The present invention provides a strained/SGOI structure that includes an active device region of a relaxed SiGe layer, a strained Si layer located atop the relaxed SiGe layer, a raised source/drain region located atop a portion of the strained Si layer, and a stack comprising at least a gate dielectric and a gate polySi located on another portion of the strained Si layer; and a raised trench oxide region surrounding the active device region. The present invention also provides a method of forming such a structure. In the inventive method, the gate dielectric is formed prior to trench isolation formation thereby avoiding many of the problems associated with prior art processes in which the trench oxide is formed prior to gate dielectric formation.

Improvements in transport properties, i.e., carrier mobility, through strain have been demonstrated in the operating characteristics of field effect transistors (FETs). For complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, an improvement in device characteristics through carrier mobility has significant potential for the fabrication of very high-speed devices. Strained silicon on a relaxed SiGe substrate is one system where such an improvement occurs.
Experimental research on enhanced carrier mobility MOSFETs caused by strain has concentrated on a strained Si layer grown on a relaxed SiGe layer that is located on a bulk semiconductor wafer. MOSFETs fabricated using a strained Si/SiGe system exhibit the following disadvantages: (1) High source/drain junction leakage—the FET source/drain junctions, as well as the channel region, are formed in a strained Si area resulting in higher junction leakage. (2) The Si/SiGe system MOSFET process is not compatible with mainstream CMOS fabrication techniques requiring specially prepared substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. (3) The Si/SiGe system MOSFET process is costly with low production rate.
In addition to the above mentioned drawbacks with strained Si/relaxed SiGe/bulk wafer structures, prior art structures including strained Si formed on a SiGe-on-insulator (SGOI) template (also referred to herein as a strained Si/SGOI structure) exhibit the following unique problems:
(A) Loss of trench isolation oxide during a multiple gate oxide thickness process (which requires an oxide wet etch selectively with the resist mask, adding trench isolation height). A wider range of trench isolation height requires more etching of the polySi gate resulting in potential gate oxide punchthrough.(B) A trench isolation divot forms at the strained Si/trench isolation interface. This can create a short circuit between the strained Si islands due to a gate polySi stringer.(C) A chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) uniformity restriction is imposed or a narrow process window is obtained.(D) A narrow polySi gate over etching window.(E) A limitation of thermal budget during pad oxide growth.(F) Strained Si sidewall exposure and Si loss.
In view of the drawbacks mentioned with the prior art, there is a need for providing a new and improved method of fabricating a strained Si/SGOI structure that overcomes the aforementioned issues recited under items (A)-(F).

Raised STI process for multiple gate ox and sidewall protection on strained Si/SGOI sructure with elevated source/drain

International Business Machines Corporation


An object of the present invention is to provide a colored translucent zirconia sintered body having red color and high translucency. The present invention relates to a zirconia sintered body, characterized by containing 6 to 30 mo % of yttria and 0.1 to 5 mol % of cerium oxide in terms of CeO2, the cerium oxide containing an oxide of trivalent cerium. The zirconia sintered body of the present invention has, in addition of high hardness, diamond luster based on high refractive index inherent in zirconia, deep red color and transparency.

Zirconia sintered body is an excellent ceramic material having high strength and pearly luster. Furthermore, further luxurious feel can be given by giving translucency. Recently, uses as not only the conventional structural member use but a jewelry member and an exterior member of electronic instruments are expanded.
Conventionally, in a zirconia sintered body having increased translucency (Patent Document 1), its color tone was colorless or pale yellow. With expansion of uses of a transparent zirconia sintered body, further colorfully colored sintered body, that is, a colored translucent zirconia sintered body, is being required, while maintaining translucency of the zirconia sintered body. Of such colored translucent zirconia sintered bodies, a colored translucent zirconia sintered body having red color is strongly demanded as a translucent zirconia sintered body having clear coloration that gives particularly rich decorativeness.
Colored translucent zirconia sintered body is heretofore almost not studied. For example, a colored translucent zirconia sintered body having slightly purple color or pink color is merely reported (Patent Document 2). Those sintered bodies have used neodymium oxide or erbium oxide as a major colorant.
However, a translucent zirconia sintered body having high translucency and clear red color has not yet heretofore been obtained.

Red light transmitting zirconia sintered body, method for producing the same, member comprising the sintered body, and jewelry goods and exterior component using the member


An apparatus for attaching a gusset to a panel includes a gusset folder that receives and folds a gusset material to form the gusset. The panel is supported by a sewing table. A sewing machine is positioned relative to the sewing table so as to be able to sew the gusset to the panel. A gusset guide guides the gusset toward a selected edge of the panel so that the gusset is held in substantial alignment with the edge of the panel. An edge detector detects when a next edge of the panel is approaching the sewing machine. A turning mechanism is positioned along the sewing table and is moveable into engagement with the panel. The turning mechanism turns the panel relative to the sewing machine when the edge detector detects the next edge of the panel is approaching the sewing machine.

The present invention relates to sewn articles and sewing operations and, more particularly, to sewn attachment of different pieces of material by gussets.
In the sewn construction of padded articles, such as mattresses and furniture cushions, a padded layer or layers may be enclosed in upholstery and attached by a gusset to an accompanying pad or spring unit. For example, in a pillow-top style mattress, a pillow-top is attached to a panel by a gusset, which in one form is a folded band of material sewn along a fold line of the panel, and then sewn to a flange (which is subsequently stapled to the mattress) along the first edge opposite the fold and sewn to the pillow-top along the second edge opposite the fold, thereby attaching the pad to the mattress. At corners of the panel to which the gusset is sewn, the gusset is mitered at a seam to allow the gusset to turn the ninety degree corner of the mattress. The mitering of the gusset at the corners requires at least one miter cut to be made in the gusset at each right angle corner of the adjoining panel. Each of the mitered corner cuts must be precisely measured and individually sewn so that the gusset forms a closed structure between the mattress and the pillow-top. In a manual assembly process, the gusset is separately constructed by sewing together each leg of the gusset at the mitered corners to form a gusset frame which matches the mattress panel. The gusset is then sewn to the edges of the panel of the mattress by a tape edge. Thereafter, the pillow-top is attached to the other free edge of the gusset by a second tape edge. If the miter cuts at the corners of the gussets are not made at the correct angles, the gusset corner will not have a smooth contour or appearance. Also, in articles where the gusset remains visible, the multiple seams in the gusset are unsightly and vulnerable to separation. Constructing a gusset this way is a tedious manual production process which adds significantly to the cost of producing pillow-top mattresses and similar sewn articles.
Therefore, there is a need for a mattress having a continuously cornered gussets. There is also a need for a system for producing mattresses having continuously cornered gussets. There is also a need for a system that combines the process for sewing the flange and the gusset to the panel, or for a system that eliminates the need for a flange.

Attachment gusset with ruffled corners and system for automated manufacture of same


