A connector assembly has an insulative housing including a top wall, a bottom wall, a side wall, and a receiving cavity enclosed by these walls. A slot and some passageways are formed on the top wall and communicating to the receiving cavity along a vertical direction. A printed circuit board is received within the receiving cavity. A plurality of contacts connected to the printed circuit board have moveable contacting portions extending through the corresponding passageways and upwardly beyond a top face of the top wall. A magnet includes a top section received within the slot and a bottom section bonded to the bottom wall through melting a part of the bottom wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector assembly, and more particularly to a connector assembly having an insulative housing and a magnet retained therein.
2. Description of Related Arts
Portable devices are often powered by rechargeable batteries. Some portable devices, such as a wearable device, notebook, tablet, mobile phone, etc., have a female connector with a magnetic element mounted therein. A male connector assembly with a cable has a housing, a plurality of moveable contacts extending out of the housing, and a magnet installed within the housing. The magnet of the male connector assembly could be attracted by the magnetic element of the female connector to guide the male connector assembly to mate the female connector and maintain the connection. The magnet is usually bonded to the housing by applying liquid glues.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0349457 discloses a data and power connector having a top housing half, a bottom housing half, and a pair of magnets received within the bottom housing half. The bottom housing half has a plurality of ribs formed on a bottom wall thereof. The magnets are mounted upon the ribs. Each magnet has a shoulder structure on its top section. Rib or bar like structures are also formed on peripheral rims of the top and bottom housing halves for retaining purpose, e.g., bonding or hot melting.
A connector assembly with stable magnet is desired.

Method of retaining magnets to insulative housing of connector


A scanning system includes a scanning chamber; a first rotary drive disposed in the scanning chamber and configured to rotate around a first axis; a second rotary drive disposed in the scanning chamber and configured to rotate around the first axis synchronously with the first rotary drive; and a bar-and-hinge system disposed in the scanning chamber and mechanically coupled to a substrate holder, the hinge system configured to translate a rotary motion of the first rotary drive and the second rotary drive to a planar motion of the substrate holder.

Generally, advancements in integrated circuit (IC) technology are driven by a demand for higher functionality at reduced cost. An IC is an electronic circuit integrated in a monolithic structure. The circuit network comprises electronic components (e.g., transistor, resistor, and capacitor) interconnected by a multilevel system of conductive lines, contacts, and vias. Elements of this network are formed layer-by-layer by a sequence of deposition and patterning of dielectric, metal, and semiconductor layers over a semiconductor substrate or wafer. The demand for higher functionality at reduced cost is met by increasing the packing density of elements of the network through miniaturization. In IC technology, periodic reductions in feature sizes have repeatedly increased the packing density. This reduces the cost per component and increases functionality, (e.g., more logic gates and memory per unit area).
While miniaturization provides many benefits, it intensifies the challenge of providing manufacturable IC fabrication technology. Processes used to fabricate IC's include those where a surface of the wafer is exposed to a beam focused onto the surface, localized in a spot much smaller than the wafer. The wafer may, thus, be scanned through the beam using a wafer scanning apparatus to expose the entire surface to the beam. With reduction of feature sizes and improvements in beam processing, the wafer scanning apparatus has to provide higher accuracy and flexibility in positioning the wafer during processing. Wafer scanning apparatus are also used for other applications such as integrated photonics and microelectromechanical system (MEMS), as well as for imaging (e.g., scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)).
Wafer scanning apparatus and methods of various designs are deployed in process steps such as photolithography, ion implantation, focused ion beam (FIB) milling, and gas cluster ion beam (GCIB) processing. For example, during a GCIB process step, the wafer may be scanned through the GCIB to expose the wafer surface uniformly to the beam. As known to persons skilled in the art, GCIB processing involves directing a collimated beam of energetic nanoscale particles to strike a wafer surface, thereby modifying a region close to the surface either physically (e.g., smoothing, sputter cleaning, or implanting dopants), or chemically (e.g., etching, or depositing a thin film by surface chemical reactions), or by a combination of physical and chemical mechanisms. The particle beam, referred to as the GCIB, comprises a wide distribution of clusters of a few thousand to a few atoms/molecules (even monomers). The clusters may be formed, for example, by releasing pressurized gas into a low pressure vacuum chamber to initiate a condensation process resulting from cooling during adiabatic expansion of a gas. A fraction of the clusters may be subsequently ionized using, for example, bombardment with energetic electrons. A wide variety of gases are used in GCIB processing, from inert gases such as argon to highly reactive gases such as NF3, depending on the application. The ionization charge allows for the gas to be accelerated to a desired high energy and collimated into a beam of a desired spot size using, for example, controlled electrostatic and magnetic acceleration and focusing techniques. The beam cross-section is usually small relative to the area of the wafer surface. Hence, during GCIB processing, some scanning mechanism is used to expose the entire wafer surface to the GCIB. Generally, the wafer is mechanically moved through a stationary beam in order to avoid problems in controlling the spot size and shape during electrostatic scanning of high current ion beams such as those used for GCIB processing.

Wafer scanning apparatus and method for focused beam processing

TEL Manufacturing and Engineering of America, Inc.


A nipple for use with a baby bottle includes a flange having an upper surface, a lower surface, a cavity formed in the flange and through the lower surface, and a membrane formed in the flange above the cavity and through the upper surface. The cavity is contiguous with the membrane. The membrane has a perforation therethrough to form at least two resealable lips in the membrane. Preferably, the two resealable lips have an X-shape.

Reusable, or hard, baby bottles with attached flexible nipples are commonly used to feed babies formula, water, and other liquids. One limitation associated with such bottles is the tendency of a vacuum to develop within the bottle during feeding. This can occur if, as the baby sucks liquid through the nipple, the liquid is not immediately replaced by air. This creates a pressure differential between the outside environment and the inside of the bottle causing the vacuum.
The vacuum created can, amongst other things, cause the nipple to collapse or cause the feeding portion, or tip, of the nipple to invert and be drawn toward the inside of the bottle. This prevents proper feeding, and may require loosening of the nipple and subsequent reassembly of the bottle. Furthermore, the vacuum created within the bottle can make feeding more difficult, requiring a greater sucking effort which may cause the baby to ingest more air.
The feed opening in the nipple may allow air into the bottle. However, it is insufficient to alleviate the vacuum formed in the bottle since that opening is typically occluded by fluid and the baby's mouth thereby preventing the flow of air therethrough into the bottle.
To address this problem of vacuum creation various pressure equalizing valves have been developed. Most valves require complex valving structures that are expensive to manufacture, difficult to clean, and that can present a potential danger to babies if disassembled and swallowed. Certain prior art nipples employ holes or vents formed in the nipple to allow air pressure to equalize. This structure is not effective as a valve since it does not prevent fluid leakage out through the holes, and does not control the inflow of air.
U.K. Pat. No. 1,432,798 to Yamauchi provides a valve that addresses some of these problems. This pierced-through valve has a small, dome-shape cavity in the nipple flange having stepped cross section. The outer, lower portion or dome-shape of the cavity is wider than the inner portion, and projects below the periphery of the flange. A slit, X-, Y- or I-shape, is then cut into the lower portion of the cavity to form an air passage. An annular rib is formed about the underside of the flange to support and protect the cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,028 to Larson provides a check valve in a nipple for feeding animals. This valve is somewhat similar to the valve in the Yamauchi patent in that it projects below the flange. It is also formed in the upper surface of the flange. A supporting annulus or ring is built into the lower face of the nipple flange about the valve to support and protect it.


A frequency control circuit, and associated method, for a receiver operative to receive a TDMA signal transmitted by a transmitter in a TDMA communication system. A first frequency detector generates a first frequency control signal. A second frequency detector, comprised of a portion of a decision-directed demodulator, generates a second frequency control signal. The first frequency control signal is utilized to effectuate frequency control when a signal is continuously received by the receiver, such as times immediately subsequent to initial powering of the receiver as the receiver becomes synchronized with the TDMA signal transmitted thereto. Onces a receiver becomes synchronized to the transmitter, the receiver need only be powered during intermittent time periods when the TDMA signal is transmitted to the receiver. The second frequency control signal is utilized to effectuate frequency control only after the receiver is synchronized with the transmitter to permit intermittent operation of the receiver, and the frequency differences between the signal transmitted to the receiver and a receiver-oscillator, oscillation frequency is less than a maximum level.

