A controllable footwear method and apparatus, comprising a structure which controls a splitting of a force exerted on a sole of the footwear between a first portion which is stored in an energy storage structure and later returned to the sole, and a second portion which is dissipated, and a control for controlling the structure in dependence on an activity of the wearer, to alter a relation between the first portion and the second portion, to thereby alter a dynamic characteristic of the footwear.

The advantages and general design of intelligent adaptive surfaces are well known, as are various methods for implementation in particular articles, such as seating surfaces, mattresses, and the like. However, miniaturization and ruggedization of these systems remains an issue.
In various types of athletic footwear, it is recognized that the comfort and fit of the footwear can affect the athletic performance. In order to increase both the comfort and fit of footwear, manufacturers have incorporated inflatable bladders of various designs into the construction of the footwear. The development, incorporation, and use of inflatable air bladders within athletic footwear was and is particularly appropriate for ski boots used for downhill skiing. Thus, a number of patents relate to the field of ski boots which incorporate inflatable air bladders, for example, German Patent No. 2,162,619, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,087. While the original designs for ski boots having air bladders incorporated the use of an external pressurizing device such as a hand pump, more recent designs incorporate the design of the pump into the article of footwear, such as for example the ski boot of U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,022. Various footwear designs also provide an compressor which is actuated by user activity, providing a supply of compressed air while the footwear is in vigorous use.
The demands for comfort and snugness of fit in other athletic events has resulted in the use of the inflatable bladders originally developed for ski boots in various types of athletic footwear, including athletic shoes used for basketball and other sports. There are presently available athletic shoes incorporating an air pump, such as depicted within U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,765, to inflate air bladders located within the sole of the shoe, or alternatively, bladders located in portions of the upper or the tongue of the athletic shoe. The advantages of these types of shoes is manifested primarily by their increased comfort and the secure positioning or fit of the foot within the shoe. Another benefit derived from the use of air bladders is the potential for reduction of forces transmitted through the shoe to the foot and ankle of the wearer during performance of the athletic endeavor. Thus, current athletic shoes having incorporated air bladders provide enhanced comfort and fit, while also reducing the occurrence of various types of injuries.
For typical athletic shoes currently commercially available which incorporate both the inflatable air bladders and a pump inflation means, the comfort and fit of the article of footwear is adjusted by inflating the air bladder by use of the pump after securing the footwear about the foot. The wearer simply inflates the air bladder until a particular pressure level, or fit, is felt by the foot. However, due to the rigors of various athletic events, and because the human foot tends to swell and contract with varying levels of activity, it is very difficult for the individual to obtain a consistent fit from one use to the next, or to recognize the difference in their performance, based upon a pressure setting for the air bladders that is merely sensed by the foot. Therefore, designs have been proposed which include a pressure sensor, for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,227, expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Heat transfer systems are desirable under many circumstances. Heating is generally easily accomplished, by dissipating power. Cooling, however, generally requires coupling an endothermic reaction with an exothermic reaction of equal or greater magnitude, although in a different environment. Thus, heat may be transferred without violating the laws of thermodynamics. Many different types of cooling systems are known. However, efficient active miniature (<300 W thermal transfer capacity) cooling systems pose many design compromises, and few optimal designs are available.


An acoustic matching layer where the thickness is defined by a single layer of defined mono-disperse particles. The layer comprises a polymer base in which mono-disperse particles are embedded. The mono-disperse particles can be coated with a solid material that participates in the definition of the acoustic impedance of the layer. The polymer base can include smaller solid particles that participates in the definition of the acoustic impedance of the layer. The invention also provides a method of manufacturing.

The electro-acoustic transduction of current ultrasound transducer arrays is based on one of:                i) composites of polymers and ferroelectric ceramic materials, and        ii) vibrating membranes on the surface of a substrate material, such as Si, where the electro-mechanical coupling is either capacitive (cmut) or through layers of piezoelectric material (pmut).
To shape the bandwidth of the electro-acoustic transduction, acoustic layers with quarter wave (λ/4) thickness at the center of the acoustic band and specified acoustic impedance are used. The specified acoustic impedance is obtained by mixing solid particles of various types (e.g. W, Al, ceramics, glass, etc.) into a polymer resin, and defined layer thickness is generally obtained with grinding of the layer. To obtain correct thickness, the grinding is interrupted several times to measure the thickness before the desired thickness is obtained. This process is hence time-consuming and expensive, and the current invention presents a solution for simpler manufacturing of the matching layers with defined acoustic impedance and thickness.

Ultrasound transducer matching layers and method of manufacturing


An X-ray detecting device comprises a support mechanism for supporting a detector housing pivotably about a horizontal shaft parallel to an X-ray incidence surface, a shaft connected at one end to the detector housing and having an opposite end adapted to perform a rectilinear motion to induce a pivotal motion of the detector housing, a drive mechanism having a drive end connected to the opposite end of the shaft, the drive mechanism inducing the rectilinear motion of the opposite end of the shaft in a mutually connected state of the drive end and the opposite end of the shaft, a switching mechanism for between connection and non-connection of the opposite end of the drive shaft and the drive end, a brake mechanism for inhibiting the pivotal motion of the detector housing, and brake operating means for switching between operation and non-operation of the brake mechanism.

The embodiments described herein relate to an X-ray detecting device and an X-ray imaging apparatus. Particularly, the embodiments described herein are concerned with an X-ray detecting device including a detector housing having an X-ray incidence surface whose direction is changeable, as well as an X-ray imaging apparatus equipped with such an X-ray detecting device.
In an X-ray imaging apparatus, X-ray is radiated from an X-ray irradiator to a subject and transmitted X-ray is detected by an X-ray detector to form a radioscopic image. A certain X-ray imaging apparatus uses an X-ray stand. In the X-ray stand, a detector housing which incorporates an X-ray detector is supported by a vertical column. The X-ray stand is constructed such that the height of the detector housing and the direction of an X-ray incidence surface can be adjusted in accordance with a region to be radiographed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-298473).

X-ray detecting device and X-ray imaging apparatus

GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC


A tool bit for use in a percussion drilling tool has a shank (11) insertable into a tool chuck. The shank (11) has two rotary entrainment grooves (14, 15), one smaller than the other with side flanks (16, 17) loaded during the drilling operation and not located diametrically opposite one another. In addition, the shank (11) has two locking grooves (12, 13). The rotary entrainment grooves (14, 15) are open at the end (18) of the shank insertable into the chuck, so that rotary entrainment members in the chuck can be inserted into the rotary entrainment grooves (14, 15). The locking grooves (12, 13) are closed at the ends adjacent the end (18) of the shank insertable into the chuck to assure that the tool bit is not displaced out of the chuck when the locking members are engaged. To prevent fatigue fractures or failure due to wear in the rotary entrainment grooves (14, 15) or stress peaks between the cross-sectional areas located between the locking grooves (12, 13) and the rotary entrainment grooves (14, 15), the locking grooves (12, 13) are not located diametrically opposite one another. The tool chuck contains only one locking member for reasons of manufacturing costs, and the locking member forms an angle smaller than 90.degree. with the smaller rotary entrainment member.

The present invention is directed to a tool bit with a substantially circular shank for insertion into a tool bit chuck of a hand-held tool for percussion drilling. The shank has at least two rotary entrainment or drive grooves whose side flanks, under load when drilling, are not diametrically opposite one another and the grooves are open on the end of the shank for receiving rotary entrainment members in the tool chuck. The shank is also provided with two locking grooves which are closed or have a reduced cross-section at the end adjacent to the end face of the shank for limiting axial movement of the tool bit. Further, at least one locking member of the tool chuck can be received in one of the locking grooves.
Tool bits of this type are disclosed in DE-PS 3716915 and D-PS 3941646. Such tool bits are designed for introduction into a tool chuck only in a very specific angular position.
It has been found to be disadvantageous in tool bits of this type that the space remaining between the rotary entrainment members for receiving the locking grooves is of different magnitudes. In the rough operation experienced at a construction site, it is possible that the rotary entrainment grooves are crushed to an extent after the tool bit has been used for a long time, that the remaining residual wall thickness between a rotary entrainment groove and the locking groove is reduced, whereby the stress peaks developed at this location result in fatigue fractures. Since such failure occurs within the tool chuck of the tool, damage results not only in the loss of the bit, but also the tool itself must be repaired at considerable expense by removing the shank end located in the tool. Due to the unequal design of a shank cross-section, the possibility of fracture can occur in new tool bits.