The present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material which has on a substrate at least one photographic light-sensitive layer comprising a light-sensitive silver halide emulsion containing epitaxial silver halide grains having at least one kind of silver salt epitaxy formed on the surface of silver halide tabular grains acting as a host, a developing agent, a compound capable of forming a dye by a coupling reaction with the oxidation product of said developing agent, and a binder. The present invention provides a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material which few adverse effects on the environment, and which is well suited for the simple and rapid process, and which provides graininess of good and high-sensitivity, and which is especially excellent in storage life.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material for recording images in color photography and a method of forming a color image utilizing the said light-sensitive material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to remarkable development of light-sensitive materials utilizing silver halides, high-quantity color images are now easily obtainable. For example, according to ordinary color photography, a color print is obtained by the process comprising taking a photograph utilizing a color negative film, developing the film, and printing the image information, which is recorded in the color negative film, on color photographic paper in an optical way. Recently, this process has made remarkable progress, and large-scale, color development laboratories, in which a large quantity of color prints are produced in a very efficient way, have spread along with the so-called mini-laboratories which are now in shops and are designed to provide small-scale, relatively small-sized printer processing. Therefore, anybody can enjoy color photography easily.
The color photography, now in common use, reproduces color by the subtractive color process. Generally, a color negative film comprises a transmittable substrate and light-sensitive layers thereon utilizing a silver halide emulsion as a light-sensitive component having a sensitivity to the blue, green or red wavelength region of light, and a so-called color coupler capable of producing a yellow, magenta or cyan dye as a complementary hue of the sensitive wavelength region of the layer and thereby a colored image can be formed by the combination of the above light-sensitive layer capable of forming a dye. A color negative film, which has been exposed while taking a photograph, is developed in a color developer containing an aromatic primary amine developing agent. In this process, the developing agent develops, i.e., reduces the exposed silver halide grains, and the oxidation product of the developing agent, which are formed concurrently with the forgoing reduction, undergoes the coupling-reaction with the color coupler to form a dye. The silver (developed silver) generated by the color development and the unreacted (unexposed) silver halide are removed by means of a bleaching process and fixing process. This creates a color image on the color negative film. Consequently, a color photographic paper which comprises a reflective substrate and light-sensitive layers formed thereon having the same combinations of light-sensitive wave length region and hue to be produced as in the color negative film, is subjected to exposure through the developed negative film, and color-developing, bleaching and fixing processes in the same manner as in the patrone of the negative film to obtain a color print having a color image as a reproduction of an original scene thereon.
Although these systems for forming color prints are widely adopted at the present time, there is a growing demand for a simpler system. First reason for this is that expertise and skilled operation are necessary, due to the requirement of strict control of the composition and the temperature of the processing solution in a processing bath for the above-mentioned procedure consisting of color development, bleaching and fixing. Second reason for this is that closed equipment exclusively for the use in the developing process is often required, due to substances, such as a developing agent and an iron chelate compound, the discharge of which is regulated from the standpoint of environmental protection, contained as a bleaching agent in the processing solution. Third reason for this is that the currently available system does not perfectly fulfill the requirement for a rapid reproduction of image, as the above-mentioned developing process still requires a long time, although the time is shorted by the recent advance in technology.
Based on this background, there has been a strong demand for a simpler and more rapid system which does not utilize the developing agent and bleaching agent now in use for a conventional color image forming system and which accordingly minimizes the adverse effect on the environment.
In recent years, as an attempt to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements, many improved techniques have been proposed. For example, IS & T's 48th Annual Conference Proceedings, pp. 180, discloses a system in which the dye formed in the developing reaction is transferred to a mordant layer and thereafter stripping a light-sensitive material containing developed silver and unreacted silver halide from an image receiving material bearing the mordant layer to separate the developed silver and unreacted silver halide from an image formed by the dye without the use of a bleaching-fixing bath which has been indispensable to a conventional photographic process. However, this technique cannot perfectly solve the environmental problems, because it still needs a developing process by use of a processing bath containing a developing agent.
Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. has proposed a Pictrography System which dispenses with a processing solution containing a developing agent. In this system, a small amount of water is supplied to a light-sensitive material containing a base precursor which reacts with water to generate a base. The light-sensitive material and an image receiving material are placed face to face and heated to promote the developing reaction. This system does not use the aforementioned processing bath and, in this regard, is advantageous with respect to environmental protection.
However, this system cannot be used for photographic recording materials, because, in this system, a formed dye is fixed in a dye-fixing layer and the fixed dye in the layer is viewed. Therefore, a photographic light-sensitive material and a method for forming color images which can be used in this system are greatly desired.
On the other hand, high sensitivity, graininess, storage life, and similar properties are required for silver halide emulsions used in a light-sensitive material from the standpoint of high image quality and toughness. Utilization of tabular grains as one form of sensitivity enhancement technology of silver halide emulsions is known. A process for preparation of tabular grains used in conventional liquid development photographic systems and utilization technologies thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,434,226, 4,439,520, 4,414,310, 4,433,048, 4,414,306 and 4,459,353, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) Nos. 59-99433, 62-209445 and the like.
In Pictorography System aforementioned, a previously prepared dye is contained in a light-sensitive material and the dye is transferred to an image receiving material to form colored images thereon. However, with this system, a level of resolution equal to that required of photographic material cannot be obtained. From the view point of resolution, a system in which an image is formed not on the image receiving material but on the light-sensitive material is advantageous.
Further, since the previously prepared dye is contained in the light-sensitive material, part of the exposed light is absorbed by the dye (filter effect), which is disadvantageous in terms of sensitivity and results in the sensitivity enhancement required for light-sensitive materials not being obtained. From the view point of sensitivity, the system in which a coupler capable of forming a dye at the time of development by a coupling reaction with an oxidation product of a developing agent is contained in the light-sensitive material is more advantageous than the system in which a dye has been previously formed.
However, as a result of study of the application of a silver halide tabular grain emulsion for the color photographic light-sensitive material containing a coupler and a color developing agent, it was found that the sensitivity of such a light-sensitive material significantly increases during storage. It was also found that the variation in sensitivity at the time of development of the color photographic light-sensitive material containing the silver halide tabular grain emulsion and the color developing agent is larger than the variation in sensitivity at the time of development of conventional light-sensitive materials which development is effected by a processing bath containing a color developing agent.
When the light-sensitive material the sensitivity of which has increased with time after preparation of product is photographed by a camera which determines exposure time automatically, any negative image answering the photographic purpose can not be obtained due to over-exposure.

Silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material and a method of forming a color image


A structure, apparatus and method for deterring the temperature of an active region in semiconductor, particularly a FET is provided. A pair FETs are arranged on a silicon island a prescribed distance from one another where the silicon island is surrounded by a thermal insulator. One FET is heated by a current driven therethrough. The other FET functions as a temperature sensor by having a change in an electrical characteristic versus temperature monitored. By arranging multiple pairs of FETs separated by different known distances, the temperature of the active region of one of the FETs may be determined during operation at various driving currents.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to semiconductor circuit design, and more particularly to modeling temperatures of a self-heating semiconductor device.
2. Background Description
Accurate measurement of self-heating of SOI and SiGe based MOSFET devices is important because DC currents of such devices are typically depressed significantly due to self-heating. This is in contrast to CMOS circuits where transients are too rapid for significant self-heating to occur. Thus, simulation (compact) models must be adjusted to correctly account for self-heating in order to correctly predict circuit performance. In SOI technologies, this effect ranges from about 3 percent to 12 percent, while in SGOI (SiGe on SOI) these effects are expected to exceed 30 percent.
Such large temperature effects in SGOI devices are due in part to the active region of the device being almost entirely surrounded by layers of material having poor thermal conductivity properties. For example, the active region of the SGOI device is SiGe, and the SiGe is arranged on top of an oxide layer. The SiGe layer has a limited length and width on top of the oxide layer, and thus forms what is referred to as a "island" on the oxide layer. During subsequent fabrication steps, the SiGe island is surrounded on its sides by an oxide, and then further covered over its top by an oxide. Thus, the SiGe island is relatively small and almost entirely surrounded by an oxide. Due to the surrounding oxide, the SiGe island has extremely limited thermal pathways by which to dissipate any heat generated in the SiGe island.
The small dimensions of the SiGe island also increase the device's susceptibility to thermal effects. In particular, because the SiGe island is relatively small, it has a comparatively low thermal mass. With the low thermal mass, the SiGe island quickly responds to any heating by a device thereon. As such, the SiGe island itself fails to act as its own heat sink for the device and the device quickly heats the island up to the devices own temperature. Thus, any device fabricated on the SiGe island will be particularly influenced by its own self-heating effects.
Known methods of measuring semiconductor device performance versus temperature include placing a diode proximate to the device for which the temperature will be measured, and using the diode's change in electrical performance as a function of temperature to measure the temperature at that point. However, such a method is difficult to implement because it is difficult to build such a diode close to a device to be measured to provide an accurate gauge of the active region of the device.
Another method of measuring the temperature effect on the electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device includes running the device at a particular power level to heat itself, and using the device's own change in electrical characteristics as a function of temperature to determine the temperature of the device. While simple to fabricate such a temperature measurement configuration, the data produced by such a configuration is less than reliable because of various hysteresis-like effects. For example, the device's sensitivity to temperature changes, may be based on, for example, among other things, on the prior electrical history of the device. Such a sensitivity to electrical history makes determining the actual temperature of the device to be less than reliable.
The invention is designed to solve one or more of the above-mentioned problems.

Self heating monitor for SiGe and SOI CMOS devices


A light diffusing film which is excellent in luminance uniformity and which exhibits no partial deterioration in light transmittance, thereby eliminating the formation of black spots. The light diffusing film, which has a monodisperse light diffuser and a light diffusing layer consisting of a light diffuser and a binder resin on one plane of a base, in which the lamination ratio is 10% or less and the diameter of flocculated particles in the light diffuser is 50 μm or less, exhibits excellent luminance and thermal properties, so that it can be suitably used in various kinds of picture display devices, in particular, in a display device employing LED (light emitting diode) lamps or an LCD (liquid crystal display device) backlight system.

In industry, polymeric resin films have a wide variety of applications including bases for packing, photographic films, condensers, electric insulators, labels, magnetic recording media, medical purposes. In recent years, polymeric resin films have also been in widespread use as base materials for picture display devices such as rear projection type screens, plasma display panels or liquid crystal display devices.
In particular, since a picture display device, unlike a cathode ray tube, adopts an indirect illumination system in which light irradiated from a fluorescent tube of a backlight provided on the backside of the device is reflected to a metal deposition layer or semi-transparent or opaque, white reflecting plate to display a picture through a light guide plate, visibility is poor, which becomes worsened according to pursuit of larger display devices.
To overcome the above-described problem, a light diffusing film that is adhered to a light guide plate to increase luminance by uniformly diffusing light, has been developed.
For example, Japanese laid-open patent Nos. hei 6-67003, 7-174909 and 9-127314, U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,134 and Japanese Utility Model No. 2,539,491 disclose light diffusing films having a transparent binder resin solution in which inorganic or organic particles are dispersed, coated on one surface of a transparent polymeric resin film as a light diffuser.
Here, either an inorganic light diffuser or an organic light diffuser may be used as the light diffuser of the present invention. Examples of the inorganic light diffuser include silica, zirconia, calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, glass, titanium dioxide, and so on, and examples of the organic light diffuser include fine particles of urethane based resins, acryl based resins, vinyl chloride based resins, and so on.
The diameter of the light diffuser is typically in the range of 1 to 50 μm. In order to maximize the formed of a poly of the light diffuser per unit area, particles having different particle sizes are generally used.
Also, in order to increase diffusion transmittance, there has been an attempt to maximize the ratio of a light diffuser to a transparent binder resin. However, in such a light diffusing layer, light diffusing materials cannot exist independently but flocculate with one another or exist in the form of laminates.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional light diffusing film. The transmittance of light transmitted through a light guide plate P is lowered at a portion L where light diffuser particles S are laminated. In particular, the transmittance is noticeably reduced at a portion where the particles are flocculated. Thus, there is a limit in improving the uniformity in luminance. Also, black spots are easily visible by naked eye, which makes the conventional light diffusing film unsuitable as a light diffusing film.