The present invention relates generally to frequency control systems and, more particularly, to a frequency control system operative in a receiver which receives signals transmitted in intermittent bursts.
A communication system is comprised, at a minimum, of a transmitter and a receiver interconnected by a communication channel. A communication signal is transmitted by the transmitter upon the transmission channel to be received by the receiver. A radio communication system is a communication system in which the transmission channel comprises a radio frequency channel defined by a range of frequencies of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum. A transmitter operative in a radio communication system must convert the communication signal into a form suitable for transmission upon the radio-frequency channel.
Conversion of the communication signal into a form suitable for transmission upon the radio-frequency channel is effectuated by a process referred to as modulation. In such a process, the communication signal is impressed upon an electromagnetic wave. The electromagnetic wave is commonly referred to as a "carrier signal." The resultant signal, once modulated by the communication signal, is commonly referred to as a modulated carrier signal. The transmitter includes circuitry operative to perform such a modulation process.
Because the modulated carrier signal may be transmitted through free space over large distances, radio communication systems are widely utilized to effectuate communication between a transmitter and a remotely-positioned receiver.
The receiver of the radio communication system which receives the modulated carrier signal contains circuitry analogous to, but operative in a manner reverse with that of, the circuitry of the transmitter and is operative to perform a process referred to as demodulation.
Numerous modulated carrier signals may be simultaneously transmitted upon differing radio frequency channels of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum. Regulatory bodies have divided portions of the electromagnetic frequency spectrum into frequency bands, and have regulated transmission of the modulated carrier signals upon various ones of the frequency bands. (Frequency bands are further divided into channels, and such channels form the radio-frequency channels of a radio communication system.)
A two-way radio communication system is a radio communication system, similar to the radio communication system above-described, but which permits both transmission and reception of a modulated carrier signal from a location and reception at such location of a modulated carrier signal. Each location of such a two-way radio communication system contains both a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and the receiver positioned at a single location typically comprise a unit referred to as a radio transceiver, or more simply, a transceiver.
A two-way, radio communication system which permits alternate transmission and reception of modulated carrier signals is referred to as a simplex system. A two-way radio communication system which permits simultaneous transmission and reception of communication signals is referred to as a duplex system.
A cellular communication system is one type of two-way radio communication system in which communication is permitted with a radio transceiver positioned at any location within a geographic area encompassed by the cellular communication system.
A cellular communication system is created by positioning a plurality of fixed-site radio transceivers, referred to as base stations or base sites, at spaced-apart locations throughout a geographic area. The base stations are connected to a conventional, wireline telephonic network. Associated with each base station of the plurality of base stations is a portion of the geographic area encompassed by the cellular communication system. Such portions are referred to as cells. Each of the plurality of cells is defined by one of the base stations of the plurality of base stations, and the plurality of cells together define the coverage area of the cellular communication system.
A radio transceiver, referred to in a cellular communication system as a cellular radiotelephone or, more simply, a cellular phone, positioned at any location within the coverage area of the cellular communication system, is able to communicate with a user of the conventional, wireline, telephonic network by way of a base station. Modulated carrier signals generated by the radiotelephone are transmitted to a base station, and modulated carrier signals generated by the base station are transmitted to the radiotelephone, thereby to effectuate two-way communication therebetween. (A signal received by a base station is then transmitted to a desired location of a conventional, wireline network by conventional telephony techniques. And, signals generated at a location of the wireline network are transmitted to a base station by conventional telephony techniques, thereafter to be transmitted to the radiotelephone by the base station.)
Increased usage of cellular communication systems has resulted, in some instances, in the full utilization of every available transmission channel of the frequency band allocated for cellular radiotelephone communication. As a result, various ideas have been proposed to utilize more efficiently the frequency band allocated for radiotelephone communications. By more efficiently utilizing the frequency band allocated for radiotelephone communication, the transmission capacity of an existing, cellular communication system may be increased.
The transmission capacity of the cellular communication system may be increased by minimizing the modulation spectrum of the modulated signal transmitted by a transmitter to permit thereby a greater number of modulated signals to be transmitted simultaneously. Additionally, by minimizing the amount of time required to transmit a modulated signal, a greater number of modulated signals may be sequentially transmitted.
By converting a communication signal into discrete form prior to transmission thereof, the resultant modulated signal is typically of a smaller modulation spectrum than a corresponding modulated signal comprised of a communication signal that has not been converted into discrete form. Additionally, when the communication signal is converted into discrete form prior to modulation thereof, the resultant, modulated signal may be transmitted in short bursts, and more than one modulated signal may be transmitted sequentially upon a single transmission channel.
As a single frequency channel is utilized to transmit two or more separate signals during nonoverlapping time periods, a method of signal transmission is referred to as a time division method. A communication system incorporating such a time division method of signal transmission includes a Time Division Multiple Access communication system or, more simply, a TDMA communication system.
A TDMA communication system includes a transmitter operative to transmit signals to a receiver in intermittent bursts during intermittent time periods. Such signal transmitted to a particular receiver operative in a TDMA communication system shall hereinafter be referred to as a TDMA signal.
A TDMA communication system is advantageously utilized as a cellular communication system as, during time periods in which a base station does not transmit a TDMA signal to a particular radiotelephone, another TDMA signal may be transmitted to another radiotelephone at the same frequency as the frequency at which the TDMA signal transmitted to the first radiotelephone is generated. Thus, a single base station may transmit signals to two or more radiotelephones at the same frequency. It should be noted that, typically, a base station generates signals at a particular frequency continuously, but a TDMA signal is referred to as the portions of the continuously-generated signal generated by the base station directed to a particular radiotelephone.
A receiver operative to receive a TDMA signal need only be powered during the intermittent time periods during which the TDMA signal is transmitted to the receiver. During other time periods, the receiver need not be powered. By properly synchronizing the receiver of a TDMA communication system with a transmitter which transmits the TDMA signal thereto, the receiver may be powered only during those time periods in which the TDMA signal is transmitted to the receiver, and the receiver may be turned-off (i.e. the receiver may be disconnected from a supply of power) during other time periods. Significant power savings can result as the receiver need only be powered to receive the signal transmitted thereto for one-half, or an even smaller fraction, of the time period that a receiver operable to receiver a conventional signal must be powered. (As a receiver operable to receive a conventional, continuously-generated signal must be powered continuously, a conventional receiver may not be turned-off.)
As many radiotelephones operable in a cellular communication system are powered by battery power supplies, power savings resulting from intermittent powering of the receiver portion thereof increases the amount of time in which the radiotelephone may be operated by a single power supply. As a result, a cellular communication system operable to transmit and to receive TDMA signals is also advantageous for this reason.
However, conventional frequency control circuitry which forms a portion of a receiver and which is operative to prevent frequency drift of the receiver requires a signal to be applied continuously to the frequency control circuitry for proper operation thereof. Conventional frequency control circuitry, accordingly, inadequately prevents frequency drift of a receiver which is only intermittently powered to receive a TDMA signal. (Frequency control circuitry of a receiver compares the frequency of a signal transmitted thereto with the frequency of one or more oscillators forming a portion of the receiver. Responsive to such comparison, the oscillation frequency of the receiver-oscillator is altered.)
Receivers constructed to receive digital signals (whether transmitted only in intermittent bursts or continuously) oftentimes include decision-directed demodulators/signal detectors. Such decision-directed devices are capable of providing a frequency control signal which may be utilized by frequency control circuitry for purposes of frequency control and do not require application of a continuous signal thereto. However, such frequency control signals generated by the decision-directed devices are accurate only when the frequency of the transmitted signal is closely related in frequency with that of the receiver oscillator.
Frequency control utilizing conventional frequency control circuitry (when a continuously-generated signal is received) is operable to correct for frequency differences between a transmitted signal and the oscillation frequency of an oscillating signal generated by a receiver oscillator as great as, or even greater than, ten times the range of frequency differences over which frequency control circuitry utilizing a decision-directed device is operable. (For example, conventional frequency control circuitry is operable when the frequency differences are as great as 30 kilohertz while frequency control circuitry including the decision-directed devices is operable over frequency differences up to only approximately 3 kilohertz.)
Because of this limited range of operability, frequency control circuitry utilizing the decision-directed device cannot be utilized when the frequency differences between the signal transmitted to the receiver and the oscillation frequency of a receiver-oscillator is significant, such as immediately subsequent to initial powering of the receiver prior to effectuation of frequency control.
Accordingly, what is needed is frequency control circuitry operative in a receiver when a signal is transmitted thereto in intermittent bursts even when frequency differences between such transmitted signal and the receiver-oscillator, oscillation frequency is significant.

Frequency control circuit, and associated method, for a receiver operative to receive signals-transmitted thereto in intermittent bursts


A light quantity adjusting device includes a ring-shaped base plate having an exposure aperture at a center thereof, a first light quantity adjusting blade arranged in the exposure aperture, a first drive device for opening/closing the first light quantity adjusting blade, a second light quantity adjusting blade arranged in the exposure aperture, and a second drive device for opening/closing the second light quantity adjusting blade. The first drive device includes a magnet rotor and an exciting coil formed in a ring shape, and a guiding member for inducing a magnetic field to a position facing a magnetic pole formed on a circumference side of the magnet rotor. The second drive device includes a magnet rotor, an exciting coil, and a guiding member for guiding a magnetic field to a position facing a magnetic pole formed on a circumference side of the magnet rotor.

