A cutting tool for use in excavating an earth formation comprising an elongate tool body having a hard tip being affixed to the forward end thereof. The hard tip has a plurality of integral, coaxial sections including an integral ribbed section which presents a plurality of longitudinal ribs about the circumference thereof. The tip further includes an integral lobed base section which presents a plurality of radially extending lobes. An integral transition region provides a transition between the ribbed section and the base section.

The invention pertains to cutting tools used in excavating earth formations wherein a block on a driven body, such as a drum or a wheel or a blade, contains the cutting tool having a hard tip at the forward end thereof. More specifically, the invention pertains to the shape of the hard tip.
Cutting tools are a consumable component of the overall apparatus used to break an earth formation (e.g. rock, asphalt, coal, concrete, potash, trona) into a plurality of pieces which comprise abrasive cuttings. For example, a road planing machine uses cutting tools which mount in blocks on a driven drum. An engine in the road planing apparatus drives the drum. The rotation of the drum causes the cutting tools to impinge upon a road surface, such as asphalt. The result is to break the road surface into small pieces thereby creating abrasive cuttings. The abrasive cuttings are removed thereby preparing the roadway for resurfacing.
The typical cutting tool comprises an elongate tool body (typically made of steel) with an axially forward end and an axially rearward end. The cutting tool contains a means for retaining the tool in the bore of the block. Such a retention means may retain the cutting tool in such a fashion that it is rotatable with respect to the block or it is non-rotatable with respect to the block. The block mounts on a rotatable drum driven by the overall apparatus. A hard cutting tip, which may be made from a cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co alloy) having a cobalt content ranging from about 5 to about 13 weight percent, affixes to the forward end of the cutting tool. Typically, one brazes the hard cutting tip to the tool body.
The hard cutting tip is the component of the cutting tool that first impinges upon the earth formation or substrate. Thus, there has been an interest in the shape of the hard cutting tip, and the influence the shape of the hard cutting tip has on the performance of the cutting tool.
There have been three basic concerns associated with a hard cutting tip. One concern has been to provide a hard cutting tip that easily penetrates and cuts the earth formation. Another concern has been to provide a hard cutting tip that has satisfactory strength so as to be able to endure throughout a cutting application without failure through catastrophic means such as fracture. Another concern has been to provide a hard cutting tip that helps protect the steel tool body, as well as the joint between the hard cutting tip and the steel tool body, from erosion by the abrasive cuttings, i.e., so-called "steel wash".
The hard cutting tip typically has been made from a powder via powder metallurgical techniques. In the manufacture of a part via powder metallurgical techniques, it is important that the powder move easily and uniformly during compaction so that the pressed, pre-sintered part has a uniform powder density. It is typical that a pre-sintered compact with a more uniform powder density will have less of a tendency to form regions having density variations or voids which can reduce the overall strength of the tip. In the past, hard cutting tips for cutting tools, wherein the hard cutting tip has been the product of powder metallurgical techniques, have at times experienced the presence of some degree of cracks or voids. As mentioned above, these cracks or voids have been typically due to a non-uniform powder density in certain volumes of the tip geometry. In some circumstances, the presence of surfaces that restrict the flow of powder contribute to such a non-uniform powder density in the pressed, pre-sintered part. Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved cutting tool with a hard cutting tip that presents surfaces that do not restrict, or at least reduce the restriction to, the movement of powder to all volumes of the tip during the pressing thereof.
It has been the case that surfaces of the part which are somewhat perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the part can create obstacles to powder flow, and hence, lead to a non-uniform powder density in the pressed pre-sintered tip. It would thus be highly desirable to provide an improved cutting tool with a hard cutting tip that presents a forward portion with a geometry that reduces the number of, or even eliminates all, surfaces that are generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the hard cutting tip.
In some instances, the density of the powder in the larger dimension portions of the hard cutting tip have been greater than average. This is due to the restriction of powder moving from the larger dimension portions of the hard cutting tip during pressing. Thus, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved cutting tool wherein the powder density in the pressed, pre-sintered compact for the hard cutting tip has a generally uniform density, or at least a more uniform density than has been the case with earlier tip geometries.
The following patents and documents show cutting tools with hard cutting tips presenting specific geometric shapes. For example, some patents or documents show a hard cutting tip with a cylindrical section axially rearwardly of the conical tip section. Some patents or documents show a middle section of the hard cutting tip having a geometry with a contour.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,725,099 and 4,865,392 to Penkunas et al. each shows a cutting tool having an insert. The insert has a conical tip section, an integral axially rearward cylindrical section, an axially rearward integral frusto-conical section, an axially rearward integral fillet section and an axially rearward integral base section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,538 to Larsson et al. and European Patent No. 0 122 893 to Larsson et al. each show a cutting tool with an insert. The insert has a conical tip section, an integral cylindrical section axially rearward of the tip portion, an integral arcuate section axially rearward of the cylindrical portion, an integral flange section axially rearward of the arcuate portion and an integral section by which the cutting insert mounts in a socket in the steel tool body.
Kennametal Drawing No. DEV-C-1736 depicts a cemented carbide tip for use in conjunction with a rotatable cutting tool. The tip presents a conical tip section and an integral frusto-conical intermediate section with a scallop or recess contained therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,603 to Elfgen shows a hard insert that presents a plurality of grooves filled in with a material that is softer than the remainder of the hard insert.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,725 to Rowlett et al., assigned to the assignee (Kennametal Inc. of Latrobe, Pa.) of the present patent application, shows a cemented carbide tip for a rotatable cutting tool. The geometry of the cemented carbide tip presents a trio of radially extending fins that transcend a cylindrical section to a concave section to a frusto-conical section.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,356,418 to Healey et al. shows a hard insert with a plurality of longitudinal splines.
Soviet Authors Certificate No. 751,991 for a MINING MACHINE PICK WITH HARD METAL TIP shows a hard metal tip. The tip presents a plurality of conical surfaces (7) that intersect to form a plurality of ribs. Each rib appears to travel from near the axially forward portion of the tip to the axially rearward portion of the hard metal tip.
Soviet Authors Certificate No. 825,924 shows a hard insert with ribs that engage slots in the steel body of the tool.
German Publication No 3510072 shows a hard insert having longitudinal grooves used to facilitate solder distribution in the attachment of the hard insert to the tool body.


A system and method for electronic commerce. In one embodiment, product data is received for a plurality of products and sales data is received for each of the products. A sales trend condition is calculated for each of the products based on a current time, the sales data for each of the products, and the product data for each of the products. A customer request to view the products is received, and a web page including a predetermined portion of the product data and a sales trend indicator representing the sales trend condition for each of the products is presented. The method may be implemented on a server computer which communicates with customer computing devices via a wide area network such as the Internet.

As the Internet has grown popular in recent years, the increased usage of and participation in Internet based auctions have helped drive this popularity. Many Internet auction web sites provide a forum for sellers to sell goods to potential buyers at locations distant from the seller. Internet auctions may be exciting to potential buyers for a number of reasons, including watching the price rise as bids are placed and monitoring the decrease in available quantity as bids are placed. The main draw for many on-line auction bidders is the belief that the buyer is able to get a product for a low price. However, on these web sites, the seller is not known to the potential buyer, and, as such, the buyer takes a risk when making a purchase. That is, there is risk in bidding on an item from an unknown seller located across the country, the state or across the world. In addition, it is well known that the same item might go up for auction many times, and the price may vary depending on how many people or which people participate as buyers in the particular auctions. As such, a typical auction is driven by buyer demand which results in the buyers setting the price of the goods. In this typical auction, the seller sets the period of time for the auction including the start time and end time. Other auction web sites offer goods from web site approved sellers and/or from the company that runs the web site itself. In this way, the risk inherent in the seller making a bid and payment is reduced. However, with web site sponsored auctions, the price is still determined by the potential buyers and actual bidders on the item.

System and method for electronic commerce


There is provided a transmission electron microscope capable of a capturing continuous field-of-view image without having an influence of aberration. In order to obtain an electron beam image of the whole of a predetermined range of a sample, the transmission electron microscope specifies a region with little aberration in a field of view of an image pickup device, moves a sample stage in units of the specified regions, captures the whole of the predetermined range as a plurality of continuous field-of-view images.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission electron microscope and a method of observing a sample under a transmission electron microscope.
When a sample is observed under a transmission electron microscope, aberrations such as rotation aberrations or distorted aberrations (distortion) appear in magnified images due to the limits of lens characteristics. In an observation at a low magnification, the influence of aberrations is particularly noticeable. However, observations of wide fields at a very low magnification with a transmission electron microscope are demanded in application fields particularly such as pathological diagnosis.
In response to these needs, conventionally lens constitutions are altered, or a viewing coverage recorded on a recording medium, for example a range recorded to a film is changed so that lens aberrations may not be included within a field of view as few as possible.
On the other hand, in recent transmission electron microscopes, CCD cameras are used instead of films as recording media of images. However, it is impossible for general-purpose CCD cameras to obtain digital images with a resolution equivalent to that of films due to the limitation of pixel sizes. Thus, techniques of creating montage photos are used to improve the resolution of images.
The specification of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 7-130319 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,567) discloses that a sample is divided into a plurality of sections and that an image data per section obtained by electron beam scanning is recorded in a frame memory to display a low magnification image.

