A triangular wave generating circuit includes: an integrating unit including a capacitor, the integrating unit having an output for providing a triangular wave signal; first and second constant current sources for charging and discharging the capacitor; a switch unit for coupling the first and second current sources to the integrating unit to charge and discharge the capacitor in response to an internal clock signal; a high/low level limiter including first and second comparing units for comparing the output of the integrating unit with upper and lower triangular wave peak limit reference voltages, respectively, and providing output signals indicating when the output of the integrating unit coincides with the peak limit reference voltages; a clock generator for providing the internal clock signal in response to the comparing unit output signals; and means for varying a peak-to-peak swing of the triangular wave signal over time to synchronize the internal clock signal with an externally supplied clock pulse.

Triangular wave generating circuits are used in various applications. One common application is for converting an analog audio signal into a pulse signal in a Class-D power amplifier. One such Class-D Audio Amplifier is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,791,405 to Tsuji et al., entitled "Triangular Wave Generating Circuit Used in Class-D Amplifier" (the "'405 Patent"), the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a prior art circuit 10 for forming a triangular wave (Vout) from a square wave signal. The performance of this triangular wave can seriously influence the accuracy of applications that utilize the triangular wave, such as pulse width modulation (PWM) applications. The switching frequency fSW of the output triangular wave is equal to 1/(Tup+Tdown) wherein Tup is the period of the rise of the triangular wave from VL to VH and Tdown is the period of the falling of the triangular wave from VH to VL. The "up" period Tup is equal to C*Vtri,pp/Icharge, where C is the capacitor C across the operational amplifier 12, Vtri,pp is the voltage difference between VH and VL, and Icharge is the charging current from current source I1. Similarly, the "down" period Tdown is equal to C*Vtri,pp/Idischarge, where Idischarge is the discharging current from current source I2 in FIG. 1. Assuming Icharge is matched to Idischarge, then fSW is equal to Icharge/(2*C*Vtri,pp). From this equation, it is known that the switching frequency of the triangular wave is directly proportional to the charge and discharge currents, Icharge and Idischarge, and inversely proportional to the triangular wave swing (Vtri,pp).
FIG. 2 illustrates potential problems with the triangular wave generators such as the generator 10 of FIG. 1. For example, as shown in "Problem 1" of FIG. 2, the triangular wave does not vary between the desired peak limits VH and VL if the current sources are not matched, i.e., if current source I2>I1 or current source I1<I2. Similarly, "Problem 2" illustrates that this same issue arises if the square wave signal does not have an ideal duty cycle. The second problem is frequently found when the internal clock pulse is not synchronized to an external clock source. Synchronizing an internal clock to an external clock is important in, for example, multiple class D amplifier applications, such a 5.1 channel or 7.1 channel audio systems. If the switching frequency is not the same, a beat frequency will occur in the audio band.
The '405 Patent discussed above teaches a method of providing synchronization with an external clock to form a triangular wave. The method of the '405 Patent achieves synchronization between and internal clock signal and an externally provided clock signal by varying the triangular wave slope, i.e., by varying the charge/discharge currents. However, in class-D amplifiers, the audio quality is affected by the slope of the triangular wave. Once the slope of the triangular wave becomes smaller than the slope of the amplifier's integrator output, the audio quality becomes worse.
Improved triangular wave generators are desired.

Triangular wave generating circuit having synchronization with external clock

Elite Semiconductor Memory Technology, Inc.