The present invention relates to a light quantity adjusting device, which is assembled in a photographing device such as a digital camera and a mobile telephone with a camera for adjusting quantity of photographic light through a shutter blade or iris blades, and relates to a photographic device having the light quantity adjusting device.
Generally, in a light quantity adjusting device, a base plate (or a main plate) having an aperture is arranged in a photographic optical path leading from an object to an image lens, and a shutter blade(s) and iris blades are individually rotatably or slidably supported on the base plate and are opened/closed by individual drive motors attached to the base plate.
In a light quantity adjusting device disclosed in Patent Publication 1 (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 10-221740), a shutter blade and iris blades are rotatably supported at their base end portions through pins on a base plate having an optical aperture at its center, so that their leading ends face the optical pass aperture. In the light quantity adjusting device in Patent Publication 1, the shutter blade is formed of two blade members to be turned in the opposite directions from each other, and the iris blades are arranged such that a blade member for closing the aperture to a large area and a blade member for closing the aperture to a small area are arranged to face the aperture selectively.
As shown in FIG. 8, there is disclosed a structure, in which a shutter drive unit (or a moving magnet) X4 for opening/closing a pair of shutter blades X3; a first iris drive unit (or a moving magnet) X6 for moving a first iris blade X5 having a smaller aperture than an exposure aperture X2 formed at the center of a main plate X1 suitably to and from the exposure aperture X2; and a second iris drive unit (or a moving magnet) X8 for moving a second iris blade X7 having a far smaller aperture than the exposure aperture X2 suitably to and from the exposure aperture X2 are arranged at a substantially equal spacing around the exposure aperture X2.
The light quantity adjusting device is formed to arrange the plural common drive units X4, X6 and X8 at the common distance around the exposure aperture X2 of the main plate X1. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide a space matching to a diameter of the drive units around the exposure aperture X2. Due to the arrangement of the drive units X4, X6 and X8 at the circumferential edge of the aperture of the main plate, it is difficult to keep the arranging spaces for the drive units X4, X6 and X8 in a case of a lens barrel which moves back and force like a zoom lens. At an especially high shutter speed, the drive unit X4 for opening/closing the shutter blade X3 has to be formed as a unit having a high output torque, thereby increasing a size of the device large.
In Patent Publication 2 (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-049076), a shutter device is disclosed as a drive device for opening/closing a pair of shutter blades Y2 and Y3, which are arranged between a holder plate Y1 and a main plate Y4, as shown in FIG. 9. The shutter device includes: a generally cylindrical magnet rotor Y5 having a drive arm protruding from a side portion and magnetically divided into N and S poles; an auxiliary stator Y6 inserted into a hollow portion of the rotor Y5; a stator Y8 made of a soft magnetic material and having a column-shaped inner cylinder for fitting the auxiliary stator Y6 therein and an outer magnetic pole 3a having a tooth-shaped leading end portion; and a conduction coil Y7.
The stator Y8 and the auxiliary stator Y6 are magnetized by the conduction coil Y7 thereby to drive the intervening magnet rotor Y5 magnetically rotationally. Therefore, the shutter device has a higher magnetic efficiency than that of the structure in Patent Publication 1, and has a merit that the drive device can be small-sized for the higher magnetic efficiency.
In Patent Publication 3 (Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-272082), there is disclosed a structure, in which there are arranged sequentially in the direction of an optical axis a blade holder Z1, blades Z2, a main plate Z3, a magnet rotor Z4 having a hollow cylinder shape, a magnet holder Z5, a cylindrical coil Z6, and a stator Z7 having an outer cylinder having a leading end portion extending in the axial direction and formed into a plurality of comb teeth. The light quantity adjusting device is ring-shaped to pass an optical path through the central portion of the drive device, so that it can be easily built in the cylindrical lens barrel of a zoom lens.
As a size of the device has been reduced as in a recent mobile telephone having a built-in camera, the light quantity adjusting device has a small base plate and small blades to be assembled into the base plate. The small-sized drive device has a low output torque, thereby making it difficult to drive the blades at a high speed. Therefore, the structure in Patent Publication 1 has a limit in the size reduction, and the structure in Patent Publication 3 can make the device small and flattened.
In the Patent Publications, the blade is structured by the shutter blade or the iris blade. Accordingly, when both the shutter blade and the iris blade are assembled in a common base plate and driven by an individual drive motor, in the structure in Patent Publication 3, it is necessary to arrange two ring-shaped magnets around the optical path aperture. Further, in Patent Publication 3, the N/S magnetic poles are alternately arranged on the circumferential side of the ring-shaped magnet rotors and the yokes of the inducing iron members are arranged to face on the rotor circumferential sides. Accordingly, it is difficult to magnetically shield the magnetic field generated in the coil, and the magnetic fields of the magnets and the inducing iron members may exert magnetic influences therearound.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a small-sized compact light quantity adjusting device, in which shutter blades for shutting the photographing light quantity, an iris blade for adjusting the light quantity, and a drive device for opening/closing the blades are assembled in a common base plate.
Another object of the invention is to provide a light quantity adjusting device, in which blade members are prevented from any operation irregularity due to mutual interference among the magnetic fields of magnets, coils, and the like, when a plurality of drive units is assembled in a base plate, and a photographing device using the light quantity adjusting device.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Light quantity adjusting device and photographing device having the same


The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating a light guide panel which can improve light efficiency and brightness, and a backlight unit having the light guide panel. The backlight unit includes a light source for generating a light, and a light guide panel for guiding the light incident thereon from the light source, the light guide panel having an upper pattern which is formed on a front side thereof for emitting the light guided thus to upward and a lower pattern which is formed on a backside thereof for reflecting or refracting the light, wherein the lower pattern of the light guide panel is formed in an intaglio pattern having a vertical angle at which two inclined planes meet, and one of the two inclined planes the light from the light source incident thereon has an angle of 45˜55°.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to an apparatus for fabricating a light guide panel which can improve light efficiency and brightness, and a backlight unit having the light guide panel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, as one of flat display devices which displays an image by using liquid crystals, a liquid crystal display device is used widely throughout industries owing to advantages that the liquid crystal display device is thinner, and lighter, and has a lower driving voltage, and a lower power consumption than other display devices.
Since a liquid crystal panel of the liquid crystal display device, which is to display the image, is a non-light emitting device which can not emit a light for the liquid crystal panel itself, the liquid crystal panel requires the backlight unit for supplying the light.
Referring to FIG. 1A, a light guide panel 12 of the backlight unit has an ink pattern 16 printed on a surface. The ink pattern 16 scatters the light totally reflected at, and traveling in, an inside of the light guide panel 12 to emits to an outside of the light guide panel 12, and a reflective sheet 14 or a diffusion sheet scatters or focuses the light for enhancing the brightness of the light. In this instance, since an angle of emission from the light guide panel 12 is 65˜85° which is very large due to a difference of refractive indices between the light guide panel 12 and air, adjustment of the angle is difficult. As shown in FIG. 1B, in order to make the brightness of the light emitted at the large angel higher by converging the light, a light distribution is adjusted such that the brightness is high at a zero degree of the light emission angle by using the diffusion sheet and a prism sheet.
Thus, a related art backlight unit has a problem in that a change of the light distribution dependent on the diffusion sheet and the prism sheet is required due to difficulty of a light emission distribution adjustment only with the light guide panel 12, causing problems of cost increase and total thickness increase of the backlight unit due to provision of the diffusion sheet and the prism sheet.
Moreover, a very low ink pattern 16 of few μm on the related art light guide panel 12 makes the light emission angle adjustment very difficult.

Apparatus for fabricating light guide panel and backlight unit having the light guide panel


A new and distinct Petunia plant named ‘BBTUN22503’, characterized by its upright to outwardly spreading and mounding to eventually trailing plant habit; vigorous growth habit and rapid growth rate; freely branching habit; dense and bushy plant form; early and freely flowering habit; double-type flowers that are dark red purple and white in color; and excellent garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Petunia plant, botanically known as Petunia X hybrida and hereinafter referred to by the name 'BBTUN22503'.
The new Petunia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Bonsall, Calif. The objective of the breeding program is to create new vigorous, freely-branching and uniformly mounding Petunia plants with early and freely flowering habit, attractive double-type flowers and good garden performance.
The new Petunia plant originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on Oct. 16, 2013 in Bonsall, Calif. of Petunia X hybrida 'USTUNJ2401', disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 28,028, as the female, or seed, parent with Petunia X hybrida 'Sundasiro', disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 20,870, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Petunia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Bonsall, Calif. on Jun. 18, 2014.
Asexual reproduction of the new Petunia plant by vegetative terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Bonsall, Calif. since Jun. 27, 2014 has shown that the unique features of this new Petunia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A configuration for a satellite constellation has a plurality of planes, each plane including a plurality of satellites therein, at least some of the planes situated at a different altitude than other of the planes. In some embodiments, all planes contain the same number of satellites; in some other embodiments, at least one plane includes a different number of satellites than the other planes in the constellation. In some embodiments, the satellites in each plane are evenly spaced.