Tool bit and tool bit chuck for percussion drilling


An apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank is provided. For a viscous liquid such as one that has a viscosity higher than 5000 cp, a reservoir tank that has a cavity for holding the liquid is first provided which is equipped with a liquid feed conduit and a liquid output conduit. The liquid feed conduit is configured in J-shape with an inlet end at a top of a first vertical section in fluid communication with a liquid source tank and an outlet end at an opposite end of a second vertical section of the J-shape conduit protruding above a liquid level stored in the tank cavity. A U-section of the liquid feed conduit is generally immersed in the viscous liquid.

The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and a method for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid used in semiconductor processing and more particularly, relates to an apparatus and a method for eliminating air and gelation in a viscous liquid of polyimide used in semiconductor fabrication processes.
In the fabrication of semiconductor devices, a semi-conducting wafer must be processed in a multiplicity of fabrication steps, i.e. as many as several hundred in order to produce the final finished product. These processing steps may include etching, cleaning, deposition and various other processing procedures. A variety of chemicals, including liquids and gases may be used in the processing steps wither to etch a specific feature on the IC chip, to clean after certain processing steps, to deposit layers from reactant chemicals, or to carry out other necessary processing steps.
For instance, in photomasking and metal cleaning processes, a variety of speciality chemicals are used. An important consideration in the usage of such speciality chemicals, i.e. photoresists, developers, spin-on-glass and polyimide is the transporting and storage of the materials. In the case of a photoresist material, the photosensitivity and the shelf life of the material depends on its storage temperature. It is important to maintain such material within a range of 5xc2x0 C. to 20xc2x0 C. for a photoresist/developer and xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. to 10xc2x0 C. for spin-on-glass/polyimide materials.
The transporting of these speciality chemicals, especially liquids, or the delivery from a storage reservoir, i.e. a holding tank or a buffer tank, to a processing chamber where the liquid is used is another important aspect of the fabrication process. A process liquid, such as a photoresist or a developer, can be transported in a fluid passageway of a stainless steel tubing assisted by an electrical pumping means. One of such conventional liquid delivery system for a polyimide passivation material is shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional polyimide dispensing system 10 which utilizes compressed air in conduit 12 and valve 14 to exert a positive pressure in the source tank 16 such that a sufficient amount of a polyimide liquid 18 is applied to the reservoir tank 20 through conduit 22 and valve 24. The valve 14 is an open/closed valve for controlling the air pressure in conduit 12. Valve 14 is open when polyimide solution is requested from the reservoir tank 20 via master controller 30. Valve 14 is closed when no request is sent from reservoir tank 20. A sensor 26 is further provided for sensing the presence of a polyimide liquid in conduit 22. When the source tank 16 becomes empty, compressed air is drawn into the conduit 22 and activates the sensor 26 which then sends an alarm signal to the operator for refilling the source tank 16 with new polyimide solution. The sensor 26 can be an optical type which senses an intensity change of a refracted light as air enters the conduit 22. The function of valve 24 is the same as valve 14 which is open or closed at the same time to supply polyimide into the reservoir tank 20.
The reservoir tank 20 is a buffer tank for the polyimide solution 18. The major function for the reservoir tank 20 is to degas and to remove gel that flows in from the conduit 22 or the source tank 16. The sources of bubbles or gel may be of many different kinds, i.e. from the polyimide material itself during the fabrication of the material; from the conduit 22 during the replenishment of the source tank 16; or from the open/closed action of valve 24 during the operation of the polyimide dispensing system 10.
The reservoir tank 20 is equipped with four different sensors 28,32,34 and 36 for maintaining a suitable solution level in the tank. The level of the solution should be kept between the high sensor 32 and the low sensor 34. When the solution level is sufficiently low as to activate the low sensor 34, the low sensor 34 sends a signal to the master controller 30. The master controller 30 then controls valves 14 and 24 to refill the reservoir tank 20, and stop the refill action as the high sensor 32 is activated by the level of the solution. A second high sensor 28 is an overflow sensor which functions when the first high sensor 32 malfunctions to drain the excess solution from drain pipe 38. The low sensor 36 provides an interlock function when the solution level is sufficiently low to activate the low sensor 36 in order to prevent air from entering the outlet conduit 40 and the dispensing pump 42.
The dispensing pump 42 is normally provided in a dual- stage pump, i.e. such as a MILLIPORE(copyright) Photo-250 Pump, equipped with an internal filter (not shown). The dispensing pump 42 extracts the polyimide solution along conduit 40 from the reservoir tank 20 while filtering out contaminants such as bubbles and gel by the internal filter. The dispensing pump 42 then delivers the polyimide solution along conduit 44 for dispensing to wafer 46 through a dispensing nozzle 48. The wafer 46 is positioned on a wafer platform 50 by a vacuum means and spins by platform 50 during the polyimide spin coating process.
Under normal processing conditions, some bubbles will be found in the reservoir tank 20 and in the conduits 22 and 44. A complete polyimide flow takes place from the reservoir tank 20, through the conduit 40, the dispensing pump 42, the conduits 44 and 52 and the liquid feed conduit 60 by trapping a limited number of air bubbles by the internal filter provided in the dispensing pump 42. At the same time, a three-way valve 54 is utilized to divert a polyimide solution from conduit 44 to the conduit 52, while cutting out the solution flow in conduit 56. The recycled flow is used to save the usage of the polyimide material. The operation of the sensor 26, the valves 14,24 and 48, the dispensing pump 42 and the wafer platform 50 is controlled by the master controller 30, which is normally a micro-processor.
The conventional viscous liquid dispensing system 10, shown in FIG. 1, while capable of stopping, by filtering out, some of the air bubbles trapped in the liquid, is not efficient in filtering out, or removing all the air bubbles. Furthermore, during the dispensing of a material such as polyimide for passivation of an IC device, a premature reaction or sometimes known as xe2x80x9ca dark reactionxe2x80x9d occurs in the polyimide liquid between the monomer and the initiator such that undesirable gel is formed. When the gel is dispensed onto the wafer surface, serious quality problems in the passivation layer occurs. An improved viscous liquid dispensing system is therefore desirable for dispensing a highly viscous liquid such as polyimide to not only degas the liquid by eliminating air bubbles, but also to prevent the formation of gel in the liquid.
While it has been found that oxygen, when contained in a polyimide solution prevents or retards the gelation process, there is little possibility that oxygen can be added to a polyimide solution in the conventional dispensing system. For example, the liquid feed conduit 60, shown in an enlarged, cross-sectional view in FIG. 1A, does not allow an extended, prolonged exposure of polyimide with air, which contains approximately 20% oxygen. As shown in FIG. 1A, the liquid feed conduit 60 is normally provided with a sharpened tip portion 62 to facilitate a polyimide flow 64 into the solution 18. While attempts have been made to increase the distance between the tip portion 62 and the liquid level 66, other undesirable processing difficulties are caused by an impact between the liquid flow 64 and the liquid level 66, resulting in a more severe air bubble problem. It should be noted that, for simplicity reason, the liquid output conduit 40 and the drain pipe 38 are not shown in FIG. 1A.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank that does not have the drawbacks or shortcomings of the conventional apparatus.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank by eliminating a straight-tube type liquid feed conduit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank by using a J-shaped liquid feed conduit.
It is another further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank by utilizing a liquid feed conduit configured in a J-shape such that the exposure time of the liquid to ambient air is increased.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank by providing a liquid feed conduit having a J-shape and a wave-form exterior surface on the outlet of the conduit to further increase the exposure time of the liquid with ambient air.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank by providing a specially configured liquid feed conduit such that the exposure time between the liquid and ambient air can be increased by at least two-fold.
It is still another further object of the present invention to provide a fluid reservoir tank for holding a viscous liquid therein and for eliminating air and gelation in the liquid by utilizing a liquid feed conduit that is formed in a J-shape having a bottom U-section immersed in the liquid.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank is provided.
In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a liquid reservoir tank is provided which includes a reservoir tank that has a cavity therein for holding a viscous liquid; a liquid feed conduit of J-shape that has an inlet end at a top of a first vertical section in fluid communication with a liquid source and an outlet end at an opposite end of a second vertical section of the J-shaped conduit protruding above the liquid, a U-section of the conduit is generally immersed in the liquid; and a liquid output conduit that has an inlet end immersed in the liquid and an outlet end in fluid communication with a dispensing nozzle of the liquid.
In the apparatus for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid stored in a reservoir tank, the outlet end of the liquid feed conduit further includes an exterior surface configured in a curvilinear form, the outlet end may further include an exterior surface configured in a wave-form, or in a sawtooth form. The outlet end of the liquid feed conduit may further include an exterior surface that is at least twice the interior surface of the conduit. The liquid feed conduit of J-shape may be constructed of a first vertical portion of a first length, a second vertical portion of a second length smaller than the first length, and a U-shape section connecting the first vertical portion and the second vertical portion together providing fluid communication therethrough. The outlet end of the liquid feed conduit of J-shape is at least 2 cm shorter than the inlet end. The first length of the first vertical section is at least 2 cm longer than the second length of the second vertical section. The liquid feed conduit may be formed of a corrosion-resistant material, or may be fabricated of a corrosion-resistant polymeric material. The reservoir tank may further include an overflow drain pipe for preventing overfilling of the tank. The apparatus may further include a pump means situated in-between the outlet end of the liquid outlet conduit and the dispensing nozzle.
The present invention is further directed to a fluid reservoir tank for holding a viscous liquid therein and for eliminating air and gelation in the liquid which includes a tank body that has a cavity therein for holding a quantity of the liquid; a liquid feed conduit formed generally in a J-shape that has a first vertical section and a second vertical section connected in fluid communication by a bottom U-shaped section, the first vertical section has an inlet end connected to a liquid source, the second vertical section has a length smaller than the first vertical section and an output end for overflowing the liquid into the cavity while exposed above a surface of the liquid in the cavity with the bottom U-shape section immersed in the liquid; and a liquid output conduit of a straight shape that has an inlet end immersed in the liquid juxtaposed to a bottom of the cavity and an outlet end in fluid communication with a dispensing nozzle for the liquid.
In the fluid reservoir tank for holding a viscous liquid and for eliminating air and gelation in the liquid, the outlet end of the liquid feed conduit may further include an exterior surface that is configured in a curvilinear form, or in a wave-form or in a sawtooth form. The exterior surface may be at least twice the interior surface of the conduit. The second length of the second vertical section may be at least 2 cm shorter than the first length of the first vertical section. The liquid feed conduit and the liquid output conduit may be formed of a TEFLON (tetra-fluoro-ethylene) material. The system may further include a pump means connected in fluid communication between the outlet end of the liquid outlet conduit and the dispensing nozzle.