A submersible ultrasonic emitter is integrated with a dissolved oxygen (DO) or other aquatic probe so that biofouling of the sensor's membrane is minimized. Sonification, that is, exposure to ultrasound, precludes the need to use other biofouling elimination procedures such as water/air jets, chemical treatments, or biocides. The invention can be configured to readily integrate with existing probes from a variety of manufacturers, and eliminates membrane cleaning as the maintenance interval constraint for field or laboratory deployed sensors.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to aquatic sensors, and more particularly to a sonification method and apparatus for preventing biofouling of dissolved oxygen and other aquatic sensors.
2. Description of the Background Art
Dissolved oxygen and other electrochemical sensors are commonly used to detect the presence of substances such as dissolved gases and ions in water. Typically, these sensors have one or more electrodes immersed in an electrolyte solution and are covered by a membrane that is permeable to a substance of interest. To measure the concentration of a substance of interest, the sensor is submerged in the solution to be analyzed and, as the substance of interest diffuses through the membrane, it causes a chemical reaction between the electrolyte solution and the electrode. This reaction generates an electrical signal that is detected by a meter, and is indicative of the concentration or activity of the substance of interest. For dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors, the electrolyte is usually replaced on the order of every two to four weeks. However, if the sensor is submerged in a biologically active water (e.g., lakes, rivers, wastewater treatment plants), biofouling organisms can start adhering to the membrane surface in a matter of hours. Over a time period of much less than two weeks, the biofilm that develops on the membrane surface will adversely affect the sensor accuracy.
In response to this problem, various approaches to eliminating or controlling biofouling on the surface of aquatic sensors have been developed. These approaches typically fall into the following four categories:
(a) Electrochemical cleaning. In this approach a timed reaction releases biostatic or biocidal chemicals in the vicinity of the membrane surface. PA1 (b) Mechanical cleaning. This approach is usually characterized by vigorous vibration or agitation of the sensor and/or contact abrasion by suspended particles or a wiping device. PA1 (c) Hydraulic cleaning. Here, timed jets of water or chemical solutions bathe the sensor surface, washing and dislodging any attached fouling. PA1 (d) Software compensation. Here, a quantitative model of sensor attenuation due to the biofouling layer is obtained. The probe signal is then adjusted by this amount to compensate for the biofouling.
In practice, a person designing cleaning systems for sensors used in sensitive aquatic systems must avoid the use of harsh chemical treatments, harmful biocides, and the alteration of temperature, pH, or the concentration of the substance of interest in the water being tested. Current mechanical and hydraulic cleaning systems add a level of unnecessary complexity to the sensor and are fraught with problems of their own, such as fouling of the nozzles and the need for additional pumping systems and motorized parts. Furthermore, accurate software compensation is extremely problematic due to the difficulty in developing an accurate and robust model of biofilm growth.

Method and apparatus for preventing biofouling of aquatic sensors

The Regents of the University of California


Optical selection and collection of DNA fragments. The present invention includes the optical selection and collection of large (>.mu.g) quantities of clonable, chromosome-specific DNA from a sample of chromosomes. Chromosome selection is based on selective, irreversible photoinactivation of unwanted chromosomal DNA. Although more general procedures may be envisioned, the invention is demonstrated by processing chromosomes in a conventional flow cytometry apparatus, but where no droplets are generated. All chromosomes in the sample are first stained with at least one fluorescent analytic dye and bonded to a photochemically active species which can render chromosomal DNA unclonable if activated. After passing through analyzing light beam(s), unwanted chromosomes are irradiated using light which is absorbed by the photochemically active species, thereby causing photoinactivation. As desired chromosomes pass this photoinactivation point, the inactivating light source is deflected by an optical modulator; hence, desired chromosomes are not photoinactivated and remain clonable. The selection and photoinactivation processes take place on a microsecond timescale. By eliminating droplet formation, chromosome selection rates 50 times greater than those possible with conventional chromosome sorters may be obtained. Thus, usable quantities of clonable DNA from any source thereof may be collected.

