a direction in which an upward curl is not cancelled out is provided between the fixing rotation body and a paper ejecting rotation body pair, the front end of the sheet or the like separated from the guide member is hung down by its own weight so that it is curved in the opposite direction to the direction of the curl, and the front end of the sheet or the like curled upward is guided to a nip part of the paper ejecting rotation body pair (see Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2512664).

Thermal fixing device and image forming apparatus