Methods and Systems for securely distributing software in a subscription-based environment are provided. In an example embodiment, a Game Security Facility (“GSF”) associated with a game server is used to manage secure communications with game clients. The GSF typically manages secure communication of the accounting and billing information and secure communication of game session data. In typical operation, the game client generates a pass-phrase that transparently includes a unique identifier of the machine upon which the subscription software will reside. RSA-type key pairs that are then generated using this pass-phrase will be associated uniquely with both the game player and with the machine upon which the software resides, thus preventing unauthorized copying to another machine or unauthorized use by a third party. A public key generated using this pass-phrase is forwarded to the GSF, which uses it to generate a unique one-time random session key (for use as a symmetric key) for each session with the game client. The session key is then encrypted for the game client using the public key of the client. Session data, including the original game files downloaded upon successfully subscribing, are then transmitted between the game server and the game client using encrypted versions of the session key. In one embodiment, the game client can upgrade the machine upon which the subscription data resides, cause the session keys to be reissued using a new public key, and retain access to previously downloaded data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to distributing subscription-based software and, in particular, to a computer system for securely distributing game software.
2. Background Description
In a gaming environment, it has been typical to have network-based games, called Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMRPG), which are paid for by means of a subscription fee for some time interval or fixed usage. In these games, thousands of players, each having their own Internet connection, interact on a world server or set of servers. Players can see and interact with one another and with the machine controlled characters, such as monsters and other permanent characters, etc., that are in the game. Some of the more popular MMRPGs are Ultima Online by Electronic Arts, Inc., Everquest by Sony Online Entertainment, Asheron's Call by Turbine Games, and Half-life by Valve.
FIG. 1 is an example block diagram of a typical MMRPG environment. Typically in an MMRPG, a game player 100 registers with a game server 130 to pay for the player's subscription and establishes an account with billing information and a password. The game server 130 then sends initial game client software 140 to be downloaded onto the game client system 110. This downloading process typically takes a long time, for example, upwards of 10 minutes for 600 MB of data using a fast broadband connection. Once the game player 100 has successfully registered and downloaded the game client software 140, the game client system 110 can then log into the network 120 and initiate a session or other type of communication between the game client system 110 and a game server 130. The game player typically logs into the game server 130 with the account and password information setup during the registration process that uniquely identifies that player, for example. Once communication is established, the game server 130 and the game client system 110 exchange messages containing session data 150 that is used to play the game.
The messages exchanged may or may not be sent using a secure communication protocol. If the data is sent without sufficient security, then hackers (malicious or otherwise) can intercept these messages, affecting both the playability of the game and, in effect "stealing" intellectual property that the game player has paid for. Thus, managing the intellectual property rights of digital information obtained through a paid-subscription download is a challenging problem, especially when the subscribers possess technical sophistication as is often the case with computer game players.

Method and system for secure distribution of subscription-based game software


A bracket is used for mounting onto the standard of a stadium or theater seat. The bracket can be bolted in place at the same time as seat backs are bolted onto the seat standard. The bracket has latches that permit a drink cupholder to be installed by sliding the cupholder along mating guides in one direction. The latches engage complementary latch portions on the drink cupholder to prevent removal of the drink cupholder. The drink cupholder has a wall that mates to the bracket, and includes skirt walls that cover the bolts used for attaching the bracket and the seat backs to the seat standard.

The present invention relates to a drink cupholder on the seat standard or frame of stadium seats, which includes a separate mounting bracket that can be preinstalled on the standard, before the seat backs are put into place and using bolt holes that are also used for mounting the seat backs in place. The mounting bracket can be installed, and later the seat backs can be installed. A separate drink cupholder is fitted into the place on the mounting bracket as a final step and locks in position covering the bolts used for mounting the mounting bracket and sent back to prevent tampering.
In the prior art, drink container holders or drink cupholders have been advanced, and have become very popular in stadium seating for theaters, sports arenas and the like. The cupholders generally are mounted at the rear of the seat backs, so that they are accessible and useable for persons seated in the row behind the row of seats on which the cupholders are mounted. Also, separable mounting brackets and drink cupholders have been shown in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,644, illustrates such a cupholder. Improvements in the ease of mounting, and the procedures for enabling one to install a mounting bracket at the time the seat standards are installed into the arena, and then later adding the drink cupholders, while insuring that the drink cupholders are secured in place is important. Tampering with drink cupholders can be a problem, and the cupholder of the present invention covers the bolts that attach the mounting bracket to the seat standard when the drink cupholder is snapped into place. This construction will discourage, and essentially eliminate, removal of the brackets and the drink cupholder.
The bracket and the drink cupholder can be molded out of suitable plastic materials, and provide an attractive, easily installed, and relatively tamper proof assembly.

Locking bracket and cupholder for seat frame


In a machine for wrapping rolls of household paper in plastic film, the standard heat seal roller is modified by fitting an offset device in the form of a bar set forward of the revolving heated sector in relation to the path followed by the packs of rolls and in the direction of rotation of the roller; the bar projects radially from the roller, and impinges on the sheet of film wrapped around each pack of rolls directed into the heat seal station, causing the two overlapping edges to shift one in relation to the other such that the wrapping is slackened marginally before the edges are joined, affording space into which the rolls can expand once beyond the confines of the heat seal station.

The present invention relates to a device for inducing slack in a wrapping film, associated with a station at which packs of rolls are heat sealed in a non-continuous packaging machine.
In a packaging machine of the type in question, traditional packs of two or four rolls are wrapped in a covering of transparent plastic film using a process that involves passage through a succession of stations comprising an elevator by which the rolls are received in pairs, in contact one with another and horizontally disposed, and carried upward in this same configuration to the point of entering a first wrapping station beneath which a sheet of film is extended flat in readiness to be fashioned into a wrapping around the pack.
The ascending rolls are first partially enveloped from above, as a result both of investing the sheet and of the reaction afforded by a pair of vertical restraints between which the rolls remain lodged when the elevator returns to the lowered position for a successive cycle. The stations next in line are equipped with understroking horizontal folding or flattening devices, from which the pack emerges with the sheet of wrapping film passed fully around the rolls and the two flattened edges overlapping. The vertical restraints are embodied as projecting elements rigidly associated with a pair of looped chains forming a continuous conveyor, the distance between the centers of the restraints establishing the space afforded to the rolls, and the indexing step of the chains determining the distance covered by the packs when transferred from one wrapping station to the next.
The wrapping operations having been effected, all along a predetermined feed axis, the pack of rolls is positioned at a heat seal station where the overlapping edges of the sheet of film are secured; the station in question consists substantially in a roller occupying a position below the feed axis and of axial dimensions corresponding to those of the sheet of film, rotatable about its own axis in a direction concurrent to that followed by the pack and furnished with a heated sector (heat generated from an external source by Joule effect) by which the temperature of the overlapping edges of the sheet of film is raised to the point of softening and thus enabling a heat seal, preferably at points clearly defined by a serrated profile formed on the sector. In successive steps, the end folds of the wrapping are flattened and secured in conventional manner.
The main drawback betrayed by a pack emerging from the stations in question is that of the excessive peripheral tension in the wrapping. In the process of being enveloped by the plastic film, in effect, the paired rolls are pulled together and forced out of shape over the areas breasted in mutual contact; such deformation is caused mainly by the excessive pressure exerted by the horizontal folding devices, in combination with the pressure exerted from each side by the conveyor restraints (necessary in order to support the pack during its passage through the various wrapping steps), and results in a finished package of substandard appearance.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to overcome the drawback in question by providing a device for inducing slack in a wrapping sheet that is simple, efficient and precise in operation, and constructed in a way such as to interfere neither with the structure of conventional work stations nor with the packaging and heat seal tempos typical of existing automatic machines.

Device for inducing slack in a wrapping film, associated with means for heat sealing packs of rolls


A method for testing a pressure-medium-operated electronic brake system of a vehicle having a valve and sensor device including a control pressure inlet, a control pressure outlet, a plurality of valves selected from electrically activated inlet valves, outlet valves, redundancy valves, and pressure valves, an actual pressure sensor for measuring an actual control pressure, a setpoint pressure sensor for measuring a setpoint control pressure, and an electronic control unit, which has a signal-conducting connection to the electrically activated valves and pressure sensors, for receiving pressure signals and actuating the electrically activated valves, includes testing the setpoint pressure sensor while the control unit is in a passive operating mode, passing the setpoint control pressure directly through to the control pressure outlet, measuring the actual pressure at the control pressure outlet using a sensor, and transmitting the measured value to the control unit for plausibility checking against the setpoint pressure measurement.