Artificial satellites (hereinafter after "satellites") are used for telecommunications, navigation, disaster monitoring, weather monitoring/forecasting, astronomical observations, and intelligence gathering, to name but a few of their many important functions. A satellite constellation is a group of satellites working in concert under shared control. Their synchronized behavior provides significant improvements, relative to a lone satellite, in temporal and spatial coverage. The first constellation to be used operationally—TRANSIT—was deployed in the early 1960s by the US Navy.
Satellite constellation design is often viewed, mistakenly, as the simple process of placing multiple copies of a single satellite in modified orbits. Quite to the contrary, the essentially infinite number of choices for the six Keplerian orbital parameters makes the design of a satellite constellation an exceedingly difficult problem.
There are no definitive rules for constellation design; the design parameters are mission dependent. Typically, all satellites in a constellation have the same altitude, eccentricity, and inclination so that perturbations affect the satellites in the same way and the geometry is preserved with minimal station-keeping. The primary design factors for the constellation include: the number of satellites, the number of orbital planes, the altitude, the inclination, plane spacing, and eccentricity (of orbit).
The number of orbital planes varies based on coverage needs. Altitude is typically the same for all satellites in the constellation. Increasing the altitude increases the coverage of each satellite in the constellation thereby decreasing the number of satellites required, but it also increases launch and transfer costs. It also increases path losses for RF transmissions and increases communications latency. An increase in RF power is required to compensate for the increased path losses, as is a concomitant increase in the size of the hardware that is required to provide the increased power. Ultimately, this requires an increase in the size and the cost of the satellites. Inclination determines the latitude distribution of coverage. The minimum elevation angle, which must be consistent for all satellites, dictates the coverage of each satellite. Plane spacing impacts ground coverage. Elliptic orbits enable a satellite to stay in a particular region for a longer period of time while circular orbits provide the benefit of constant altitude.
To simplify the problem of constellation design, certain geometries have been proposed. One such geometry is the Walker-Delta constellation. This constellation assumes that all of the satellites are at the same altitude.
In addition to the six Keplerian parameters and the other considerations mentioned above, a particularly important design factor is collision avoidance. In addition to loss or compromise of the mission, a collision between constellation satellites or other satellites generates space debris. Such debris becomes an ever-present risk to other satellites, particularly those remaining in the constellation in which the collision occurred, since any debris generated may remain in the vicinity of the constellation for a long time. As the number of satellites in a constellation increases, so does the complexity of the collision-avoidance problem.

Constellation configuration for constellations having a large number of LEO satellites


Proposed is a green ceramic body prepared from an aqueous slurry of a rare earth oxide powder capable of giving an aqueous slurry having greatly improved stability of the aqueous slurry thereof in respect of the consistency over a long period. The improved rare earth oxide powder can be prepared by: (a) blending a rare earth oxide powder with a flux composition which is, for example, a combination of a boron oxide constituent and an oxide, carbonate or chloride of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element in an amount in the range from 0.1 to 5% by weight based on the rare earth oxide powder to give a uniform blend; (b) calcining the blend at a temperature of 1200.degree. to 1400.degree. C. for 0.5 to 24 hours; (c) cooling the calcined blend to room temperature to give a semi-sintered mass; (d) disintegrating the semi-sintered mass into a powdery form hav-ing a specific surface area not exceeding 3 m.sup.2 /g; and (e) subjecting the powder to a leaching treatment with water to remove any water-soluble fraction of the flux composition.

The present invention relates to a powder of a rare earth oxide or, more particularly, to a powder of a rare earth oxide capable of giving greatly increased stability to the consistency of an aqueous slurry of the powder for shaping or molding of a green ceramic body as well as to a method for the preparation of such an improved rare earth oxide powder as well as a green ceramic body shaped from such a rare earth oxide powder.
As is well known, rare earth oxide powders are widely used as a material of various kinds of ceramic articles such as crucibles, base plates used in a high-temperature treatment of other articles as well as a coating material of various kinds of ceramic articles by virtue of the very excellent properties thereof as a refractory material. When a rare earth oxide powder is used in these applications, a procedure which is undertaken almost always is that the rare earth oxide powder is blended with and dispersed in a certain volume of water to make a slurry of the powder having an adequate consistency depending on the particular method for shaping or molding of a green ceramic body or for coating to form a covering layer on a substrate ceramic body.
A serious problem in such an aqueous slurry of a rare earth oxide powder is that aqueous slurries of a rare earth oxide powder are usually unstable in the consistency in the lapse of time to cause an increase of the consistency within a relatively short time due to the reactivity of the rare earth oxide particles with water. Accordingly, it is necessary in the prior art that an aqueous slurry of a rare earth oxide powder is prepared immediately before each time of the use of the slurry for shaping green ceramic bodies or before the use of the slurry as a coating material. This problem can of course be mitigated by decreasing the content of the rare earth oxide powder in the aqueous slurry or by admixing the aqueous medium of the slurry with a water-miscible organic solvent. The former method is of course not practical because of the decrease in the productivity of the manufacturing process of rare earth oxide-based ceramics if not to mention that certain molding methods cannot be applied to an aqueous slurry of such a decreased content of the oxide powder. The latter method is also not practical because the use of an organic solvent always involves problems relative to the health and safety of workers and environmental pollution caused by the waste water containing an organic solvent if not to mention an increase in the costs for the dispersion medium.


An embodiment of the present invention is a method for generating software components from one or more business rule statements expressed in a language. Symbols of a vocabulary of a language and business rule statements expressed using the symbols of the vocabulary of the language are received as input. The language has grammatical rules. Each of the business rule statements is parsed in accordance with the grammatical rules to generate a language-based structure. The language-based structure is processed to generate an expression model. The expression model is processed to generate a logical model. The logical model is processed to generate platform-independent implementation model in response to a user request for such generation. A target platform description is received. The platform-independent implementation model is processed to generate a platform-specific implementation model using the target platform description. Software components are generated from the platform-specific implementation model for deployment.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to generation of software components from business rules expressed in natural language.
2. Description of Related Art
Natural language used by humans to communicate tends to be contextual and imprecise. To automate natural language processing using computerized methods, certain rules are usually imposed to confine the natural language expressions to a well-defined format. There are several applications that can provide an environment where natural language expressions may be expressed in an unambiguous format. One such application is business language. Business language can be used to describe a business organization and the business rules that are applicable to the business organization.
There are existing tools that help business people build formal business vocabularies. There are techniques developed by linguists for parsing well formed natural language statements into structures that represent the statements in terms of formal logics. There are various software-based approaches that assist people in moving from business requirements stated in business language into software designs, and from designs to implemented systems.
For example, there are well documented techniques for generating a relational data model from a logical model of concepts and fact types, such as the techniques described in "Information Modeling and Relational Databases From Conceptual Analysis to Logical Design", pages 412-454, by Terry Halpin, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2001. Examples of implementations of such generation are provided by database development tools such as Microsoft Visio (with Object Role Modeling) and InfoModeler of Asymetrix Corporation.
For example, there are software tools that perform automated generation of an execution model from a logical model. Examples of such software tools include the product LINC from Unisys Corporation, ActiveQuery tool from Visio Corporation and Internet Business Logic from Reengineering LLC.
However, these existing techniques only support some parts, but not all, of the transformation from business rules expressed in a natural language to software components. Currently, there does not exist a technique to provide an integrated system for automatically generating software components and databases from business rules expressed in a natural language.

Generating software components from business rules expressed in a natural language


An air bag equipped steering wheel that absorbs impact energy of a forward impact, even if applied to the rear side of a ring portion thereof. The steering wheel comprises core bars for connecting its ring portion, boss portion and spoke portions to each other. The spoke portions are composed of two front spoke portions arranged at the right and left of the front side, and a rear spoke portion arranged at the rear side. The air bag unit is securely mounted on the core bars of the front spoke portions and the rear spoke portion. Twistable torsional portions are formed at the core bars of the front spoke portions at positions closer to the core bar of the ring portion than the mounting portion for the air bag unit. A first deformable bent portion is formed at the core bar of the rear spoke portion at the side closer to the boss core bar than the mounting portion for the air bag unit. A second bendable bent portion is formed at the core bar of the ring portion than the mounting portion of the air bag unit and the column cover. The first bent portion is given a lower bending rigidity than the second bent portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle steering wheel. Particularly, the present invention relates to a steering wheel constructed with an air bag unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a steering wheel capable of absorbing the energy of a forward impact, even if applied to the rear side of the ring portion, and to a steering wheel able to absorb impact energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prior art air bag equipped steering wheel constructed for absorbing impact energy, even if applied to the rear side of the ring portion, is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 278861/1992.
The steering wheel, as disclosed in the above disclosure is constructed with notches in the core bar of the spoke portion at the rear side. Moreover, the core bar of the rear spoke portion plastically deforms when impact energy is applied.
In the disclosed steering wheel, however, only one of the spoke portions of the rear side deforms. As a result, the disclosed steering wheel may be unable to sufficiently absorb the applied impact energy. The reason for this is when the notched core bar of the spoke portion deforms, it makes contact with the column cover which is arranged below the steering wheel. This contact regulates (or interrupts) the deformation. If the spoke core bar fails to plastically deform, some impact energy is not converted into energy used for plastic deformation but remains undissipated. In short, all the applied impact energy cannot be sufficiently absorbed.


This invention includes a method of assembling a baffle disposed on a casing to an emitter/detector housing. The emitter/detector housing contains an emitter and a detector that are used to detect the presence of a retroreflective marker on a disk cartridge. Preferably, the method of this invention includes aligning the casing and the baffle with the housing, and slidably engaging the casing with the housing. Once the casing and the housing are engaged, an interference fit is preferably created between the housing and the casing. After the baffle has been attached to the housing, the housing and the baffle may be connected to a circuit board. This circuit board may then be attached to a disk drive.