A Phase Lock Loop (PLL) receives input signals from a local area network (LAN) and recovers data and clock signals therefrom. The PLL includes a charge pump which is responsive to pump-up or pump-down signals provided by a phase detector. A level determination circuitry scales the charge pump current in proportion to the time elapsing between transitions in the input signals. The charge pump, phase detector and level determination circuitry provide a constant average amps per radian gain and is insensitive to variations in the input signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications networks in general and in particular to PLL for recovering data and clock signals from encoded electrical signals.
2. Prior Art
The prior art abounds with Phase Lock Loops (PLLs) which are used to recover clock and/or data embedded in run length code data signals. The PLLs may be used in recording devices to recover prerecorded information (data and/or clock) from a recording medium or in Data Terminal Equipments (DTES) to recover information transmitted over the transmission medium of a communications network.
A search of the prior art discloses the below-listed references. The first four references relate to PLL used in recording devices; while the remaining references relate to PLL used in DTEs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,053 to Yarborough PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,488 to Shaw PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,866 to Ebata PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,866 to Tateishi PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,193 to Bailey PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,705 to Gillingham et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,874 to Kroeger et al PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,841 to Leis et al PA1 IBM.RTM. TDB, Vol. 27, No. 12, May 1985 (pgs. 6988-6991).
The prior art suggests that a conventional PLL has three major functional units. The units are an oscillator (voltage or current controlled), a loop filter and a phase detector. The phase detector (PD) compares the output signals from the oscillator with input reference signals and outputs DC output signals proportional to the phase difference between compared signals. The DC output signals are passed through the loop filter to produce an average error signal which is used to control the frequency of the oscillator.
Several problems and solutions to them have been identified with the conventional PLL structure. Broadly classified, the problems include difficulty in locking the free running frequency of the oscillator to the frequency of the input reference signals, locking to harmonics or beat frequencies and locking within an optimum time period. The prior art has added a variety of electrical circuit arrangements to overcome specific identified problems. In some cases the identified problems are solved by simply rearranging the functional units and/or optimizing the components used in the units.
Even though the prior art addresses (i.e., identify and provide solutions) several of the problems associated with PLLs, none of them addresses the problem of variable gain. It is believed that variable gain is a major cause of instability in PLLs. Similar to other instability factors, variable gain causes jitter in the incoming signals. The jitter, in turn, makes it difficult to extract clocking signals from incoming signals and use of the clocking signals to synchronize the data.
The variable gain problem is particularly destructive to local area networks (LANs) such as the type espoused by IEEE 802.5, popularly called the token ring network. This type of LAN is well known in the prior art, therefore, only those features which make the LAN susceptible or sensitive to variable gain problems will be discussed further.
The token ring LAN is a serial network in which a large number of DTEs (also called stations) are connected to a looped transmission medium. Signal transmission is effectuated serially on the transmission medium. Thus, an active station (n) receives bits of a frame in a sequential fashion from its nearest active upstream neighbor (n-1) and retransmits the bits to its nearest active downstream neighbor (n+1). Because of the large number of stations sending (transmitting) and/or receiving frames from a common transmission medium any problem (such as loop gain variation, etc.) in one station accumulates and accentuates instability in the overall network. The problem is even more severe where the stations are provided by different manufacturers. Each manufacturer may set different loop gain variation standards which may not cause severe problems if all stations on the same loop are from the same manufacturer. However, by mixing stations from different manufacturers, the different standards could result in unacceptable loop gain variations.
The scheme used to encode data is another feature which makes the token ring LAN susceptible to variable loop gain. The well-known Manchester signalling technique is used to encode data on the token ring network. This signalling technique is selected because of its efficiency in transmitting both data and timing information in the same signal. In Manchester signalling techniques, different bit patterns are used to convey different types of information. It is believed that the variations in the data pattern also causes variation in the loop gain.

International Business Machines Corporation


An automatic braking system for a vehicle is provided. This system includes generally a speed sensor for monitoring speed of the vehicle and a distance sensor for monitoring a distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle. The system determines a marginal time required for the vehicle to collide with the preceding vehicle based on speed relative to the preceding vehicle and the distance to the preceding vehicle to automatically actuate a brake when the marginal time is shorter than a preselected marginal time.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an automatic braking system for a vehicle. More particularly, the invention relates to an automatic braking system for a vehicle which is operable to automatically change timing of braking operation dependent upon road conditions or driving characteristics of a driver when the vehicle is close approaching a preceding vehicle.
2. Background Art
Japanese Patent First Publication No. 55-110647 discloses an automatic braking system. This system is operable to detect a distance between the vehicle in which the system is installed and a preceding vehicle by means of an ultrasonic generator, to automatically actuate a brake to assure passenger safety when the vehicle approaches the preceding vehicle within a preselected distance.
However, in the prior art automatic braking system, the braking is automatically actuated according to fixed parameters independent of the driving technique of a driver or variable driving conditions. Therefore, the system sometimes operates to automatically actuate the brake although the driver has given sufficient attention to forward traffic conditions and the vehicle does not require braking.

Automatic braking system with proximity detection to a preceding vehicle


An operating mechanism for building components such as windows, doors and the like comprises at least one handle and an actuating element that ca be made to engage the handle in a mutually non-rotational manner. A blocking device is situated between the handle and the actuating element and is designed so that the actuating element is insertable in a first direction into the handle whereas its displacement in the opposite direction is blocked.

Such operating mechanisms are known in numerous designs. Illustratively they are used to open and close a window, a door or the like, a handle being designed to rotate—most often using an actuating element such as a spindle, hereafter "square bar"—a drive system, for instance a window drive or a door lock socket, the latter hereafter being called "lock 'hub'".
In general the actuating element must transmit in addition to torques also axial tractions for instance to door fittings. The linkage between the handle and the actuating element therefore must be designed that they shall be firmly anchored to each other both axially and irrotationally after installation, and, depending on the window or door design, the square bar connection must be matchable to the particular thickness of the window frame or door wing.
For that purpose the German patent documents 1,927,916 U1 or 1,937,220 U1 employ square bars divided each in two, where substantially wide slots fitted with wedging surfaces are fitted to the ends of the two bar halves, said wedging surfaces tapering in two directions and an expansion screw engaging in-between said surfaces. The elongated geometry of said slots allows affixing the square bar in axially variable manner and thereby to adapt to the particular door thickness. The expansion screw turned into the handle neck however may project from the handle, being unesthetic and also a potential for injury. Moreover manufacture is fairly costly because each square bar requires both a right-hand and a left-hand half a bar; production and storage therefore are doubly onerous. Installation is cumbersome and requires tools.
The German document 86 05 427 U1 uses a specially designed threaded rod to implement door handle connection, said rod acting on external edges above longitudinal grooves of two similar/identical square bar halves between which it shall be compressed when being screwed into them. The onion-like tip of the threaded rod rests in a V-shaped cavity against the displaced material of the halves of the square bar. This design also requires separate fitting and installation to affix the actuating element in the handle, the strength of the mechanical connection depending on the appropriate affixation of the threaded rod. This rod impairs the surfaces and edges of the square bar halves in lasting manner, and as a result repeated installation is possible only conditionally. Furthermore when being sufficiently stressed, the square bar halves may shift relative to each other, in which event durable axial affixation may become problematical.
Other improvements in axial dimensional stability and in meeting manufacturing tolerances make use of solid square bars in conjunction with slotted leaf spring elements or corrugated springs (see for instance the German patent document DE 2,024,652 A). In the European patent document EP 0,436,795 B1, the connecting bar is fitted with a continuous longitudinal groove at one side and with a terminal blind hole comprising shoulders to support the angled ends of an elongated leaf spring. The longitudinal groove in the square bar helps inserting the mounting screw into a terminal leaf spring longitudinal slot which is narrower than the terminal widening of the mounting screw. In this manner it includes a special stress because the leaf spring's corrugated zone axially locks the connecting bar in the lock hub. Both manufacture and storage of such a connection system are also onerous. Installation requires several elements and the particular applicable tool always must be at hand.