Electronically controlled brake systems, which are operated with hydraulic and/or pneumatic pressure media, are generally known in vehicles, for example in utility vehicles with a trailer. The regulation of the brakes on such vehicles is usually performed by an electronic control unit which controls the brake system of the vehicle and, if appropriate, of a trailer vehicle. In order to implement all the required functions of such a brake system a multiplicity of valves and sensors are necessary. In order to initiate braking operations, these brake systems have one or more control pressure lines by means of which a control pressure, which corresponds to the braking request of the driver, is applied by a brake pedal unit or other control device and transmitted to, for example, the brake systems of the utility vehicle and/or to a trailer control valve of a trailer. In this context, the requested control pressure is usually initially registered by a setpoint pressure sensor and fed to a corresponding signal receiver of the electronic control unit.
Although the driver's request can be converted directly into a braking operation of the vehicle, the driver usually only influences the wheel brakes indirectly in the case of electronic brake systems. As a result, a largely electronic regulating process of the brake power is made possible by driver assistance systems such as an antilock braking system or a startup control system. In particular, this electronic regulation permits precise setting of the braking power in order to bring about an effective braking operation of the vehicle, which is respectively adapted to the situation. The control pressure signal, which is fed to the electronic control unit by the setpoint pressure sensor, is here an important input variable for the further regulation of the brake system.
If a pneumatic setpoint pressure sensor of an electronic brake system, which registers the driver braking request pressure, supplies an excessively low measured value owing to a malfunction of the sensor or of the electronic control unit, the control pressure or brake pressure which is applied by the control unit will possibly be too low, with the result that the trailer vehicle is not braked as desired. On the other hand, if this sensor signals an excessively high setpoint pressure, the resulting control pressure will possibly be too high, and there is the risk of the trailer vehicle being possibly unintentionally braked hard. Therefore, such brake systems are intended to satisfy safety integrity levels, such as Safety Integrity Level (SIL), Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) or Performance Level (PL), which are also defined with respect to future utility vehicles that are controlled in an automated fashion.
In order to ensure a sufficient safety integrity level of electronic pressure control systems of a brake system, for example in the case of an electronic trailer control valve, the sensor measurement of the vehicle driver braking request requires, with respect to faulty signals, a high degree of diagnostic coverage which specifies the ratio of faults detected by means of diagnostic tests to the total failure rate of a component or of a subsystem. In practice, brake systems of the type denoted above function reliably and satisfactorily. However, there is nevertheless a need for further improvement with respect to the safety integrity level.

Method for testing a pressure-medium-operated electronic brake system


A compliant seal assembly for a rotating machine is provided. The seal assembly includes a static member, a movable member and a biasing member. The static member is rigidly fixed to the machine at its fore and aft ends. The movable portion has a first sealing surface configured to seal against a rotating member and a rear surface, which may be exposed to a fluid pressure to urge the first sealing surface toward a sealing position with the rotating member. The static and the movable members further include sealing surfaces at their fore, aft and end faces to seal against leakage of gas between the static and the movable members. The biasing member is configured to support the movable member on the static member and to urge the movable member away from the sealing position so as to reduce force on the rotating member during contact of the rotating member with the first sealing surface of the movable member.

The invention relates generally to the field of rotating machines, and in particular to turbine engines. Specifically, embodiments of the present technique provide a compliant seal between rotating and static components in such machines.
A number of applications call for sealing arrangements between rotating and stationary components. Such seals may vary in construction, depending upon such factors as the environments in which they function, the fluids against which they form a seal, and the temperature ranges in which they are anticipated to operate. In turbine and similar applications, for example, seals are generally provided between the various stages of rotating components, such as turbine blades, and corresponding stationary structures, such as housings or shrouds within which the rotating components turn.
Efficiency and performance of gas and steam turbines are affected by clearances between rotating blade tips and the stationary shrouds, as well as between the nozzle tips and the rotor. In the design of gas and steam turbines, it is desirable to have a close tolerance between the tips of the rotating blades and the surrounding static shroud. In a turbine engine, the portion of the working fluid passing through the clearance between the tips of the rotating blades and the stationary shroud does no work on the blades, and leads to a reduced efficiency of the engine. Generally, the closer the shroud or stationary component surrounds the tips of the rotating blades, the greater is the efficiency of the turbine engine.
However, clearance dimensions between the rotating blade tips and the stationary shroud may vary at different times during the operation of the turbine engine. For example, the clearance decreases significantly due to dissimilar thermal growths, non-uniformity or transient motion between adjacent rotating and static components, causing interfacing surfaces to rub. Such a rub may lead to rapid wear of the blade and the stationary shroud, and may set up forced vibrations in the turbine engine. Wear on the shroud and the rotating blades is undesirable as it increases clearance dimensions and leads to a further loss in efficiency.
Prior methods to solve the above problem include using a seal on the stationary shroud surface, the sealing material being designed to be wearable or abradable with respect to the rotating blade rubbing against them. In such a system, a rub or contact of the blade tips with the stationary shroud causes the abradable shroud material to abrade or flake off. This avoids damage to the rotating components, and provides reduced clearances and thus better sealing as compared to a non-abradable system, in which large cold-built clearances have to be provided to prevent rubbing during transient conditions, such as dissimilar thermal growths between rotating and static components. However, this abradable system suffers from the disadvantage of reduced life of the sealing material. Also, previous abradable seals, even though various materials for the shroud have been proposed such as sintered metal, metal honeycombs and porous ceramics, have not provided a desirable compliance. Further, after a rub or a contact due to a transient condition, the gap or wear produced by the rub or contact is larger than the interference depth, due to tearing out, galling and spalling.
Accordingly, there is a need for a sealing technique to minimize the damage caused to the rotating and static components due to rubbing during transient periods, and to reduce vibration levels in the turbine engine caused by the same.

Compliant seal and system and method thereof


This invention relates to a novel isoflavone-enriched soy protein product and a method used for its manufacture. The finished soy protein product displays desirable flavor and functional properties, and its isoflavone content is substantially increased compared to traditional soy protein concentrates and isolates. In addition the total sulfur containing amino acid content is improved compared to soy protein isolates. The method for the manufacture of the novel soy protein product results in improved yield and reduced waste products compared to those used to manufacture soy protein concentrates and isolates. The novel soy protein product displays desirable flavor, composition, and performance as an ingredient in the production of dairy or meat based food products such as infant formula, nutritional beverage, milk replacer, soy extended bologna, imitation processed cheese spread, water-injected ham, yogurt and frozen dessert.

Soy protein concentrates and soy protein isolates are important derivatives of soybeans which are used primarily as food and feed ingredients. Conditions typically used to prepare soy protein isolates have been described by Cho, et al, (1981) U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,597; Goodnight, et al, (1978) U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,670!. Soy protein concentrates are produced by three basic processes: acid leaching (at about pH 4.5), extraction with alcohol (about 55-80%), and denaturing the protein with moist heat prior to extraction with water. Conditions typically used to prepare soy protein concentrates have been described by Pass (1975) U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,574; Campbell et al., (1985) in New Protein Foods, ed. by Altschul and Wilcke, Academic Press, Vol. 5, Chapter 10, Seed Storage Proteins, pp 302-338!. In the production of soy protein isolates and soy protein concentrates, the soluble sugars present in the dehulled, defatted soybean meal contain stachyose and raffinose Dey, (1985) Biochemistry of Storage Carbohydrates in Green Plants, Academic Press, London, pp 53-129!. Stachyose and raffinose are not digested directly by humans and animals but, rather, by microflora in the lower gut. These microflora are able to ferment these sugars thus resulting in an acidification of the gut and production of carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen Murphy (1972) Journal of Agricultural Food Chemicals 20 pp 813-817, Cristofaro 91974) Sugars in Nutrition Chapter 20, pp 313-335, Reddy (1980) Journal of Food Science 45 pp 1161-1164!. The resulting flatulence can severely limit the use of soybeans in human and animal diets. These sugars are removed in the production of soy protein isolates and soy protein concentrates and treated as a waste product of the manufacturing process. This waste represents a minimum of 25% loss of the original dehulled, defatted soy flake raw material. Additionally, the treatment of these wasted sugars is a considerable manufacturing cost factor in the production of soy isolates and concentrates, and the waste processing is an important factor that can limit the location of a factory to produce such products. The incorporation of these sugars into soy isolates or concentrates would significantly reduce production costs, reduce the amount of equipment necessary, and by eliminating waste treatment options the opportunities in site selections for such factories would be improved.
Isoflavones are naturally occurring components of soybeans which are present in soy foods and soy protein isolates and concentrates. It has been suggested that such isoflavones in soy products may have a potential role in the prevention of cancer, Messina and Barnes (1991) Journal of the American Cancer Institute, Vol. 83, No. 8 pages 542-545. It has been suggested that the isoflavone genistein may have some role as a chemopreventive agent against breast and prostate cancer in humans, Peterson and Barnes, 1991, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 179, pp 661-667 and Peterson and Barnes (1993), Prostate 22, pp 335-345. The concentration of isoflavones present in defatted soybean meal is significantly reduced in the production of soy protein isolates and concentrates, and such reduction is significantly dependent on the manufacturing process Wang and Murphy (1994) Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry,42, pages 1665-1673!. Increasing the concentration of isoflavones present in soy protein isolates or concentrates is desirable, but existing commercial processes capture only 3 to 35% of the isoflavones available in the raw material.
Soy protein isolates and concentrates are used in the food industry to replace or extend meat, milk, egg, and other protein sources in traditional food products. The soy proteins are modified to have similar functional performance as the protein being replaced or extended. Some of the major applications where soy protein isolates and concentrates are used include emulsified meats, whole muscle injection meats, ground meats, infant formulas, nutritional beverages, milk replacers, imitation processed cheese spreads, and dairy products. One of the key factors limiting the use of soy protein isolates especially in nutritional beverages, milk replacers, and dairy products is the soy taste present in the isolates. If the traditional soy taste could be masked or reduced, significant increases in soy isolates usage levels in the identified applications would occur. Soy concentrates are not widely used in the applications of nutritional beverages, milk replacers, and dairy products because of the strong soy taste and the presence of soy fiber as an insoluble component with undesirable mouthfeel. Reducing the level or masking the soy taste would allow for limited improvement in usage in these applications as the fiber would remain a significant negative factor.
Commercial manufacturing procedures for soy isolates results in products with lower levels of the sulfur containing amino acids cysteine and methionine when compared to soy concentrates. Cysteine and methionine are essential amino acids which are important nutritional factors in all soy products as well as other products produced from meat, milk or egg proteins.
The development of a process which would produce a soy protein product with an improved carbohydrate profile, increased isoflavone content, improved flavor profile, acceptable mouthfeel, improved nitrogen solubility index, and increased sulfur containing amino acid composition would dramatically increase the utilization of soy protein products as food ingredients. In addition, such a process would significantly improve the cost of production by reduction of operating costs, improvement in raw material conversion, and allowing greater flexibility for manufacturing site selection as well as eliminating waste treatment costs.