Continued study of the human genome and more recently the mouse genome has resulted in a clear need for sorting large numbers of chromosomes. The ability to identify, isolate and amplify specific genetic sequences is pivotal to genetic mapping, the search for DNA sequence probes, construction of chromosome-specific libraries, identification of disease genes, and understanding the basic genome organization. Since the human genome is comprised of 3 billion DNA base pairs distributed over 24 chromosome types, identification of a specific gene or gene mutation in this system is a complex undertaking. Chromosome sorting can be used to narrow the source of the DNA to a specific chromosome. By sorting human chromosomes prior to genetic mapping analysis, the complexity of the study is reduced by a factor of about 24. Sorted chromosomes have proven to be invaluable to the National Laboratory Gene Library Project for the construction of small insert libraries (up to 25 kb) prepared from bacteriophages and large insert libraries (35 kb to several hundred kb) prepared from cosmids and yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs).
Analysis of a single chromosome in a flow cytometer was first reported in 1975. Initially, a single fluorescent DNA probe was used to distinguish between chromosome types; however, by 1980, two-fluorochrome analysis of human chromosomes had been developed making it possible to resolve 20 of the 24 types of human chromosomes. Improvements in buffers, high speed sorting, slit scan analysis and data analysis, were subsequently made.
Chromosome sorting is currently achieved using commercial flow cytometers which rely on droplet sorting. Briefly, individual chromosomes stained with one or two fluorescent dyes pass through either one or two sequential focused laser beams tuned to excite the fluorescent stains. Optimally, each chromosome has a unique staining pattern allowing identification based on distinctive fluorescent characteristics such as fluorescence intensity. A liquid carrier stream is caused to break into droplets containing chromosomes. Droplets containing chromosomes of interest are charged. All droplets pass through an electric field and the charged droplets are deflected into a separate collection tube, thus sorting the chromosomes. See, e.g., "Flow Sorters for Biological Cells," by Tore Lindmo et al., Flow Cytometry and Sorting, Second Edition, Wiley-Liss, Inc.: New York, 1990; pages 145-169.
While flow cytometry is currently the principal technique used in sorting chromosomes, drawbacks persist; separation rates are limited by the rate of stable droplet formation. The degree of separation is inversely proportional to analysis rate, that is, the faster the sorting, the lower the purity. For example, in sorting chromosome no 4 of a hamster-human cell line (UV20 HL21-27), the purity is found to drop from 98 to 91% when the analysis rate is increased from 5000 to 18,000 chromosomes s.sup.-1. Furthermore, in order to obtain high purity chromosomes, the probability of having more than one particle per drop must be extremely low; hence, particles are processed at approximately one-tenth the rate of droplet formation. Typical commercial sorters have analysis rates of approximately 1500 chromosomes s.sup.-. This translates into sort rates of less than 50 chromosomes s.sup.-. At this rate, about 60 hours of sorting time is required to obtain 1 .mu.g of DNA. Sorting requirements for YAC cloning often require continuous around the clock sorting for as much as two weeks.
It is possible to achieve rates of the order of 200,000 droplets s.sup.-1 in state-of-the-art flow cytometers, which translates to chromosome analysis rates in excess of 20,000 chromosomes s.sup.-1. To achieve such high droplet rates, however, the sorter must operate at high pressure (200 psi) resulting in sorting instability and random chromosome damage. By reducing the pressure to about 120 psi, droplets can be produced at rates of 140,000 s.sup.-1, improving sorting stability and reducing DNA degradation, but at the cost of lower chromosome throughput.
Methods of chromosome separation not relying on droplet formation would overcome the limitations associated with traditional sorting. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,397 for "Apparatus And Method For Killing Unwanted Cells," which issued to Howard M. Shapiro on Jul. 26, 1983, the removal of a subpopulation of unwanted cells from a flowing liquid stream containing a suspension of living cells is described. After detecting the presence of the unwanted cells, such cells are destroyed using a high-power laser. In "High-Speed Photodamage Cell Selection Using Bromodeoxyuridine/Hoechst 33342 Photosensitized Cell Killing," by Hans Herweijer et al., Cytometry 9, 143 (1988), the authors describe a photodamage cell sorter where unwanted cells detected by a first laser are destroyed by radiation from a second laser to which the unwanted cells are photosensitive. The radiation from the second laser is switched on and off (to permit desired cells to proceed unharmed through the apparatus) using an acoustoopic crystal. Cells are made photosensitive by growing the cells in the presence of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine and staining with Hoechst 33342. A 400 mW ultraviolet light source is employed which permits 30,000 cells s.sup.-1 to be sorted. Subsequent work in "High-Speed Photodamage Cell Selection Using A Frequency-Doubled Argon Ion Laser," by Jan F. Keij et al., Cytometry 19, 209 (1995), overcame the extreme photosensitivity of the stained cells and the 2-3 day culturing process for attaching the photosensitizer to the cells, by exploiting the intrinsic photosensitivity of the cellular DNA. Part of the far ultraviolet direct DNA damage is due to the production of thymidine dimers which hinder DNA replication in the cells. The short lifetime of the frequency-doubling crystals employed expected to be overcome using large argon ion lasers capable of emissions at 257-275 nm. In "The Role Of DNA Damage In PM2 Viral Inactivation By Methylene Blue Photosensitization," by Kathleen G. Specht, Photochem. and Photobiol. 59, 506 (1994), viral inactivation was observed as a result of phototreatment of viruses in which phenothiazines including methylene blue, toluidine blue and azure B were bound to nucleic acids in vitro.
TOTO and YOYO have been utilized for DNA analysis in flow cytometry. See, e.g., "TOTO and YOYO: New Very Bright Fluorochromes For DNA Content Analyses by Flow Cytometry," by G. T. Hirons et al., Cytometry 15, 1 (1994), "Stable Fluorescent Complexes Of Double-Stranded DNA with Bis-Intercalating Asymmetric Cyanine Dyes: Properties And Applications," by H. S. Rye et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 20, 2803 (1992), "Stable Dye-DNA Intercalation Complexes As Reagents For High-Sensitivity Fluorescence Detection," by Alexander N. Glazer and Hays S. Rye, Nature 359, 859 (1992), "Rapid Sizing Of Individual Fluorescently Stained DNA Fragments By Flow Cytometry," by Peter M. Goodwin et al., Nucleic Acids Research 21, 803 (1993), and "Characterization Of DNA Size Determination Of Small Fragments By Flow Cytometry," by Jeffrey T. Petty et al., Anal. Chem. 67, 1755 (1995). However, the ability of TOTO and YOYO to render the intercalated DNA unclonable has not been reported.
In "Development Of A Plaque Reduction Assay And Application To The Study Of Psoralen-Damaged DNA," by Kathy E. Yokobata et al., Photochem. and Photobiol. 43, 391 (1986), the photochemically induced reaction of a psoralen derivative with bacteriophage DNA is found to reduce the infectivity of the covalently modified DNA. This procedure is conducted in a bulk sample, and no separation of DNA fragments is taught or suggested.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for rapidly, but accurately selecting and collecting chosen strands of DNA from a mixture of DNA strands without requiring high-power, far-ultraviolet lasers and expensive dye removal steps.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for rapidly, but accurately rendering selected strands of DNA from a mixture of DNA strands unclonable without requiring high-power, far-ultraviolet lasers.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.