A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium for characterizing and representing images. A plurality of feature descriptors for a plurality of images are received, where each feature descriptor encodes a respective feature in an image, and where each feature descriptor is transformed into a plurality of sub-descriptors in accordance with a specified transformation scheme. The feature descriptors correspond to an image feature descriptor space for the plurality of images, and the sub-descriptors correspond to a plurality of subspaces of the image feature descriptor space, where the plurality of subspaces span the image feature descriptor space. Each subspace of the plurality of subspaces is quantized using cluster analysis applied to the sub-descriptors, thereby determining a respective one or more feature primitives for each subspace, where the feature primitives are useable to characterize image features.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to digital image processing, and more particularly to analysis, characterization, and representation of images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital images may include raster graphics, vector graphics, or a combination thereof. Raster graphics data (also referred to herein as bitmaps) may be stored and manipulated as a grid of individual picture elements called pixels. A bitmap may be characterized by its width and height in pixels and also by the number of bits per pixel. Commonly, a color bitmap defined in the RGB (red, green blue) color space may comprise between one and eight bits per pixel for each of the red, green, and blue channels. An alpha channel may be used to store additional data such as per-pixel transparency values. Vector graphics data may be stored and manipulated as one or more geometric objects built with geometric primitives. The geometric primitives (e.g., points, lines, polygons, Bézier curves, and text characters) may be based upon mathematical equations to represent parts of digital images.
How to represent an image is a fundamental problem in many image (including video) analysis and synthesis applications. Images are often analyzed and characterized in terms of their respective features, e.g., the presence of human faces (or not), as well as more primitive attributes such as edges, blobs, corners, etc. In particular, current high-performance image search/retrieval applications generally rely on a bag-of-features (BoF) representation, e.g., characterization based on an unordered collection of features, based on local features of images.
In addition to characterizing the local image appearance and structure, these local features are usually designed to be robust with respect to changes in rotation, scale, illumination and difference in viewpoint. These approaches first localize the features at a sparse set of distinctive image points—usually called interest points or key points; this process is performed by a feature detector. Then the feature vectors are computed based on the local image patches centered at these locations, this process is performed by a feature descriptor. The hypothesis is that detectors select stable and reliable image locations which are informative about image content and the descriptor describes the local patch in a distinctive way with a feature vector (usually a much lower dimension as the original patch). The overall performance of the local feature depends on the reliability and accuracy of the localization and distinctiveness of the description. Two major advantages of sparse local features is the robustness to changes in viewpoints, lighting, etc., and the compactness of the representation.
The bag-of-features (BoF) representation is an extension of the bag-of-words representation used in text classification. The basic idea of BoF is to represent each image as an unordered collection of local features. For compact representation in BoF, a "visual vocabulary" is usually constructed in a training phase via the clustering of local feature descriptors with respect to a collection of images. Each feature descriptor cluster is treated as a "visual word" in the visual vocabulary. Through mapping the feature descriptors in an image to the visual vocabulary, the image may be described with a feature vector according to the presence frequency of each visual word. This so-called term-frequency vector is then used to perform high level inference, such as image categorization/recognition/retrieval. The BoF approach, although it is simple and does not contain any geometry information, has demonstrated excellent performance for various visual classification and retrieval tasks.
The key component in the bag-of-features representation is the construction of the visual vocabulary. Existing approaches include k-means, hierarchical k-means, approximate k-means, and regular quantization, among others. Regular quantization is very fast but performs poorly for image retrieval. The approximate k-means (AKM) performs well for image search, where a randomized forest for cluster centers is built to accelerate the nearest neighbor search for each data point. The complexity of this algorithm is O(MN log K) where M is the dimensionality of the feature and N is the number of data points and K is the number of clusters. However, this approach is still very slow due to the fact that the feature representation is high dimensional (e.g., 128 dimensional scale-invariant image transform (SIFT) descriptors), and the number of features is huge, e.g., for a typical 5000 image database (with typical image resolution of 1024×768), the number of SIFT features is more than 26 million. Additionally, using these approaches, it is difficult to handle a large amount of data in a reasonable amount of time, and to cluster such a large number of features.


An infiltration amount measuring unit is provided to measure the amount of carrier liquid infiltrated in recording paper. An output signal of the infiltration amount measuring unit is input to a control device to be used to calculate a voltage supplied to a heat source (heater) in a pre-fixing unit. A signal of a paper temperature measuring unit is input to the control device, which determines whether a target temperature is reached. The control device estimates the amount of carrier liquid in a toner layer based on the information from the infiltration amount measuring unit. Then, the pre-fixing unit is controlled such that the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer falls within an appropriate range, based on the estimation result of the amount of carrier liquid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile, and particularly to a wet-type image forming apparatus using a liquid developer to form a toner image.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, toner supplied from a developing device is used to develop an electrostatic image on a photoconductor. Then, the developed toner image is transferred onto recording paper, whereby an image is formed on the recording paper. In the transfer process in such an image forming apparatus, an electrostatic transfer technique is generally adopted.
When a toner image is transferred onto recording paper serving as a transfer target, voltage is applied by a transfer roller from the back side of the recording paper conveyed to a position opposing the photoconductor to form an electric field between the photoconductor and the recording paper. The electric field causes the toner image to be electrostatically adsorbed on the recording paper.
Thereafter, the toner image formed on the recording paper is heated and pressed by a fixing device, whereby the transferred toner image is fixed on the recording paper.
On the other hand, in recent years, in an image forming apparatus such as an office printer for bulk printing and an on-demand printer that requires higher image quality and higher resolution, a wet-type developing device is known, which uses a liquid developer with a small toner particle size that is less likely to produce toner image noise. The liquid developer is prepared by dispersing toner in a carrier liquid such as a paraffin-based solvent. In the development and transfer process, toner is moved by the effect of an electric field in a toner layer containing the carrier liquid and the toner, whereby an image is transferred onto recording paper.
In this way, the carrier liquid plays an important role in motion of toner but makes the fusibility of toner lower than when using toner alone. Therefore, it is necessary to set the fixing temperature higher.
However, when the fixing temperature is set high, if the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer is small, the toner in contact with the fixing roller easily attaches to the surface of the roller. This phenomenon is called offset. Conversely, if the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer is too large, the toner is not sufficiently fused, resulting in poor fixing. Therefore, in order to achieve both prevention of offset and good fixing performance, it is important to adjust the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer within an appropriate range.
In this respect, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 09-244517 discloses a technique for maintaining fixing performance by providing a pre-fixing unit before main fixing and adjusting the set temperature, etc. in the pre-fixing unit according to a paper type.
The technique disclosed in the publication above only adjusts the set temperature, etc. according to a paper type. However, the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer greatly varies until fixing is completed, because the carrier liquid is infiltrated from the toner layer into the recording paper after transfer onto the recording paper. Therefore, it is difficult to control the amount of carrier liquid within an appropriate range unless the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer is grasped before fixing. It is hard to accurately control the amount of carrier liquid in the toner layer only by adjusting the set temperature, etc. according to a paper type.

Wet-type image forming apparatus with adjusting device to adjust amount of carrier liquid contained in toner image


A method of producing a sensing element used in a detecting device for detecting a target substance in a specimen with the use of plasmon resonance. The method includes the steps of forming an insulating layer on a substrate, the surface of the substrate having an electroconductive layer including a first electroconductive material, forming a plurality of holes through the insulating layer to form an insulating pattern, filling up the holes with a second electroconductive material to form a metallic pattern, removing the insulating pattern, and removing a region other than the region sandwiched by the metallic pattern and the substrate in the electroconductive layer, using the metallic pattern as a mask.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sensing element and a detecting device by using plasmon resonance, and a method for producing the sensing element. The present invention relates to a so-called biosensor with the use of a recognition capability peculiar to a substance of a biometric origin or a substance similar thereto.
2. Related Background Art
A biosensor is a measuring device making use of the excellent molecular recognition capability of living matter and a biomolecule. The living matter has a combination of substances having a mutual affinity with each other, such as an enzyme-substrate, an antigen-body and DNA-DNA. The biosensor makes use of a principle that one substance of the combination, which is immobilized or carried on a substrate, can selectively measure the other substance. In recent years, the biosensor has been expected to be widely applied not only to the medical field, but also, to fields of environment and food, so that a biosensor, which is installable everywhere or is transportable, is small and lightweight, has been expected, to be used in wider application areas.
Currently, as one of highly sensitive sensing systems, a sensor, using an interaction between plasmon existing on a metal surface and metallic microparticles and light, has been diligently studied.
A conventional sensor using surface plasmon resonance (SPR sensor) uses a phenomenon that when light is launched onto the surface of a metallic thin film, only light incident from a certain particular angle resonates with and is absorbed by plasmon on the metal surface, and the reflected light is attenuated. The angle at which the absorption occurs is sensitive to a surface condition (refractive index) of the metallic thin film, so that the sensor can measure a reaction (for instance, an antigen-antibody reaction) occurring on the metal surface by measuring the intensity of reflected light while changing the incidence angle.
However, the SPR sensor has had a problem of needing a prism from a structural standpoint, and consequently, making an optical system complicated. The SPR sensor also had a problem that it cannot be applied to a substrate with a curved surface, because of the need to prepare a metallic thin film by vacuum deposition, which limited the substrate and a device structure. Because of these problems, the SPR was considered to be difficult to miniaturize.
In such a background, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-356587 proposed a sensor using localized surface plasmon resonance (an LSPR sensor) in metallic microparticles. The localized plasmon resonance sensor detects the refractive index of a medium around the metallic microparticles, by measuring an absorbance of light having been transmitted through the metallic microparticles, which are fixed like a membrane on a substrate surface.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-268592 discloses an invention of forming mutually isolated metallic particles in a plurality of pores in anodized alumina oxide for the purpose of regularly and independently arranging the metallic particles in an arbitrary uniform size and an arbitrary array, and using it for a plasmon resonance device.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-191341 discloses a molecule-recognizing element applicable to the biosensor, which is prepared by introducing a metallic material in columnar pores in a porous film formed on the substrate, preparing a columnar structure by removing the porous film and immobilizing a molecule-recognizing material on it. The above Japanese patent document also discloses that the metallic material may be introduced through electrodeposition (electrolysis plating).