The present invention relates to a method for assembling a baffle to an emitter/detector in a disk drive. Once assembled the baffle, the emitter and the detector can be used to detect the presence of a marker, such as a retroreflective marker, on a disk cartridge.
Removable disk cartridges for storing digital electronic information typically comprise an outer casing or shell that houses a rotatable recording medium, or disk, upon which electronic information can be stored. The cartridge shell often comprises upper and lower halves that are joined together to house the disk. The disk is mounted on a hub that rotates freely within the cartridge. When the cartridge is inserted into a disk drive, a spindle motor in the drive engages with the disk hub in order to rotate the disk within the cartridge. The outer shell of the cartridge typically has some form of opening near its forward edge to provide the recording heads of the drive with access to the recording surfaces of the disk. A shutter or door mechanism is often provided to cover the opening when the cartridge is not in use to prevent dust or other contaminants from entering the cartridge and settling on the recording surface of the disk.
As used in this application the term disk cartridge refers to any data storage device including tape drives.
Disk drives for receiving removable disk cartridges, including conventional 3.5" floppy disk drives, preferably have some mechanism for detecting the insertion or presence of a disk cartridge in the drive. The actuator that carries the recording heads of the disk drive across the recording surfaces of the disk should not be allowed to move unless the presence of a disk cartridge is detected. In the prior art, mechanical switches are typically employed to detect the presence of a disk cartridge within the drive. Such switches are typically positioned such that when a disk cartridge is inserted fully into the drive, the cartridge contacts the switch, thereby providing an indication that the disk cartridge is present.
When a data storage cartridge is inserted into a drive it is important that the type of cartridge be recognized by the drive as the correct type for safe and reliable use in that particular drive. Most removable cartridge drives (magnetic and optical) typically use approximately the same form factor cartridges, i.e., 3.5", 5.25", etc. Hence if one of these cartridges is inserted into the cartridge slot of the non-mating drive there is a large probability that either the drive (heads, load mechanism, electronics, etc.) or the data on the disk could be damaged.
Also, some cartridges are "write protected" by the user to prevent accidental erasure of important data by writing over it. It is important to protect against operation of the drive when an incorrect or write protected cartridge is inserted.
Retroreflective materials have been developed. This material has many periodic miniature corner cubes, or spherical elements, which reflect light striking it almost exactly upon its incident path. Retroreflective array materials are described in Jacobs, S. F., "Experiments with retrodirective arrays," Optical Engineering, Vol. 21, No. 2, March/April 1982; Rennilson, J., "Retroreflection--What is it and how is it used?" ASTM Standardization News, February 1982; and Venable, W. H., Stephenson, H. F. and Tersteiege, H., "Factor affecting the metrology of retroreflective materials," Applied Optics, Vol. 19, No. 8, Apr. 15, 1980.
Recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,228 (the '228 patent), which issued on Jun. 10, 1997 is commonly assigned and is hereby incorporated by reference. The '228 patent describes a disk cartridge that has a retroreflective material and a disk drive that has a light emitter and a light detector coupled to an electrical circuit that can be used to determine if the correct disk cartridge has been inserted into the disk drive. The emitter and detector determine if the correct data storage cartridge has been inserted into the disk drive by determining whether a data storage cartridge that has a retroreflector has been inserted into the disk drive. As described in the '228 patent, the magnitude of light reflected from a retroreflector to the detector will be greater than that reflected by a spectral (mirror like) or diffuse deflector. Therefore, the detector can determine that a disk cartridge that has a retroreflective marker has been inserted into the disk drive when the magnitude of light received is above a predetermined threshold. Since the magnitude of light reflected from a spectral or diffuse reflector will not exceed the predetermined threshold, the detector will know that an improper data storage cartridge has been inserted when the magnitude of light received does not exceed the predetermined threshold.
By recognizing that the magnitude of light received is above a preset threshold limit, the detector knows that the light has been reflected by a retroreflector, and that the correct disk cartridge has been inserted into the disk drive. After recognizing this, the detector operates in conjunction with an electrical circuit to permit activation of the heads of the disk drive, so that the disk drive can interface with the disk cartridge inserted into a disk drive, the detector will not see light emitted from a retroreflector. In this event, the detector and the electrical circuit will not enable the heads of the disk drive. This prevents the disk drive from operating.
While the emitter detector design disclosed in the '228 patent has proven to be effective for some disk drives, an improved design has been developed. As needed, as disk drives become smaller and smaller in order to meet design constraints, in for example a lap top computer, the distance between the emitter detector pair and the retroreflective marker on a disk cartridge becomes smaller and smaller. Due to design constraints, the distance between the emitter detector pair and the retroreflective marker on a disk cartridge has become so small, that the design disclosed in the '228 patent cannot be used to effectively distinguish between light reflected from a retroreflective surface and light reflected form other surfaces, such as a spectral or diffuse reflectors. At these small distances, the difference in the amount of light seen by the detector from the retroreflective marker and the amount of light seen from other sources becomes so small that it is difficult to distinguish between the sources. Consequently, the detector cannot effectively distinguish between light that has been reflected from other surfaces and light that has been reflected from a retroreflective marker.
In commonly assigned and co-pending United States Application entitled "An Improved Disk Drive For Detecting A Retroreflective Marker On A Data Storage Cartridge," filed on Sep. 15, 1997 and having Ser. No. 08/931,272, which is herein incorporated by reference, an improved disk drive that has an improved emitter/detector that can be used to distinguish between light reflected from a retroreflective marker on a disk cartridge and light reflected from other reflective sources is disclosed. This improved emitter/detector can effectively distinguish between light reflected from a retroreflective marker and other reflective sources when the distance between the emitter/detector and the reflective material is relatively very small. The disk drive disclosed in that application has a baffle disposed between the emitter and the detector. The invention of this application includes a method of attaching the baffle to the emitter and the detector.

Method of assembling a baffle to a detector for detecting a retroreflective marker


Disclosed is a spread spectrum clock generator comprising a phase interpolator, which receives a clock signal from a clock input terminal and a control signal (an up signal and/or down signal), for adjusting the phase of an output clock signal in accordance with said control signal and outputting the resultant clock signal, and a control circuit receiving and counting the clock signal that enters from the clock input terminal and outputting said control signal (up signal or down signal), which is for varying the phase of the output clock signal based upon the result of the count, to the phase interpolator. The phase of the output clock signal from the phase interpolator varies with time and the output clock signal is frequency-modulated within a prescribed frequency range. A changeover between absence and presence of a spread spectrum clock function is performed, without a sudden fluctuation in frequency, in accordance with a frequency-modulation start signal and frequency-modulation stop signal that enters from an SSC control terminal.