A method of decomposing a thermosetting resin by a decomposer comprising the steps of: pre-heating the thermosetting resin up to a pre-heating temperature T0; kneading the pre-heated thermosetting resin together with a decomposer, and concurrently heating a mixture comprising the thermosetting resin and the decomposer up to a kneading temperature T1, thereby allowing a reaction to take place between the decomposer and the thermosetting resin to obtain a kneaded matter wherein the decomposer becomes consumed; and heating the kneaded matter to a maximum temperature T2 to thereby decompose the thermosetting resin; wherein the preheating temperature T0 is not higher than the boiling temperature of the decomposer; the kneading temperature T1 is not lower than the pre-heating temperature T0 but is lower than the thermal decomposition temperature of the thermosetting resin; the maximum temperature T2 is lower than the decomposition temperature of the thermosetting resin; and the pre-heating of the thermosetting resin is performed under the following conditions of temperature T0 and time t:100° C.≦T0<260° C.0.5 min≦t≦7 min.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of decomposing a thermosetting resin, and to an apparatus and a heat control program for carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Background
Discarded electric household appliances provide one example of waste matters comprising a thermosetting resin. In recent years, it has been increasingly requested to recycle discarded electric household appliances. With a view to responding to such requests, it is now extensively studied to discover methods of recycling discarded electric household appliances by examining each of their components. In the disposal of discarded refrigerators, for example, since foamed urethane resin is employed therein as a heat-insulating material, the recycle of the urethane resin is studied now.
As for the method of recycling foamed urethane resin, there have been proposed various methods in the past. For example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication H6-184513 sets forth a method wherein a thermosetting resin comprising soft or hard polyurethane foam is decomposed at a constant temperature ranging from 150 to 280° C. using aminoethanol as a decomposer.
However, this method is problematical in that it takes a lot of time for decomposing the polyurethane foam, e.g., 11 hours at a temperature of 190° C., 2 hours even at a higher temperature of 230° C., and that under some circumstances, it is impossible to completely decompose the thermosetting resin. The reason for this may be attributed to the fact that the decomposer is not necessarily fully effective. Specifically, when the thermal decomposition of the thermosetting resin is immediately started at this range of temperatures, the heating is initiated at a temperature which is higher than the boiling point of the decomposer, such as aminoethanol. As a result, the decomposer is forced to volatilize before it is sufficiently mixed with the thermosetting resin, thus making it impossible to perform the kneading of the decomposer with the thermosetting resin at a constant mixing ratio, thereby inviting a phenomenon where the decomposing reaction of the thermosetting resins is inhibited.
This invention has been accomplished under the circumstances as mentioned above, and therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a method of decomposing thermosetting resins, which makes it possible to shorten the time required to decompose thermosetting resins, and to completely decompose thermosetting resins.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for decomposing thermosetting resins using the aforementioned method.
A further object of this invention is to provide a control program for the method of decomposing thermosetting resins.

Method of decomposing thermosetting resin, apparatus and heat control program


A method of forming a plurality of solid conductive bumps for interconnecting two conductive layers of a circuit board with substantially coplanar upper surfaces. The method comprises the steps of applying a continuous homogenous metal layer onto a dielectric substrate, applying a first photoresist and exposing and developing said first photoresist to define a pattern of conductive bumps, etching the metal layer exposed by said development to form said plurality of conductive bumps, removing said first photoresist, applying a second photoresist onto the metal layer, exposing and developing said second photoresist to define a pattern of conductive bumps and circuit lines; etching the metal layer exposed by said development to form a pattern of circuit lines in said metal layer; and removing said second photoresist. The methods of the present invention also provides for fabricating a multilayer circuit board and a metallic border for providing rigidity to a panel.