Apparatus and method for degassing and preventing gelation in a viscous liquid

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd


A combined desk and article carrier assembly for transporting at least one article in one mode and for serving as a work desk in another mode. The assembly includes wheels at its lower end with the upper end including an upwardly telescopical handle assembly for manually moving the frame on its wheels. A desk-top shelf is pivotally connected to an opposite side of the frame near its top end and is adapted to pivot outwardly and upwardly to a generally horizontal position to provide a support surface for supporting a lap top computer or the like. A telescoping support strut is attached to the desk-top shelf for providing additional support thereto in conjunction with a deployable foot.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to wheeled transport systems, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a wheeled transport system incorporating at least one pivotally mounted, telescoping leg and foot assembly in conjunction with a pivotal work surface for the stabilization thereof.
2. History of the Related Art
Lap top computers and similar devices have been developed to enable business travelers to perform other work tasks while traveling. Despite their convenience, they are not truly comfortable to use on one's lap. In an airplane, this discomfort may be alleviated by the use of the folding tray tables with which aircraft seats are equipped. But in airport waiting rooms and hotel lobbies, where travelers necessarily spend a significant amount of time, there are no suitable work surfaces where lap top computers may be placed and used.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,796B1, incorporated herein by reference, provides a substantial improvement over previous designs. A luggage carrier, as described therein, includes a work surface pivotally extendable from a frame. The work surface is supported at one end by the frame and at the opposite end by one or more telescopic legs.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/519,169 entitled "Wheeled Transporting Device," herein incorporated by reference, provides yet additional improvements over previous designs. A luggage carrier, as described therein, includes a work surface pivotally extendible from a frame, with the frame stabilized by an extendible leg.

Wheeled transporting device with telescoping leg stabilization assembly


A wireless communications device reconfigurable radiation desensitivity bracket, and associated reconfigurable radiation desensitivity method are provided. The method includes: generating a radiated wave at a first frequency; in response to generating the radiated wave at the first frequency, creating a maximum current per units square (I/units2) through a minimal area of an electrical circuit groundplane; generating a radiated wave at a second frequency; in response to generating the radiated wave at the second frequency, maintaining the maximum I/units2 through the minimal area of the groundplane. Alternately stated, the method controls the distribution of current flow through a groundplane, responsive to radiated emissions, as the wireless device changes operating frequency or communication band. More specifically, the method maintains the maximum I/units2 through the minimal area of the groundplane by coupling the groundplane to a bracket having a selectable effective electrical length.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to wireless communication and, more particularly, to wireless communication antennas.
2. Description of the Related Art
The size of portable wireless communications devices, such as telephones, continues to shrink, even as more functionality is added. As a result, the designers must increase the performance of components or device subsystems and reduce their size, while packaging these components in inconvenient locations. One such critical component is the wireless communications antenna. This antenna may be connected to a telephone transceiver, for example, or a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.
Wireless communications devices are known to use simple cylindrical coil or whip antennas as either the primary or secondary communication antennas. Inverted-F antennas are also possible. Many conventional wireless telephones use a monopole or single-radiator design with an unbalanced signal feed. This type of design is dependent upon the wireless telephone printed circuit board groundplane or housing or both to act as the counterpoise. A single-radiator design acts to reduce the overall form factor of the antenna. However, the counterpoise is susceptible to changes in the design and location of proximate circuitry, and interaction with proximate objects when in use, e.g., placed on a metallic desk, or the manner in which the telephone is held. As a result of the susceptibility of the counterpoise, the radiation patterns and communications efficiency can be detrimentally impacted. Even if a balanced antenna is used, so that the groundplanes of proximate circuitry are not required as an antenna counterpoise, radiation pattern and radiation-susceptible circuitry issues remain.
This problem is compounded when an antenna, or a group of antennas operate in a plurality of frequency bands. State-of-the-art wireless telephones are expected to operate in a number of different communication bands. In the US, the cellular band (AMPS), at around 850 megahertz (MHz), and the PCS (Personal Communication System) band, at around 1900 MHz, are used. Other communication bands include the PCN (Personal Communication Network) and DCS at approximately 1800 MHz, the GSM system (Groupe Speciale Mobile) at approximately 900 MHz, and the JDC (Japanese Digital Cellular) at approximately 800 and 1500 MHz. Other bands of interest are GPS signals at approximately 1575 MHz, Bluetooth at approximately 2400 MHz, and wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) at 1850 to 2200 MHz.
To dampen the effects of radiation upon proximate circuitry it is known to attach so-called bracket, or radiation-parasitic, elements to a groundplane. Typically, these "brackets" are used to evenly distribute current through the groundplane associated with a radiated wave. Alternately stated, the brackets are used to prevent any particular spot on a circuit board, housing, or keyboard from becoming too sensitive to radiation-induced current. It is difficult, if not impossible, to design a wireless device to minimize the interaction between antenna radiation and susceptible circuitry in every one of its communication bands. As a result, a conventional design must be optimized for one particular communication band, or the design must be compromised to in one or more communication bands of interest.
It would be advantageous if the radiation-induced current sensitivity of a wireless communications device groundplane could be minimized for every frequency of operation.
It would be advantageous if the radiation-induced current sensitivity of a wireless communications device groundplane could be tuned in response to changes in frequency, or in response to one particular groundplane area becoming too sensitive.
It would be advantageous if wireless communication device radiation desensitivity brackets could be made reconfigurable, to minimize the sensitivity of proximate circuitry at every frequency of radiation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Wireless device reconfigurable radiation desensitivity bracket systems and methods


Provided are a shift register unit, a shift register, a display panel and a driving method thereof. The shift register unit includes: an input circuit electrically coupled to an input terminal, a first voltage terminal and a pull-up node; an output circuit electrically coupled to the pull-up node, a first clock terminal, a first scan control terminal, a first output terminal and a second output terminal; and a scan control circuit electrically coupled to the second output terminal, a second voltage terminal and a second scan control terminal. The input circuit is configured to write a first voltage provided by the first voltage terminal into the pull-up node in response to a start signal inputted to the input terminal. The output circuit is configured to output a first clock signal from the first clock terminal via the first output terminal, when the pull-up node is at the first voltage.

With the development of the display technologies, users have higher and higher requirements for display quality. Especially in specific display scenes such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), immersive games and racing sports, a display device has a higher and higher demand for ultra-high resolution and ultra-high refresh or update rate.

Shift register unit, shift register, display panel and driving method thereof

Beijing BOE OptoelectronicsTechnology Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to a method, an access node, an access edge node and a decentralized node for aggregating data traffic over an access domain. The decentralized node corresponds to one of the service providers, and is located in closer proximity with user domains to be serviced. The decentralized node maintains over the access domain one or several Virtual Local Area Networks, for aggregating thereon data traffic to be exchanged with the user domains, on behalf of the service provider domain. To allow proper aggregation of the data traffic, service bindings are created and stored at the access edge node, and further stored at the decentralized node and at the access node. Therefore, aggregation of the data traffic between the decentralized node and the user domains over the access domain is performed in accordance with the created service bindings.