Sensing element used in sensing device for sensing target substance in specimen by using plasmon resonance


A life-like striking dummy as an attachment to a punching bag for use in boxing, martial arts, and the like, is disclosed. More specifically its purpose is to augment and improve realism of training utilizing a punching bag as a mounting device. The striking dummy is sculptured three-dimensionally and comprises a first portion configured to anatomically resemble a human head, and is connected by a neck to a second portion configured to anatomically resemble a human torso. The total embodiment is detailed with facial, muscular, and skeletal features as targets to be struck by the user. The head, neck, and torso are homogeneously connected by construction preferably utilizing an integral skin flexible polyurethane foam material. The integral skin of the polyurethane is a near solid resilient protective outer layer which serves to prevent injury or damage to the striking dummy or user. The cellular foam core is homogeneously distributed throughout the entire inner structure of the embodiment and is human-like in density, providing a realistic feel of striking an opponent. The striking dummy is configured with mounting straps for the purpose of attachment to a punching bag. The striking dummy may be configured with a radiused vertically positioned recess at the back, to allow a contoured mating surface to a punching bag.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to boxing and martial arts striking bags, and more specifically to a life-like striking dummy as an attachment to a punching bag.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Punching bags and dummies have been the primary apparatuses for training in the art of boxing, martial arts, and the like. The punching bag and dummy serves as a substitute for an opponent in practice.
The lack of realism in detail of the present art is evident by sighting that most bags are simply a canvas cylindrical form with some sort of filling to simulate an opponents shape and body weight. Additional attempts to create realistic practice dummies have been complicated and expensive to manufacture. For examples, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,909,370; 3,250,533; 3,804,406; and 4,088,315.
The construction of these dummies is comprised of a combination of gears, shafts, casters, springs, and movement promoted by impact, pneumatics, and electrically driven devices. The pneumatic and electrical devices require sophisticated circuitry to program and actuate the limbs. The constant flailing movement and striking arms of the dummy may be dangerous to the user if struck by a blow. In addition, as in any mechanical, pneumatic, or electrical device, subsequent wear and failure are prone to occur.

Striking dummy as punching bag attachment


Snowboards are provided that consolidate and redirect a portion of the weight and forces of the rider to the optimal locations (near the edges and near the longitudinal center of the board), providing excellent turning and control and providing impact absorption when landing from a jump. In some implementations, an adjustable spring suspension system allows custom optimization of both the turning and ride characteristics of the snowboard.

A snowboard depends upon the same basic turning principles as those of an alpine ski. Both the snowboard and ski are designed with a significant "side cut" along the length of the longitudinal edges (FIG. 1). Specifically, the side-to-side width of a ski and snowboard are greatest at the front and back, while diminishing to a minimum at the "waist" or midsection. When a ski is tipped onto an edge, the wider tip and tail will engage the snow and tend to lift the narrow midsection off the snow (FIG. 2). Because the weight of the skier is concentrated at the center of the ski, this central force will bend the ski into a convex curve until the narrow midsection touches the snow. It is the bending of the ski into this arc that creates the "turn" (FIGS. 3A and 3B). Ideally, the bending force is applied to the middle (where the ski binding is mounted) while the ends of the ski are supported by the snow (FIG. 4), a dynamic similar to that of an archery bow where the center is pushed by the archer while the ends are pulled on by the bowstring.
Conventional snowboards, however, do not utilize this ideal bending dynamic. When a conventional snowboard is tipped onto an edge, the wide tip and tail engage the snow in the same manner as previously described for a ski. However, the weight/force of the snowboarder is not applied at the optimal narrow longitudinal center point. Instead, this force is bifurcated to the two boot binding positions, which are located at approximately one-third of the total length of the snowboard from each end (FIG. 5).
This creates several undesirable and counterproductive effects. Most evident is the fact that the snowboard will be more difficult to bend, and turn, because the force is not being applied at the optimal center location. With the feet positioned at these two locations, the board will assume a flat or even negative (concave) shape between the boot bindings. Thus, instead of one continuous convex arc, the board will tend to assume two minor convex arcs separated by a concave arc or flat spot (FIG. 5A), which is totally counterproductive to efficient turning. FIG. 6A shows the actual profile that the snowboard tends to assume during a turn, while FIG. 6B illustrates the desired, theoretical "perfect turn."
Another undesirable effect of conventional snowboard design is the lack of any means to absorb energy and shock. Thus upon landing from a jump, the rider's body and feet must absorb the total impact.


A backlight system for use in an LCD display with a driver providing current sink control includes an LED array module, a current feedback circuit, and a current compensation circuit. The LED array module has N columns of LEDs and each LED column has M LEDs connected in serial, wherein the current feedback circuit includes N current feedback units and the current compensation circuit includes N current compensation units, both of the current feedback circuit and the current compensation circuit being electrically coupled to the LED array module. When the backlight system is in operation, a current passes through an LED column, a current feedback unit, and a current compensation unit to generate an output voltage that is used for comparison with a predetermined DC voltage, and the current is compensated based on the results of the comparison.

A liquid crystal display (hereinafter "LCD") usually requires a cold cathode fluorescent lamp to provide backlight to display an image on an LCD screen. In recent years, light emitting diode (hereinafter "LED") array modules have emerged as a new backlight source and it becomes increasingly popular because it provides more vivid and brighter color images.
An LED array module is generally configured as an I×J LEDs array, where I=1, 2, . . . N, J=1, 2, . . . M, and N and M are positive integers. An LED array module includes N columns of LED, where each LED column has M individual LEDs. Usually, each LED in an LED column is electrically coupled in serial. The anode of the first LED forms a first terminal of the LED column, and the cathode of the first LED is electrically coupled to the anode of the second LED. The cathode of the second LED is electrically coupled to the anode of the third LED, and so on. The anode of the last LED in the column is electrically coupled to the cathode of the one next to the last LED, and the cathode of the last LED forms a second terminal of the LED column. Each LED column is usually powered by a direct current (hereinafter "DC") voltage and a current driver such that a constant current is provided to the LED column for a consistent and even backlight. Other LED columns are usually connected in parallel and each LED column has its own DC power supply. Ideally, when a constant DC voltage is applied to each identical LED column, the current through each LED column should be identical, yielding an even and consistent backlight.
Due to the manufacturing variation, however, each LED may exhibits different resistance/impedance. These deviations cause these LED columns each to have different current passing through when a constant DC voltage is applied to the LED column. In order to provide an even, consistent backlight, the same and constant DC current is required for each and every LED column. An individual current driver circuit is supplied to each LED column to provide a constant current through these LED columns.
FIG. 7 shows an integrated LED driving device for multiple LED strings disclosed by Chang et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,235, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for background information only. The LED driving device employs a single linear regulator or other controller and a multiple-output current mirror that is almost independent of the DC input voltage source, almost independent of the transistor's or MOSFET's variations from the semiconductor integration process, and almost independent of temperature variation. This LED driving device controls each LED cluster by using the current mirror and adjust the current through the LED cluster. It uses high frequency switching technique to achieve current balance and color temperature compensation. However, such a driving device consumes a large sum of electrical energy and produces large amounts of heat during operation. Additionally, this LED driving device can only be used for a single color LED backlight.
FIG. 8 shows a driving circuit for an LED array was disclosed by Alois Biebl in U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,867, which is also incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for background information only. This driving circuit has a first LED cluster and at least one second LED cluster. A control loop is designed to drive a switch of the first LED cluster so as to achieve a constant mean value of the current flowing through the first LED cluster. The control loop is designed for driving switches of the further LED clusters. This circuit uses a controller, similar to the controller described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,235, which is also incorporated herein in its entirety by reference for background information only, to achieve the current balance in the LED clusters. The range of controllable current through the LED clusters is limited. Such a driving device also consumes a large sum of electrical energy and produces large amounts of heat during operation.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

LED driver with current sink control and applications of the same


One of two arms is mounted adjacent one end thereof for rotation and axial adjustment on a cylindrical column which projects vertically upwardly from a generally flat, rigid base. The second arm is rotatably connected adjacent one end to the opposite end of the first arm, and has mounted in its opposite end a rotatable spindle which is connected at its upper end to the drive shaft of a reversible electric motor that is secured on the second arm, and which is disposed to have a tool bit secured releasably to its lower end. The first arm is manually adjustable vertically on the column, and each arm can be releasably locked against rotation. The direction of rotation of the motor can be reversed by a switch mounted on the second arm and its speed can be adjusted by a potentiometer, the rotatable handle of which is mounted on the second arm adjacent the motor reversing switch.