Standard flexible printed circuit boards comprise a flexible dielectric substrate having circuit lines attached to one or more surfaces thereof. Typically, electrical connections are made between such printed circuit boards and other electrically conductive components by means of conductive bumps which are in electrical communication with the circuit lines. Usually, the conductive bumps are formed by electroless or electrolytically plating the bumps on one or more surfaces of the printed circuit board. The resulting bumps may be polished to provide a plurality of bumps whose top surfaces are intended to be substantially coplanar.
In certain applications, it is necessary that the printed circuit boards have a large number of conductive bumps on the surface thereof. Moreover, it is necessary that a large number, if not all, of the bumps extend to essentially the same distance above the surface of the printed circuit board, i.e., that the conductive bumps have substantially coplanar upper surfaces. Unfortunately, the standard methods that are used to form bumps on a printed circuit board do not easily meet these requirements.
Typically, flexible printed circuit boards are fabricated in a continuous roll process to facilitate handling of the thin materials that are used to form such boards. The steps required to fabricate a two conductor layer flexible cable, such as metallizing the dielectric, circuitizing the metal, and holemaking can all be performed on flexible substrates in roll form. Although roll processing is suitable for materials that have good mechanical strength and tear resistance, such as polyimides, roll processing is not suitable for Teflon-based materials, which typically have better electrical characteristics than polyimides but poorer mechanical properties. Roll processing is also not suitable for the manufacture of the very thin, low dielectric polymers that typically lack the continuous glass fiber reinforcement of rigid printed circuit boards. Furthermore, roll processing is not readily adaptable to fabricating cables with multiple conductive layers where lamination of additional dielectric layers would be required. Thus, when three or more conductive layers are required in the flexible cable or a circuit board, the required lamination step can be more readily accomplished by employing panel form processing as opposed to continuous roll processing.
In panel form processing, the partially completed circuit board is conveyed horizontally on rollers or mounted in a frame for vertical processing. During processing, the circuit board is subjected to stretching which can cause damage, such as tearing or wrinkling of the thin panel. Furthermore, the panels tend to shrink or grow as they go through various thermal excursions, or etching, or plating of copper, or addition of dielectric layers. Since the final product has precise dimensional requirements and requires precise layer to layer alignment, this change in size is problematic. Accordingly, special steps must be taken to prevent damage of flexible cables during fabrication which often offsets the performance advantages of these products with large cost penalties. Thus, panel processing is not well suited to the fabrication of thin flexible cables or thin circuit boards.
In multi-layer printed circuit boards, i.e., circuit boards comprising at least two conductive layers and two dielectric layers, it may be necessary to interconnect the conductive layers on the opposing surfaces of at least one of the dielectric layers. Conventionally, the inter-layer connections between such conductive layers are made by drilling a hole through the conductive layers and the dielectric substrate and plating the resulting via with metal. Since each hole must be drilled individually, this process is time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, the practical minimum size of the holes that are normally produced by such mechanical drilling processes are between 4 to 10 mils. For high performance circuit boards it would be desirable to have hole sizes as small as 2 mils in diameter or even 1 mil.
An alternative approach to forming interconnections between the conductive layers of a multi-layer printed circuit board is to use partial depth or blind vias that are made in the dielectric substrate only. Again, the vias are plated to connect the conductive layers that are subsequently formed on opposing surfaces of the substrate. Blind vias can be made by conventional mechanical drilling, or alternatively by laser ablation, by plasma etching, or by photolithography if the dielectric material is photoimageable. Blind vias make more efficient use of space than through vias because additional circuit elements can be included along their axis. Nonetheless, the blind vias can be very difficult to clean and plate because process fluids cannot flow through the smaller hole. As a result, the process fluids tend to get trapped in the vias. Flux and solder also tend to collect in the holes during later processing steps. The accumulation of flux and solder in the vias ultimately can lead to failure of the resulting printed circuit board. For this reason, a variety of methods have been proposed to provide some method of filling the vias after they are plated with various types of materials, both conductive and non-conductive, as a means to provide a planar surface to the printed circuit boards that is not inclined to trap process fluids or materials. However, such hole filling methods tend to add additional processing and material costs to the fabrication of a printed circuit board.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have new methods for forming printed circuit boards, including multi-layer printed circuit boards, that overcome these disadvantages. A method which simultaneously produces a plurality of solid conductive bumps that can be used as interconnectors between the conductive layers on opposing surfaces of a dielectric substrate is desirable. A method that produces a plurality of conductive bumps, whose upper surfaces are substantially coplanar, is especially desirable. A method that provides rigidity and dimensional stability to the flexible or thin printed circuit boards, especially during the early stages of processing, is also desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Manufacturing methods for printed circuit boards

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention provides a method of preparing a light-weight base body of a reflecting mirror such as a mirror in a reflecting astronomical telescope, which is very stable not only thermally but also mechanically and is highly resistant against adverse environmental influences. The mirror base is composed of a porous foamed disc body of fused quartz glass or high-silica glass sandwiched by two plates of fused quartz glass or high-silica glass, of which one is made from transparent glass and serves to provide an optical surface having flatness or a specified curvature, and the side surface of the porous foamed disc body is protected against environmental influences by providing an air-tight sealing layer formed from a silicone rubber-based sealing agent or a thin sheet of fused quartz glass or high-silica glass.