Isoflavone-enriched soy protein product and method for its manufacture


A torque limiting assembly for use with an actuator having a torque transfer output, the assembly comprising a brake pad, a band connected at a first extremity to a first extremity of the brake pad and a cam linking a second extremity of the band to a second extremity of the brake pad. The brake pad and the band are configured to wrap around the a torque transfer output and the positioning of the cam in a first position frictionally engages the brake pad and the band with the a torque transfer output while the positioning of the cam in a second position disengages the brake pad and the band with the a torque transfer output.

Rotating systems can have enough rotating energy (i.e. inertia) to cause significant machine damage during a jam-up or system crash. This inertia varies based on the RPM and rotating mass for each application. A high mass low speed application could do more damage than a low mass high speed one during a crash. In order to prevent damage, a torque limiter, which is basically a mechanical fuse, is used to shut down the machine and allow the rotating energy to dissipate without causing excessive damage.
Different types of torque limiters are currently being used in the industry, namely disconnect, shear pin, synchronous magnetic, ball detent, pawl and spring, etc.
The only type of torque limiters that allow for the dissipation of rotation energy through friction is the disconnect types (i.e. torque limiting clutches) who "wait" for the torque to diminish to a predetermined level before reengaging.
The main limitations with the existing disconnect type torque limiters are that they are cumbersome (vs. torque capacity) and typically cannot be engaged or disengaged manually. Furthermore, they do not actively dissipate rotational energy.
Accordingly, there is a need for a torque limiting clutch that is compact, can be engaged or disengaged manually and dissipates rotational energy.

Torque limiting clutch for orthotic and prosthetic devices


A drill chuck having an adjustable depth stop to control an amount by which a tool bit, such as a drill or a screwdriver bit, is inserted into the drill chuck. The adjustable depth stop can include a spring, such as a conical spring, that can be coupled to a spindle of the chuck.

Tool bits, especially twist drills, are frequently manufactured at different lengths, where the relatively shorter lengths are typically associated with bits of relatively smaller diameters or sizes. With twist drills, for example, small diameter drills tend to be somewhat flexible during use so that relatively long ones will have a tendency to wander or break when employed by the typical operator in a hand drill. When chucking a relatively short twist drill, it is often times necessary to hand position its shank to the jaws of the chuck to guard against contact between the tips of the drill flutes as well as to ensure that a sufficient amount of the drill body extends from the jaws of the chuck. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an improved drill chuck having an adjustable depth stop to control an amount by which a tool bit is inserted into the drill chuck.


A halogen-containing vinyl resin such as polyvinyl chloride containing a thermal stabilizer and a flame retardant reagent comprising trivalent antimony deposited as a coating on the surface of a colloidal dispersion of antimony pentoxide particles.

The present invention is directed to providing halogen-containing vinyl compounds such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins which are characterized as being thermally stable and exhibiting flame retardancy. While the present invention is applicable to halogen-containing vinyl resins in general such as those heretofore well known in the art, for purposes of discussion only, the invention will be described with reference to PVC.
As is well known in the art, in only a few cases can PVC resins, as received from the manufacturer, be fabricated into products without the addition of a stabilizer. In this regard, PVC is unlike most thermoplastics. Milling or other processing of PVC at elevated temperatures rapidly results in unwanted discoloration. For example, when heated to .about.200.degree. C., a pronounced darkening will occur within thirty minutes. Other degradative effects at elevated temperatures include elimination of hydrogen chloride and irreversible adherence to equipment surfaces. For this reason, it is essential that a stabilizer be incorporated into the PVC resin before it is subjected to elevated temperatures either in fabrication or in its end use.
Stabilizers for PVC are per se well known in the art and accordingly need not be discussed in any great detail. Typical stabilizers for providing heat stability to PVC include Ba/Cd/Zn and phosphite type stabilizers. These and others are discussed in detail, in Handbook of Polyvinyl Chloride Formulating, edited by Edward J. Wickson, John Wiley & Sons (1993), Chapter 9, incorporated by reference herein.
Inherent problems arise when it is desired to include a flame retardant in the resin without adversely affecting both the stability of the resin and its optical qualities. These inherent difficulties may best be illustrated by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,198 issued to Watanabe et al. Aug. 8, 1986 and assigned to Nissan Chemical.
Watanabe is directed to flame retardants for halogen-containing vinyl compounds such as PVC in which the antimony pentoxide main component does not impair either the transparency or the thermal stability of the PVC. In Col. 1 it is explained that while PVC itself possesses excellent flame retardancy, flexible PVC elasticized with a plasticizer or blended with a combustible resin is easily burnt. Antimony trioxide flame retardants provide a great opacifying effect due to their large diameter (0.5 to 10.0 .mu.m or so), their large refractive index and a small light transmittance. Therefore, the transparency which is the greatest feature of the halogen-containing vinyl resin will be completely lost if an antimony trioxide flame retardant is mixed with the resin.
In the paragraph bridging Cols. 1 and 2, it is explained that while antimony pentoxide is a flame retardant which does not cause the transparency of the resin to be lost, it worsens the stability of the resin. In the paragraph bridging Cols. 2 and 3, the cause of this worsening is explained. As stated therein, if antimony pentoxide is directly applied to provide flame retardancy, it will react with the metallic soap stabilizer which is usually used therein, e.g. zinc stearate, barium stearate or magnesium stearate which Watanabe states:
". . . which will outstandingly deteriorate its function as a stabilizer. Consequently, the plasticized halogen-containing vinyl resin will be worsened in thermal stability, and it can be presumed that the coloring and the bloom/bleed phenomena will be caused."
According to the invention described and claimed in Watanabe, these problems are solved by providing an antimony pentoxide powder having a particle size of 0.2 to 10 .mu.m (microns), which powder further contains specified amounts of (A) alkali metal oxide; (B) alkaline earth metal oxide; and (C) phosphoric acid, an ammonium salt of phosphoric acid, or an alkali metal salt of phosphoric acid.
It is stated in the patent that the flame retardant of the invention does not impair the transparency, the thermal stability, or the bleeding resistance of the halogen-containing vinyl resins which, as described in the patent, includig the illustrative examples, further contain the known heat stabilizers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,389 issued to Touval Jul. 29, 1975 and assigned to M&T Chemicals, Inc., while apparently directed to reducing the antimony content while enhancing flame retarding efficiency alludes (Col. 1) to the fact that antimony trioxide "may be inappropriate in some applications where it is desired to have the final product in transparent form." In Col. 4 relating to test results, reference is made to a PVC specimen including, among other reagents, a heat stabilizer containing Ba/Cd/Zn and phosphorous, as well known, and stearic acid. According to the invention, flame retardancy may be provided to this resin as well as the others recited in the specification by incorporating therein a flame-retardant amount of sodium antimonate, the particles of which exhibit an average size of about 1.5 .mu.m, the size of the individual particles being between about 0.1 and 8 .mu.m.
Finally, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,865 issued to Kintz et al. May 3, 1988 and assigned to Nyacol Products, Inc., assignee of the present application.
In the paragraph bridging Cols. 2 and 3, it is stated that for many flame retardant applications, antimony pentoxide sols are dried to powders prior to use. It has been found that some polymer systems containing colloidal antimony pentoxide powder are degraded when cured by heating or otherwise exposed to elevated temperatures. Such degradation is evidenced by discoloration. It is then stated that this heat degradation can be alleviated by changing the surface of the antimony pentoxide particles to replace the hydronium ions on the surface with certain metal ions prior to spray drying. The required metals have essentially insoluble antimonates. Sodium, barium and calcium antimonates are insoluble, and solutions containing these metal ions are suitable for treating before drying. A convenient way to judge if an effective amount of metal substitution has been obtained is by the pH. A final pH of about 6.5 to 11 prior to drying indicates sufficient metal substitution. It is further stated that if the powder is to be used in a PVC plastisol, sufficient metal hydroxide (NaOH preferred) to provide a pH of 7.5 to 10 should be added to the antimony pentoxide sol before drying, with pH values of 8 to 9 being preferred. The patent claims all define the invention in terms of the pH, the convenient way to define the effective amount of metal substitution.!
In the examples, the antimony pentoxide flame retardant is added to a plastisol of PVC (dispersion of PVC in plasticizers) including barium, cadmium, zinc and phosphite heat stabilizers.
An embodiment of the invention described and claimed in the Kintz et al. patent described as a zero tint antimony pentoxide flame retardant powder is commercially available from PQ Corporation under the trade designation NYACOL ZTA. PQ's product sheet for NYACOL ZTA states that NYACOL ZTA has been specifically developed for flame retarding polyvinyl chloride. It has improved heat stability when used with Ba/Cd/Zn and phosphite type stabilizers.
In summary, all three of the above-mentioned patents and the commercial embodiment of the Kintz et al. patent have the common denominator in that their respective antimony pentoxide flame retardant compositions, when used with halogen containing vinyl resins having incorporated therein a heat stabilizer, provide the desired flame retardancy without degradation or adversely affecting the heat stability and optical qualities, e.g., the clarity or transparency of the resin.
Notwithstanding the fact that the aforementioned patented systems are said by the respective patentees to be capable of commercial acceptance and that the Kintz et al system assigned to the assignee of this application is in fact personally known to applicant to have achieved commercial success, there is always a continuing need for improvement of any product towards optimizing the product's acceptance, whether this be in performance or lowering manufacturing costs.
For this reason, Applicant engaged in a research effort at the R&D facility of Nyacol Products, Inc. with the view to improve the addition of a flame retardant to halogen-containing vinyl resins without any degradative effects.