Sample observation method and transmission electron microscope


The present invention provides a lamp that includes a reflection case and a light emitting element. A central portion of a lower wall inner face of the reflection case is stepwise lowered to form a lower wall enlarged inner face, and both faces are made continuous with each other through right and left perpendicular hanging inner faces, so that a central portion of a back wall inner face and a front opening are downwardly enlarged in a rectangular shape, respectively. The light emitting element is mounted on a front face of a sub mount table. A back face of the sub mount table is fixed to the central portion of the back wall inner face, and right and left end faces of the sub mount table are positioned to right and left perpendicular hanging inner faces when the sub mount table is fixed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lamp constructed by providing an LED (light emitting diode) chip to a reflection case having an opening at the front side thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plane light emitting device for making light from a light source incident to an end face of a light guide plate and emitting light in the form of a plane from the light emitting face of the light guide plate is used for liquid crystal back light, a panel meter, a display lamp, a plane light emitting switch or the like. With respect to lamps used as one type of light sources, it is required to design the lamps as a thin type in connection with the thickness of the light guide plate, and thus it is general to use a lamp constructed by providing a light emitting element to a thin reflection case having a front opening. For example, Japanese laid-open patent publication number Hei 8-264842 describes a lamp shown in FIG. 3. This lamp 120 is constructed by a synthetic resin reflection case 100 including an upper wall inner face 101 and a lower wall inner face 102 disposed to confront each other at a relatively small interval, right and left side wall inner faces 103 disposed to confront each other at a relatively large interval, a back wall inner face 104, a recess portion 105 surrounded by the inner faces 101 to 104, and a front opening 106. In this construction, a light emitting element 110 is provided to the back wall inner face 104, and the electrodes of the light emitting element 110 are connected to leads 112 provided to the reflection case 100.
Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, Japanese laid-open patent publication number 2004-193537 describes a lamp 130 which is constructed by providing a projecting portion 111 (hatched portion in FIG. 4A) at the lower side of a recess portion 105 and a front opening 106, stepwise lowering the center portion in the width direction of a lower wall inner face 102 so as to form an inner wall face 107, and continuously forming an inner wall face 108 so that the inner wall face 108 is inclined from the lower wall inner face 102 to the inner wall face 107 at a predetermined angle as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. This publication describes that the "predetermined angle" of the inner wall face 108 is any angle at which the inner wall face 108 is neither parallel nor perpendicular to the lower wall inner face 102 and the inner wall face 107 and light from the light emitting element can be efficiently reflected in the frontward direction of the light emitting device. Accordingly, light output from the light emitting element 110 is immediately reflected in the direction to the principal face of the light emitting device by the inner wall face 108, so that the light take-out efficiency of the light emitting device can be enhanced.


A power adapter includes a housing, a power input portion and a connecting wire. The housing has a reel device mounted therein, and a wire outlet and more than one output portions formed in one side wall. The power input portion is mounted on the housing. A first end of the connecting wire is extended into the housing through the wire outlet and connected with the reel device thereby the connecting wire can be retracted via the reel device, and a second end thereof is connected with an electrical connector which extends out of the wire outlet. Basing on the structure, the connecting wire can be pulled out of the power adapter for use or retracted in the power adapter for collection via the reel device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power adapter, especially to a power adapter with a connecting wire which can be pulled out of the power adapter and retracted in the power adapter.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic products (for example, portable drives and mobile phones) generally use batteries to supply power needed for work. Once the batteries have run down, the electronic products need to be connected with power adapters for energy supplement.
A conventional power adapter generally has a housing which forms a power input portion for connecting to the mains supply, a vehicle power supply, etc. and a USB port in one side wall. The electronic product described above usually is provided with a transmission line. One end of the transmission line is mounted a USB plug on for engaging with the USB port of the housing, the other end is connected with the electronic product, whereby power may be transmitted to the electronic device through the power adapter and the transmission line.
However, conventional power adapters must be used with transmission lines for electronic devices. When forgetting to carry the transmission lines, users cannot use the power adapters. So users must carry the transmission lines besides the power adapters, which adds to the users' burden. Further, the transmission lines are difficult to collect and carry.
Hence, the inventors of the present invention believe that the shortcomings described above are able to be improved and finally suggest the present invention which is of a reasonable design and is an effective improvement based on deep research and thought.


Offshore well slots are recovered by cutting off old drive or surface pipe below the mud line to form a stub end. A new drivepipe is installed with a guide and shield device disposed on the scarfed lower end or "mule shoe" of the new drivepipe. The guide and shield device includes a saddle contiguous with the lower end of the new drivepipe having one or more hooks formed on the outer surface thereof for engagement with the stub end to locate the device and the new drivepipe. Shear pins interconnect the new drivepipe with the device and are sheared in response to downward driving action on the new drivepipe or allowing the full weight of the drivepipe to be exerted on the shield device after engagement with the old drivepipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a guide and shield device which is attachable to the lower end of a new drivepipe for an offshore well so that the new drivepipe may be driven alongside the stub end of a previous drivepipe.
2. Background
In the drilling of offshore oil and gas wells, in particular, a conventional technique involves driving a relatively large-diameter pipe into the sea floor to form a structure through which the well may be drilled and completed. This casing or so-called "drivepipe" may encounter a subterranean blockage or other impediment to being driven to a sufficient depth to support the well, or the drivepipe may otherwise be damaged or a slot may need to be reclaimed for a production platform. In some instances a deflector or so-called whipstock is installed on top of the first drivepipe so that a second drivepipe may be guided in the direction that the well is to be drilled.
If the original drivepipe is to be abandoned, it is usually cut off below the sea floor and the whipstock is connected to the lower end of the new drivepipe and stabbed into or over the top of the old drivepipe to form the guide for the new drivepipe. One example of a whipstock for the above type of operation is described in U.S. Pat. 4,733,732 to Samuel C. Lynch and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Although a whipstock as described in the '732 patent is advantageous for certain applications, it is often difficult to properly stab the whipstock into or sleeve it over the stub of the old drivepipe. In particular, in offshore well operations it is very difficult to positively stab the whipstock spear in the old drivepipe or casing which has been abandoned and which is required to be located off of so that the new drivepipe will proceed in the proper direction. If a whipstock is not correctly located, it is also difficult to retrieve or "fish" it out of the wellbore, particularly if the drivepipe to which the fishing tool is connected is extended through the collarlike guides which are often used to guide drivepipe with respect to a platform structure or a subsea template. These guides are commonly used to centralize or locate drivepipe with respect to the platform or the desired location of the well.
Still another problem in using whipstocks, including the type described in the '732 patent, is the tendency for the lower end of the whipstock or the new drivepipe to which it is connected to encounter debris lying on the sea floor around the old drivepipe stub. Particularly, in installing new drivepipe in wells which have been damaged due to destruction or damage of the drilling platform, a great deal of debris may lie on the sea floor in and around the old drivepipe. The open end of the whipstock guide or the drivepipe to which it is connected will cause the new drivepipe or the whipstock to "swallow" the debris while it is being driven. This results in improper guidance of the new drivepipe and possibly added time to clean out the newly driven pipe, if such cleanout is even possible.
Accordingly, there has been a need to develop a new technique and device for guiding drivepipe to recover a so-called well "slot" and install a well directly adjacent to or essentially in the same vicinity of an abandoned drivepipe structure or the like. It is to this end that the present invention has been developed.

Drivepipe guide and installation method for wells


A method and apparatus for aging a catalyst includes selecting an initial catalyst conditioning parameter, such as time and temperature and selecting a kinetic parameter, based on the selected time and temperature parameter, for the catalysis of CO and HC oxidation by the catalyst. A prediction of the vehicle tailpipe emission level, based on the selected kinetic parameter is made. The predicted level is then compared to a target level to determine whether the particular parameters chosen are appropriate to age the catalyst. The catalyst is then aged based on the desired selected parameters.