Recent years have seen the explosion of Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Initially developed to allow universities and researchers to communicate and cooperate in research projects, it has grown into networks offered at a mass-market level. Nowadays, it is normal for households to have a connection to an IP network to surf the world-wide-web, play interactive games, carry Voice over IP, download documents and softwares, make electronic business transactions, etc.
Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which represents a prior art example of an IP network 100. Typically, an IP network is composed of an access domain 115, network service provider domains 140 and application service provider domains 150. The access domain 115 includes Access Nodes (AN) 120 and an access network 130, which may itself be an IP sub-network. The ANs 120 are access providers, which can offer access to the IP network 100 to user domains 110. The user domains 110 include for example User Devices (UDs) (such as computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, etc.), Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wireless-LANs (W-LANs). The user domains communicate with the ANs over various possible technologies. Amongst those technologies can be found dial-up connections and Asymmetric Distribution Subscriber Line connections over telephone lines, cable modems connecting over television cable networks, or wireless communications. The access network 130 is composed of a group of independent switches and routers, which task is to switch/route incoming data traffic based on a destination address embedded therein. As for the network service provider domains 140, they may correspond for example to Voice over IP services, while the application service provider domains 150 may correspond to electronic banking and electronic business transactions.
Though FIG. 1 depicts three user domains, two Access Nodes, two service provider domains and two application service domains, IP networks 100 typically include several thousands of user domains, hundreds of Access Nodes, hundreds of network service provider domains and application service provider domains. As to the access network 130, it is common to encounter networks including hundreds of switches and/or routers. It is thus understood that FIG. 1 depicts a highly simplified IP network 100 for clarity purposes.
The initial principle at the basis of IP networks is to rely on routers, which perform as few and as little operations as possible before routing incoming data traffic towards their final destination. In application, such a principle results in "best effort" networks that result in a trade-off between quality of service and quantity of data traffic. An increased quality of service, for the same number of routers results in a lower quantity of data traffic being transported on those routers. Hence, IP networks have not been designed bearing in mind higher level of quality of service. For those reasons, IP networks have difficulty supporting data traffic for network service provider domains and application service provider domains that require a higher quality of service, and especially more so with the current explosion of user domains.
There is currently no known end-to-end solution to allow IP networks to support a broad range of quality of services, with the increasing number of user domains and network service provider domains and application service provider domains exchanging data traffic. Furthermore, no long-term solution has been identified to allow a tangible and non-destructive solution to the need of increased Quality of Service (QoS) for certain services and applications.
Accordingly, it should be readily appreciated that in order to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings of the existing solutions, it would be advantageous to have a decentralized node, an access node, and an access edge node, along with a method, for efficiently transporting aggregated data traffic between service providers and end-users over an access domain. It would also be an advantage to have a method and nodes that allow for a coordinated usage of the access network while providing various levels of quality of service. The present invention provides such a method and nodes.

Decentralized node, access edge node, and access node for aggregating data traffic over an access domain, and method thereof


The invention relates to novel peptides synthesized according a method utilizing the hypusine reagent:

Hypusine [Nxcex5-(4-amino-2-hydroxybutyl)lysine], or [2S,9R)-2,11-diamino-9-hydroxy-7-azaundecanoic acid], an unusual naturally occurring amino acid, having the structure.
was first isolated from bovine brain extracts by Shiba et al. in 1971 [Biochim. Biophys. Acta. Vol. 244, pages 523-531 (1971)]. The molecule has two chiral centers at positions 2 and 9, each of which can be classified R or S by the Cahn-Ingold-Prelog method. The (2S,9R) diastereomer (B), formed as a post-translational modification
of lysine, has been shown to occur on a precursor protein of the eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (formerly called elF-4D) [Cooper et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol. 80, pages 1854-1857 (1983); and Safer, Eur. J Biochem., Vol. 186, pages 1-3 (1989)]. This initiation factor 5A is unique in that it is the only known cellular protein that contains the amino acid hypusine (Hpu). In the mid-1970""s elF-5A was shown to stimulate ribosomal subunit joining and to enhance 80 S-bound Met-t-RNA, reactivity with puromycin [Anderson et al., FEBS Lett., Vol. 76, pages 1-10 (1977); and Kemper et al., J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 251, pages 5551-5557 (1976)]. Later, in 1983, Cooper et al., supra, suggested that a hypusine-modified protein serves as an important initiation factor in all growing eukaryotic cells. In 1986, Park et al., J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 261, pages 14515-14519 (1986)] isolated the elF-5A protein from human red blood cells and elucidated the amino acid sequences surrounding the single hypusine residue, as Thr-Gly-Hpu-His-Gly-His-Ala-Lys (SEQ ID NO: 1). Furthermore, and most interesting because of the potential application to the control of HIV replication [Bevec et al., J. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol. 91, pages 10829-10833 (1994); and Ruhl et al., J. Cell Biol., Vol. 123, pages 1309-1320 (1994)], the synthesis of elF-5A analogues are of great therapeutic significance.
Since hypusine is specific to elF-5A, antibodies derived from hypusine-containing peptides could be used to quantitate the levels of elF-5A directly and with high specificity. Interest in developing an antibody assay of elF-5A to investigate the physiological role of this important initiation factor prompter total synthesis of hypusine and its (2S,9R)-diastereomer [Bergeron et al., J. Org. Chem., Vol. 58, pages 6804-6806 (1993)]. The key step in the synthesis involved the Nxcex5-alkylation of Nxcex5-benzyl-Nxcex1-carbobenzyloxy-(L)-lysine benzyl ester with (R)- or (S)- epichlorohydrin to give the respective (2S,9R)- and (2S,9S)-chlorohydrins. Subsequent displacement of the respective chlorides by cyanide ion provided the protected hypusine skeletons. The final step, hydrogenation over PtO2 in AcOH, followed by neutralization and re-acidification, yielded the respective (2S,9S)- and (2S,9R)-hypusine dihydrochlorides. A comparison of the reported hypusine optical rotation with that of the synthetic (2S, 9R)-hypusine B confirmed the stereochemical integrity of both chiral centers throughout the synthesis.
Synthetic methodology for accessing hypusine itself exists and it was desirable to have a selectively-protected hypusine reagent which could be used to incorporate this unusual amino acid into selected peptides. Copending application Ser. No.: 08/962,300, filed Oct. 31, 1997 entitled xe2x80x9cHypusine Reagent for Peptide Synthesis,xe2x80x9d now U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,113 the entire contents and disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference, describes a selectively protected hypusine reagent useful for incorporating hypusine into peptides, as well as methods for preparation of the hypusine reagent.
It is an object of the present invention to provide novel hypusine-containing peptides, as well as methods for their synthesis utilizing the above-described hypusine reagent.
The above and other objects are realized by the present invention, one embodiment of which relates to novel peptides containing the hypusine moiety.
More specifically, the present invention relates to novel hypusine-containing peptides synthesized utilizing the hypusine reagent:
wherein: Q1, Q2 and Q3 may be the same or different and are amino protective groups, provided that Q3 is orthogonal to Q1 and Q2; and
Z is a hydroxy protective group.
A further embodiment of the invention relates to compounds of structure (2)
xe2x80x83Sxe2x80x94Hpuxe2x80x94Txe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
which may be synthesized using hypusine reagent (1), wherein Hpu is the hypusine amino acid residue, S and T are each independently peptide residues from zero to about 12 amino acids in length. Compounds of the invention find utility in the study of biochemical processes involving hypusine.
Another embodiment of the invention concerns improved methods of peptide synthesis wherein the above-described hypusine reagent is employed to prepare novel hypusine-containing peptides.

Abstract: wherein: Q1 Q2 and Q3 may be the same or different and are amino protective groups, provided that Q3 is orthogonal to Q1 and Q2; and

Abstract: Z is a hydroxy protective group,

Abstract: as well as improved methods of peptide synthesis wherein the above-described hypusine reagent is employed to prepare novel hypusine-containing peptides.