Stabilized and flame-retardant PVC resins


A method of bonding an end of an aluminum wire to a lead comprises the steps of: forming a plurality of parallel bonding grooves on a surface of the lead; pressing the wire end against the grooved surface of the lead with the wire end held in parallel to the bonding grooves; and applying ultrasonic vibration to the wire end in a direction parallel to the bonding grooves.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the wire bonding technology used for making electronic components. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of bonding an aluminun wire for electrically connecting a between semiconductor chip and a lead or between a pair of leads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known, leadframes are commonly used for manufacturing various electronic components such as transistors, ICs, and etc. The leadframe, which is an integral piece made of a thin metal sheet, includes a plurality of chip mounting portions each for mounting a semiconductor chip, and a plurality of leads associated with the respective chip portions. After mounting the chip, a thin metal wire is bonded to the chip and to a corresponding lead of the leadframe, and a resinous package is molded to enclose the chip together with the wire and part of the lead.
When the metal wire is made of gold or copper, the bonding of the wire is performed by the so-called thermo compression bonding method wherein an end of the wire is pressed against the workpiece (namely, the chip or the lead) while heating to a relatively high temperature. If necessary, ultrasonic vibration may be additionally applied to the wire end to increase the bonding strength.
When the metal wire is made of aluminum, on the other hand, it is known that the positive application of heat causes weakening of the wire. Further, it is also known that the aluminum wire is easily oxidized by the positive application of heat. In view of this, the bonding of the aluminum wire has been conventionally performed by the so-called ultrasonic bonding method wherein an end of the aluminum wire is pressed against the workpiece under the application of ultrasonic vibration but without positive application of heat. In such a bonding method, heat is generated only frictionally at the position of contact between the workpiece and the ultrasonically vibrated wire end, and the thus generated heat causes bonding of the wire relative to the workpiece.
It has been found that the ultrasonic wire bonding method provides a weaker bonding strength as the surface roughness of the workpiece increases. In other words, if the surface roughness of the workpiece is high, the wire end, which has been ultrasonically bonded, may easily come off the workpiece.
Particularly, the leadframe as the workpiece is known to have an innumerable number of sharply edged slip lines (Luders' lines) which are formed at the time of rolling a metal sheet material, thereby increasing the surface roughness of the leadframe. If the wire end is ultrasonically vibrated in a direction transversing the slip lines, the wire end is subjected t material removal by the abrasive action of the slip lines. Therefore, care must be taken to render the direction of the ultrasonic vibration parallel to the extending direction of the slip lines, consequently reducing the designing freedom.
In view of these problems, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 58-35950 discloses a leadframe which is plated with nickel to have a surface roughness of no more than 0.5 micrometers, thereby preventing a bonding strength decrease which would result from an increase of the surface roughness provided by the presence of the slip lines. However, the plating treatment is excessively time-taking and costly if performed to the degree of achieving a surface of roughness of no more than 0.5 micrometers.


A horizontal rotary hook for a sewing machine includes a bobbin case holder accommodating a bobbin, a rotating hook made of a synthetic resin, and accommodating the bobbin case holder and rotated in a predetermined direction, the rotating hook including a peripheral wall and a peripheral end, a needle-thread passing opening formed in the peripheral wall of the rotating hook so as to be defined at least by a peripheral end of the peripheral wall, and a reinforcing rib provided on the peripheral wall of the rotating hook so as to be located in the vicinity of the peripheral end defining the needle-thread passing opening.

A horizontal rotary hook providing an easy replacement of a bobbin has conventionally been used in sewing machines. The horizontal rotary hook comprises an outer rotating hook having a sliding surface and an inner bobbin case holder accommodating a thread bobbin therein and supported in the rotating hook so as to be rotatable relative to the sliding surface. The rotating hook is formed into a cylindrical container with an upper opening. The rotating hook includes a peripheral wall on which a loop seizing beak is provided for seizing a loop of needle thread and which has a needle-thread passing opening through which a needle thread seized by the beak passes. The rotating hook is rotated in a predetermined direction by a sewing machine motor.
The bobbin case holder is made of a synthetic resin so that a reduction is achieved in the weight and production cost thereof. Furthermore, the rotating hook has also been made of a synthetic resin recently. For example, JP-U-S60-149388 discloses a horizontal rotary hook in which a beak member necessitating durability is made of a metal and mounted on the rotating hook so as to be laid on an inner surface of the peripheral wall of the rotating hook. Furthermore, JP-A-S58-97390 discloses a horizontal rotary hook in which a separate hook beak and a separate needle guard (a beak member) are disposed in an opening defined in the peripheral wall of the rotating hook to be mounted to the peripheral wall by small screws. The document discloses nothing about a material for the rotating hook.
However, the peripheral wall of the rotating hook is made of a synthetic resin in the horizontal rotary hook disclosed by the former reference, JP-U-S60-149388. Accordingly, an end of the rotating hook defining the needle-thread passing opening particularly has a low strength, so that there is a possibility that the end may be deformed or broken. On the other hand, in the horizontal rotary hook disclosed by the latter reference, JP-A-S58-97390, a part of the peripheral wall near the opening has an excessively large thickness, whereupon a predetermined strength is ensured. However, this results in another problem that a size of the rotating hook is increased.

Horizontal rotary hook for sewing machine


A multiwire branch circuit including two line conductors and a grounded, common neutral conductor is protected by a two pole circuit breaker connected to interrupt current flow in the two ungrounded line conductors. Three separate protection circuits provide arc fault protection for each of the ungrounded line conductors and ground fault protection for all three conductors. The arc fault detectors use the bimetal of the thermal-magnetic trip device for the associated line conductor, and therefore, are individually referenced to the associated line voltage. Hence, the outputs of the arc fault detectors are electrically isolated from each other and from the output of the ground fault detector, but operate a common trip circuit to open the two pole circuit breaker. The arc fault detectors have separate isolated power supplies. The ground fault detector is powered by a supply which is energized if either of the ungrounded line conductors is energized.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus providing protection in multiwire branch circuits of electric power distribution systems, and in particular, to circuit breakers providing protection from arcing faults and ground faults in such circuits.
2. Background Information
Branch circuits in electric power distribution systems often share a common neutral conductor to reduce the wiring required. Such multiwire branch circuits are often referred to as "home runs." Home runs are permitted as long as the two line conductors are energized by separate phases or by a center tapped single phase to avoid overloading the neutral conductor, and as long as all ungrounded conductors are disconnected simultaneously at the panel board where the branch circuits originate. This simultaneous disconnection of the ungrounded conductors can be accomplished with a two pole disconnect, two single pole circuit breakers with a handle tie, or a two pole circuit breaker.
Presently, such multiwire branch circuits are provided with short circuit and overcurrent protection by the tied single pole breakers or the two pole breaker. Only the two pole breaker can also provide ground fault protection by the addition of a common ground fault detector.
Recently, there has been an increased interest in providing protection from arc faults. Arc faults are intermittent high impedance faults which can be caused for instance by worn insulation, loose connections, broken conductors, and the like. Because of their intermittent and high impedance nature, they do not generate currents of sufficient instantaneous magnitude or sufficient average current to trigger the thermal-magnetic trip device which provides the short circuit and overcurrent protection. Various types of arc fault detectors have been proposed, but to my knowledge they have not been adapted to multiwire branches.
There is a need for a circuit breaker which can provide arc fault protection as well as short circuit and overcurrent, and ground fault protection for multiwire branch circuits.