The present invention relates to a base body of a reflecting mirror and a method for the preparation thereof. More particularly, the invention relates to a base body of a reflecting mirror such as those in astronomical telescopes, for beam collimation or diffusion in the space industry and so on, which is characterized by outstandingly light weight to ensure good operability and still has high mechanical strengths as a structural body and optical characteristics, as well as a method for the preparation thereof.
In the prior art, high-precision reflecting mirrors used in astronomical telescopes or for optical collimation of high-energy light beams are fabricated by providing a mirror base made from bubble-free fused quartz glass or high-silica glass having an extremely small thermal expansion coefficient with a high-reflectivity vapor-deposited film of a metal such as aluminum on one of the surfaces with flatness or a specified spherical curvature. These reflecting mirrors are used by being supported on a supporting stand to ensure free rotation and movement as desired. It is essential in these reflecting mirrors, especially when the size thereof is large, that the dimensional accuracy or precision of the reflecting surface is not influenced by the changes in the temperature or condition of the mechanical forces acting thereon as caused by the change in the disposition of the mirror.
The above mentioned requirements for high-precision reflecting mirrors can be satisfied relatively easily when the mirror is small having a diameter of, for example, 20 cm or smaller. In recent years, however, demand for high-precision reflecting mirrors is rapidly expanding for those having a larger and larger diameter of, for example, 1 meter or even larger. Such a large-sized reflecting mirror naturally has a very large weight which is responsible for the deformation of the mirror body caused by the influence of the disposition such as the mounting angle, resulting in warping or undulation of the mirror surface to greatly decrease the optical performance of the reflecting mirror.
Besides the above mentioned mechanical deformation due to the weight of the mirror body per se, large-sized reflecting mirrors also have a problem of dimensional expansion and shrinkage caused by the change in the ambient temperature or as a result of the radiation of high-energy light beams so that the mirror surface is subject to warping or undulation, resulting in a decrease in the optical performance of the reflecting mirror. This is the reason for the use of fused quartz glass or high-silica glass having an outstandingly small thermal expansion coefficient as the material of reflecting mirrors.
These glassy materials, however, have a relatively large specific gravity so that the mirror base shaped from glass is so heavy that the operability of the reflecting mirror is unavoidably poor if not to mention the increased mechanical deformation due to the large body weight of the mirror. Accordingly, various attempts and proposals have been made for decreasing the body weight of a reflecting mirror by the improvement in the supporting structure of the surface plate of the mirror without sacrifice in the supporting strength to comply with the practical requirement to ensure good operability of a large-sized reflecting mirror having a glass-made mirror base by decreasing the weight of the mirror base.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication 63-57761 discloses a light-weight glass-made mirror base of a reflecting mirror for astronomical telescopes, which consists of a front plate, i.e. the surface plate for providing the reflecting surface by metal plating, a rear plate or backing plate as a base for supporting the front plate and a latticework composed of a plural number of rows of pipes made from fused quartz glass sandwiched by the two plates. In the latticework of pipes, each pipe of the pipe rows is contacted in a cross-stitch arrangement with the two pipes in the respective adjacent two rows forming contacting lines or contacting zones while the wall thickness of the pipes is smaller along the above mentioned contacting lines or zones than in the other portions of the pipe walls and the pipes are joined together into an integral latticework by welding along the contacting lines or zones. Such a complicated latticework structure of the intermediate layer between the front plate and the rear plate, however, is industrially very disadvantageous because of the very large costs for the preparation thereof. In addition, the mirror base having such a latticework structure has poor mechanical strength in the direction within the surface plane not to withstand the high-precision lapping and polishing works of the optical surface before metal plating to have a specified flatness or curvature of the surface.
Moreover, it is a very difficult matter to obtain the pipe elements forming the latticework having an exactly equal effective height so that the front plate supported by the latticework unavoidably retains a strain corresponding to the height difference in the pipe elements forming the latticework to cause deformation or undulation of the reflecting surface after lapse of some length of time. The rigidity of such a latticework is of course inherently anisotropic and differs between the directions which may be perpendicular to or parallel with the reflecting surface so that the reflecting mirror having such a base body can hardly be used when the mirror must take various dispositions by being rotated or moved on the supporting stand due to the poor accuracy of the reflecting surface when the disposition of the mirror is varied.
Further, Japanese Patent Publication 61-26041 discloses another light-weight glass-made base body of a reflecting mirror for astronomical telescopes. The base body of fused quartz glass also consists of a front plate, a rear plate and an interposed latticework therebetween integrated into a body by welding. The latticework is prepared by putting plate-formed and/or tubular lattice elements on a supporting plate to form a lattice and filling the spaces formed between the lattice elements with tiny pieces of the same glass susceptible to sintering followed by heating to effect sintering this assemblage as fastened with a graphite ring in a furnace under a non-oxidizing atmosphere. The thus prepared latticework is sandwiched between the front plate and the rear plate and welded together into an integral base body to be finished by polishing the surface of the front plate. Such a base body of a reflecting mirror is industrially disadvantageous and not practical due to the very lengthy and troublesome procedure of manufacture with very high costs, in addition to the problem that the front plate bonded to the latticework by welding retains substantial strains at the welded portions to greatly affect the dimensional accuracy of the reflecting surface.