This invention relates to a combination drilling, tapping and reaming machine, and more particularly to an improved such machine capable of operating at variable speeds and having improved characteristics which make it universally suitable for drilling, reaming, boring and tapping operations.
From the early days of industrialization, there existed the need for a machine to make holes in manufactured products, and as a result of such need an early invention produced what is universally known as a drill press. Typically when such press is in use, a workpiece is clamped onto the base of the associated machine beneath a powered drill bit, and subsequently the drilling operation is effected. For drilling multiple holes the parts on such early machines were repositioned relative to the associated drill bit each time a new hole in the part was to be made. To eliminate the need for repositioning the workpiece, there next was invented a device known as a radial drilling machine wherein the workpiece was fixed to the base, and the drill head itself was moved relative to the workpiece to form therein holes at a variety of different spots. Even so, the radial drilling machine had the disadvantage that it was extremely difficult to locate an associated drill bit to a pin-point drilling position.
As subsequent improvements, the industry developed a jig boring machine for more accurate control of movements in the X and Y direction, and even later in the Z axis direction for example by electromechanical apparatus, or more recently by programmable computer controlled devices (CNC). These latter machines, however, are extremely costly, and thus are not suitable for use by general industrial workshops of modest means.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved drilling, tapping and reaming machine of the type in which the drilling head is easily repositionable relative to a stationary workpiece accurately to position the drilling head with minimum physical exertion by the operator, and at a very moderate cost compared to sophisticated electromechanical apparatus such as programmable computer controlled devices (CNC).
A further object of this invention to provide an improved machine of the type described in which has a drilling head that is movable manually relative to a stationary workpiece, and which includes manually operable means for releasably locking the drilling head in registry with predetermined points on the workpiece.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an improved, relatively small and yet sturdy machine of the type described which has thereon a drilling head which can be rapidly and accurately repositioned to multiple locations without exerting any significant force on the part of the operator or the associated equipment, and without compromising the accuracy (the perpendicularity) of the associated drilling, tapping or reaming operation.
Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improved, readily transportable machine of the type described, yet which unlike the machines in its class ideally counterreacts the opposite drilling force produced during a drilling operation, whereby the operator does not have to exert any additional force on the workpiece during the drilling operation.
Still a more specific object of this invention is to provide a machine of the type described having an improved electric motor and control means therefor which enable operation of the associated tool at variable speeds, and which automatically adjust the speed for maintaining a fixed torque on a workpiece, when an extra load is applied to the associated drill bit.
Other objects of this invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Variable speed universal drilling tapping and reaming machine


Methods and systems that help control when and how stereoscopic content should be viewed, based on both geometry of the viewing system and the geometry used to generate the content are shown. One example embodiment utilizes the specifications of the system used to capture the image data to determine the geometry of the image content, and encodes this content geometry along with the stored image data. This content geometry data is then analyzed by display systems to determine appropriate geometries for a viewing system. Data arranged according to one embodiment is a series of digitally stored video frames representing a stereoscopic prospective view of an image or scene. This prospective view was rendered using a specific content geometry, and this geometry is digitally encoded and stored with, or embedded in, the digital image data.

Image content displayed using two-dimensional mechanisms (such as a screen) can be given a third dimension by using stereoscopic (using separate left and right images) methods to reproduce human binocular vision. When humans view their surroundings, the spacing between the eyes provides a slightly different view of a given scene. The disparity between what one's left eye sees and what one's right eye sees is a cue for the brains to use in judging the relative distance of objects. The brain merges the different images through stereoscopic fusion to produce the three dimensional prospective we perceive.
Most stereoscopic viewing mechanisms can only approximate the stereoscopic fusion accomplished by human eyes viewing the real world. In the real world, eyes will both focus (accommodate) and converge (orient towards) to an object of interest, and it is this combination that cues the brain to perceive depth. In most viewing systems, however, the focal length (distance to the screen) remains static and only the convergence of the eyes is varied to provide the perception that an object is in-front of, or behind the screen. This difference can cause the stereoscopic fusion desired by the viewing system to break down—our brains are trained by real world viewing that accommodation and convergence are linked; when they differ by too much the left and right images will not fuse into a single object, and a double image will be seen at the screen.
Stereoscopic fusion can also break down if the field of view is less than typical human vision systems. The eyes provide a field of view of over 180 degrees, including peripheral vision, giving a very wide field of view. Edges of objects are very important clues for merging left and right image—in a narrow field of view, for example, a TV, an object can not be brought very far into stereoscopic space before some of the edges of the object will disappear in at least one eye. When this happens, the eyes interpret the edge of the screen as part of the image, and stereo fusion again breaks down.
In addition, the nature of the specific viewing system for stereoscopic data is often either not known, or is known to be varying. For example, movie content can, and will, be shown to users on a variety of different screen sizes. In more modern applications such as head-mounted-displays (HMDs), the focal distances and other geometric factors vary significantly between device types. Thus, the content must be gathered and rendered in a manner viewable on different display systems having very different geometries. The compromises made in accommodating varying geometries, however, often lead to eyestrain and discomfort and result in dramatic reductions in the stereoscopic effect.

System and method for managing stereoscopic viewing


This invention relates to new peptide-based compounds and their use in therapeutically effective treatments as well as for diagnostic imaging techniques. More specifically the invention relates to the use of such peptide-based compounds used as targeting vectors that bind to receptors associated with angiogenesis, in particular the αvβ3 integrin receptor. Such contrast agents may thus be used for diagnosis of for example malignant diseases, heart diseases, inflammation-related diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and Kaposi's sarcoma. Moreover such compounds may also be used in therapeutic treatment of these diseases.