Beginning with the 1994 model year, automotive manufacturers began the implementation of systems designed to diagnose malfunctioning emission related components on-board the vehicle. The set of regulations requiring these on-board diagnostic capabilities is commonly referred to as either OBD-II (On-Board Diagnostics-II for California) or OBD (On-Board Diagnostics for the remaining 49 states). One component which the on-board diagnostics system must diagnose is the catalytic converter. The Federal OBD regulations for catalytic converter efficiency monitoring require that the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) be illuminated when catalyst performance degrades to a level such that the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) tailpipe HC emissions increase by more that 0.40 gm/mi relative to the baseline emission level or before tailpipe HC emissions exceed 0.60 gm/mi. The California requirements for low emission vehicles (i.e. TLEVs, LEVs, and ULEVs) specify that catalyst malfunction is to be determined when either of the following occurs: 1) tailpipe HC emissions exceed 1.75 times the applicable non-methane organic matter (NMOG) standard, or 2) non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) conversion efficiency of the monitored portion of the catalyst system falls below the 50% level.
Over the past 5-6 years, the automotive industry has deployed significant resources toward the development and implementation of the various monitors associated with OBD (Federal) and OBD-II (California). In addition to these large investments, every automotive manufacturer must continue to provide for considerable expenditures in engineering and testing resources for the calibration of the various monitors for each of their particular vehicle engine families. For example, any modification to the base engine hardware, engine operating strategy, or engine calibration effecting emissions would generally necessitate recalibration of the catalyst monitor for a given vehicle. Also, changes to the exhaust system configuration, catalyst placement, or catalyst washcoat formulation require that the monitor be recalibrated. In most cases, last minute changes or running changes to the base engine hardware or calibration along with the exhaust and catalyst system are generally precluded due to the prohibitive resource requirements associated with recalibration of the effected OBD monitors.
Calibration of the catalyst monitor requires the use of a threshold converter or catalyst hardware. As used herein, the terms "converter" and "catalyst" are used interchangeably. A threshold converter or catalyst is one whose performance or activity is degraded to a point which causes FTP HC tailpipe emissions to be equal or very close to the level where the MIL is to be activated.
The inventors of the present invention have found that the availability of threshold converters or catalysts to support catalyst monitor calibration has been a problem. The use of field aged converters to satisfy the need for the threshold hardware is not feasible due to the scarcity of in-use converters with threshold efficiency levels because a threshold converter is intended to represent a catastrophic failure which is expected to occur on only a very small fraction of the vehicle population. Additionally, catalyst washcoat technology has evolved at a considerable pace in recent years. The earlier generations of catalyst technology which are currently in service are significantly different compared to the catalyst technology which most manufacturers are planning to use in the very near future and are therefore inappropriate for catalyst monitor calibration purposes.
To simulate a field aged catalyst, prior methods include placing a catalyst on engine dynamometers and inducing various levels of misfire in order to degrade catalyst performance to the required threshold level. The inventors of the present invention have found various disadvantages with this approach. For example, under steady state conditions, it is difficult to achieve the necessary midbed temperatures to degrade the catalyst to the desired efficiency level within a reasonable time. Also, considerations about the availability of engine dynamometers and other resources required to meet the demand for threshold catalyst hardware with the misfire method may be limited.
The preferred method of producing threshold catalysts is oven aging. Here, the catalyst bricks are removed from the converter shell assembly and baked in an oven at temperatures ranging between 1000 and 1350.degree. C. and times from 2 to 32 hours. After aging, the bricks are recanned and installed onto the vehicle. The vehicle is then usually driven for a few hundred miles to provide for a stabilization or break-in period prior to emission testing. One drawback associated with this method is the difficulty associated with determining the appropriate aging time and temperature required to degrade the catalyst performance to a specified level for a given vehicle. As a result, several iterations are often necessary in order to obtain the desired catalyst performance level. Once the emission results are obtained for one given aging, either the aging time or temperature is accordingly adjusted in order to move the tailpipe emissions closer to the desired threshold level. Generally, anywhere from 2 to 5 iterations can be required in order to obtain a threshold catalyst system. This type of trial and error procedure results in significant time delays and inefficiencies in the OBD calibration process. In addition, the need to place the catalyst on a vehicle for a predetermined drive cycle to stabilize the activity of the catalyst further increases the time and resource requirements for calibration of the monitor.

Method and apparatus for aging a catalyst


It is intended to provide a semiconductor integrated circuit device permitting reading of information specific to chips within the mounted chips while restraining the increase in the total number of terminals of the package and enabling the area of circuits required for reading information specific to chips to be made smaller than that according to the prior art, and a control method therefor. The same terminal is used as the external terminal to which the pulse signals are inputted and the external terminal from which the chip-specific information is outputted. Also, the external terminal for inputting/outputting required power supply in the normal operation mode and the external terminal for reading chip-specific information in the information reading mode are used in common. The increase in the number of external terminals can be thereby restrained. Moreover, the counter unit is shared between functional circuits and the comparative decision unit. This can serve to restrain the increase in chip area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and a control method therefor, and more particularly to a semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of reading information inherent to each chip at the time of testing or evaluation and a control method therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Latest semiconductor devices store, within their nonvolatile devices, various items of product information specific to each chip (including the production plan, production lot number, wafer number and chip number) to ensure accurate tracking of faults in the market, and those items of information are made readable from outside in a packaged state.
As an example of the prior art, a technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-315772 will be described with reference to FIG. 10. Pulse signals inputted to a clock pad Pc are counted by a binary counter 24 via a buffer circuit IBc, and binary data resulting from the counting of the pulse signals are supplied from this binary counter 24. A comparative decision circuit 22 compares binary data, which are the output of the binary counter 24, and data stored in a data holding unit 21 and, when the two sets of data are found identical, that decision result of identity is outputted to a pad P0 via a decision result output circuit 23. The outputting method is to output the result of decision by the comparative decision circuit 22 (identity) by causing a current to flow to the pad P0.
The binary counter 24 is configured by connecting in series a plurality of unit circuits (not shown). And there are provided as many unit circuits as corresponding to the number of bits of data specific to the chip stored in the data holding unit 21. For instance, where each of the items of information including the lot number, wafer number and chip number are to be stored as 10-bit specific data, the binary counter 24 is configured by connecting 10 unit circuits in series.
A pad in this context is an external terminal by which the semiconductor integrated circuit device and the outside are interfaced.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device and control method for the semiconductor integrated circuit device


A data processor which allows multi-functional instruction execution has an instruction decoding unit and an instruction executing unit. The instruction decoding unit divides the multi-functional instruction into multiple internal codes. The instruction executing unit takes the internal codes from the instruction decoding unit and executes them. The instruction decoding unit and the instruction executing unit are pipelined so that the instruction decoding unit outputs a first internal code in a first cycle, and a second internal code in a second cycle. The instruction executing unit executes the first internal code in the second cycle and the second internal code in a third cycle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processor which subdivides one instruction into a plurality of internal codes by a decoder. More particularly, it relates to a data processor which, when decoding a multi-functional instruction executing multiple processings for plural operands, subdivides the instruction and outputs the decoded results, processes the subdivided decoded results in respective pipelining stages after the decoding stage of a pipelining mechanism to execute the multi-functional instructions at high efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional data processor, there are multi-functional instructions such as an ENTER instruction for forming a stack frame and saving a register at an entrance of a subroutine in high-level languages, an EXITD instruction for releasing the stack frame and restoring the register at an exit of the subroutine in high-level languages, an LDM instruction which loads multiple data from memory to the registers, and an STM instruction which stores multiple data from registers into memory. These instructions were executed by microprograms so that the instructions were processed by successively executing the necessary processings by the microprogram.
Data processors which decompose one instruction into multiple processings by using the microprogram for execution have been known for a long time, for example, one is particularly described in chapter No. 5.5 of "Computer Architecture and Quantitative Approach," by J. L. Hennessy and D. A. Patterson, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. 1990".
A data processor which decomposes the multi-functional instruction into multiple processings for execution by the microprogram is disclosed, for example, in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-231966(1990).
In the conventional data processor which decomposes the multi-functional instruction into multiple processings by the microprogram for execution as stated above, if an instruction pipelining mechanism is used the multi-functional instruction is processed in the execution stage, and in a stage where the address calculation of the operand is performed and in a stage where the operand is fetched, processings are not performed at all or hardly any processing is performed.
In the conventional data processor, multi-functional instructions are processed in three stages, preprocessing, actual processing, and after-processing, by the microprogram in the execution stage. The preprocessing and after-processing among them are not processings designated by the multi-functional instruction, but are overhead, independent upon hardware.
Specifically, in the multiple data loading instruction (LDM) for loading multiple operands data to the register from memory, in accordance with a register list indicated by a bit string of "1" and "0", as preprocessing of data transfer from the memory to the register which is the essential processing of the instruction, the register list, outputted from an instruction decoder must be transferred to a priority encoder.
In conventional data processors, the execution of multi-functional instructions requires preprocessing to analyze the data which serves as parameters for the instruction, such as a register list in a LDM instruction. The extra time required to do such preprocessing is overhead, and slows down the execution of such multi-functional instructions.
Also, in the case where the multiplication and addition are executed by one instruction, for example, in executing a combined instruction such as "MUL & ADD R0, R3, R2, R8" which designates two processings of multiplying data stored respectively in registers R0 and R3 to store the result into the register R3, and of adding data stored respectively in the registers R2 and R8 to store the result into the register R8, such a problem is encountered that the hardware volume of an instruction decoder which outputs control information for executing the two processings simultaneously increases.