Method for preparing the base body of a reflecting mirror


A quick disconnect connector mountable to a pair of shoulder webs on a child seat. The connectors each include a pair of aligned slots slidably receiving a shoulder web. The first connector has three cantilevered arms extendable into a cavity in the second connector. Two of the arms are contactable against a cantilevered movable web lock on the second connector. The third arm includes a ledge lockable against a stop edge on the second connector. The web lock has a distal end movable downwardly beneath the other two arms locking the second web in place when the connectors are mated and locked together.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of vehicle child seats integrated into a vehicle passenger seat or separate therefrom and more specifically a child seat having a connecting device to removably secure the seat harness webs together.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A child restraint system may be built into a vehicle passenger seat or may be included within a child seat restable upon the vehicle seat. A variety of different types of harness systems are available such as disclosed in the commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,286,090 and 5,031,962. Typically, the restraint system includes a pair of webs extendable downwardly over the shoulders and against the chest of the child to a pair of tongues or a single tongue, in turn, lockingly engaged with a buckle secured to the seat. In order to position the webs together across the child's chest, quick disconnect connectors are utilized such as shown in the commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,946.
In my co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/623,695; filed Apr. 15, 1996, I disclose a pair of web socks attached to mating quick disconnect connectors for securing the webs together. The combined multi-sock and web connector thereby reduces the number of steps required to adjust the harness to the particular child. Likewise, such combination is desirable to more securely hold the socks and connector at the desired location along the length of the webs while at the same time ensuring that at least a portion of each web is parallel to each other thereby positioning the webs accurately across the child's chest.
In lieu of utilizing the web sock design, I have disclosed herein a pair of mating quick disconnect connectors designed to limit relative motion between one of the connectors and the associated web when the connectors are locked together thereby also limiting relative motion between the webs.


The present invention provides methods for bone mass anabolic preservation or augmentation in human or other animal subjects affected by osteoporosis or other metabolic bone disorder characterized by systemic or regional bone loss, using bisphosphonates formulations, wherein the bone mass anabolic composition contains effective non-toxic doses of 3-(N,N-dimethylamine)-1-hydroxypropylidene!-bisphosphonic acid or olpadronate or the monosodium or other pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
Bisphosphonates, also known as diphosphonates, are synthetic analogues of pyrophosphate characterized by two carbon-phosphate bonds and a high affinity for mineralized tissues. The substitution of the oxygen atom in the pyrophosphate molecules (P-O-P) by a carbon in the bisphosphonate molecules (P-C-P) made the latter compounds resistant to biological degradation and suitable for clinical use. Bisphosphonates were originally developed as inhibitors of calcium crystal growth and they were found to suppress osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. They were subsequently used for the treatment of acute and chronic conditions characterized by increased bone resorption and/or accelerated bone loss as osteoporosis.
2. Description of the Related Art
However, long term bone resorption inhibition may affect the bone remodeling process, and in consequence bone quality, resulting in bad biomechanical performance and subsequent increased risk of fracture.
It was further found that the presence of a nitrogen molecule in the side chain of the bisphosphonate structure increases its potency and specificity toward bone resorption.
The use of bisphosphonates in the treatment of bone metabolic disorders is known in principle, such as methods to interact with abnormal deposition and dissolution of difficultly soluble calcium salts or as bone resorption inhibition. U.S. Pat. No. 3,962,432 discloses the use of aminoalkane-diphosphonic acids for the treatment of a variety of calcium disorders. U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,880 discloses crystalline disodium 3-amino-1-hydroxypropane-1,1-diphosphonate pentahydrate for oral treatment of disorders of the calcium and phosphate metabolism. U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,880 dicloses bicyclic diphosphonate compounds, pharmaceutical preparations, and methods for treating abnormal calcium and phosphate metabolism. U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,253 discloses diphosphonic acid derivatives, processes for their production and pharmaceutical preparations containing these compounds for the treatment of calcium metabolism. PCT/WO93/11786 discloses a method for the treatment of osteoporosis using bisphosphonates and parathyroid hormone. PCT/WO93/11774 discloses the treatment of periodontal disease with alendronate.
The use of olpadronate and its derivatives as inhibitors of calcium crystal growth is also known in principle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,598 discloses a method with sequestering agents, especially for alkaline earth metal ions, having the formula 1-hydroxy-3-amino-alkane-1,1-diphosphonic acids, useful for the treatment of disturbances of the calcium or phosphate metabolism characterized by abnormal deposition of difficultly soluble calcium salts or the abnormal dissolution of hard tissues causing losses of hard bone substance, which cannot be replaced or only by incompletely crystallized tissues, such as Paget's disease, lithiasis, arthritis and others. Spanish Pat. No. P9100885 (Pub. No. ES-A-2034877) discloses pharmaceutical liposome preparations containing bisphosphonates as active compounds.
An effect different from bone resorption inhibition has been searched and anabolic phases has been added to cyclical bisphosphonate treatment (Eur Pat. No. A-162510).
It has now been discovered by the inventors hereof that olpadronate, obtained by a synthesis process herein described (previously known from Argentine Pat. No. 200,473 that discloses a process for the preparation of 1-hydroxyalkyliden-diphosphonic acids and its salts, extended to Argentine Pat. No. 218,558 that discloses a process to prepare 3-amino-1-hydroxy-propylidene-diphosphonic acid and their salts), displays an original anabolic mechanism of action preserving and augmenting bone mass, at non-toxic doses with no irritation of the gastrointestinal tract even in high doses.