Apparatus for detecting arcing faults and ground faults in multiwire branch electric power circuits


A liquid crystal display device includes a pair of substrates having a plurality of display-use electrodes formed thereon, a seal for connecting the pair of substrates in such a manner that respective electrode forming surfaces face each other, a liquid crystal layer formed by sealing a liquid crystal in a space surrounded by the pair of substrates and the seal, and dummy electrodes for achieving a uniform thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the display area. The display-use electrodes and the dummy electrodes are interleaved on four sides of the seal, and an absolute value for variations in interleaved ratio in the four sides, indicative of a ratio of an area occupied by the display-use electrodes and the dummy electrodes on the seal is not more than a predetermined value. As this permits a uniform thickness of the seal on the four sides, a difference in brightness between a central portion and a portion in a vicinity of the seal in the display area can be eliminated, thereby improving a display quality.

Recently, liquid crystal display devices adopting liquid crystals as a display device have been widely used as a display medium. For example, as shown in FIG. 32, the liquid crystal display device includes an upper glass 101 having a plurality of display-use upper electrodes 103 formed on a surface thereof, a lower glass 102 having a plurality of display-use lower electrodes 104 on a surface thereof. The upper glass 101 and the lower glass 102 are formed so as to face each other in such a manner that respective electrodes cross at a right angle via a seal 105. The liquid crystal display device has a liquid crystal cell having a liquid crystal layer 106 formed by sealing liquid crystals in a space surrounded by the upper and lower glasses 101 and 102 and the seal 105.
In the described arrangement of the liquid crystal display device, the side opposite to a terminal section 104a forming side of the display-use lower electrode 104 is formed inside the seal. For this reason, an interval d2 between a display-use upper electrode 103 forming portion of the upper glass 101 and the display-use lower electrode 104 forming portion of the lower glass 102 differs from an interval di between the upper glass 101 of the display-use upper electrode 103 and the lower glass 102 of the display-use lower electrode 104 in a non-forming area. Namely, there is a difference in thickness in the liquid crystal layer 106 between the electrode forming portion and the electrode non-forming portion of the glasses 101 and 103 of the liquid crystal display device.
Such difference in thickness of the liquid crystal layer 106 causes variations in color of the display screen in an absence of an application voltage to the display-use upper electrode 103 and the display-use lower electrode 104, thereby generating variations in color of the display screen.
Recently, in the liquid crystal display device, especially, in the STN (Super Twisted Nematic) liquid crystal display device, improved display quality is strongly demanded. Especially, in the STN-type color liquid crystal display device, improvements in color variations in a vicinity of the seal in the half tone of the image display is strongly demanded.
Various techniques have been proposed to reduce color variations in a vicinity of the seal in the display area. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 229234/1987 (Tokukaisho 62-229234) discloses a "liquid crystal display device" which suppresses color variations in the display screen wherein a dummy electrode having a same thickness of a display-use electrode is formed on a substrate on which the display-use electrode is not formed so as to eliminate a difference in thickness of a liquid crystal layer.
As shown in FIG. 33, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 85779/1989 (Jitsukaihei 1-95779) discloses a "liquid crystal display panel wherein a pattern width of the terminal sinuous section 113a of the segment electrode 113 formed on a segment electrode 111 increases as being away from a terminal section (not shown) of a common electrode substrate 112, and a pattern width of the terminal sinuous section 113a is formed between in the pattern of a narrow portion.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 34, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 174414/1991 (Tokukaihei 3-174414) discloses a liquid crystal display device wherein an upper dummy electrode 126 is formed in a portion where a signal electrode 123 is not formed of an upper glass 121 on a seal 125 in a circumferential portion on both sides and a lower dummy electrode 127 is formed in a portion where a scanning electrode 124 is not formed of a lower glass 122.
As shown in FIG. 35, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 211524/1989 (Tokukaihei 3-211524) discloses a liquid crystal display element wherein an upper electrode substrate 131 wherein a segment electrode 133 is formed on a surface and a lower electrode substrate 132 whereon a common electrode 134 is formed on a surface are formed so as to face the electrode forming surface, and liquid crystals are injected through a sealing opening 137 formed on the sealing opening side 136 of respective substrates 131 and 132.
However, in any of the described Gazettes, members such as the dummy pattern 114, the upper and lower dummy electrodes 126 and 127 and the dummy electrode 138, etc., are formed in a portion which affects the thickness of the liquid crystal layer on the display surface, and this suppresses a difference in thickness of the liquid crystal layer between the display area and the surrounding area of the display, thereby improving color variations in a vicinity of the seal of the display screen.
As described, liquid crystal display devices which adopt the technique disclosed in the above Gazettes have been commercialized to achieve improved color variations in a vicinity of the seal on the display screen. Such liquid crystal display devices, for example, have an arrangement shown in FIG. 36, wherein a signal electrode substrate 141 and a scanning electrode substrate 142 are formed so as to face each other via a seal 145, and a signal electrode sinuous section 143 and a scanning electrode sinuous section 144 of the scanning electrode (not shown) of the signal electrode (not shown) in a vicinity of the seal 145 formed within the display area are divided into a plurality of blocks so as to correspond to the connection terminal with the external circuit.
In the liquid crystal display device having the described arrangement, the electrode sinuous sections 143 and 144 are designed such that the electrodes on the side of the connection terminal for connection with the external circuit have a higher alignment density than that of the electrodes on the side of the display area to achieve improved color variations in a vicinity of the seal 145 of the display area.
However, in the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 36, the electrode sinuous sections 143 and 144 are designed so as to have a uniform resistance value of the display-use electrodes (signal electrode and scanning electrode) within a permissible range, and based on the design of the electrodes sinuous sections 143 and 144, the dummy electrode (between electrode dummy electrode and double dummy electrode) are designed. For this reason, a ratio of an area occupied by the display-use electrodes and the dummy electrodes in the seal 145, i.e., the interleaved ratio differs.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 15 which explains the present invention, the ratio of an overlapped area S between the display-use electrode and the double dummy electrode which face each other in the seal, i.e., an overlapped ratio also differs in four sides.
As shown in FIG. 10 which explains the present invention, in the case of adopting the color liquid crystal display device adopting the color filter layer 12, as shown in FIG. 11 which explains the present invention, a width x of the signal electrode 3 (one display-use electrode) is about 1/3 of the width (3x+2y) of the scanning electrode 4, i.e., the other display-use electrode. Here, x indicates a line width of the signal electrode 3 and y indicates a line width of the black matrix.
There, in the case of the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 36, both the interleaved ratio and the overlapped ratio of the display-use electrode and the dummy electrode in the seal 145 portion greatly differ between the terminal section I constituted by scanning electrode sinuous sections 144 on the scanning electrode side and the terminal section II constituted by the signal electrode sinuous section 143 on the side of the signal electrode.
In the case of the liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 36, the liquid crystal sealing opening side electrode section 147 is formed on the side of the sealing opening 146 of the liquid crystals. In the liquid crystal sealing opening side electrode section 147, the scanning electrode on the scanning electrode substrate 142 is extended directly to the seal 145 portion, and the double dummy electrode is formed in the seal 145 portion on the signal electrode substrate 141, i.e., the counter substrate. Thus, the interleaved ratio and the overlapped ratio of the display-use electrode and the dummy electrode greatly differs between the terminal section I and the terminal section II.
Generally, the seal includes a glass bead for adjusting the thickness. Such a glass bead is hard and is not deformed with an applied pressure generated when laminating, and thus it is distinguishable from a parasitic spacer for use in determining the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the display area. Therefore, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in a vicinity of the seal can be adjusted by adjusting the diameter of the glass bead contained in the seal.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 37, the glass bead 156 of the within seal spacer contained in the seal 155 sandwiched between the display-use substrates 151 and 152 is classified into three groups: (i) a glass bead 156a sandwiched between the display-use electrode 153 and the dummy electrode 154, a glass bead 156b sandwiched in a portion where only the display-use electrode 153 is formed in-between, and a glass bead 156c in a portion where either of the electrodes 153 and 154 is formed in-between. Although not shown in FIG. 37, the glass beads may be formed so as to have only the dummy electrode 154 in-between.
In view of all sides, as the glass bead 156a sandwiched between the display-use electrode 153 and the dummy electrode 154 serves as a support, the thickness of the seal 155 is determined mainly by the diameter of the glass bead 156a. However, when locally seen, in the region where the glass beads 156a, 156b and 156c exists, the respective thickness of the seal 155 are as indicated by d3, d2 and d1 (d3 >d2>d1). Namely, the glass beads 156b and 156c are in a floated state.
Therefore, as in the conventional liquid crystal display device shown in FIG. 32, the difference in the overlapped ratio of the display-use electrode and the dummy electrode which face each other in respective sides of the seal 145 causes a difference in the number of glass beads having the different diameters in the seal 145 in the sides, thereby creating a difference in thickness of the seal 145 in four sides. Therefore, variations in thickness of the liquid crystal layer occurs in the display area in a vicinity of the seal 145. As a result, color variations occur in the four sides, thereby reducing a display quality.
As described, the difference in thickness in four sides of the seal 145 makes it difficult to adjust the thickness in a vicinity of the display area central portion and the vicinity of the seal 145. Namely, only by adjusting the diameter of the glass bead contained in the seal 145, a uniform thickness of the seal 145 in the four sides cannot be achieved. As a result, a difference in brightness occurs between the central portion of the display area and the portion in a vicinity of the four sides of the seal 145, thereby reducing a display quality.