When a clock generator in an electronic device generates a single frequency, emission increases at this frequency and higher harmonics. For this reason, use is made of a spread spectrum clock generator that reduces the peak of unnecessary emissions by frequency modulation and diminishes EMI (electromagnetic interference).
A PLL (phase-locked loop) in which a pulse-swallow frequency divider is provided in a feedback counter generally is used as a conventional spread spectrum clock generator of this kind (e.g., see Non-patent Document 1 below). This PLL implements frequency modulation by affording two integers A and A-1 as divider ratios and switching between A and A-1. By changing the proportions of A and A-1 at predetermined fixed intervals, average frequency f is varied to thereby generate a spread spectrum clock.
With a PLL having a pulse-swallow frequency divider provided in a feedback counter, a step phase error corresponding to a single clock pulse is introduced in the PLL as an input when the frequency divider is changed over. Since the PLL is in the negative feedback loop, a transient response is caused by the entered step phase error. It is expected that if the damping factor of the negative feedback loop is large, the clock frequency will vary out of specs owing to the transient response. If the damping factor is small, on the other hand, there is a possibility that the stability of the loop will be lost. Furthermore, since the characteristic of a spread spectrum clock generator is decided by control of the pulse-swallow frequency divider and the overall characteristic of transient response due to step phase error, a large number of design parameters exist and labor expended in optimizing design increases.
It should be noted that the PLL described in the above-cited reference is equipped with the pulse-swallow frequency divider and is so adapted that a smooth characteristic is obtained by using post-filtering. However, the reference is silent on information (measures) regarding a fluctuation in the PLL characteristic.
A spread spectrum clock generating circuit having a PLL, which is equipped with a plurality of program counters, and a frequency modulating circuit also is known (e.g., see Patent Document 2 below).
Also known is a clock generating apparatus comprising a clock generator for generating m-phase clock signals having a phase difference between them; a selection processor for successively selecting one of the m-phase clock signals generated by the clock generator to thereby generate a second clock signal; and a dithering controller for supplying the selection processor with a control signal so that the phase of the second clock signal obtained from the selection processor will fluctuate within a prescribed range and the peak of a spectrum will be dispersed (e.g., see Patent Document 1 below). The clock generating apparatus of this patent document is equipped with a delay circuit or ring oscillator as the m-phase clock generator. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the clock generator described in this patent document, the generator using a ring oscillator 110 to generate a 5-phase clock. As shown in FIG. 12, five inverting delay circuits 111 to 115 are connected in ring form and clocks c0 to c4 of five phases are extracted from the outputs of the respective delay circuits via buffers 116 to 120, respectively. Reference numerals 121 to 125 denote frequency divider circuits.
In the prior art in which plural (m) clock generators such as a plurality of delay circuits are used in generating multiple-phase (m-phase) clock signals, as described in Patent Document 1, the amount of delay in the delay circuits fluctuates owing to changes in power-supply voltage and operating temperature, etc., if the delay circuits are constructed in an integrated circuit. Accordingly, a clock generator of m different phases requires the provision of delay circuits of m or more phases for the purpose of accommodating for the amount of fluctuation. As a consequence, control is complicated and it is necessary to finely adjust the amount of delay of the delay circuits.
Further, with the arrangement described in Patent Document 1, m (five in FIG. 12) clock generators are provided to deal with phase lead or lag of the clock. When the phase of a clock makes one full cycle, a smooth, seamless transition is desired with the same amount of delay. However, it is difficult to achieve a smooth, seamless transition owing to the fine adjustment of amount of delay and the use of m or more clock generators.
In a case where clocks of m different phases are generated by the ring oscillator 110, as shown in FIG. 8, this is technically feasible when the number of m-phase ring oscillators is small. In order to stabilize frequency, however, PLL (phase-locked loop) techniques are required. Further, if it is attempted to finely adjust phase resolution by increasing the number of clock generators for m different phases, the oscillating frequency of the ring oscillator will decline and the required frequency will no longer be obtained.
Also known is a clock generating apparatus having a phase interpolator and a control circuit to which a clock signal that enters from a clock input terminal is input for counting this clock signal and outputting a control signal, which is for varying the phase of an output clock signal based upon the result of the count, to the phase interpolator, wherein the phase of the output clock signal from the phase interpolator varies with time and frequency modulation is performed within a prescribed range of frequencies (e.g., see Non-patent Document 3 below).
[Non-patent Document 1]
M. Sugawara, T. Ishibashi, K. Ogasawara, M. Aoyama, M. Zwerg, S. Glowinski, Y. Kameyama, T. Yanagita, M. Fukaishi, S. Shimoyama, T. Ishibashi and T. Noma, "1.5 Gbps, 5150 ppm Spread Spectrum SerDes PHY with a 0.3 mW, 1.5 Gbps Level Detector for Serial ATA", Symposium on VLSI Circuits Digest of Technical Paper 5-3, FIG. 1, June/2002
[Non-patent Document 2]
S. Sidiropoulos and Mark Horowitz et al., "A semi-digital delay locked loop with unlimited phase shift capability and 0.08–400 MHz operating range," ISSCC 1997 pp. 332–333
[Non-Patent Document 3]
M. Aoyama, K. Ogasawara, M. Sugawara, T. Ishibashi, T. Ishibashi, S. Shimoyama, K. Yamaguchi, and T. Yanagita, "3 Gbps, 5000 ppm Spread Spectrum SerDes PHY with frequency tracking Phase Interpolator for Serial ATA", Symposium on VLSI Circuits Digest of Technical Paper 8-4, FIG. 2, June/2003
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2001-148690A (pages 3 and 10 and FIGS. 3 and 11)
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-A-7-235862 (pages 9, 10 and FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9)
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. JP-P2002-190724A (pages 8–9 and FIG. 6)
Further, there is now a demand for operation in which the spread spectrum function is halted temporarily when a system is operating on a spread spectrum clock and the spread spectrum clock is supplied again upon elapse of time. Since it is also required that this operation be changed over reversibly, there is a need for a smooth transition between absence and presence of the spread spectrum clock function. These functions are not incorporated in conventional spread spectrum clock generators and therefore a transient change in frequency occurs at the time of changeover and communication may be interrupted. A system set forth in Patent Document 3 cited above has a function for controlling a spread spectrum clock but a problem with this system is that the clock frequency fluctuates sharply owing to this control.

Spread spectrum clock generating apparatus


A connection for adjustably holding two window hardware members in pivotally connected relationship, including a first hardware member with a first cylindrical opening, a second hardware member with a second cylindrical opening, and a stud. The stud has a flange having two substantially parallel faces and a peripheral surface therebetween, with a rivet portion projecting from one face and a pivot portion projecting from the other face. The rivet portion includes a cylindrical neck extending through the first cylindrical opening and a head on the end of the neck, the flange and the head engaging opposite sides of the first hardware member to frictionally secure the stud against freely pivoting relative to the track. The pivot portion includes a cylindrical shaft eccentric from the cylindrical neck and extending through the second cylindrical opening. A C-ring is disposed in an external peripheral groove in the pivot portion to secure the second hardware member thereto for pivoting about the cylindrical shaft. A part of the C-ring is in the peripheral groove and a part extends radially beyond the pivot portion periphery when the C-ring is in a securing position. The peripheral groove has a depth to enable deformation of the C-ring by movement of the spaced-apart ends towards each other to a release position in which substantially all of the C-ring is in the peripheral groove. The stud flange peripheral surface is engageable with a tool to allow for adjustment of the pivotal connection by pivoting the stud.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward casement hinges for windows, and more particularly toward improved track pivots of casement hinges.
2. Background Art
The casement window has a window sash movably mounted within a frame by a pair of hinges mounted between the window frame and the top and bottom of the window sash. It is typical of such a hinge to have a track mountable to the window frame and a sash arm connectable to the window sash. A support arm interconnects the track and the sash arm, with the support arm being pivotally connected to the sash arm and to the track. The sash arm is pivotally connected to a mounting shoe which is supported and guided for movement lengthwise of the track. Window hinges of this type are shown, for example, in Tacheny et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,092 and Sandberg et al. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,846 (the latter of which shows a snap stud for defining the pivot which is fixed relative to the track).
A variation on the above described hinge includes an intervening link between the sash arm and the movable shoe to provide for an offset sash arm. Such hinges typically include a second intervening link between the support arm and the movable shoe to provide further support. A window hinge of this type is shown, for example, in Vetter U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,149.
When window hinges of the above type are installed, proper operation and sealing of the window when closed requires that the fixed track pivot (usually between the support arm and the window frame) be properly located relative to the window sash. Further, over the life of the window, the proper location of the fixed track pivot may change due to slight shifting of the window, window frame, etc., resulting in a sag in the sash. Sash sag is a condition formed when the sash and the frame of a window are no longer square to one another (in the closed position), or the edge of the sash which is opposite the hinges seems to sag in comparison to the frame of the window. As a result, the window may not seal tightly or open and close easily.
Heretofore, precise installation of the hinge and later correction of sash sag has usually required that the hinge track be provided with slotted holes and that the hinge mounting screws in the slotted holes be removed to allow for shifting of the track. Repeated removal of such screws can, however, over the life of a window result in a gradual loosening of the strength of the mounting. Further, setting of the frame to properly position the window sash can necessitate that the window be first opened (to allow access to the hinge for adjustment) and then closed (to check the sash alignment). If the adjuster chooses to securely tighten the screws before checking the alignment, subsequent adjustments require that the screws be loosened again, which further exacerbates the potential loss of strength in the mounting. If, instead, the adjuster chooses to check the alignment before securely tightening the screws, then the track can slip when the window is reopened to allow access to the screws for tightening, with the result being that the track once finally tightened might still be slightly misaligned.
The present invention is intended to avoid one or more of the problems discussed above.


A ventilated face shield assembly with a glare shield which protects the face of the wearer from debris and/or hazardous materials, such as biological materials, and is particularly well suited for medical and dental applications. A ventilated headband is used as a spacer and to support the face shield assembly on the face of the wearer. The glare shield and face shield are made of sheet material and are configured for flat storage. In one embodiment, the glare shield and face shield are coupled with a hinge and a flexible cord retains the glare shield and face shield in an arcuate configuration. In another embodiment, a protective breathing mask is attached to the face shield assembly and supports the glare shield and face shield. In a further embodiment, the glare shield is used as the spacer for the face shield.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to head-mounted face shields and more particularly to a light weight, disposable, ventilated, face shield having an integrated glare shield.
2. Description of Related Art
In a number of industries, such as medical, dentistry, veterinary and laboratory, the use of a face shield provides protection for the eyes and face of the wearer from debris, splatters or pathogens. Increasingly, face shields are being utilized for preventing infections that can occur as a result of bodily fluid splattering that can arise within a number of occupations. A number of factors affect the acceptance of a face shield design, including comfort, ventilation, weight, ability to be securely retained in position, cost, and aesthetic considerations. The need for secure positioning and ventilation, which increases comfort while reducing the possibility of fogging, can be critical performance factors, especially in situations in which the face shield needs to be worn for extended periods of time.
Additionally, glare control is an important consideration for medical personnel working under bright lights, outdoors or who wear glasses under the face shield. Glare causes eye fatigue and facial fatigue from squinting and can contribute to loss of productivity or errors over an extended period of time. In certain light conditions, parts of eye glasses worn by the user are reflected on the inside of a face shield thereby interfering with vision through the face shield.
Medical face shields are used to prevent transfer of pathogens and, during use, can become contaminated by these pathogens. Therefore, disposable face shields are highly desired. To be practical, disposable face shields should be low cost and easy to use by the wearer. Since face shield assemblies are typically a three dimensional shape when worn, a kit that allows face shield components to be packaged and shipped in a compact, flat configuration and assembled at the point of use is desirable.
A number of examples of practical face shields exist. Examples of face shields which are being increasingly utilized in a number of industries may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,186; U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,653; U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,171; U.S. Pat. No. D375,583; U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,522; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,808; each of which is incorporated herein by reference. The above face shields provide numerous benefits. It will be appreciated, however, that the growing market for face shields is always in search of improved face shield designs that provide increasing utility, comfort, and style while reducing material requirements and manufacturing costs.
Therefore, a need exists for a lightweight, low-cost face shield with a glare shield that provides ample ventilation, and which can be manufactured at low cost and packaged compactly. The present invention satisfies those needs, as well as others, and overcomes the deficiencies of previously developed face shield designs.