New blood vessels can be formed by two different mechanisms: vasculogenesis or angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels by branching from existing vessels. The primary stimulus for this process may be inadequate supply of nutrients and oxygen (hypoxia) to cells in a tissue. The cells may respond by secreting angiogenic factors, of which there are many; one example, which is frequently referred to, is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). These factors initiate the secretion of proteolytic enzymes which break down the proteins of the basement membrane, as well as inhibitors which limit the action of these potentially harmful enzymes. The other prominent effect of angiogenic factors is to cause endothelial cells to migrate and divide. Endothelial cells which are attached to the basement membrane, which forms a continuous sheet around blood vessels on the contralumenal side, do not undergo mitosis. The combined effect of loss of attachment and signals from the receptors for angiogenic factors is to cause the endothelial cells to move, multiply, and rearrange themselves, and finally to synthesise a basement membrane around the new vessels.
Angiogenesis is prominent in the growth and remodeling of tissues, including wound healing and inflammatory processes. Tumors must initiate angiogenesis when they reach millimeter size in order to keep up their rate of growth. Angiogenesis is accompanied by characteristic changes in endothelial cells and their environment. The surface of these cells is remodeled in preparation for migration, and cryptic structures are exposed where the basement membrane is degraded, in addition to the variety of proteins which are involved in effecting and controlling proteolysis. In the case of tumors, the resulting network of blood vessels is usually disorganised, with the formation of sharp kinks and also arteriovenous shunts. Inhibition of angiogenesis is also considered to be a promising strategy for antitumor therapy. The transformations accompanying angiogenesis are also very promising for diagnosis, an obvious example being malignant disease, but the concept also shows great promise in inflammation and a variety of inflammation-related diseases, including atherosclerosis, the macrophages of early atherosclerotic lesions being potential sources of angiogenic factors. These factors are also involved in re-vascularisation of infracted parts of the myocardium, which occurs if a stenosis is released within a short time.
Further examples of undesired conditions that are associated with neovascularization or angiogenesis, the development or proliferation of new blood vessels are listed in Table 1 below. Reference is also made in this regard to WO98/47541.
Diseases and indications associated with angiogenesis are e.g. different forms of cancer and metastasis, e.g. breast, skin, colorectal, pancreatic, prostate, lung or ovarian cancer.
Other diseases and indications are inflammation (e.g. chronic), atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and gingivitis.
Further diseases and indications associated with angiogenesis are arteriovenous alformations, astrocytomas, choriocarcinomas, glioblastomas, gliomas, hemangiomas (childhood, capillary), hepatomas, hyperplastic endometrium, ischemic myocardium, Kaposi sarcoma, macular degeneration, melanoma, neuroblastomas, occluding peripheral artery disease, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, retinopathy (diabetic, proliferative), scleroderma, seminomas, solid tumor formation and ulcerative colitis.
Angiogenesis involves receptors which are unique to endothelial cells. The integrin αvβ3 is one of the receptors that is known to be associated with angiogenesis. Stimulated endothelial cells appear to rely on this receptor for survival during a critical period of the angiogeneic process, as antagonists of the ∀v∃3 integrin receptor/ligand interaction induce apoptosis and inhibit blood vessel growth.
The integrin αvβ3 is a member of a family of transmembrane proteins that act as receptors through which cells can adhere to the extracellular matrix. Integrins are heterodimeric molecules in which the α- and β-subunits penetrate the cell-membrane lipid bilayer. The α-subunit has four Ca2+ binding domains on its extracellular chain, and the β-subunit has a number of extracellular cysteine-rich domains.
Many ligands (eg. fibronectin) involved in cell adhesion contain the tripeptide sequence arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD). The RGD sequence appears to act as a primary recognition site between the ligands presenting this sequence and receptors on the surface of cells. It is generally believed that secondary interactions between the ligand and receptor enhance the specificity of the interaction. These secondary interactions might take place between moieties of the ligand and receptor that are immediately adjacent to the RGD sequence or at sites that are distant from the RGD sequence.
RGD peptides are known to bind to a range of integrin receptors and have the potential to regulate a number of cellular events of significant application in the clinical setting. (Ruoslahti, J. Clin. Invest., 87: 1-5 (1991)). Perhaps the most widely studied effect of RGD peptides and mimetics thereof relate to their use as anti-thrombotic agents where they target the platelet integrin GpIIbIIIa.
Inhibition of angiogenesis in tissues by administration of either an αvβ3 or αvβ5 antagonist has been described in for example WO 97/06791 and WO95/25543 using either antibodies or RGD containing peptides. EP 578083 describes a series of mono-cyclic RGD containing peptides and WO 90/14103 describes RGD-antibodies. Haubner et al. in the J. Nucl. Med. (1999); 40: 1061-1071 describe a new class of tracer for tumour targeting based on monocyclic RGD containing peptides. Biodistribution studies using whole-body autoradiographic imaging revealed however that the 125I-labelled peptides had very fast blood clearance rates and predominantly hepatobiliary excretion routes resulting in high background noise.
Cyclic RGD peptides where the RGD moiety is constrained by bridging across the ends of the tripeptide sequence have also been described in WO98/54347 and WO95/14714. Peptides derived from in vivo biopanning (WO97/10507) have been used for a variety of targeting applications. The sequence CDCRGDCFC (RGD-4C), with unidentified bridge positions, has been used to target drugs such as doxirubicin (WO98/10795), nucleic acids and adenoviruses to cells (see WO99/40214, WO99/39734, WO98/54347, WO98/54346, U.S. Pat. No. 5,846,782).
The efficient targeting and imaging of integrin receptors associated with angiogenesis in vivo demands a selective, high affinity RGD based vector which is chemically robust and stable. Furthermore, the route of excretion is an important factor when designing imaging agents in order to reduce problems with background. These stringent conditions are met by the structures containing discrete bridges described in the present invention.


An array of movable elements is arranged on a substrate. Each element has a cavity and a movable member to move through the cavity. The pressure resistance of the elements varies, allowing actuation signals to be manipulated to activate elements with different pressure resistance at different levels of the actuation signal.

Microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems are generally made up of individual moving elements manufactured on a micrometer scale. Such elements as switches, tunable capacitors, mirrors for display and printing applications, etc., serve as MEMS examples. For purposes of this discussion, a MEMS device has at least one movable element, a cavity into or out of which the element moves, and some sort of actuation signal that causes the element to move.
In some applications, the actuation timing of the element, where the actuation is the movement of the element from one position to the next position, is a key portion of the operation of the device. In MEMS switches, for example, the switch elements may be cascaded and the response time of a first switch may determine the response time of the next switch, etc. In MEMS displays, the movement of the elements generally modulate light, and the timing of the modulation determines the image content seen by a viewer.
Having finer control of these elements by their response times may afford better operation, such as a higher image quality. Control of display elements by their response times, for example, may provide a higher bit depth for display applications.

Altering temporal response of microelectromechanical elements


A method for starting a short message transmission in a cellular communication system, a cellular communication system, and a cellular communication system subscriber location register includes the subscriber location register which stores information on the fact that at least one short message service center stores short messages to be transmitted to a subscriber to whom the messages cannot be transmitted for the time being, and the subscriber location register of the subscriber which transmits to at least one short message service center a short message transmission starting message when it is again possible to transmit short messages to the subscriber. In order that short messages can be transmitted to subscribers selectively, the subscriber location register maintains short message service center and subscriber-specific information on the conditions under on which the short message service center is to be transmitted short message transmission starting messages.

Today, different cellular communication or mobile telephone systems are used and planned in which the geographical area covered by a system is divided into smaller separate radio areas, i.e., cells, so that when located in a cell, a radio phone or a mobile phone communicates with the fixed network via the fixed radio station located in the cell. The mobile phones included in the system may freely move within the system area from a cell into another. One of these systems is the digital mobile phone system GSM (Global System for Mobiles).
As to cellular communication networks, it is known practice to transmit short messages via a short message service center separate from the cellular communication network. One of these systems for transmitting and forwarding short messages is described in ETSI GSM system recommendation "GSM 03.40, February 1992, Technical Realization of Short Message Services Point to Point, ETSI/PT". It describes the connection of a short message service center to the mobile exchange of a cellular communication network and the operation of this short message service center when the center transmits and forwards short messages from outside the cellular communication network and from a cellular communication network subscriber (subscriber A) to another network subscriber (subscriber B), or to a means of communication which is capable of receiving and/or transmitting short messages and which is located outside the network.
When a short message service center attempts to transmit a short message to a subscriber B. and the subscriber B is not reachable, a Messages-Waiting-Data-List according to GSM recommendation 03.40, i.e., an MWD list, is established in the home location register, which stores a list, subscriber B-specific, of the addresses of those short message service centers which store short messages to be delivered to subscribers B. Accordingly, when subscriber B registers in the network, i.e., it is possible to transmit a short message to the mobile phone of the subscriber B since the visitor location register in the area which subscriber B registers itself transmits a notification of the arrival of the subscriber B in the network to the home location register of the subscriber B. The home location register of the subscriber B, i.e., the subscriber location register, thus starts to transmit notifications, i.e., short message transmission starting messages, or, Alert messages (Alert), to the short message service centers presented in the Messages-Waiting-Data-List of the subscriber. The starting messages inform the short message service centers that subscriber B has become active in the cellular communication network area and that it is worth attempting to transmit a short message to the mobile phone of subscriber B. A situation of this type may occur, for instance, when the subscriber has switched off her mobile phone for the night and switches it on in the morning, or correspondingly, if the subscriber uses a mobile phone at work and switches on her mobile phone at the beginning of working hours.
A typical problem of prior art solutions is that the transmission capacity of short messages from short message service centers to a subscriber is very restricted. The transmission capacity on the radio path is only 10-100 bytes/second, which is significantly less than what is used, for instance, in modem communication between computers. However, it has been required that short message transmissions should be capable of forwarding even electronic mail-type messages to subscribers. The transmission capacity of short messaged is typically a crucial characteristic in the situations described above. Thus, when a subscriber B has suddenly become reachable, attempts are made to transmit to subscriber B a large number of short messages, which have been stored in possibly several short message service centers. The short messages suddenly transmitted to the subscriber thus congest the short message reception of the subscriber, i.e., the mobile phone, and possibly also the transmission link or radio path to the subscriber. As a result of the congestion, a new and possibly urgent short message for the subscriber may not reach its destination quickly enough because the short message reception of the subscriber, i.e., the mobile phone, is congested. Important short messages are thus lost, in a manner of speaking, in the multitude of less important, queuing short messages.
Another problem of prior art solutions, which occurs when short messages can be transmitted again to the subscriber B after a pause, is that the short messages intended for subscriber B arrive in succession to subscriber B and disturb the user of the subscriber station with their arrival and possible audio signals connected to the arrival for a very long time, i.e., as long as the subscriber has short messages to receive. This disturbing period may last for an extremely long time due to the low transmission speed of the short message-transmitting radio path, according to the GSM specification, and to the fact that the subscriber has to receive all short messages. The aggravation of the subscriber is naturally added to by the fact that the subscriber has no possibility of selecting from the short messages those short messages the transmitters, i.e., short message service centers, of which said subscriber considers the most important.
Yet another problem of prior art solutions is that subscriber B cannot select or eliminate arriving short messages in a desired manner, but must receive all the short messages transmitted to it.
One prior art method for starting a short message transmission in a cellular communication system, a cellular communication system, and a cellular communication system subscriber location register has been disclosed in Finnish Patent Application 924,198, which corresponds to International Patent Application PCT/FI93/00373.