Data processor allowing multifunctional instruction execution


A test interface receives a test command designating execution of a test for a memory cell. The test storage circuit stores test information necessary to execute the test. The test storage circuit includes an erasable programmable storage unit. The decoder decodes the test command input to the test interface, and selects the test information stored in the test storage circuit. The sense amplifier reads out, from the test storage circuit, the test information selected by the decoder. The holding circuit holds the test information read out by the sense amplifier. The control circuit controls a test operation of checking whether the memory cell normally operates, on the basis of the test information held in the holding circuit. The defect storage circuit is formed for the memory cell, and stores fail information indicating that the memory cell is defective if the memory cell does not normally operate in the test operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device having a built-in self-test (BIST) function and a method of self-testing the same, e.g., a NOR flash memory having the BIST function and a self-testing method which performs a test by using the BIST function.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device (chip) has the BIST function of self-testing whether memory cells are normally operating. The BIST is a technique which enables a self-test by forming a circuit for generating a signal for conducting the self-test inside a chip, so as to perform the self-test inside the chip by only supplying minimum necessary inputs such as electric power, a clock signal, and a predetermined signal to the chip (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-227459).
As described above, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device must be tested to check whether the chip is normally operating by using the BIST, but the increase in test time is becoming a problem as the storage capacity increases. In particular, the test time of the BIST conducted in a NOR flash memory prolongs because an erase operation requires a long time.
To reduce the test time, therefore, the number of chips which can be tested by one measurement is increased by simultaneously testing a plurality of chips, thereby practically shortening the test time for one chip.
Unfortunately, the number of pads to be brought into contact with a probe is physically limited, and this limits the number of chips which can be tested at the same time by one measurement. This makes it impossible to shorten the test time as planned.

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and method of self-testing the same


A method, system and apparatus for monitoring an environment for the occurrence of an unexpected event, such as monitoring a containment vessel's surroundings for the presence of the contained substance outside of the vessel due to a leak. The method detects the probability that a leak has occurred as opposed to mere natural fluctuations in substance concentration in the surrounding environment. A sensor near the vessel measures substance concentration. The concentrations sensed are transformed into a signal representing substance concentration outside the vessel as a function of time. A statistical analyzer then monitors the signal for specific patterns which indicate that a leak has occurred. Various algorithms are utilizable to determine the probability that a leak has occurred.

It is important to determine the occurrence of leaks and other similar events because they result in the loss of valuable products stored in the tanks or conveyed in the pipes. Additionally, many of the fluids stored in the tanks or transported in pipes are hazardous to life and property, may be flammable, and may be toxic. They may be incompatible with living matter in a variety of ways. The loss of valuable product as well as the damage to the environment, life and property generally increases with the quantity of fluid that escapes between the inception of the leak and the time it is contained. Consequently early detection of leaks is important. The results are smaller losses of product and hence less difficult and less expensive cleanup and remediation.
Various methods have been developed to detect the occurrence of such leaks. These methods may be categorized as internal and external methods. The methodology that is the subject of the present invention is categorized as an external method.
Internal methods rely on measurements made on the fluid in the tank itself. They necessarily interfere with the fluid within the tank. External methods monitor the tank's environment for leak associated occurrences.
External methods have advantages over internal methods. They avoid invasion of the storage environment, allow leak detection without interfering with flow of fluid into and out of the vessel, and they more easily continuously monitor the vessel for leakage, particularly when dealing with existing tank installations.
One common method of external storage vessel leak detection is to utilize a double walled tank with sensors between the two walls. This method is often inadequate due to the substantial expense involved, particularly when dealing with existing tank installations.
Another common method of external storage vessel leak detection disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,522, involves using monitoring equipment in subsurface wells around the tank (vadose monitoring) and in some cases atmospheric monitors located around the tank. Monitoring equipment generally consists of sensors that react to the fluid in the tank and some means of measuring the output signal from these sensors. When the sensors detect the presence of the fluid stored in the tank they respond and the monitoring equipment produces a leakage alarm signal.
This methodology works quite well when there is no precontamination. In such a situation the sensor reads near zero in the absence of a leak, and readings rapidly rise to large values when the leak occurs. However, when a leak has previously occurred, some of the leaked fluid generally remains in the tank and sensor environment even after most of the lost product has been reclaimed. How much remains depends on the fluid that leaked, the specific cleanup and remediation methods employed, and the nature of the contaminating material.
When the sensors are already detecting some of the lingering substance, present leak detection methods are inadequate. Changes in temperature and ground water levels can significantly alter sensor readings signalling a leak when one does not exist.
The method and apparatus of this invention more effectively filter out natural fluctuations of the monitored substance concentration and still respond to leaks when they occur.
The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and are included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
______________________________________ INVENTOR PATENT NO. ISSUE DATE ______________________________________ Farmer 4,796,466 January 10, 1989 Furuse 4,670,847 June 2, 1987 ______________________________________
The system of the Farmer patent utilizes statistical methods to distinguish a signal representing a pipeline leak from signals representing normal pipeline functions and other noise.
The Furuse patent discloses an internal leak detection method involving comparing pressure data on a tested tank with tested data on any identical tank known to be leak free. Furuse uses an error correction algorithm to improve the reliability of the pressure readings.
The invention of this application is distinguishable from Furuse in many ways. External readings of contained fluid concentration are made rather than internal pressure readings. Also, this invention is operatable without any requirement of a leak free tank as a control for the test.
The method of this application is distinguishable in that sensors are located external to the vessel being monitored and also this method analyzes concentration data rather than pressure or velocity data as analyzed in the Farmer patent. Usually a containment vessel such as a storage tank has no velocity or pressure to be analyzed and the Farmer patent would not be applicable.

Fluid vessel leak existence system, method and apparatus


An air conditioner having an absorption unit with a box and a fan unit is revealed. The box is disposed with a ventilation unit and loaded with absorbing material used as desiccant/deodorant. An exhaust hole of the fan unit is communicated with the ventilation unit of the absorption unit. For removing moisture or odors, air outside is drawn by the fan unit and blown into the absorption unit by the ventilation unit. After moisture or pollutants being absorbed by the absorbing material, the air is exhausted by through holes of the box. The fan unit is switched to a heating mode when the absorbing material is saturated with moisture or pollutants. Then air outside is heated by an electric heating unit of the fan unit and is delivered to the absorption unit for drying the absorbing material or baking out the pollutants. Thus the absorbing material is reactivated.

Field of the invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, especially to an air conditioner that is having simple structure, with low cost, with low power consumption, not easily damaged, space saving, and environmental protective.
Descriptions of Related Art
Generally the air conditioner available now includes a machine body disposed with components such as a fan motor, a condenser, an evaporator, a compressor, etc. While in use, moisture indoors is drawn into the machine body by the fan motor. Then the air is passed through the condenser and evaporator for heat transfer and the moisture in the air becomes liquid water. The liquid water is collected by a storage box. Thereby the air exhausted from the air conditioner is with reduced moisture. However, the air conditioner formed by the above components, such as the fan motor, the condenser, the evaporator, the compressor etc. is having high cost, with high power consumption, with large volume that is difficult to be disposed and stored, easily damaged and having increased high maintenance cost. Moreover, coolants required for heat removal deplete stratospheric ozone. Thus the coolants are not environmental friendly. The air conditioner available now also doesn't provide the function of odor/pollutant removal.


A method for automatically displaying an image with an available effect applied on a digital display device includes analyzing the image stored on a storage device and choosing the available effect to apply to the image, where analyzing the image includes executing an image analysis on the image to identify at least one characteristic of the image, where the available effect to apply to the image to be displayed is automatically chosen from a list of available effects which may be applied to the image in consideration of the at least one characteristic of the image, and rendering the image with the available effect applied on the digital display device.