University of Florida Research Foundation


An International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number transmitted by a mobile station is first analyzed by the serving mobile switching center (MSC) associated with an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based SS7 network. If the received IMSI number instead belongs to an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-based SS7 network, the serving MSC prepends a country code representing the mobile subscriber to the received IMSI number. The least significant digits of the resulting number are further truncated to conform to the E.214 standard (the maximum length of fifteen digits). A Mobile Application Part (MAP) based signal, such as a location update signal, is transmitted utilizing the generated E.214 number as the Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) called party number parameter and routed to an international gateway connecting the ITU-T based SS7 network with the ANSI based SS7 network. The international gateway deletes the country code prepended to the IMSI number from the received MAP signal and forwards the MAP signal to the destination node within the ANSI based SS7 network.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a telecommunications network and, in particular, to the conversion of a routing address within a Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) signal.
2. Description of Related Art
Whenever a mobile station travels into a new Mobile Switching Center (MSC) coverage area or turns on its unit for the first time, the mobile station attempts to register with the serving MSC by transmitting an associated identification number known as the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number to the serving MSC. The serving MSC then communicates with the particular home location register (HLR) which stores subscriber information associated with the mobile station to inform the HLR of the mobile station's new location and to retrieve the requisite subscriber information from the HLR. Accordingly, the serving MSC, the HLR, and the connecting telecommunications network must have a mechanism for communicating signals between the serving MSC and the HLR. For example, North America and Europe each has its own particular addressing mechanism for communicating a signal between a particular MSC and an HLR within its own Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) network. However, there exist certain differences between these two addressing mechanisms which prevent an MSC located within one SS7 network to communicate with an HLR located within the other SS7 network.
North America currently follows the E.212 based addressing mechanism whereas Europe follows the E.214 based addressing mechanism. E.212 and E.214 are address formats and syntax enunciated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for routing signals and data within a particular SS7 telecommunications network. One example of a system based on the E.212 addressing mechanism in the United States is the Personal Communications System (PCS) 1900 telecommunications network. On the other hand, an example of a system based on the E.214 addressing mechanism in Europe is the Global System for Mobile (GSM) telecommunications network. The PCS network uses the received IMSI number (E.212) from the mobile station to route a signal to an HLR within the North American Signaling System No. 7 (SS7) telecommunications network. In contrast, the GSM system modifies the received IMSI number to another number called Mobile Global Title (MGT, E.214) and uses the MGT number to route a signal to an HLR within the European SS7 telecommunications network.
Because one SS7 network does not contain translation data for handling the address number specified by the other SS7 network, the North America SS7 telecommunications network cannot currently route signals using the MGT number and the European SS7 telecommunications network similarly cannot route signals using the IMSI number. Consequently, when a mobile station associated with a United States service provider roams into an European country, there exists an incompatibility from a network signaling stand point. The serving MSC associated with the European SS7 telecommunications network cannot communicate a Mobile Application Part (MAP) based signal with the HLR located within the United States. Without performing the location update procedure, the HLR does not know where the mobile station is currently located and the serving MSC is not provided with the requisite subscriber information (e.g., billing information) for providing the requested mobile service to the roaming mobile station.
A number of proposals have been introduced to solve the above addressing incompatibility existing between the PCS and the GSM systems. One such proposal suggests changing the European SS7 telecommunications network to also route signals using the IMSI (E.212) number. Even though this proposal would establish global compatibility, all associated signal transfer points (STPs) and signal handling nodes within the European SS7 telecommunications network have to be modified at great costs and effort. Even if all the European countries could agree to make such modifications, this would be an enormous undertaking.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to enable the routing of MAP based signals from the European SS7 telecommunications network to the North American SS7 telecommunications network without mandating major changes or impacts on the existing networks.

Coverting a routing address within a telecommunications network


A computerized method and system for adding distortions to a computer-generated image of a document stored in an image file. An original computer-generated image file is selected and is processed to generate one or more distorted image files for each original computer-generated image file by selecting one or more augmentation modules from a set of augmentation modules to form an augmentation sub-system. The original computer-generated image file is processed with the augmentation sub-system to generate an augmented image file by altering the original computer-generated image file to add distortions that simulate distortions introduced during scanning of a paper-based representation of a document represented in the original computer-generated image file.

Accurate identification and extraction of data from business documents is an important aspect of computerized processing of business documents. Some business documents are exchanged in an electronic format that permits automatic, or semi-automatic importation of required information into a computer program for processing. A large volume of business documents however are exchanged in an image format, such as paper, or an electronic representation of an image format, such in Portable Document Format (PDF), or other image formats (TIFF, JPEG, etc.). Typically, such business documents are structured in some way to facilitate at least visual recognition of pertinent fields in the document. Automating the processing of such documents is challenging due to the variability in formatting and image quality in such documents. Often, such documents are received in paper form and scanned to generate an image file, which is then processed in a workflow to extract relevant information. Automated recognition of the fields and associated values in a document can greatly enhance the efficiency with which such documents are processed. Typically, for a particular type of document, such as an invoice, expense report or purchase order, there will be variability in the specific information contained. While any particular type of business document will have a number of fields that are necessary, and commonly found, such fields will be formatted differently among different documents and will be positioned differently on the document. Moreover, even if two documents have the same fields and are in the same format, there may be visually perceptible differences, such as from scanning artifacts and different image resolutions, that can prove challenging to automated scanning and recognition systems. Machine learning systems, such as those that employ Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), are increasingly employed to facilitate recognition of information in image documents. Typically, machine learning systems improve with increasing amounts of data, and large data sets are often required to achieve satisfactory performance of the machine learning system. In a business context, it can be challenging to obtain the large variety of documents needed for adequate machine learning as often such data is confidential, or prohibitively expensive. Accordingly, there is a need for improved computerized systems and methods for generating document images of the type that are useful in training a learning-based document image recognition system.

Synthetic augmentation of document images


An electrochromic mirror includes an electrically conductive reflective film capable of reflecting light that is incident thereto and having electrical conductivity in which plural fine penetration holes are formed, an electrochromic film that is provided at a side of the electrically conductive reflective film at which the light is incident and reflected, an electrically conductive film that is provided at a side of the electrically conductive reflective film that is opposite from the electrochromic film, and an electrolytic solution that contains lithium ions and is enclosed between the electrically conductive film and the electrically conductive reflective film. The plural penetration holes formed in the electrically conductive reflective film penetrate in a thickness direction thereof, and a ratio between a distance between respective centers of the penetration holes and an inner peripheral diameter dimension of the penetration holes is 7 or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrochromic mirror that is used, for example, in a rearview outer mirror or rearview inner mirror of a vehicle, and in which reflectance is changed by applying a voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,636, an electrochromic mirror is disclosed, in which an electrochromic film is colored due to the electrochromic film undergoing a reduction reaction, whereby transmission of reflected light is reduced, resulting in reflectance of light being reduced.
In the configuration disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,636, plural holes are formed in an electrically conductive reflective film, but due to simply forming the holes, there is a possibility that reflectance will be lowered, diffractive scattering of light will occur, or the like, whereby a clear reflected image cannot be obtained.
Thus, an electrochromic mirror is demanded which can prevent or effectively suppress the occurrence of problems, such as reflectance being greatly reduced or the like, and can obtain a clear reflected image, even when a configuration is provided in which holes are formed in an electrically conductive reflective film.

National University Corporation Nagoya University


A method and a system for determining a remaining time before failure of a motor system are provided. The method and the system determine the remaining time before failure based on historical motor data and operational parameter data associated with the motor system.

The present invention relates to a system and method for determining reliability and forecasting, with an ascertained statistical confidence, a remaining time before failure for electric motor systems including an insulation condition monitor.
Acquisition of accurate information concerning the running condition, status and performance of motor systems, such as, for example, electric motors used in "critical" industrial manufacturing processes, power generation systems and the like, is often crucial in maintaining successful commercial operation of such systems. Consequently, considerable efforts are often expended to develop and improve upon existing methods and apparatuses used for monitoring and assessing the operation and performance of electric motors and coil devices in such systems. Robust methods of inspection are often desired for such critical process motors, since if a motor must be taken off-line, its inoperability may adversely impact production and manufacturing processes or other revenue generating capacity.
Robust processes for the inspection and predictive maintenance of motor systems usually involve monitoring a variety of operational parameters such as motor current, voltage, vibration, flux leakage, etc. to detect impending failures. Conventionally, one or more parameters are monitored over time and used to trigger a maintenance outage/recommendation when the value of a monitored parameter exceeds a predetermined threshold. The contemporary technological trend is to automate the inspection process by affixing a variety of sensors and transducers to critical process motors to continuously collect information through either off-line monitoring or on-line monitoring techniques. Parameter data for an operating motor may then be tracked continuously and an alarm may be immediately triggered if a predetermined threshold value for a particular parameter is exceeded. For example, vibration amplitude or spectral data that exceeds or drifts from a predetermined range or value can be used to activate an alarm to notify the equipment operator that a particular type of failure mode is imminent. Unfortunately, these conventional inspection and predictive maintenance processes typically target only imminent failures and do not provide a quantitative determination of remaining motor life or motor reliability.
In general, service and repair information acquired as a result of previous inspections and routine maintenance of motor equipment is not compiled for the purpose of performing predictive/prognostic maintenance or conducting a comprehensive analysis of motor health. Conventionally, a motor system expert/specialist simply assesses available historical information and then formulates a maintenance recommendation based on obvious trends and personal experience. A decision to repair or perform maintenance on a particular motor system was based on an estimate of the reliability and usability of the equipment developed primarily from the expert's subjective judgment. In other instances, preventive maintenance is based solely on the number of hours of motor operation or the time since the last maintenance outage, rather than on any condition-based test results. Moreover, even if it was desirable for a motor operator/technician or monitoring specialist to collect test data or parametric operating data from a particular motor system for performing a more detailed analysis, access to conventional digital land line communications for uploading such data is often not available at the motor system site.
The use of motor operational parameter data as a failure predictive tool and to assess motor health has been explored to some extent in the past by various investigators. Different motor system parameters may be used for this purpose and may include motor system "unbalances" such as negative sequence currents, and voltage mismatch. In one example, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) signature of motor current was shown capable of detecting motor bearing failures. In another example, an algorithm for performing cluster analysis on the motor supply current FFT was investigated in the hopes of predicting motor life uncertainty. However, most known conventional methods provide only a general warning of imminent motor failure based on the detection of an alarm condition from a single monitored parameter. Typically, such methods do not provide an assessment of motor reliability, nor do they provide an estimate of the operating time remaining until a repair will be needed.
Given the problems discussed above, it is desirable to design a method and system capable of gathering and analyzing on-line motor parameters. It is also desirable to provide cost effective methods for transmitting motor parameters between a motor system and a local area network. Additionally, it is desirable to develop a method and system capable of gathering and analyzing on-line motor parameters that enable a prediction of motor reliability and estimated operating time until a repair will be needed based on an insulation condition of the motor system.