Ventilated face shield assembly with glare shield


A plastic bearing and plastic conveyor guide track include a lubricating site formed by an oil saturated polymer. In a plastic bearing, a lubricating strip resides in contact with a shaft rotatably supported by the shaft. In the guide track, oil saturated polymer elements are inserted prior to machining and are exposed at selected guide features during machining. Enhanced lubrication results without sacrificing the load bearing capabilities of the plastic material forming the bearing or guide track body.

The present invention relates generally to bearing manufacture and structure, and in particular to plastic bearing and manufacture.
Plastic bearings provide an alternative to metallic counterparts where wet or harsh environments are encountered and where low maintenance is required. In food processing applications, plastic bearings operate without a grease lubricant as required in metallic bearings. Plastic bearings are more compatible for certain chemical applications relative to metallic bearings. Plastic components can out perform metallic components in many situations, especially in dirty, dusty and contaminated environments. Little or no lubrication is required as most parts made of industrial plastic have, to a limited extent, self-lubricating properties.
Many plastic components are inherently low friction materials. Some plastic bearing components are impregnated with a lubricant, e.g., oil. Oil impregnated plastics include pockets of oil imbedded in the plastic material. Upon machining to final form, some oil pockets are exposed and provide a limited source of lubrication. In particular, the amount of lubricant delivered is limited by the number of oil pockets exposed in machining the part. Eventually, use of the part exhausts the lubricant supply, and the part eventually fails.
Furthermore, plastic bearings must be of significant rigidity to carry a load during operation. As oil is impregnated into the plastic rigidity is lost, and loading capabilities diminish. In other words, a high concentration of lubricant lessens the compressive strength of plastics.
Similar considerations apply to other plastic devices such as plastic conveyors. A plastic conveyor includes a guide track and a chain carried thereon. Such plastic conveyors may be constructed of materials similar to the above-described plastic bearings and use of grease as a lubricating agent is undesirable in many applications. Further, load bearing capability is diminished when significant lubricant is impregnated into the plastic conveyor elements.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide an alternate form of lubrication in a plastic products without packing grease into, for example, bearings or conveyor elements, and without sacrificing an ability to carry a significant load during operation.


An integrated cooling system for a fuel cell vehicle according to this invention comprises a fuel gas flow field for supplying fuel gas to a fuel cell stack and exhausting the fuel gas from the fuel cell stack through a fuel gas accumulator, and an air flow field for supplying air to a fuel cell stack and exhausting the air from the fuel cell stack through an air accumulator, wherein at least one cooling pipe of the cooling system comprises a plurality of heat-dissipation pins on a circumferential surface thereof.

This invention relates to a fuel cell vehicle, and more particularly to a cooling system for a fuel cell vehicle and a cooling pipe thereof. Generally, a fuel cell provided to a fuel cell vehicle generates electric energy utilizing an electrochemical reaction between fuel gas from an anode of a fuel cell stack and air from a cathode of the fuel cell stack.
The fuel cell stack has a Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA), which has a membrane electrolyte sandwiched between an anode supplied with fuel gas and a cathode supplied with air.
The MEA is sandwiched between a pair of separators. Flow fields, which are defined as a plurality of channels or grooves, are formed on the separators for supplying fuel gas, air, and coolant.
Conventional cooling systems of the fuel cell vehicle, however, generally have two coolant circulation flow fields such that the structure of the cooling system is complicated, making it difficult to make space for mounting the cooling system.

Cooling system for fuel cell vehicle and a cooling pipe thereof


The object is to provide a bump bonder wherein the drop of the tact efficiency of bump formation can be reduced to a low level by discard-bonding of unsatisfactory balls (3) so that satisfactory bumps can be formed. It features arranging a discard bonding chip (19) on bonding stage (17), which holds in their prescribed positions the semiconductor chips (13a), (13b) that are to be subjected to bump formation and performing discard bonding to discard bonding chip (19). Due to this construction, discard bonding can be effected without needing to move the capillary far from the bonding stage (17), which is the working position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bump bonders whereby bumps are formed on electrodes of semiconductor chips when mounting semiconductor chips on a wiring board.
2. Description of the Related Art
The existing methods for mounting semiconductor chips on wiring boards include the method! as shown in FIG. 3 of electrically connecting electrodes 14 of a semiconductor chip 13 with lead frames 15 of a wiring board using Au wire 16 and the method as shown in FIG. 9 of forming Au bumps 7 beforehand on electrodes 5 of semiconductor chip 4 and electrically connecting semiconductor chip 4 formed with these Au bumps 7 with electrodes 12 of wiring substrate 11 by means of conductive adhesive 10.
The device that is used to effect electrical connection with Au wires 16 is called a "wire bonder". The device that is used to effect electrical connection with Au bumps 7 is called a "bump bonder".
FIG. 5 shows how bonding is performed by a bump bonder.
First of all, as shown in FIG. 5, a ball 3 is formed by melting, using a spark current, the tip of an Au wire 2 that is drawn through a capillary 1. This ball 3 is joined to electrode 5 of semiconductor chip 4 by applying ultrasound simultaneously with heat and pressure; after bonding has been achieved, capillary 1 is moved to form a loop 6 of Au wire 2 directly above ball 3 as shown in FIG. 6. Au wire 2 is then severed to leave this loop 6 behind.
In a semiconductor chip 4, with bumps 7 consisting of balls 3 and loops 6 formed in this way using a bump bonder on all the electrodes 5 of semiconductor chip 4, the projecting end faces of bumps 7 are simultaneously flattened as shown in FIG. 7 by pressing all the bumps 7 onto a moulding base 8 of defined surface flatness so that all the bump heights are made uniform.
Next, a paste-like coating of conductive adhesive 10 is transferred to the periphery of bumps 7 of semiconductor chip 4 as shown in FIG. 8. At this point, conductive adhesive 10 whose binder is epoxy resin is provided in uniform thickness on the upper surface of moulding base 9 of defined flatness. When loops 6 that have been adjusted to uniform height are pulled up after being collectively pressure-fixed, a paste-like coating of conductive adhesive 10 is stuck onto the upper face of all the bumps 7.
Then, as shown in FIG. 9, mounting is completed by joining bumps 7 of semiconductor chip 4 in positionally-aligned condition to a plurality of conductive films 12 formed in a pattern on wiring board 11 by means of conductive adhesive 10 and heat-hardening conductive adhesive 10 by heating.
In the case of a bump bonder, it is necessary to form a ball 3 beforehand at the tip of Au wire 2, so, in forming the ball beforehand at the tip of Au wire 2, in order to obtain satisfactory bumps 7, discard bonds are required whereby any unsatisfactory balls 3 may be removed until satisfactory balls 3 can be produced.
In the discard-bond step, as shown in FIG. 4, unwanted wire or balls are bent at the capillary tip; bonding is performed to semiconductor chip 4 for discard bonding and thereafter a ball 3 is formed by spark application from battery 11 to wire 2 which is drawn out to a prescribed length.
In the case of a wire bonder, the operation of electrically connecting electrodes 14 of semiconductor chip 13 with lead frame 15 of the wiring board by Au wire 16 by discard-bonding in free areas 15a of lead frame 15 shown by virtual lines in FIG. 3 can be continued, but, in the case of bump bonding, the present situation is that, in the case of a semiconductor chip 4 of small surface area, it is not possible to secure enough area for the discard bonds that are to be removed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a bump bonder whereby satisfactory bumps 7 can be formed by discard-bonding of unwanted wires and/or unsatisfactory balls 3 by suppressing to a very low level the lowering of tact efficiency of formation of bumps 7.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., LTD.