The rendering of an image with an effect applied on a digital display device conventionally requires a user being present and for the user to manually modify and apply an effect to each image for display on the digital display device. The user often continuously transfers each image to a computer for the purpose of manually editing the image and to apply an effect to each image using a photo editing application until a desirable effect for the image is reached. Additionally, the user often exercises discretion and continue a trial and error process without much aid in determining what form of effect would be suitable for the image. Furthermore, the user may find that he often continues to repeat this approach each time the image has become undesirable.

Displaying an image with an available effect applied

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A current-voltage conversion circuit which converts a current to be detected into a voltage, includes a detection resistor, amplifier circuit having a first operational amplifier, and an offset adjusting current source having a third resistor and a fourth resistor which are capable of trimming. The offset adjusting current source causes an offset adjustment current to flow in the offset resistor. The current value of the offset adjustment current is controlled by adjusting the resistance of the third resistor and the fourth resistor. A voltage at a node between the first transistor and the second resistor is output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the current-voltage conversion circuit which converts the current to be detected into voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In regards to battery driven electronic equipment such as Portable mobile phones, PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and portable CD players and the likes, it is necessary to manage the battery which is the drive source of the load by monitoring power consumption of the load or monitoring the level of the battery.
In that case, it uses the current-voltage conversion circuit and transforms the load current supplied to the load from the battery into voltage and is thought to be a method capable of monitoring the supplied load current from the battery based on this converted voltage. There is a document in regards to the current-voltage conversion circuit in the following.
(for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-17066).
The load circuit uses the current-voltage conversion circuit as a method of converting load current into voltage, providing detection resistor to the path of the load current, and this is thought to be a method capable of monitoring the voltage drop across the detection resistor. In order for this detection resistor to function as a voltage loss, it is necessary to set a small value for this resistance value and the voltage drop becomes a very small value. In order for this kind of small voltage drop A/D conversion, it is necessary to amplify the voltage, once, by way of the operational amplifier.
However, when using an operational amplifier in amplifying voltage, offset voltage of the operational amplifier becomes a problem. With offset voltage, if there is a negative voltage shift in the amplified voltage, when the voltage drop across the resistor is larger than 0, (namely, when the load current that is detected is larger than 0), the amplified voltage may become 0. As a result, when there is little current detection supplied to the load from the battery there are times when that current cannot be detected (below, this range of current which cannot be detected is called the "undetectable current region").


Provided is a method for producing a granular polycarbonate prepolymer for solid-phase polymerization, comprising dissolving a polycarbonate prepolymer in a solvent under heat, then crystallizing it by cooling, and shaping it. The grains of the granular prepolymer hardly fuse together in polymerization, and the granular prepolymer is suitable for high-speed solid-phase polymerization to give polycarbonate.

For protecting the environment, many novel processes of producing polycarbonate are being developed in place of conventional interfacial polymerization using methylene chloride, and melt transesterification and solid-phase polymerization have been proposed.
Of those, solid-phase polymerization is specifically noted, as being effected at relatively low temperatures to give polycarbonate products of high quality.
It has heretofore been said that the starting polycarbonate prepolymer to be put into a polymerization reactor to be polymerized therein into polycarbonate through solid-phase polymerization is desirably a porous crystalline one having a number-average molecular weight of from 1,000 to 15,000, having a hydroxyl group and an arylcarbonate group at its terminals in a ratio of from 5/95 to 95/5, having a specific surface area of not smaller than 0.2 m.sup.2 /g, and having a degree of crystallinity of not smaller than 5 (see Unexamined Published Japanese Patent Application No. Hei-3-223330).
For producing such a porous and crystalline polycarbonate prepolymer of that type, disclosed is a method comprising introducing a solid or melt of a prepolymer as obtained through prepolymerization, into a crystallizing solvent, followed by grinding it therein under high shear into porous and crystalline prepolymer grains having an average grain size of not larger than 250.mu..
However, solid-phase polymerization using the granular prepolymer obtained in this method is problematic in that the granular prepolymer is partly fused thereby having some negative influences on the polymerization rate and making it difficult to take the polymer product out of the reactor.
Such technical troubles are peculiar to the solid-phase polymerization, and it is desired to clarify the reasons for those troubles and to solve them.

Method for producing granular polycarbonate prepolymer for solid-state polymerization


An apparatus includes an upstream/downstream probability module that determines, for each measurement point in an electrical power system, an upstream/downstream probability. The apparatus includes a zone module that identifies a plurality of zones within the power system and an upstream/downstream module that identifies, for each measurement point and for each zone, if a power quality event in a zone is upstream or downstream of a measurement point. The apparatus includes a zone probability module that determines a zone probability for each zone by multiplying the upstream probability or the downstream probability for each measurement point. The zone probability is a probability that the event happened in a zone. The zone probability module uses the upstream probability of a measurement point when the zone is upstream of the measurement point and uses the downstream probability when the zone is downstream of the measurement point.

Power quality events often occur within an electrical power system. A power quality event may be a voltage sag, a voltage swell, a transient, a fault condition, a frequency change, harmonics beyond a power quality limit, etc. A power quality event is typically detrimental to the delivery of electrical power, and is therefore undesirable. When a power quality event happens in an electrical power system, typically the power quality event is caused by a particular device or conductor within the electrical power system. The power quality event may affect multiple locations within the electrical power system. For example, a voltage sag caused by a load may affect panels and feeders upstream of the load. Often, a power quality event may occur over and over, for example, if a device in the electrical power system is about to fail. Locating the cause of the power quality event is desirable to diagnose and repair the component or conductor causing the power quality event. An electrical power system may include several power quality monitors that may be used to detect a power quality event and record waveforms associated with the power quality event. However, several power quality monitors may record data associated with the same power quality event.

Power quality event localization by multiple indexes


The present invention is a method for accurately estimating a location of a mobile-telephone using forward link power control. In one embodiment, the present invention comprises the steps of transmitting first, second and third signals from first, second and third base stations during first, second and third time intervals; decreasing the power level of the first base station during at least portions of the second and third time intervals; receiving a mobile-telephone signal having receive information indicating times-of-arrivals of the first, second and third signals at the mobile-telephone; and estimating a location of the mobile-telephone using the receive information and known locations of the first, second and third base stations. Advantageously, this embodiment of the present invention actually decreases the interference level contribution of the first base station, and requires little change to the network side of existing wireless communication standards and no change to the mobile-telephone side.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has requested all cellular and Personal Communication System (PCS) based operators to provide emergency 911 location services for mobile-telephones. Solutions to this challenging issue include typical prior art systems that use well-known location techniques, such as time difference of arrival (TDOA), ranging, angle-of-arrival, etc., to yield a good estimate of a mobile-telephone's location. These location techniques typically involve the use of times-of-arrivals observed at a single location or distributed locations together with "triangulation" principles to determine a mobile-telephone's location.
To determine a mobile-telephone's location to an acceptable accuracy using triangulation principles, one detector should be able to detect signals transmitted from at least three signal sources and record the times-of-arrivals of each signal at the detector. FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system 1 adapted to use forward link signals, i.e., signals transmitted from base stations to a mobile-telephone, for locating a mobile-telephone 6 within the coverage area of the wireless communication system 1. The wireless communication system includes a plurality of base stations 4-1, . . . , 3. To locate a mobile-telephone 6 within the coverage area of the wireless communication system 1, the mobile-telephone 6 should be able to detect signals from at least three surrounding base stations and record times-of-arrivals for each of the detected signals. Using the recorded times-of-arrivals and the known locations of the corresponding base stations, the mobile-telephone's location can be estimated using triangulation principles.
The above described wireless communication system can also utilize reverse link signals, i.e., signals transmitted from the mobile-telephone to the base stations, to estimate the mobile-telephone's location. When using reverse link signals for location purposes, at least three base stations should be able to detect a signal transmitted from the mobile-telephone and record the times-of-arrivals at each of the base stations which are then used to estimate the mobile-telephone's location.
Regardless of the signal source, the accuracy of a triangulation based estimate of a mobile-telephone's location depends, in part, on the ability of one or more detectors to detect line-of-sight signals. Thus, if a detector does not detect the line-of-sight signals, it cannot record times-of-arrivals for the line-of-sight signals.
Generally, a signal may travel more than one path from the signal source to the detector. The signal can either travel a direct path or a reflected path to the detector. The signal traveling the direct path is the line-of-sight signal, whereas the signal traveling the reflected path is a multi-path or a non-line-of-sight signal. Detectors assume that the first signal it receives is the line-of-sight signal because such signal travels a more direct path (than non-line-of-sight signals) and, thus, should arrive at the detector before any non-line-of-sight signal. However, if the detector is unable to receive or hear the line-of-sight signal, it may assume a first arriving non-line-of-sight signal to be a line-of-sight signal. Since non-line-of-sight signals travel a greater distance than line-of-sight signals, the times-of-arrivals for non-line-of-sight signals will be later than those for line-of-sight signals. Accordingly, if times-of-arrivals for non-line-of-sight signals are used to estimate a mobile-telephone's location, then the accuracy of the estimate is adversely affected.
Whether a detector receives a line-of-sight signal depends mostly on the amount of attenuation or degradation the signal undergoes as it travels from the signal source to the detector and the power level at which the signal was transmitted. Generally, all signals attenuate or degrade as they travel from the signal source to the detector. The amount of attenuation or degradation depends on the environment through which it travels--for example, in urban environments where more obstacles, e.g., buildings, are likely to be between the signal source and the detector, the amount of attenuation or degradation to line-of-sight signals will generally be greater.
To compensate for possible attenuation or degradation of the line-of-sight signals, the wireless communication systems (utilizing reverse link signaling for location purposes) may require the mobile-telephone to transmit its signal at a higher power level. This would increase the signal-to-noise ratio at the base station, thereby offsetting the attenuation (and/or degradation) while increasing the likelihood of detecting the line-of-sight signals. However, increasing the power level of the reverse link signals significantly raises the interference level, i.e., noise, for other mobile-telephones in the same or neighboring cells.
One possible solution for increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the line-of-sight signal without prolonged interference level increases involves the transmission of reverse link signals at higher power levels for short time periods. This solution, however, is difficult to implement without changing the mobile side of existing wireless communication standards. Specifically, the existing wireless communication standards provide guidelines for dynamically controlling the power level of reverse link signals based on strict factors such as distance from the mobile-telephone to the serving base station. The introduction of a new factor would require the development of a new dynamic reverse link power control scheme that takes into consideration this new factor, i.e., increasing reverse link signal power levels for short durations, thereby requiring a change to the mobile side of the wireless communication standards. Implementation of such changes (to the mobile side) would require corresponding upgrades to all mobile-telephones in the wireless communication network, thereby making the aforementioned solution difficult to implement. Accordingly, there exists a need for a method for accurately estimating a location of a mobile-telephone without significant increases to interference levels or changes to the mobile side of existing wireless communication standards.