Starting a short message transmission in a cellular communication system


A polyfunctional phenylene ether oligomer (B) having 3 to less than 9 phenolic hydroxyl groups, obtained by reacting a polyfunctional phenol (A) having 3 to less than 9 phenolic hydroxyl groups per molecule and having alkyl groups and/or alkylene groups at 2- and 6-positions of at least one of the phenolic hydroxyl groups with a monohydric phenol compound of the formula (1), derivatives thereof, resin compositions containing the derivatives, curable films obtained therefrom and cured films thereof,

Epoxy resins are excellent in heat resistance, electrical characteristics, mechanical characteristics and adhesiveness so that the epoxy resins are used in wide fields such as fields of laminates, adhesives, coatings, molding materials and casting materials. In an electronic material field, in recent years, high frequency has come to be used in accordance with the progress of communication or computers, so that low dielectric characteristics are required for the purpose of increasing the speed of signal transmission. As methods for coping with the above requirement, a method which uses a dicyclopentadiene novolak type epoxy resin (for example, JP-A-11-060688) and a method which uses a biphenyl phenol aralkyl type epoxy resin (for example, JP-A-2002-179761) are known. In this respect, the present inventors have paid attention to polyphenylene ether resins which have properties of a low dielectric constant and a low dielectric loss tangent and developed a method in which an epoxy resin having a polyphenylene ether structure introduced therein is used (for example, JP-A-2003-292570). The epoxy resin having a polyphenylene ether structure introduced therein can have properties of high heat resistance, a low dielectric constant and a dielectric loss tangent, which polyphenylene ether resins have, but has a defect in that much time is required for curing, so that an improvement is required.
Conventionally, curable resins are widely used for adhesion, casting, coating, impregnation, lamination and molding compounds, etc. However, they are used in so various fields in recent years, and conventionally-known curable resins are sometimes dissatisfactory in some use environments or under some use conditions. For example, with regard to laminates for printed wiring boards used for various electrical devices, materials having low dielectric characteristics are required in accordance with the progress of electronic devices for the purpose of improving the speed of signal transmission. On the other hand, in recent years, materials are required to have higher heat resistance in addition to low dielectric characteristics under the influence of an increase of a reflow temperature due to the use of lead-free solder. Further, when used for electronic materials, curable resins are used in the form of varnishes in many cases. For this reason, it is required in view of workability that curable resins have excellent solvent solubility. As matrix resins which are recently used for laminates, phenol resins, epoxy resins, cyanate ester resins, vinyl ester resins and polyimide resins are known. These resins satisfy requirements such as high heat resistance and solvent solubility but do not sufficiently satisfy requirements of a low dielectric constant and a low dielectric loss tangent. As a curable resin which satisfies low dielectric characteristics, there are known a polyvinyl benzyl ether compound having a biphenyl phenol aralkyl structure introduced therein (for example, JP-A-2005-314556) and a bifunctional vinylbenzyl ether compound having a polyphenylene ether structure introduced therein, which the present inventors have developed, (for example, JP-A-2004-067727). However, further improvements in heat resistance and solvent solubility are required of these vinylbenzyl ether compounds. Development of a material having a balance of low dielectric characteristics, heat resistance and solvent solubility is desired.
Recently, the signal band of information communication devices such as PHS or portable telephones and the CPU clock time of computers reach to a GHz band and higher frequencies are coming to be used. The dielectric loss of electric signals is proportional to the product of the square root of dielectric constant of an insulator for forming a circuit, the dielectric loss tangent and the frequency of signals to be used. Therefore, the dielectric loss increases in accordance with an increase in the frequency of signals to be used. The dielectric loss damps electrical signals and impairs the reliability of the signals. For inhibiting the above impairment, it is required to select a material having a small dielectric constant and a small dielectric loss tangent as an insulator. As such a material, a fluorine-contained resin, a polyolefin resin, a polystyrene resin and a polyphenylene ether resin are proposed. However, though these resins are excellent in low dielectric characteristics, most of them have a problem about chemical resistance or moldability. With regard to films made of these resins for electrical insulating materials, for example, a film made of polyphenylene ether has a problem about flexibility (for example, JP-A-7-188362), and a film made of a low molecular weight styrene compound such as divinylbenzene is apt to have tackiness and a cured product obtained is fragile (for example, JP-A-2002-249531). The present inventors have proposed a resin composition having no tackiness and having low dielectric characteristics and high heat resistance by combining a vinyl compound derivative of a bifunctional polyphenylene ether oligomer with a high molecular weight compound (JP-A-2006-083364). However, since a solder reflow temperature is increased for coping with a recent demand for lead-free solder, materials which have further higher heat resistance and undergo only a small dimensional change under heat, are desired.

Polyfunctional phenylene ether oligomer, derivative thereof, resin composition containing the same, and use thereof

Abstract: wherein R1 and R2 are the same or different and represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group, and R3 and R4 are the same or different and represent a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 6 or less carbon atoms or a phenyl group.


A conveying device for a vehicle brake system, to convey pressure fluids into at least one vehicle brake, or to convey pressure fluids into a pressure fluid accumulator, or to convey pressure fluids into a master brake cylinder with at least one moveable piston (2) in a receptacle (4) to displace pressure fluids from a working chamber (5′), has at least one non-return valve (9, 9′) to vent the working chamber (5) and to temporarily separate a hydraulic connection between the working chamber (5) and a hydraulic channel, whereby the non-return valve (9) must have at least one valve seat (11) and one valve body (12).

The invention relates to a conveying device for a vehicle brake system, to convey pressure fluids into at least one vehicle brake, or to convey pressure fluids into a pressure fluid accumulator, or to convey pressure fluids into a master brake cylinder with at least one moveable piston in a receptacle to displace pressure fluids from a working chamber with at least one non-return valve to vent the working chamber with a suction or pressure channel. The non-return valve must have at least a valve seat and a valve body.
Conveying devices for vehicle brake systems are basically known from the art. A conveying device with non-return valves partially assembled from stampings and formed sheet metal can be found in DE 197 32 771 A1. Here the valve seat of the pressure valve is a one piece sheet metal stamping. The valve seat is attached to a guide bushing or to a receptacle by means of caulking. This allows for a low-cost production. However, especially thin-walled sheet metal parts have a tendency to warp. This tendency increases through the subsequent caulking processes of the valve seat. An uncontrolled warp of sealing-relevant parts—such as a valve seat in particular—cannot be tolerated. To avoid a raised scrap rate, a special quality assurance initiative, including the choice and production of raw materials seems necessary.
The object of the invention is to provide a simplified conveying device with a simplified non-return valve, which can be developed for a warp-free cold-forming production process without special expenditure.

Abstract: To achieve the simplest possible assembly of the non-return valve (9), the valve seat (11) is assembled from several special valve seat segments (13,14).


A blind attachment that includes a body (36) with—at a first end—a visible surface (38), through which a bore (40) passes that accommodates a rod (42) of which a first end (44) projects relative to the visible surface (38) and of which the other end includes a head (46) that can deform a deformation zone (48) when the rod (42) moves translationally, with the visible surface including holding elements for coupling the body (36) to a tool that is used for driving the rod (42) in rotation, whereby the holding elements include at least one lug (52) that is connected at the visible surface (38) and that projects relative to the latter, characterized in that the at least one lug (52) is connected to the body (36) by a junction zone (54) that can break when the lug undergoes a force that exceeds a given threshold.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a blind attachment equipped with a self-breaking holding system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A blind attachment makes it possible to assemble parts while having access only to a single side of the assembly.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a blind attachment comprises a body 10 that comprises a bore 12 in which a rod 14 is housed with a head 16 at a first end and whose other end 18 projects relative to the body 10 in such a way as to be able to be gripped by a tool. A sleeve 20 that is also called a bulb is arranged between the head 16 and the body 10.
To ensure the translational motion of the rod 14, one approach consists in providing a threaded rod 14 that is screwed into a threaded bore 12 of the body 10. The end 18 of the rod 14 comprises at least one flat surface for making it possible for a tool 22 to drive the rod 14 in rotation.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, the surface 24 of the body oriented toward the tool 22 comprises slots 26 (hollow shape) that make it possible to immobilize the body 10 in rotation so that the rotation of the rod 14 creates a relative translational motion between the rod 14 and the body 10.
According to one embodiment, a nut 28 can be interposed between the tool 22 and the surface 24 of the body.
According to an operating method, in a first step, the blind attachment is put into a bore 30 made in the parts 32 to be assembled, as illustrated in FIG. 1A. When the tool 22 drives the rod 14 in rotation, this tends to deform the sleeve 20 gradually, as illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 1C, which, after creep, flattens itself against the surface that is inaccessible after the assembly. When the sleeve 20 is completely deformed, the force in the threaded rod 14 becomes too great so that the latter breaks as illustrated in FIG. 1D.
Subsequently, it is advisable to plane down the threaded rod so that the latter is flush with the surface 24 of the body.
After the installation of the blind attachment and the application of paint, the slots 26 remain visible. Consequently, this type of attachment is not entirely satisfactory in terms of esthetics.
According to another point, when these slots 26 are arranged at the surface of the fuselage, they form rough spots that create disturbances on the aerodynamic plane.

Blind fastener equipped with a self-breaking holding system