Liquid crystal display device having dummy electrodes with interleave ratio same on all sides


A computer-implemented method, apparatus, and computer readable medium for detecting publicly identified and publicly unidentified macro viruses within code (15) adapted for use on a digital computer (1). A detection module (17) analyzes the code (15) to determine whether the code (15) contains instructions causing a macro (8) to be moved to a global environment (13), and whether said code (15) also contains instructions causing the same macro (8) to be copied to a local document (11). When these two conditions are satisfied, detection module (17) declares that a macro virus is present within the code (8). A repair module (19) can be coupled to the detection module (17) and to the code (15) for deleting the code (15) when the detection module (17) declares that the code (15) contains a macro virus. If the user of the detection module (17) is willing to accept a slight penalty in terms of increased detection time, detection module (17) can be made to handle string concatenation operators, proxied variable names, program calls, and/or substituted object names.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,196 discusses the detection of viruses within a personal computer. However, unlike the present invention, this reference does not treat the elimination of detected viruses, nor does it discuss macro viruses.
A first existing technology used by anti-virus programs to detect and repair macro viruses requires, for each unique new macro virus, the development of a detection and repair definition (virus signature). Thus, this first technology is capable of detecting only publicly identified macro viruses (see below definition). After the development of the detection and repair definition, the user's anti-virus software must be augmented with the new definition before it can detect the newly discovered macro virus. This method has the advantage that a skilled anti-virus researcher is able to study the virus and understand it enough so that a proper detection and repair definition can be created for it. The main disadvantage is that a relatively long turnaround time is required before the general public is updated with each new definition. The turnaround time includes the duration during which the virus has a chance to spread and possibly wreak havoc, the time to properly gather a sample and send it to an anti-virus research center, the time required to develop the definition, and the time to distribute the definition to the general public. This process is similar to the process used for protecting against the once more prevalent DOS-based viruses.
A second technology uses rudimentary heuristics that can scan for newly developed macro viruses. These heuristics employ expert knowledge of the types of viruses they seek. Often these heuristics look for strings of bytes that are indicative of viral behavior—for example, strings found in currently known viruses. Current heuristics are very good at detecting, with high level of confidence, new viruses that are variants of known viruses, but not so good at detecting new viruses that are not variants of known viruses. Another disadvantage of most current heuristics is that they are good for viral detection only, and are not capable of eliminating macro viruses once found. This is true of both macro virus heuristics and DOS virus heuristics. The present invention is an example of the second technology (heuristics). It is capable of identifying both publicly identified macro viruses and publicly unidentified macro viruses (see the below definitions). Furthermore, it offers the significant advantage that it is capable of eliminating macro viruses that are detected.

Generic detection and elimination of marco viruses


A method of recording data in a memory card having an EEPROM, and a memory card system using the same are provided. A memory card has at least two collective erasure type EEPROM chips where at least one of which is conditioned for a spare memory. When an access of the kind needing overwriting is made to the memory card, data stored in memory locations of the addresses of a corresponding EEPROM chip, except for the address where overwriting is to occur, are copied in the spare memory, and then the EEPROM chip of interest and the spare memory are replaced with each other. The EEPROM chips may be replaced with a plurality of memory blocks or clusters defined in a block erasure type EEPROM.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data recording method for a memory card in which data such as picture data or character data may be stored, and a memory card system using the same. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a method of recording data in a memory card having an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), and a memory card system using such a method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, a memory card using a semiconductor memory is predominant over a disket as means for recording data such as picture data generated by an electronic still camera or character data generated by a word processor, because the former is far smaller in size than the latter. It has been customary with a memory card for such an application to implement the semiconductor memory as an SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) which promotes rapid data reading and writing operations. However, because an SRAM is a volatile semiconductor memory, a memory card with an SRAM needs a back-up battery for preventing data from disappearing. Another problem is that an SRAM capable of storing a great amount of data such as picture data is expensive, increasing the overall cost of a memory card implemented thereby.
In light of the above discussion, a memory card with an EEPROM which is non-volatile and, therefore, does not need a back-up battery and is inexpensive is now under investigation. An EEPROM is capable of holding data therein for more than ten years without a battery. Some advanced EEPROMs are comparable with an SRAM in respect of the reading and writing rates and are less expensive (about one-fourth the cost of an SRAM). However, an EEPROM brings about other problems when it comes to the application to a memory card, as follows. With an EEPROM, it is necessary to give consideration to the processing for the erasure of data due to the nature of the device. Hence, a memory card with an EEPROM has to be provided with extra pins, or the system using such a memory card needs a special implementation. For this reason, a memory card with EEPROMs is not readily compatible with a conventional memory card with an SRAM. Specifically, data stored in an EEPROM cannot be rewritten by overwriting, i.e., such data has to be erased and then replaced with new data. Therefore, a memory card with an EEPROM needs extra pins for erasure which are not necessary is a memory card with an SRAM.
EEPROMs are generally classified into two types, i.e., an EEPROM of the type which erases all the data at one time and an EEPROM of the type erasing a predetermined block of data at a time. Although the block erasure type EEPROM can be dealt with in the same manner as an SRAM, it is more expensive than the collective erasure type EEPROM. On the other hand, the collective erasure or flushing type EEPROM cannot freely perform byte-by-byte data rewriting and, therefore, needs a special consideration in the aspect of use.
Furthermore, with an EEPROM, the total number of times that data can be erased and written is limited, e.g., from about 100 times to 10,000 times. Especially, the service life of the above-mentioned block erasure type EEPROM is noticeably reduced when repetitive writing concentrates in a particular location thereof.

Method of recording data in memory card having EEPROM and memory card system using the same


Systems and methods are provided for changing a data structure, which an application program in a computer system uses to access database systems. According to an exemplary method, an application program communicates with a first database system to store entries in a source table having a first data structure. The method further includes creating a destination table in the first database system, such that the destination table has a second data structure and recording the type of change for those entries in the source table, which are changed when the application program communicates with the source table. The method further includes copying the destination table into a second database system and copying the source table in the second database system. Moreover, the method may include converting the entries in the copy of the source table from the first data structure to the second data structure and adjusting the changed entries in the source table to the copy of the source table, wherein the changed entries are copied from the source table as changed entries to the copy of the source table.

Relational databases are used for storing data from application programs. Data are structured in tables. As used below, a database system contains a database management system.
Technological progress and changing demands from customers require that the data structures in the database system be changed from time to time. An example which may be mentioned at this point by way of illustration is simply the extension of existing tables and the conversion of texts into other languages.
Acceptance of the application programs is dependent, inter alia, on their availability: for many programs, 24-hour availability is demanded 365 days a year. During changing, restrictions arise for the communication between the application program and the database system; in many cases, communication has to be interrupted completely.
Down times are undesirable but have technical conditionality, since a change to the data structure cannot be made simultaneously with the writing or alteration of the data contents. taneously with the writing or alteration of the data contents.
The sizes of the tables can be in the region of several gigabytes and can require down times of several hours.
It is the object to provide methods, system and computer programs for changing the data structure which allow the down times to be shortened.

Changing the data structure which an application program in a computer system uses to access database systems


A method includes defining collaborative information spaces (CISs) on a corporate intranet using semantic definitions that reflect how people work together. A classification scheme allows network spaces (e.g., intranet spaces) to be defined, e.g., defining resources and/or information associated with tasks and people. The classification scheme may also be used to define standard collaborative entities that should be supported within an enterprise. The CIS(s) and/or collaborative entities may have associated privacy levels to control access to information and resources of the CIS. The classification scheme allows a user, or group of users, to define public and private information spaces. For example, a user may define public information on a web-page that defines the users skills and assigned tasks. The user may have another set of private information that is accessible only to other members of others having a common task.

The following description relates to enterprise management systems and techniques. In particular, the following description relates to applications that allow a user to define and find relevant data and resources.
Recent developments in enterprise management systems have attempted to integrate multiple legacy systems, typically found in existing heterogeneous information technology (IT) environments, into a common enterprise management solution. Such integration technologies frequently fail to deliver a fully integrated platform that also provides sufficient flexibility to adjust to rapidly changing enterprise environments.
Knowledge sharing is considered a relatively important tool for a user to achieve a high level productivity. Many users of conventional business systems may find it difficult to access information and/or tools required to perform a task. Many types of activities may involve a relatively large number of tasks to complete, sometimes in a specific sequence and/or combination. Regardless of whether the tasks need to be completed regularly (e.g., daily, weekly) or just occasionally, a user of a database system may need to access several executable tools (e.g., executable applications) and retrieve information from various sources (e.g., data stored on a computer, or computer network). In a conventional work system, many tools and/or processes may have only one owner.