Method for estimating a mobile-telephone's location


Two solutions to the problem of cooling a high temperature, high heat flux surface using controlled spray cooling are presented for use on a mandrel. In the first embodiment, spray cooling is used to provide a varying isothermal boundary layer on the side portions of a mandrel by providing that the spray can be moved axially along the mandrel. In the second embodiment, a spray of coolant is directed to the lower temperature surface of the mandrel. By taking advantage of super-Leidenfrost cooling, the temperature of the high temperature surface of the mandrel can be controlled by varying the mass flux rate of coolant droplets. The invention has particular applicability to the field of diamond synthesis using chemical vapor deposition techniques.

The controlled extraction of heat fluxes of order 1000 W/cm.sup.2 remains a challenge in many fields, including steel processing, nuclear reactor safety, and high-temperature materials synthesis. The field of materials synthesis is of particular interest with respect to the production of diamond.
The commercial production of synthetic diamonds began in the 1950's with the development of pressure cells capable of achieving combinations of temperature and pressure of sufficient duration to turn common forms of carbon into diamond. Such pressure-based techniques have been refined over the years to the point where high pressure is the basis for the production of considerable quantities of diamond. Still, these techniques are very demanding of the equipment they employ, requiring sustained pressures of several millions of atmospheres to form diamond.
A somewhat contrary approach is known as Chemical Vapor Deposition (commonly abbreviated as CVD). This approach is based on the realization that diamonds can be formed in low-pressure conditions from a heated gas comprising isolated carbon-containing radicals. Under suitable conditions of temperature and with a proper substrate, these species can be made to deposit carbon in the form of a diamond film.
One of the technical problems attendant to practicing this technique lies in properly controlling the high temperatures of the substrate--generally, a mandrel surface--on which the diamond film forms. Briefly, in flame based diamond CVD, a premixed flame is created in a stagnation point flow against a surface on which diamond film growth is desired. The reactants--typically acetylene, hydrogen, and oxygen--create a high flame temperature of approximately 3000.degree. K. It will be appreciated that the production of this flame is accompanied by high rates of heat and mass transport to the deposition surface (i.e., the substrate) of the mandrel. In other words, in CVD the flux of energetic molecular species to the surface is accompanied by a large flux of heat which must be removed from the mandrel if control of the growth process is to be maintained. For low-pressure (i.e., sub-atmospheric) flame CVD, the heat flux is sufficiently low that conventional methods of convective and/or radiative cooling may be use. At higher pressure, where diamond growth rates increase by an order of magnitude, heat fluxes of order (i.e., within a factor of ten of) 1000 W/cm.sup.2 must be extracted.
The situation is further complicated by the need to hold the deposition surface temperature to a tight tolerance somewhere within the optimal diamond growth range (.about.1200.degree. K), and the requirement that heat extraction be made in a one-dimensional fashion to preserve the uniform boundary condition on the flame. Additional problems that must be taken into consideration include compensating for the discontinuity of flux that arises at the boundary of the finite-area flame, providing for real time control and tuning of the heat extraction process, and compensating for process fluctuations. It would also be desirable to provide scalability to accommodate projected commercially sized mandrels (typically 6-8 inches in diameter).
The heat flux created by the flame must be removed from the mandrel if the temperature of the mandrel diamond deposition surface is to be maintained within acceptable limits for the rapid growth of high quality diamond film. Excessive deviation of the temperature of the substrate from the optimal level will result in a decline in the quality of the diamond film, a diminution in its growth rate, or both. Given the complexity of the combustion process that gives rise to the heat and mass flows, it is far preferable to control this heat directly at the mandrel by removing heat from the mandrel (and hence the deposition surface) than by attempting to modify the kinetics of the flame itself.
So-called pool-boiling has been employed to control mandrel temperature in a variety of applications. In pool boiling, a portion of a mandrel is submersed in water to provide heat extraction. Pool boiling provides efficient heat transfer via phase change of the coolant where the heat fluxes through the mandrel are moderately high and the temperature of the surface submerged in water exceeds the boiling point.
Unfortunately, the heat flux capabilities of pool boiling fall just short of those required for high heat flux applications such as diamond synthesis. This is because of the so-called critical heat flux or burn-out problem of boiling heat transfer. At sufficiently great levels of heat flux, the coolant immediately adjacent the hot surface boils so rapidly that a continuous vapor film is formed adjacent to the surface, which inhibits subsequent wetting of the surface, and impedes further heat transfer (the so-called Leidenfrost effect). Forced convective or pressurized boiling provide some extension of cooling capabilities to higher heat fluxes, but this is limited to less than an order of magnitude improvement. Both pool boiling and forced convective boiling are ultimately limited by the burnout phenomenon.
Dilute spray cooling has been employed to circumvent this problem by placing the cooling fluid on the surface in discrete quanta, i.e., droplets, separated by many diameters in space and surface-interaction periods in time. This precludes the possibility of forming a contiguous vapor film (and burnout), since only small portions of the surface are in contact with the water at any instant and only small, isolated regions of vapor are formed. Using spray cooling at low surface superheat temperatures, heat flux capacities in excess of 1000 W/cm.sup.2 have been demonstrated in several studies, provided the temperature on the surface being sprayed remains fairly close to the boiling point of the water (and thus below the Leidenfrost temperature). This method of cooling has been studied extensively both out of theoretical interest and for the possibility of application to the electronics and the nuclear power industries.
Less attention has been paid to the problem of spray cooling at high surface superheat temperatures. This is due in large part because many processes cannot tolerate high surface temperatures, and also because onset of the Leidenfrost phenomenon (where the spray droplets no longer wet the surface) causes cooling effectiveness to decrease by an order of magnitude from the low superheat case.
One approach to providing a spray cooling solution to this problem calls for the heat extraction surface of the mandrel to be uniformly coated with a cooling spray with sufficient capacity to ensure that the surface remain near the saturation temperature of the coolant (generally water). This uniform surface temperature (or isothermal boundary condition) guarantees that the heat extraction is one-dimensional (given a one-dimensional heat input) and that sufficient heat extraction can be maintained over the required range of operating conditions without adjustment of the spray. Unfortunately, these desirable characteristics come at a price--inflexibility in control of the deposition surface temperature.
Since, in such an approach, the temperature of the cooling surface is generally fixed near the saturation condition by the phase change of the droplets, and the heat flux into the mandrel is imposed by the flames, the only way to achieve a desired deposition surface temperature has been by varying the thermal resistance of the mandrel itself. This has been accomplished by bolting together a series of disks to achieve the required temperature rise from the isothermal boundary to the deposition surface. Although this is a workable solution under some conditions, this approach suffers several drawbacks:
Any adjustment or change in flame conditions (i.e., imposed heat flux) requires a change in mandrel configuration to hold the temperature constant. The correct value of resistance must be determined by a series of trial and error experiments which are time consuming and expensive to accomplish. Also since these changes cannot be made on line, the available level of flexibility in control over the process is poor, and real-time control is impossible. Process fluctuations which cause the heat flux to vary (e.g., changing the reactant composition or flame/mandrel spacing) will cause the deposition surface temperature to deviate from the desired set point. PA1 Since the cooling surface is isothermal, uniform temperature at the deposition surface will only result if the heat flux through the mandrel is uniform, that is, if the sides of the mandrel are effectively adiabatic and the flame is uniform over the mandrel surface. If either of these conditions is not met, the deposition surface temperature cannot be made uniform using this method. PA1 This method precludes the provision of spatial profiling of the heat extraction from the mandrel. Variations of the heat flux profile into the mandrel cannot be compensated in this design. PA1 1) permit the extraction of large heat fluxes from the mandrel, typically on the order of 1000 Watts/cm.sup.2, and particularly in the range of 200-400 Watts/cm.sup.2 (which is of interest in current commercial processes); PA1 2) allow for control over the deposition surface temperature of the mandrel independently of any variations which may arise in the flame itself; PA1 3) provide a spatially uniform surface temperature across the face of the mandrel, where such is desired; and PA1 4) be scalable to allow cooling of mandrels larger than those that are currently being used (e.g., mandrels having a substrate area as large as those employed in the semiconductor industry, where diamond films may find significant application).
These limitations could be overcome if it were possible to carry out the spray cooling process without being tied to the isothermal boundary condition inherent in phase-change cooling. In general, there remains a need for a means of controlling the temperature at the deposition side of a heated mandrel that avoids the problems present in known approaches to cooling a high heat flux surface. In particular, there remains a need for a cooling process that would:

Method and apparatus for heat extraction by controlled spray cooling


A device for releasably fastening up to four adjacent slab corners to a support wall or ceiling. The device is positioned at a common point of adjacency of a number of slabs. A locking disk having a quadrant notch is rotatively mounted orthogonally to the surface of the slabs, and engages or disengages slots cap in the thickness of the slabs according to the angular orientation of the disk. The device is capped by a decorative rosette having an appendage projecting loop bracket shaped and dimensioned to accommodate a bud vase. The device is particularly indicated for fastening slabs used to cover adjacent funerary crypts.

I have disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,953,865 and 6,564,514 various types of fasteners particularly indicated for locking a number of adjacent cover slabs to walls or ceilings. These fasteners have been particularly useful in the construction of funerary chambers where caskets, crypts and urn niches are formed in a wall, each covered by a marble or granite slab cover. The fastener comprises a rotatable disk, having a quadrant notched away mounted on a shaft perpendicular to the plane of the slabs at the spot where the corners of two or more slabs meet. Depending upon the angular orientation of the disk, engages or disengagement from slots cut in the thickness of the slabs.
In an attempt to provide a certain amount of play in the orientation of the disk in order to accommodate unevenness in the position and orientation of the slots, ingenious but complex mechanisms have been devised which tend to complicate the installation and increase the cost of the device. Moreover, the outer end of the bolt which remains visible at the corner point of the slabs can be unsightly.
The present invention results from an attempt to remedy the aforesaid defects and disadvantages.


A smart sheet sensor control system and method compensating for degradation of an optical sensor. A reference voltage trigger level is periodically adjusted in a manner biased toward a null state indicating an absence of a sheet of paper or document in a paper location. The reference voltage trigger level is periodically adjusted by a microprocessor to always lie within a window range between the null state value and an activated state value indicating a presence of the sheet in the paper location. Since the adjustment is periodic, the microprocessor need not be a dedicated microprocessor and may be used to adjust the reference voltage trigger level corresponding to several sensors respectively sensing the presence or absence of a sheet of paper at several different locations. A service signal may be provided via a copier controller to a display on the copier and/or to a telecommunications device to be forwarded to a vendor service department when the window range between the null state and the activated state is less than a predetermined value so that maintenance may be performed on the sensor prior to a complete failure of the sensor system. The smart sheet sensor control system and method may be implemented in an electrophotographic printing machine sensing sheets of paper or other documents at various locations within the machine.

The present invention relates to a sensor control system for compensating for degradation of the sensor system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a smart sheet sensor control system which may be provided in an electrophotographic printing machine and in which a reference voltage trigger level is periodically adjusted to always be within a window between a null state indicating an absence of a sheet in a paper location and an activated state indicating a presence of a sheet in the paper location, the adjustment being made so that the reference voltage trigger level is biased toward the null state.
Optical sensors are often used in applications requiring a determination of the presence or absence of a copy sheet or other document passing through a certain paper location by providing a suitable signal in response to a determination of whether or not the sheet is located in the paper location. The optical sensor typically includes a light source whose light beam is directed at the position in which the document is to be sensed. A light sensitive transducer such as a phototransistor or photodiode is mounted in an aligned relationship with the light source to detect the presence or absence of a sheet in the paper location between the light source and the light sensitive transducer.
A common recurring problem in optical sensor systems placed in reproduction machines is degradation of optical sensors in the paper path due to contaminants such as airborne toner particles, paper fibers, carrier particles, dust buildup, and other contaminants, or aging of the light source, a broken optical sensor, or varying thickness, density, color or smoothness of sheets passing through the paper location. Contaminants generally cause failure of the optical system by coating the optical elements and thereby reducing the illumination level at the sensor. This causes a change in an output voltage level used as a signal which identifies whether or not a sheet is present in the paper location between the light source and the light sensitive transducer.
One solution to this problem is to schedule frequent maintenance to clean the sensor and test the level of performance. However, this is extremely expensive due to increased labor costs and increased down time of the machine.
Various solutions have previously been implemented to overcome the above-discussed sensor degradation problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,731 to Krause et al. issued on Jan. 27, 1978 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,732 to Krause et al. issued on Jun. 27, 1978 disclose a sensor including apparatus for regulating the intensity of the sensor light source to compensate for extraneous factors in the operating environment such as dust accumulation, component aging and misalignment. Compensating for these factors by adjusting the power output of the lamp is often complex and expensive. Additionally, this type of compensation provides only a limited degree of adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,647 to Fred F. Hubble, III et al. issued on Jun. 7, 1987 is hereby incorporated into this application by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,670,647 discloses a compensation method in which the gain of the received signal is automatically adjusted rather than continually adjusting the power out of the light source. This patent includes a document sensor control circuit which compensates for degradation of the sensor by maintaining an output of an amplifier at a constant level. The output of the amplifier is compared with a reference level and the gain of the amplifier is adjusted if the output of the amplifier falls below the reference level.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,215 to Penny issued on Jan. 29, 1974 discloses the detection of documents by establishing analog thresholds against which the analog output of a detector is compared. The range of this type of system may be limited and unreliable, since the threshold is adjusted based on a percentage of a previous peak value detected by the photosensitive detection cell. The apparatus of this patent requires a constant measure and continual update of a sample and hold circuit and a compensation for offsets of an amplifier. Additionally, no indication of a required sensor service is made before the sensor has degraded to a point of failure.

Sensor control system and method compensating for degradation of the sensor and indicating a necessity of service prior to sensor failure


The present invention provides compounds, compositions thereof, and methods of using the same for the inhibition of HPK1, and the treatment of HPK1-mediated disorders.

The hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1 (HPK1), otherwise known as mitogen activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 1 (MAP4K1), is a hematopoietic cell-restricted member of the Ste20 serine/threonine kinase super family. The MAP4Ks family includes MAP4K1/HPK1, MAP4K2/GCK, MAP4K3/GLK, MAP4K4/HGK, MAP4K5/KHS, and MAP4K6/MINK. HPK1 is a tissue-specific upstream activator of the MEKK/JNK/SAPK signaling pathway.
HPK1 is of particular interest because it is predominantly expressed in hematopoietic cells such as T cells, B cells, macrophages, dendritic cells, neutrophils, and mast cells (Hu, M. C., et al., Genes Dev, 1996. 10(18): p. 2251-64; Kiefer, F., et al., EMBO J, 1996. 15(24): p. 7013-25). HPK1 kinase activity has been shown to be induced upon activation of T cell receptors (TCR) (Liou, J., et al., Immunity, 2000. 12(4): p. 399-408), B cell receptors (BCR) (Liou, J., et al., Immunity, 2000. 12(4): p. 399-408), transforming growth factor receptor (TGF-PR) (Wang, W., et al., J Biol Chem, 1997. 272(36): p. 22771-5; Zhou, G., et al., J Biol Chem, 1999. 274(19): p. 13133-8), or Gs-coupled PGE2 receptors (EP2 and EP4) (Ikegami, R., et al., J Immunol, 2001. 166(7): p. 4689-96). As such, HPK1 regulates diverse functions of various immune cells. HPK1 is also an example of a negative regulator of dendritic cell activation, and T and B cell responses that can be targeted to enhance anti-tumor immunity. HPK1 is expressed predominantly by hematopoietic cells, including early progenitors. In T cells, it is believed that HPK1 negatively regulates T cell activation by reducing the persistence of signaling microclusters by phosphorylating SLP76 at Ser376 (Di Bartolo et al. (2007) JEM 204:681-691) and Gads at Thr254, which leads to the recruitment of 14-3-3 proteins that bind to the phosphorylated SLP76 and Gads, releasing the SLP76-Gads-14-3-3 complex from LAT-containing microclusters (Lasserre et al. (2011) J Cell Biol 195(5):839-853). HPK1 can also become activated in response to prostaglandin E2, which is often secreted by tumors, contributing to the escape of tumor cells from the immune system.
HPK1 is important in regulating the functions of various immune cells and it has been implicated in autoimmune diseases and anti-tumor immunity (Shui, J. W., et al., Nat Immunol, 2007. 8(1): p. 84-91; Wang, X., et al., J Biol Chem, 2012. 287(14): p. 11037-48).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A filter bag is disclosed that comprises a porous membrane having a strength in the transverse direction to improve durability. There is a filter assembly for filtering particulates from a gas stream comprising a support substructure and a filter bag at least partially surrounding the support substructure. The filter bag comprises a porous membrane having a upstream surface exposed to the gas stream. The porous membrane is lightweight and has a structure to collect the particulates on the upstream surface. In particular, the porous membrane has a bubble point of 0.06 MPa or more and has a strength in a transverse direction that is 100 N/m or more. Other filter bags disclosed comprise a laminate comprising a porous membrane having a bubble point of 0.06 MPa or more and a second layer that acts as a sacrificial material.

The removal of particulates from a gas stream has long been a practice in a variety of industrial fields. Conventional means for filtering particulates and the like from gas streams include, but are not limited to, filter bags, filter tubes, filter cartridges and filter panels. These filter elements are typically oriented into a filtration system, often referred to as a filter baghouse, for filtering such particulates. Such filtration systems may be either cleanable or non-cleanable, depending on the requirements of the system operation.
The separation of particulate matter from industrial fluid streams is often accomplished using laminate filters. These textile-based laminate filters remove particulates from fluid streams. When the resistance to flow or pressure drop through the textile caused by accumulation of particulate on the filter becomes significant, the filter must be cleaned, and the particulate removed from the filter.
It is common in the industrial filtration market to characterize the type of filter bag by the method of cleaning. The most common types of cleaning techniques are reverse air, shaker, and pulse-jet. Reverse air and shaker techniques are considered low energy cleaning techniques.
In reverse air filtration techniques, particulate collects on the interior of the bag. During cleanings, a gentle backwash of air collapses the bag and fractures the dust cake off the bag, which exits the bottom of the bag into a hopper.
Shaker mechanisms also clean dust cakes that collect on the inside of a bag. The top of the bag is attached to an oscillating arm which creates a sinusoidal wave in the bag to dislodge the dust cake.
In pulse-jet filtration, the particulate is captured on the outside of the bag. Pulse-jet cleaning techniques employ a short pulse of compressed air that enters the interior top portion of a filter bag or tube. The energy of this cleaning pulse expands the bag, knocking off the dust cake. The bag will typically snap back to a cage support and go right back into service collecting particulate.
Of the three cleaning techniques, pulse-jet is the most stressful on the filter media. However, in recent years, industrial process engineers have increasingly selected pulse-jet baghouses for dust collection applications because of:                1. Smaller unit size (sometimes as much as ½ or ¼ the size of shakers and reverse air filtration) due to:        (A) higher volumetric airflow/cloth area ratio (higher operating velocity through media); and        (B) on-line cleaning allows the unit to be designed at the desired flow rate, hence there is no need for additional filter media area to allow for off-line cleaning.        2. Minimal number of moving parts.        3. Lower number of bags to replace.
In a pulse-jet baghouse, bags are inserted into the baghouse with a metal cage on the inside to keep them from collapsing. Dirty air containing dust enters the baghouse on the outer side of the bag where the dust accumulates on the surface. The cleaned air travels through the bag and out of the baghouse. When a sufficient amount of dust has accumulated on the outside of the bag to cause a decreased amount of air flow through the bag, the pulse-jet baghouse sends a pulse of high pressure air backwards through the bag. The accumulated dust is forced off the bag for collection in the lower portion of the baghouse by a combination of the high pressure air and the movement in the bag caused by the back pulse. This cleaning process may occur multiple times an hour to maintain sufficient air flow through the bag.
The movement in the bag mentioned above is a result of high pressure air imparting a stress on the bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,243 is directed to filter bag assemblies comprising a support structure, such as a support cage of metal, plastic, or the like, and a filter media of expanded PTFE membrane(s) without a backing material or layer. As described, the filter bag assembly further comprises a support cover, or cage cover, which fits over the exterior surface of the support, or cage, to prevent contact of the filter media with the cage.
A continuing problem of improving durability exists for filter bag assemblies. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an improved filter bag assembly directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above.

Filter bags comprising a porous membrane


A storage tray for storing, watering and transporting plants, which is rectangular and has two mounting members on each of two parallel narrow sides for hanging in frame struts, characterised in that each mounting member has an engagement end portion extending along the respective narrow side and ending freely in the direction of the long side located closest in each case, and a watering device with at least two such storage trays disposed one on top of the other, with four vertical frame struts disposed in corner areas of the storage trays and provided with insertion recesses for hanging the mounting members of the storage trays in, the insertion recesses in frame struts associated in each case with a narrow side of the storage tray are at least partially facing each other, so that the storage trays can be inserted and removed in the transverse direction.

In known, plate-shaped storage trays of this kind, mounting members are used to hang such trays in the mounting openings or slots in frame struts of a mounting frame, said openings or slots being U-shaped in cross-section; said mounting members extend in the longitudinal direction of the storage tray, so that the insertion or hanging process takes place in the longitudinal direction of the storage tray. In other words, a storage tray is hung in four vertical frame struts arranged at the corners of a square, by first of all inserting two mounting members, which are disposed on a common front or narrow side of the storage tray, into desired insertion recesses in two corresponding frame struts, it being necessary in the process, because of the fixed mutual spacing of the four frame struts about a transverse axis running perpendicular to the long sides of the storage tray, to tilt the storage tray in order to be able to move it between the frame struts. After the two said mounting members have been pushed completely, or as far as possible, into their insertion recesses, the storage tray can be twisted into a horizontal position, so that the remaining, opposing mounting members, which are associated with those on the narrow side of the storage tray, are brought into alignment with corresponding insertion recesses in the other two frame struts and can be inserted into them by substantially horizontal movement of the storage tray. In most cases, engagement recesses are provided, so that when all four mounting members have been pushed approximately the same depth into the corresponding insertion recesses, the latter co-operate with the insertion recesses by means of the engagement recesses, forming a positive fit, and a firm, stationary hold is ensured.
While this arrangement has been successful in practice, it nevertheless involves a disadvantage in that the storage tray has to be made shorter, in the longitudinal direction, in those areas of its narrow sides which are located adjacent to the frame struts in the inserted state, than the corresponding internal clearance between the frame struts. This is necessary because of the above-described insertion sequence, so that a manipulation space is created between the frame struts and the storage tray in the longitudinal direction, in order to be able to move the storage tray to and fro in the longitudinal direction to insert the mounting members.
This clearance necessarily involves reducing the base area or standing surface of the storage tray which can be used for standing plant containers or the like.
The problem of the invention therefore consists in providing a storage tray which, without altering the unchanged mutual distance between the frame struts, offers the greatest possible useful standing surface.

Storage platform for storage and watering of plants and watering device