Method and system for predicting remaining life for motors featuring on-line insulation condition monitor


A vibrating device having vibrating arms connected to a supporter. The vibrating arms have an n-type Si layer which is a degenerated semiconductor and an exciter provided on the n-type Si layer. The exciter has a piezoelectric thin film and a first and second electrodes with the piezoelectric thin film interposed therebetween.

Conventionally, micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) which have an exciter configured to include a piezoelectric thin film provided on an Si semiconductor layer are known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a vibrating device wherein one ends of a plurality of vibrating arms are each connected to a supporter. In this vibrating device, the vibrating arms have each an Si semiconductor layer, and an SiO2 film is provided on the Si semiconductor layer. On the SiO2 film, a first electrode, a piezoelectric thin film, and a second electrode are laminated in this order. More specifically, the exciter including the piezoelectric thin film is constituted on the Si semiconductor layer. The vibrating device disclosed in Patent Literature 1 uses bulk waves.
Since the exciter is provided on the Si semiconductor layer, a vibrator with a high Q value can be constituted. In the vibrating device disclosed in Patent Literature 1, an SiO2 film with a relatively large thickness of 2 μm or more is provided to improve temperature characteristics.
Disclosed in Patent Literature 2 is a surface acoustic wave semiconductor device including an n-type Si substrate doped with P. It is said that elastic coefficients and velocities of surface acoustic waves can be changed by using the n-type Si substrate doped with P and the temperature characteristics can be improved thereby.    Patent Literature 1: U.S. Pat. No. 8,098,002    Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-162513

Vibrating device and manufacturing method therfor


The document management device is for managing a document circulated to a reader in accordance with a circulation tree and additional information added to the document by the reader. The circulation tree indicates the circulation order of plural readers. The device includes: document circulation unit for enabling the nth (n is an integer not less than 2) reader to read the n−1th generation document data cumulatively including the 1st additional information to the n−1th additional information added, by the first reader to the n−1th reader respectively, to the 0th generation document data readable by the first reader of the circulation tree; recognition unit for recognizing the nth additional information added by the nth reader as electronic data; and additional information management unit for managing the nth additional information by associating it with the 0th generation document data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document management device and a document management method for managing documents circulated to readers in turn via network and additional information added to the documents by the readers.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are proposed various circulation systems for circulating document data automatically via network and electronic approval systems. Further, in a work flow of document deliberation, there is a usage example in which a person requesting deliberation circulates a deliberation document to readers, and each of them writes comments in the original document and the comments are gathered by a handwriting recognition system. As a technique for recognizing comments written in the original document as described above, there is one in which image data of the original electronic file is processed to be expanded and is aligned with a retouched printed matter, and difference information is extracted by exclusive OR, and the original document data and the difference information are saved, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-341914. Further, there is a technique in which code information is read out from a printed matter so as to read out original data, and a handwritten memo which is a difference between the original data and the printed matter is extracted, and output can be performed by selecting the memo only, the original only or both, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-80601. Further, there is a technique in which handwritten data and print data are synthesized and displayed, and the handwritten data is edited on the display screen, and the print data and the handwritten data synthesized are stored while being associated to each other, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2004-328451. Further, there is a technique in which a file name is written by hand in a file name field of a manuscript and when scanning is performed, an electronic file is automatically created with the file name, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-74321.
However, the conventional techniques described above are separate systems such as a circulation system and a handwriting recognition system, so it is required to configure a system by installing, into a PC, a separate dedicated application for each. Therefore, preparation for using them actually is troublesome. Further, since they are separate independent systems, initial registration and progress management of documents must be performed separately, which causes a number of work units. In addition, a user in charge thereof must handle corresponding to each system and application, which causes a problem of bad operability.
Further, in the usage example of the conventional technique, when a document in which comments are written by a plurality of readers is circulated, comments from the readers to which the document has been circulated cannot be referred to, so the same comments may be repeated. Further, if comments written in each circulation are managed by each deliberation document circulated, management becomes complicated and uniform management cannot be performed.

Document management device and document management method

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


An assembly comprises a valve, a valve seal, and a piece of epoxy. The valve comprises a valve gate, a housing, and a plurality of screws. The housing comprises a fluid passageway and a groove that extends into the housing from the fluid passageway. Each of the screws extends into the groove of the housing. The valve gate is movable relative to the housing between an opened and closed position. The valve seal is positioned at least partially within the groove. The piece of epoxy surrounds at least a portion of each of the screws and has a geometry that is interlocked with the valve seal and with each of the screws in a manner securing the valve seal to each of the screws and in a manner such that the valve seal is positioned to compress against the valve gate when the valve gate is in the closed position.

The present invention pertains to the field of fluid shutoff valves. More particularly, the present invention pertains to valve seals that create seals between valve gates and valve housings.
Various types of fluid shutoff valves are utilized in numerous and different applications. While different styles of valves operate in different manners, each valve generally comprises a valve housing having a fluid passageway therethrough and a gate that moves relative to the housing in a manner such that the fluid passageway can be selectively and alternatively closed or opened. A butterfly valve, for example, typically comprises a circular or oval discoidal gate positioned within the fluid passageway of a valve housing at a location where the fluid passageway has a circular or oval cross-section. The gate of a butterfly valve is typically pivotal back and forth about a pivot axis that bisects the gate and that is oriented generally parallel to the opposite circular or oval faces of the discoidal gate. The pivot axis is also typically oriented perpendicular to fluid passageway in a manner bisecting the fluid passageway. The gate is typically dimensioned such that it is capable of completely or substantially blocking the fluid passageway when the gate is pivoted such that its opposite circular or oval faces are generally parallel or nearly parallel to the circular cross-section of the fluid passageway. The gate can be pivoted from this closed position to a fully opened position where its opposite circular or oval faces are oriented generally perpendicular to the circular cross-section of the fluid passageway. In such an opened position, the gate only minimally impedes fluid from flowing through the fluid passageway of the valve.
Some butterfly valves, such as large butterfly valves used for controlling the flow of water through dams, also comprise one or more valve seals configured to form a seal between the gate and the wall of the housing surrounding the gate when the gate is in the closed position. Each valve seal is typically partially positioned within an arcuate groove that extends radially outward into the housing wall from the fluid passageway. The valve seals can be formed of metal, rubber, polymeric material, or various other suitable materials. In some valves, the valve seals are substantially rigid and can be repositioned or adjusted in a manner to achieve the greatest congruency between the valve seals and the gate when the gate is in the closed position. In some valves, the valve seals may be resiliently deflectable in a manner such that they can resiliently deflect against the gate when the gate is in the closed position, and thereby maximize congruency.
Several design considerations influence the configuration of valve seals in butterfly valves. One such consideration is that very large pressure differentials across a gate of a butterfly valve may exist when the gate is in its closed position and the a valve seal must be able to maintain a seal between the housing and the gate while experiencing such pressure differentials. Additionally, when the gate of butterfly valve is in its opened position, high fluid flow rates through the valve may create pressure differentials between the fluid passageway and the grooves in which the valve seals are positioned. These pressure differentials act to draw the valve seals out of the grooves. As such, the valve seals must be firmly retained in the channels of the valve housing, even when not engaged with the gate.