A piston-slide valve including a housing in which a piston with at least one oil groove and control edge is guided shiftable or slidable in a bore characterized thereby that the oil groove of the piston is manufactured via wire erosion. Also the control edges of the piston are manufactured by wire erosion. The bore of the sleeve bushing is manufactured by wire erosion. The piston is made out of a needle roller. The piston has a length of approximately 13 mm and a diameter of approximately 2 mm. The wire for eroding of the piston as well as the sleeve bushing has a diameter of approximately 2/10 mm. Longitudinal sides of a multiple edged groove base or bottom of the oil groove of the piston and control edges therewith are formed in a first working step procedure and the remaining longitudinal edges of the oil groove and the remaining control edges are formed in a further working step. The piston occupies one position and another working position displaced by 900.degree. from each other. Several needle rollers arranged in a multiple compartment holding device are produced via wire erosion in common with each other. During the machining or working of the bore of the bushing sleeve, the bushing sleeve is erodible with a wire with at least one further identical bushing sleeve in common therewith in one working step.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a piston-slide-valve including a housing, in which a piston with at least one oil groove and control edges is guided slidable in a bore.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With known piston-slide-valves of this type, the pistons are produced by turning, whereby the control edges are milled or cut thereon, hardened, ground and eventually perhaps being worked or machined by finishing and lapping. The bore for receiving the piston is produced by boring, grinding and honing. Disadvantageous hereby is that especially with small pistons, which for example have a diameter of 2 millimeters, there can be attained only a relatively small or nominal accuracy of the piston-running or travel play. Such pistons with high system pressures have inadequate or insufficient leakage values. Via relatively large production, manufacturing or finishing tolerances during the manufacture of the pistons and the receiving bore for the piston means, in an extreme situation large running play or travel can arise and occur in the installed or built-in condition or situation. Thereby high leakages can occur or arise, which with control of small oil flows are very disturbing.

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The present invention relates to a novel bacteriophage, more precisely a Podoviridae bacteriophage having killing activity specific to Staphylococcus aureus which is the causing agent of infectious disease in human and animals, a pharmaceutical composition for the prevention and treatment of the disease caused by Staphylococcus aureus, an antibiotic and a disinfectant containing the bacteriophage as an active ingredient.

Bacteriophage is a kind of virus-like microorganism infecting bacteria and generally called 'phage' in short. Bacteriophage is an organism having a simple structure wherein a central genetic material composed of nucleic acid is covered by a protein envelope. The nucleic acid is single stranded or double stranded DNA or RNA. To survive, bacteriophage needs a host bacterium and every bacterium has a specific partner bacteriophage. When bacteriophage invades into a host bacterium, it multiplicates itself and then induces expressions of enzymes involved in the decomposition of cell wall of the host bacterium. The enzymes destroy cell wall by attacking the peptidoglycan layer which is responsible for rigidity and mechanical strength of cell wall.
Bacteriophage was first found by Twort, an English bacteriologist, in 1915 during his research on the phenomenon that micrococcus colony is decomposed turning transparent by something. And in 1917, a French bacteriologist d'Herelle found out that there was something that decomposes Shigella disentriae in filtrate of feces of a patient with dysentery, and he continued to study to identify the material, leading to the finding of bacteriophage which means "eating bacteria". Since then, bacteriophages against Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, and Vibrio cholerae were further identified. Since penicillin was found by Flemming in 1950, antibiotics have been widely used and the study on bacteriophage continued only in some East European countries and it became out of concern in many other countries. However, since 2000, multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria resulted from over-use and/or mis-use of antibiotics have been frequently reported. Because of potential as an alternative for the conventional antibiotics, bacteriophage became in the spotlight again and the studies on bacteriophage are actively undergoing led by advanced countries.
Even though antibiotics (or antibacterial agents) are still major therapeutic agents for the treatment of various infectious diseases, it has been a serious problem since 1980s that the excessive use of such antibiotics generates numbers of multi-drug resistant strains. In 1986, Staphylococcus aureus having resistance against vancomycin, which is so called 'the drug of last resort', and other multi-drug resistant strains were found, giving a great shock to those in medical field. Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) were first reported in France in 1986 and first separated in USA in 1988. Since then, the cases of VRE infection have been increased every year with high frequency, everywhere including Europe, USA, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Korea, etc, making the VRE as a causal agent of nosocomial infections. In Korea, VRE was first isolated in 1992. As for Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) was first found in the early 1990s and was first found in Korea in June, 1996.
Therefore, it is an urgent request to develop a novel antibiotic to treat the infectious diseases caused by bacteria resistant against conventional antibiotics and further to lead national health and medical techniques. Again, it is urgently required to develop an alternative antibiotic to solve the problems of multi-drug resistant bacteria along with the abuse or misuse of the conventional antibiotics and the bio-accumulation of antibiotics. To solve the problem of such resistant bacteria, an alternative antibiotic has to be developed by a completely and fundamentally different method.
In the previous study, the present inventors isolated a Myoviridae bacteriophage capable of killing specifically Staphylococcus aureus, and deposited the bacteriophage at Korean Agricultural Culture Collection, National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology on Jun. 14, 2006 (Accession No: KACC 97001P) and at Biological Resource Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology on Jul. 18, 2007 (Accession No: KCTC 11153BP). The related matters have been applied for a patent (Korean Patent Application No. 2006-55461). Based on the experiences of the present inventors, it can be said that each bacteriophage works on different strains of Staphylococcus aureus, precisely every bacteriophage demonstrates bacteriolytic activity against different strains of Staphylococcus aureus and shows different spectrums by different mechanisms. Therefore, it is preferred to obtain as diverse bacteriophages as possible. Identifying additional bacteriophage facilitates establishing a method to cope with larger spectrum of Staphylococcus aureus and bacteriophage cocktail containing several bacteriophages is expected to have broadened bacteriolytic activity, compared with single kind of bacteriophage.


A method of estimating oxygen concentration in the intake of a lean burn engine is accomplished during throttled operation by repeatedly combining determined air/fuel ratio and intake mass air flow and estimated cylinder mass flow and exhaust gas recirculation flow in a state observer, which calculates exhaust and intake burned gas fractions and resulting percent oxygen in the intake manifold. During unthrottled operation, estimation is corrected by an adaptive disturbance estimator, which operates to correct all input disturbances under conditions of higher EGR and to correct only MAF flow values under lower EGR conditions. Steps for operation of the state observer and for determining or estimating input conditions to the state observer are set forth.

It is known in the art relating to lean-burn engines, that the oxygen concentration in the intake manifold has an impact on combustion and emissions by changing constituents of the cylinder charge. In order to estimate the oxygen concentration in the intake manifold, it is required to measure or estimate air flow, EGR flow, and the flow into the cylinder. In a standard engine, air flow is measured by a Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor at the throttle body.
A conventional, low-cost MAF sensor is insensitive to the flow direction, and it usually works well since the intake manifold pressure is controlled by throttle to be less than ambient pressure in most engine operating conditions, and as a result, the flow is one directional from the throttle body to the intake manifold. However, under unthrottled operating conditions, the intake manifold pressure becomes nearly ambient, and resonance waves can occur through intake systems. Those waves travel through the intake manifold, and may cause reverse flows upstream of the intake manifold where the MAF sensor is typically located.
It has been shown that a conventional, directionally insensitive MAF sensor significantly overestimates air flow due to those reverse flows, especially at low air flow as seen in FIG. 1. In the figure, the solid diagonal line 10 represents mass air flow into the engine measured at a calibrated orifice upstream of the engine intake. The separate squares 12 show individual readings of a hot wire MAF sensor at air flows of 0–200 kg/h. It is seen that below about 100 kg/h, the intake manifold pressure sensor readings are increasingly high. It has also been noted that even specially designed MAF sensors, which are only sensitive to forward directional flow, do not improve the accuracy much at low air flow, since air flow becomes unsteady as indicated by large cycle-to-cycle variations and frequency doubling.
Also, given a mass air flow, EGR flow can be estimated by subtracting the mass air flow from the mass flow into the cylinder based on an assumption that intake manifold dynamics are fast enough to ignore, which is true when the engine is operating under unthrottled operating conditions. For an engine equipped with conventional intake and exhaust valves, the mass flow into the cylinder can be estimated based on the volumetric efficiency, the engine speed, and the intake temperature, etc. The volumetric efficiency depends on operating conditions, and requires extensive calibrations for accurate estimation. Thus, the estimated EGR flow using this method would contain uncertainty as long as measured mass air flow and/or estimated mass flow into the cylinder are inaccurate.

Estimation of oxygen concentration in the intake manifold of an unthrottled lean burn engine


An orchestration system may provide distributed and seamless stateful high performance computing for performance critical workflows and data across geographically distributed compute nodes. The system may receive a task with different jobs that operate on a particular dataset, may determine a set of policies that define execution priorities for the jobs, and may determine a current state of compute nodes that are distributed across different compute sites. The system may distribute the jobs across a selected set of the compute nodes in response to the current state of the set of compute nodes satisfying more of the execution priorities than the current state of other compute nodes. The system may produce task output based on modifications made to the particular database as each compute node of the set of compute nodes executes a different job of the plurality of jobs.

High performance computing ("HPC") may include using specialized supercomputing systems to perform stateful, continuous, and/or other processor-intensive tasks, and/or processing of large datasets. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, simulations, and/or modeling are some examples of HPC tasks.
The transition of HPC away from on-premises deployments and into the "cloud" has stagnated because of the costs associated with accessing and/or moving the large datasets across data networks, security associated with moving the datasets across data networks, security associated with performing confidential tasks on shared hardware, the performance impact for remote nodes executing the same task, exchanging data with one another over a data network, accessing the large datasets from other remote locations from the large datasets, and/or other concerns from using shared, virtualized, and/or distributed compute resources.

Systems and methods for orchestrating seamless, distributed, and stateful high performance computing