A filter cap for a body of a refrigerant tank of an automotive HVAC device is provided. The filter cap includes a main body having a rim defining an opening for allowing flow of fluid such as refrigerant. A collar is snap-fit to the cap at the rim. In various embodiments, the collar has a flexible finger that flexes during assembly to the rim, and snaps back into position when fully pressed about the rim. The collar contains a filter membrane between the rim and the collar. The collar has an upper structure such as a plurality of spaced-apart legs. This allows the collar to protect the filter membrane from potential damaging contact while still enabling proper fluid flow through the filter membrane.

A cooling circuit used in, for example, a vehicle air-conditioning unit is configured to circulate a refrigerant in passages that extend through an evaporator, a condenser, or the like. Typically, a refrigerant tank is disposed is provided in which refrigerant circulates. The refrigerant tank is configured to temporarily store the refrigerant to separate vapor refrigerant from liquid refrigerant. There can also be a modulator tank in the receiver tank and disposed downstream of the condenser, for example.
Refrigerant may contain water during circulation of the cooling circuit. If such a refrigerant containing water circulates in the cooling circuit, the water may be condensed at an expansion valve, which will lead to occurrence of clogging in the expansion valve. Therefore, it may be beneficial to remove water from refrigerant circulating in the cooling circuit during cooling cycle operation.
The refrigerant tank may also have a desiccant within a bag ("desiccant bag") within the refrigerant tank. The desiccant bag aids in removing water from the refrigerant.


An apparatus engageable with a hand brake assembly for automatically applying at least one brake device secured to a railway vehicle with such hand brake assembly. The apparatus includes an operating mechanism having at least a portion thereof engageable with at least one gear of a gear assembly disposed in a housing member of the hand brake assembly for operating such gear assembly in a direction which will cause an application of such brake device. A source of fluid pressure is connected to the operating mechanism for periodically supplying a predetermined pressure to such operating mechanism for the application of the brake device. An activating device is connected to the source of fluid pressure for initiating the supply of such predetermined pressure to the operating mechanism thereby causing an automatic application of such brake device by the hand brake assembly.

Prior to the conception and development of the present invention, railway car hand brake mechanisms were well known in the art. They usually include a large, rotatable hand wheel disposed in a vertical plane and mounted on a shaft which, through a gear train, can rotate a chain drum to wind up a chain that is secured at its end remote from the chain drum to the brake rigging of the railway car. As the hand wheel is rotated in one direction, the brakes are applied and rotation of the hand wheel shaft in the opposite direction is prevented by a pawl which engages a detent wheel on the hand wheel shaft.
The brakes may be released by disengaging the pawl from the detent wheel but this causes rapid rotation of the hand wheel and the gears of the gear train. To avoid rapid rotation of the hand wheel, hand brake mechanisms have been devised which are known as "quick release" mechanisms. Generally these quick release mechanisms include a releasable connecting means between the hand wheel shaft and the gear train. When the connecting means is released, the gears of the gear train rotate rapidly, without constraint by the pawl and detent wheel, but the hand wheel remains stationary.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) promulgates specifications for the design and operation of railway car hand brake mechanisms. Vertical wheel, gear train, hand brake mechanisms are classified in three categories, namely:                (1) Standard power—provides an average force on the chain of 3350 lbs. with a 125 lb. turning force applied to the rim of a wheel twenty-two inches in diameter.        (2) Intermediate power—provides an average force on the chain of 4475 lbs. with a 125 lb. turning force applied to the rim of a wheel twenty-two inches in diameter.        (3) High power—provides an average force on the chain of 6800 lbs. with a 125 lb. turning force applied to the rim of a wheel twenty-two inches in diameter.
After setting of the brakes, when the hand brake mechanism is released the gears of the gear train rotate rapidly. This results in the gears and other components being subjected to high forces and to shock, particularly, when the chain becomes fully let-out from the chain drum.
In recent times, the AAR has added a life cycle test to its specifications, and hand brake mechanisms which do not meet the life cycle test cannot be sold for use on railway cars operated in interchange service on United States railroads. The AAR life cycle test for quick release brakes requires that such latter brakes withstand 3000 quick release operations.
To meet such life cycle test requirements, even standard power hand brake mechanisms had to be modified when the life cycle test was adopted. When intermediate power hand brake mechanisms of the type sold prior to the adoption of the life cycle test were subjected to the life cycle test, it was found that the components thereof wore prematurely or were damaged, and it was found to be necessary to add a shock retarder, or absorber, external to the hand brake mechanism, to overcome such wear and damage. Of course, such an external shock retarder is undesirable not only because it is external to the hand brake mechanism but also because of the additional cost and because it requires field modification of the equipment on a railway car if the intermediate power hand brake mechanism is used to replace a standard power hand brake mechanism.
High power hand brake mechanisms sold prior to the adoption of the life cycle test were similarly unable to pass the life cycle test. It should be borne in mind that such high power brake mechanisms normally have additional gears to provide the desired force on the chain, and this results in a higher speed of rotation of at least some of the gears during release of the hand brake mechanism.
Although the use of an external shock retarder might have solved the problems with the higher power hand brake mechanism, a change in the AAR specifications would have been required to permit the use of such an external shock retarder. Attempts were made to redesign the high power hand brake mechanism, such as by making it stronger, so that it would meet the life cycle test without the use of an external shock retarder, but the attempts were not successful.
One of the characteristics of railway car brakes with which the invention is concerned is that the force applied to the chain, and hence, the parts of the hand brake, is non-linear and depends on the extent to which the brakes are applied or released. Thus, as the brakes are applied, relatively little force is required to take up the slack in the chain and the brake rigging, but to meet AAR requirements, the final force on the chain must be as set forth hereinbefore, namely, 3350 lbs. for a standard power brake, 4475 lbs. for an intermediate power brake and 6800 lbs. for a high power brake. After slack in the rigging is taken up, which may require, for example, 5–15 inches of chain travel, the force on the chain increases exponentially, e.g. from 200 lbs. to the final value, as the brake hand wheel is further turned to set the brakes. In reaching the final value after the slack is taken up, the chain may travel only two or three inches. Similarly, when the hand brake is released, the chain force decreases exponentially and reaches a relatively small value shortly after the hand brake is released.
As can be seen from the above-discussion, it would be advantageous to have an automatic application apparatus for applying the hand brake and thereby reduce the force required to apply the brakes.


A driver IC including: a plurality of output pads; and a plurality of signal switch circuits, each of the signal circuits being provided on one of signal paths respectively connected to the output pads, wherein each of the signal switch circuits switches between a first state (or a use state) in which a signal from an upstream side of the signal path is allowed to pass through the signal switch circuit and a second state (or an inspection state) in which a level pattern of signals from the output pads is fixed to an inspection level pattern, according to a control signal.

The present invention relates to a driver IC having an inspection function, and an inspection method for the driver IC. The present invention also relates to an inspection method for an output device driven by a driver IC having an inspection function, such as a display device including a liquid crystal, organic EL, or LED, or a printer.
A driver IC includes a number of output pads (banks) at least along the direction of the long side of an IC chip. The driver IC is subjected to various types of inspection in a state formed on a semiconductor wafer or in a completed state after packaging. The inspection is performed by supplying an inspection signal to the driver IC after supplying an inspection command, and monitoring the output from the driver IC.
As an example of this type of inspection, a pad-to-pad leakage test can be given. In the case of a display driver IC including a display RAM, the presence or absence of leakage is determined by writing inspection data into the RAM so that signals at different signal levels are output from adjacent output pads, and measuring the entire current which flows from a power supply in the driver IC when causing the display driver IC to drive a display.
Therefore, programming of write pattern setting, display duty setting (screen partial display), and display ON setting into the RAM is necessary when inspecting the driver IC including a RAM so that such outputs are output from the output pads.
The output pad arrangement of the driver IC is not limited to the arrangement in which the output pads are arranged in one line along the long side of the driver IC as described later in detail. Therefore, since the pad-to-pad leakage test must be manually performed corresponding to the type of driver IC taking the output pad arrangement into consideration, the operation is complicated and a considerable amount of time is required for programming. In this operation, a pattern signal must be supplied from the outside not only to a driver IC including a RAM, but also to a driver IC which does not include a RAM.
The above-described problem is not limited to the pad-to-pad leakage test. For example, when inspecting an output device driven by a driver IC, such as a display device including a liquid crystal panel, organic EL panel, or LED, or a printer, it is necessary to inspect the output device by supplying various pattern signals to the driver IC.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-186279 was found as a conventional technology as a result of search for the pad-to-pad leakage test. However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 6-186279 does not provide the IC with an inspection function and is irrelevant to the subject matter of the present invention.

Driver IC and inspection method for driver IC and output device


A pyrene-based compound and an organic light-emitting diode including the same, the pyrene-based compound being represented by Formula 1, below:

1. Field
Embodiments relates to a pyrene-based compound and an organic light-emitting diode including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), which are self-emitting devices, may have advantages such as wide viewing angles, excellent contrast, quick response, high brightness, excellent driving voltage characteristics, and a may provide multicolored images.