Valve seal and method of installing a valve seal


A steel-made rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw improved in both the rolling contact fatigue life at the raceway and the static fracture strength (torsional strength) at the claw includes a joint claw at one end, and has a portion of the outer cylindrical surface functioning as a raceway of a needle roller qualified as a rolling element of a needle bearing. The joint claw is subjected to tempering by induction heating. A nitrogen-enriched layer is formed at the surface layer of the rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw. The grain size number of austenite grains in the nitrogen-enriched layer exceeds number 10. The hydrogen content of the rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw is not more than 0.5 ppm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw, particularly a steel-made rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw at an end, and having a portion of the outer cylindrical surface functioning as the raceway of a rolling element of a bearing.
2. Description of the Background Art
There are cases where a rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw is employed as a shaft component to transmit momentum. The rolling-contact shaft includes a claw formed at an end, coupled to another adjacent shaft, and has a portion of the outer cylindrical surface functioning as the raceway of a rolling element of a bearing. For example, a rolling-contact shaft employed in a brake actuator may have a portion of the outer cylindrical surface surrounded by a needle roller qualified as a rolling element arranged in contact with a portion thereof, and supported rotatably by a needle roller bearing absent of an inner ring. In other words, the rolling-contact shaft serves a function equivalent to an inner ring, and a portion of the outer cylindrical surface thereof functions as a raceway of a needle roller qualified as a rolling element.
When such a rolling-contact shaft is employed, rolling contact fatigue life is required at the portion of the outer cylindrical surface thereof. To this end, medium carbon steel for machine structural use (such as S53C of JIS: Japanese Industrial Standard) is employed for the raw material of the rolling-contact shaft, taking into consideration the configuration of the shaft, the manufacturing cost, and the like. Additionally, the region where hardness is required such as the region corresponding to the raceway is subjected to high frequency induction heat treatment (induction hardening). In the case where flaking will occur at the rolling-contact shaft earlier than at the bearing that supports the rolling-contact shaft, high carbon chromium bearing steel (such as SUJ2 of the JIS) is employed for the raw material in order to improve the rolling contact fatigue life of the rolling-contact shaft, and the rolling-contact shaft is subjected to high-frequency induction heat treatment (induction hardening), bright heat treatment, carbonitriding heat treatment (carbonitriding quenching), and the like. Further, manganese steel for machine structural use (such as SMn420 of the JIS), manganese chromium steel (such as SMnC420 of the JIS), chromium steel (such as SCr420 of the JIS), chromium molybdenum steel (such as SCM415 of the JIS), nickel chromium steel (such as SNC415 of the JIS), nickel chromium molybdenum steel (SNCM420 of the JIS) or the like may be employed, and subjected to high frequency induction heat treatment (induction hardening), carburizing heat treatment including high density carburizing (carburizing quenching), carbonitriding heat treatment (carbonitriding quenching), or the like.
In recent years, there is the demand for reduction in size, weight, and space of components such as brake actuators. In view of such demand, the approach of forming a joint claw at an end of the rolling-contact shaft employed as a component for a brake actuator and the like, directed to reducing space, has been employed (refer to Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 06-247253 and 06-286577). Such a rolling-contact shaft with a joint claw allows direct connection between shafts without having to use a coupling that is the general member to establish connection between shafts, and also contributes to reducing the number of employed components to suppress the manufacturing cost as well as to reduce space.
The demand for reduction in size, weight, and space for components such as brake actuators also induces the demand for reduction in size, weight and space for bearings employed in such components. For example, in the case where the needle roller bearing is reduced in size in a rolling-contact shaft supported rotatably by the aforementioned needle roller bearing absent of an inner ring, the rolling-contact shaft serving a function equivalent to an inner ring is also reduced in size and has a smaller outer diameter. This means that, in the case where the same load is applied, the contact pressure between the needle roller and the outer cylindrical surface of the rolling-contact shaft will increase. As a result, the rolling contact fatigue life must be improved at a region of that outer cylindrical surface of the rolling-contact shaft. When the rolling-contact shaft is connected to another member through its joint claw in the case where the rolling-contact shaft is reduced in size, the torsional stress loaded on the claw is increased, necessitating an improvement in the torsional strength of the claw portion.
In order to improve the rolling contact fatigue life of the rolling-contact shaft, various measures are possible such as increasing the hardness of the raceway, increasing the alloy contents such as Cr contained in the steel raw material, applying carburizing or carbonitriding heat treatment, or the like. It is to be noted that such approaches may not necessarily improve the static fracture strength such as the torsional strength of the claw, and, in some cases, may degrade the strength instead. It was therefore difficult to achieve an improvement in both the rolling contact fatigue life at the raceway of the rolling-contact shaft and also the torsional strength of the claw region through the conventional approaches of improving the rolling contact fatigue life set forth above.


Apparatus and methods for signal generation, reception, and calibration involving quadrature modulation and frequency conversion. Embodiments of the present invention provide extremely wide bandwidth, high spectral purity, versatility and adaptability in configuration, and ease of calibration, and are particularly well-adapted for use in integrated circuitry.

Generating broadband quadrature-modulated signals presents a number of challenges in achieving wide bandwidth and spectral purity, in shaping the waveform, in eliminating spurious components and non-linearities from the delivered signal, and in calibrating the quadrature modulation. Receiving and demodulating the signals presents similar challenges, particularly in cases of frequency conversion relating to image rejection and local oscillator (LO) leakage at the intermediate frequency (IF). Another issue involves quadrature imbalance at the local oscillator, where imbalances occurring at different points in the transmit/receive path are typically inseparable and are therefore not readily correctable. Thus, it would be desirable to have apparatus and methods for generating and receiving quadrature-modulated signals having not only wide bandwidth and spectral purity, but also featuring ease of calibration and rejection of undesirable artifacts in the signal. This goal is met by embodiments of the present invention.

Apparatus and methods for signal generation, reception, and self-calibration


A filter element has a wavy filter portion including a plurality of ridges of a filter material, which are juxtaposed to one another and closed at their sides, and a flange portion extending along a mounting plane around the filter portion for supporting the filter portion. The flange portion is made of the same filter material extending from the filter portion, by compressing the filter material more densely than the filter portion. The filter element is manufactured by a step of preparing an intermediate product of a wavy sheet, and a step of forming the filter portion by leaving the central portion of the wavy intermediate product as in the wavy sheet, and forming the flange portion around the filter portion for supporting the filter portion, by pressing the side portions of the ridges of the wavy intermediate product along the mounting plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filter element and a process for manufacturing the same for utilization in an air cleaner for an internal combustion engine of an automobile.
2. Description of Related Art
With a view to improve the filter area and the strength, to reduce the price and to facilitate the material recycle, a variety of filter elements have been proposed conventionally.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-85561, for example, there has been disclosed a technique by which a cup-shaped filter portion and a flange portion around the outer periphery of the filter portion are formed of paper. In this prior art, moreover, the filter portion is given a necessary strength by forming thick and thin portions.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-57293, on the other hand, there has been disclosed an element in which a wavy sheet filter material and a cotton filter material are laminated. According to this technique, it has been proposed to form a flange portion for supporting the filter, by closing the side faces of the wavy sheet with the cotton filter material and by compressing the cotton filter material.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-315604, on the other hand, there has been a proposal for closing the wavy sheet side faces by pressing down the waves at the side faces of the wavy sheet filter material.
In European Patent Publication No. 049016B1, on the other hand, there has been a proposal for adhering or welding a separate flange portion to a wavy sheet filter material.
These techniques are effective for facilitating the recycling because the wavy sheet filter portion and the enclosing portion are made of a similar material.
According to the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-85561, however, it has been difficult to enhance only the strength of the flange portion. According to the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-57293, on the other hand, there is a problem that the manufacture process is complicated because two kinds of different materials, i.e., the wavy material and the cotton-shaped material are required. Because of the construction having the cotton-shaped filter material positioned upstream, moreover, another problem is that it is difficult to retain a sufficiently wide filter area. Still moreover, since the flange portion is formed by pressing only the wavy sheet filter material and the cotton-shaped filter material to be doubly laminated, still another problem is that a high rigidity cannot be obtained from the flange portion.
According to the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 315604/1994, on the other hand, the flange portion for supporting the filter element in the housing has to be separately prepared and adhered.
According to the technique of European Patent Publication No. 049016B1, on the other hand, since the flange portion is separately prepared and adhered, there has been a drawback in the complicated manufacture process and in the increase in the number of parts.