Pyrene-based compound and organic light-emitting diode including the same


The present invention provides a semiconductor device capable of suppressing a body floating effect, and a manufacturing method thereof. A semiconductor device having an SOI structure includes a silicon substrate, a buried insulating layer formed on the silicon substrate, and a semiconductor layer formed on the buried insulating layer. The semiconductor layer has a body region of a first conduction type, a source region of a second conduction type and a drain region of the second conduction type, and a gate electrode is formed on the body region between the source region and the drain region via a gate oxide film. The source region includes an extension layer of the second conduction type, and a silicide layer which makes contact with the extension layer at its side face, and a crystal defect region is formed on a region of a depletion layer generated in a boundary portion between the silicide layer and the body region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, a manufacturing method thereof, and a memory circuit. In particular, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device having an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure, a manufacturing method thereof, and a memory circuit.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a MOS transistor having an SOI structure, conventionally, a buried oxide film is formed on a silicon substrate and a thin-film silicon layer is formed on the buried oxide film as a semiconductor layer. Then, a source region, a body region and a drain region are formed in the thin-film silicon layer. Further, a gate electrode is formed on the body region between the source region and the drain region via a gate insulating film. Thus, the MOS transistor is configured. Herein, when the body region is of a P type and the source region and the drain region are of an N type, the MOS transistor is of an N channel type.
In the MOS transistor having an SOI structure, the buried oxide film makes contact with the source region and the drain region in order to decrease parasitic capacitances of the source region and the drain region. Further, the thin-film silicon layer is removed from the periphery of the MOS transistor, and the periphery of the MOS transistor is covered with an element separation oxide film. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2003-332579 and 2003-197634 disclose an invention concerning the aforementioned MOS transistor having an SOI structure.
In the conventional MOS transistor having an SOI structure, since the P-type body region is sandwiched between the N-type source region and the N-type drain region, PN junction is achieved in this portion. Besides, since the buried oxide film is provided on the bottom face of the body region, the potential of the body region is maintained at a floating state.
Consequently, the conventional MOS transistor having an SOI structure has serious problems in its operation such as a kink phenomenon of a drain current called a body floating effect, decrease of a source-drain withstand voltage, dependence of circuit operation time on operating frequency (history effect) and other phenomena.

Semiconductor device having an SOI structure, manufacturing method thereof, and memory circuit


The present invention present invention provides a method and system for configuring a telematics unit in a mobile vehicle. An assigned system identifier is stored in the telematics unit, and a determination is made as to whether the assigned system identifier corresponds to a broadcast system identifier. A wireless carrier is called based on the determination, and a mobile identification number is received from the wireless carrier.

One of the fastest growing areas of communications technology is related to automobile network solutions for voice communications, data transfers, and telematics services. An increasing number of mobile vehicles are being equipped with wireless communication devices, requiring unique, geographically specific mobile-phone identification numbers (MINs), i.e. telephone numbers, to be loaded and stored into a telematics unit in the vehicle. Because the final destination and owner of a vehicle are not always known, vehicle manufacturers and dealerships need more efficient ways for preparing a wireless communication device in a vehicle before delivery to the new owner. The process of loading location-dependent telephone numbers into the unit should be as efficient and uncomplicated as possible.
A digital wireless telephony mobile phone, whether separate from or embedded in the telematics unit, is typically shipped without a mobile identification number (MIN) or a geographic-specific mobile identification number (geo-MIN) programmed into the unit. The MIN is a phone number that identifies the embedded phone of the telematics unit within a wireless phone network. The MIN is required for a local wireless telephony service provider to properly address the cellular phone and for the mobile unit to register on the system in the home region or while roaming. Cellular phones may be configured and activated using over-the-air service provisioning (OTASP), a standard specified in
TIA/EIA/IS-683-A (1998), "Over-the-Air Service Provisioning of Mobile Stations in Spread Spectrum Systems." The wireless telephony service provider may configure the cellular phone and the cellular network using OTASP. If an embedded phone in a telematics unit is to be programmed without OTASP, it may be done manually, with voice-recognition software, or with over-the-air functions. Manual programming requires knowledge on the part of the consumer or vendor representative to be able to manipulate the device and knowledge of the proper parameter values to program, and to converse with the wireless service provider for assigning an appropriate MIN and MDN (mobile directory number).
Because of the complexities in setting up network communications and instrument settings for any in-vehicle wireless communication unit, the business and information delivery methods among the vehicle and network device manufacturers, wireless carriers, telematics services call centers and vehicle dealerships would benefit from streamlining the process and making it nearly automatic.
The dealership has often been required to initialize the telematics unit, and sometimes this process of initializing is cumbersome, requiring more than a little time and effort for the dealership and owner to activate the unit, and resulting in time delays for configuring a telematics unit with a geographic-specific mobile identification number, preferred roaming lists, and other phone parameters. It may take upwards to 72 hours for a wireless carrier to be able to assign a phone number for the embedded phone of the telematics unit.
The vehicle assembly plant usually knows to which dealership a vehicle will be delivered and sometimes even the buyer, although it may not know or be able to obtain a geo-MIN or a suitable MDN for a specific unit. Furthermore, excessive charges may be incurred when loading a prescribed MIN into the telematics unit before the vehicle is sold and delivered. It would be advantageous for the telematics unit to be preprogrammed with configuration settings and information specific to the location of the dealership or future owner at the vehicle assembly plant, thereby speeding up the process of activating and configuring the telematics unit when it is delivered.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide a system and method to configure an in-vehicle telematics unit in a more efficient and timely way that employs new configuration strategies and leverages newer networking capabilities among telematics service providers, vehicle dealerships and wireless service providers, and to overcome the challenges and obstacles described above.

Method of configuring an in-vehicle telematics unit


A disclosed method includes accessing one or more seeding specifications and a program including computer-readable code and applying the one or more seeding specifications to the program to identify for analysis seeds including strings for corresponding identified string variables. The method includes tracking flows emanating from the identified seeds. The tracking includes computing an integral offset into a tracked string variable for any statements causing such a computation. The tracking also includes providing a string representation based on the computed integral offset, wherein the provided string representation comprises a value of the integral offset and an indication of the corresponding tracked string variable. The tracking further includes modeling string manipulations of the tracked string variables using the string representations. Apparatus and program products are also disclosed.

This invention relates generally to analysis of program code and, more specifically, relates to analysis of the use of strings in program code.
This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. Acronyms that appear in the text or drawings are defined below, prior to the claims.
Static analysis is an analysis that involves examining the code of programs such as Web programs without executing the code of the program. Some type of model is (or models are) created of the code of the program, to estimate what would happen when the code actually is executed. String analysis is a form of static analysis, where the properties the string analysis tracks relate to strings and their dynamic values. This type of analysis has several important applications, including accessibility (e.g., in websites), typestate analysis (where file names and other resource identifiers are tracked precisely) and security.
There is a vast body of work on string analysis. The paper by Tateishi, Pistoia, and Tripp, entitled "Path- and Index-sensitive String Analysis Based on Monadic Second-order Logic" (ISSTA '11, Jul. 17-21, 2011, Toronto, ON, Canada) provides a rich discussion of recent works in this space, with special emphasis on index-sensitive string analyses. A key feature of such analyses is that they model both string values and integral values, such that string operations like "substring" can be modeled accurately.
A problem with this approach is that the scalability of the analysis is limited: Instead of tracking only specific string values, the analysis now needs to further account for integral variables in the program and model transformations on integral values in a sound and precise manner. More scalable approaches, such as modeling strings as regular expressions or context-free grammars, are significantly more scalable, but do not provide adequate support for index-based string manipulations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Scalable and precise string analysis using index-sensitive static string abstractions

International Business Machines Corporation


A storage rack and linker for an elongated meat strand has a pair of spaced parallel plates with a plurality of elongated parallel bars extending there between. The parallel plates are comprised of two overlapping plate elements, one of which has a series of radially extending slots therein, which overlap some arcuate slots in the other of the plate elements.. Each of the bars is equipped with a cutting mechanism which is adapted to engage linked products draped around the parallel bars for severing the linked products from each other at an appropriate time during their creation. Each rack has a drive element on one end and a drive socket on the other so that racks can be nested with each other for rotational purposes, but can easily be removed from each other for storage or transporting purposes.

In recent times, it has become possible to extrude an elongated strand of meat emulsion and to simultaneously extrude a coating therefore comprised of a collagen material. While this process has certain advantages, one difficulty resulting therefrom is that the resulting coated strand cannot be easily rotated for linking, linked, or conveyed from one operating position to another. Conventional linking devices will not work with such a strand of meat product because this specific strand of meat product is not of sufficient strength and durability.
It is therefore a principle object of this invention to provide a storage rack and linker for an elongated strand of fragile meat products which will permit the linking and storage of the completed linked product.
A further object of this invention is to provide a storage rack which is adjustable in its effective diameter to accommodate linked products of different lengths.
A further object of this invention is to provide a storage rack which will permit the linked product mounted thereon to be quickly removed therefrom and quickly severed into a plurality of independent links.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Storage rack and linker for an elongated strand of linked meat products