Process for manufacturing a filter element


A traffic control method in a hierarchical mobile communication system which has mobile stations, a microcell network primarily intended to be used by mobile stations of a relatively lower transmitting power class, and a macrocell network which at least partly overlays the microcell network and is primarily intended to be used by mobile stations of a relatively higher transmitting power class to control traffic by a handover so that, apart from measurements of the radio path, the transmitting power class of the mobile station and the cell type of the neighboring cell are also taken into account in the handover decision so that only a neighboring cell of the cell type which the mobile station should primarily use on the basis of its transmitting power class is selected as the target cell for the handover.

The geographical area covered by a typical cellular mobile systems is divided into smaller radio coverage areas, cells, to achieve a more efficient utilization of the frequency band through frequency re-use. The size of cells varies from a mobile system to another as well as geographically within a mobile system, depending on a multitude of factors, such as the capacity required (number of channels, terrain, transmitting power levels, etc.). One factor which influences cell size is the maximum transmitting power of a mobile station. The mobile stations in conventional mobile systems were vehicle-mounted high-power radio stations. In addition to these, small hand-held mobile stations have emerged; these mobile stations have a considerably lower transmitting power than the vehicle-mounted stations in order to reduce power consumption, for example. These hand-held mobile stations have a considerably smaller range of operation and, as a result, the cell size must also be smaller.
In modern mobile communication systems, both low-power hand-held mobile stations and vehicle-mounted mobile stations that have a higher output power are used side by side. Further, hierarchical networks with geographically at least partly overlaying large macrocells and small microcells have been employed in the mobile communication systems. It would be advantageous if high-power mobile stations were assigned to a macrocell network, and low-power hand-held mobile stations to a microcell network. Because the high-power vehicle-mounted stations, moreover, usually move in the network with higher speed than the hand-held mobile phones, the use of macrocells results in a smaller number of handovers. The hand-held mobile stations are, in turn, relatively immobile and thus the number of handovers will not be unreasonable even in a dense microcell network. A handover between two microcells is usually made on the basis of the criteria of the radio connection, on the basis of the level or quality of the received signal, for example. The system may, in addition, include other handover types, such as a power budget handover.
A deficiency in the present-day networks which are hierarchically divided into microcells and macrocells is that there is no way of making it possible to direct mobile stations to macrocells and microcells according to their power levels, in other words, low power mobile stations to microcells, and high power mobile stations to macrocells. As a result, a mobile station may unnecessarily use a cell which fits worse to it as far as the cell size is concerned, which results in an inefficient utilization of the network capacity and may cause a considerable increase in the number of handovers.

Traffic control method in a hierarchical communication system


The light source is a low-coherence light source, and the optical path is regulated so that the reflected light from the upper surface of each metal wire and that from the reference surface interfere with each other during the first measuring operation, and so that the reflected light from the small regional surface of the conductive layer and that from the reference surface interfere with each other during the second measuring operation. The light detecting surface is divided into a plurality of detecting unit regions, and obtains interference fringe information corresponding to the upper surfaces of the metal wires or the general shape of the first or second virtual contact surface engaged with the small regional surfaces of the conductive layer on the basis of the light intensity averaged and detected with respect to the detecting unit regions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interferometer for measuring shapes, and more particularly to an interferometer capable of being utilized to measure the coplanarity (identical planarity and flatness) of a plurality of linear circuit wires arranged with a high density on a substrate in various kinds of displays, such as a plasma display and EL, and a semiconductor wafer and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increasing of the degree of integration, and an increase in the scale and area of display elements, such as a plasma display, and electronic parts and semiconductor elements and the like have been progressed, and the refining and lamination with the advance of the techniques needed for this progress of circuit wires are being forwarded. In a process for manufacturing such elements, the securing, etc. of a sectional area of wires, which are necessary for securing the insulation between wires, the preventing of the wires from being broken, the securing of the insulation between the laminated layers, and the operating of the elements properly are important problems.
The techniques for coating wires, which are formed on an element substrate by etching a metal film, with an insulating layer so as to secure the insulation between the wires, prevent the breaking of wires, secure the insulation between laminated layers of wires, and the like; flattening an upper surface of the insulating layer by polishing the same by a lapping machine and the like; and thereby solving the problems encountered in a lamination operation have been known well. In this method, it is necessary that the polishing operation be carried out as the thickness of an insulating layer on the wires is strictly controlled so as to secure the insulation between the wires and between the layers (refer to JP-A-8-240413).
However, in the method of forming wires by etching a metal film, an aspect ratio (ratio of the width of wires to the thickness of the metal film) becomes excessively large with the advancement of the refining of the wires. This makes it difficult to obtain a desired sectional shape of wires when the etching techniques are utilized. As a result, the securing of the sectional area of the wires needed to work the elements properly, and the occurrence of imperfect insulation and the like between the wires due to the remaining etched metal film become problems. In order to solve the problems, a process for making grooves for the wires in a film type insulator formed on the substrate in advance, forming a metal film on the insulator including the surface of the interior of the grooves, subjecting this metal film to a chemical and mechanical polishing process uniformly to the surface of the insulator, and thereby eliminating the metal on the insulator so as to leave only the metal in the grooves as wires has become to be employed. In this method, it is necessary that the depth of the grooves formed by the etching of the insulator be controlled with a high accuracy for the purpose of obtaining a sectional area required for the wiring operation (refer to JP-A-2002-048519).
Moreover, a means for forming a negative image of a wire pattern by photoresist members on a metal film formed on a semiconductor substrate, and forming wires by plating an upper surface of an exposed metal wire pattern with a metal, such as gold by a plating method is also known. In this method, plating current leakage occurs in a circumferential portion of the substrate to cause in some cases the thickness of a plated film in the central and circumferential portions to vary. Therefore, it is necessary that the height distribution of the upper surfaces of the metal wires with respect to that of the substrate or photoresist members be controlled (refer to JP-A-5-121403).
In order to carry out such a control operation, it is demanded that the coplanarity of a plurality of linear surfaces to be detected of not only the upper surfaces of the wires, bottom surfaces of the grooves or upper surfaces of plated metal wires but also an upper surface of an insulating layer, an upper surface of the substrate or the upper surfaces of photoresist members.
Methods of measuring the coplanarity of each linear surface to be detected and the flatness of the upper surface of a substrate by locally measuring the height of the upper surface of the substrate viewed from the linear surfaces to be detected and from a position between the linear surfaces to be detected, by using an interference spectroscopic film thickness gauge (JP-A-8-240413), a spot interference method (JP-A-2002-048519), an optical cutting method, a cofocal method, a shaded region measuring method using diagonal illumination (JP-A-2001-298036) and the like have heretofore been known.
However, such measuring methods need to set a plurality of measuring points, so that a lot of time is required to conduct measurement. Especially, these methods are not suited for the in-process measurement.
When the planarity of the substrate is excellent, the linear surfaces to be detected generally come to be flush with one another from a manufacturing stage therefor. Therefore, it is also conceivable that an interference fringe image corresponding to the shape of one flat surface constituting a plurality of linear surfaces to be detected be photographed by using an interferometer for measuring a surface shape, and that the coplanarity of each linear surface to be detected be determined by making an analysis of the same image. However, a virtual surface made of a plurality of linear surfaces to be detected is separated by insulators and the like existing between the linear surfaces to be detected, and does not form one continuous flat surface. The substrate surface or photoresist surface viewed from positions between the linear surfaces to be detected is also separated from each other by the linear surfaces to be detected, and does not form one continuous flat surface. Therefore, it is difficult to measure with a related art interferometer the general shape of the surface to be detected.

Interferometer for measuring virtual contact surfaces


In at least some embodiments, a system includes at least one server to manage voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services. The managed VOIP services provided by the at least one server include a telephony service to establish a calling phase between an initiator device and a mobile target device in response to a call command received from the initiator device, and a streamline call transfer service to transfer a call from the mobile target device to a transfer target device in response to a one-touch transfer command received from the mobile target device during the calling phase.

The ongoing proliferation of wireless smart phones or other mobile devices has provided both public and private users with an unprecedented variety of functions that have extended the reach of dozens of voice and data applications to mobile users. Many of these capabilities, provided by downloadable software applications, provide users of mobile devices with a wide range of specialized functions. Just as in the case of a desktop computer, mobile devices now support a large number of concurrent processes that can be installed to run in the background or on an as-needed basis. The choice of which applications are installed and running are up to the user.
One useful feature of mobile devices in a business environment is taking office calls while traveling. While many private branch exchange (PBX) systems offer a wide selection of call forwarding and call pickup arrangements to transfer calls to mobile devices under a variety of conditions, what is needed is an effective and novel solution that allows the mobile user to quickly send ringing calls back to an office or other transfer target.

VOIP service with streamlined call transfer options