Bone mass anabolic composition comprising olpadronate


In a PDP apparatus provided with a PDP having (X, Y, A) and various drivers, two adjacent Ys in a plurality of Ys are commonly connected by a wiring so as to form one set unit, in the vicinity of a connection portion of the PDP and the drivers. A two-stage reset and address operation control using a reset operation including an address disable operation is used for a control unit including a plurality of display lines (L) of the set units. In a plurality of Ls as objects of drive display, the reset and address operation of first Ls (Lo) corresponding to Ys on one side of set units and that of second Ls (Le) corresponding to Ys on the other side thereof are performed separately in former and latter periods, and then, sustain operations of the first and second Ls on both sides are performed simultaneously.

As the structures of the conventional PDP and the PDP apparatus, a commonly-used structure where a display line (L) formed of a set of a sustain electrode (X) and a scan electrode (Y) to be display electrodes (D) and extending in a lateral (first) direction is formed repeatedly (first structure) and a structure where a sustain electrode (X) and a scan electrode (Y) are arranged alternately and display lines (L) are formed of all of the adjacent sustain electrodes (X) and scan electrodes (Y) to be display electrodes (D) (second structure, corresponding to so-called ALIS structure) have been known. In the second structure, an odd-numbered (o) display line (Lo) is formed of a pair of a Y and an X on an upper side thereof and an even-numbered (e) display line (Le) is formed of a pair of the Y and an X on a lower side thereof, and the Y at the center is shared and used for the scan operation in the two adjacent Ls (that is, three Ds).
Further, in a PDP apparatus of the second structure, an interlace driving method is particularly used as its driving method, in which odd-numbered and even-numbered display lines (Lo, Le) are driven and displayed alternately in terms of time. A side to be driven and displayed is called a positive slit (positive side) and a side not to be driven and displayed is called a reverse slit (reverse side).
Further, with regard to the structure of barrier ribs (ribs) in a PDP, a structure where barrier ribs extending in a longitudinal (second) direction are arranged (stripe shape ribs) and a structure where barrier ribs are arranged into a grid shape so as to extend also in a lateral direction (grid shape ribs) have been known. Also, as the structures of the arrangement of Ds (X, Y) in a PDP of the first structure, a structure where X and Y are sequentially repeated such as {(X, Y), (X, Y) . . . } and a structure where pairs of (X, Y) and (Y, X) are sequentially repeated so that an X is adjacent to another X of an adjacent pair and a Y is adjacent to another Y of an adjacent pair such as {(X, Y), (Y, X), (X, Y) . . . } have been known. Further, as a sustain driving method in the PDP of the first structure, a method where adjacent Ds of the reverse slit are set to have the same phase (SSP) and a method where Xs are set to have the same phase and Ys are set to have the same phase (non SSP) have been known.
Further, the structures of address electrodes (A) in PDP of the first and second structures include the following first and second A structures. In the first A structure, one ends of a plurality of As extending approximately in parallel to the longitudinal direction are connected to an address driving circuit (single (one side) A structure). In the second A structure, a plurality of As are divided into two types (Au, Ad) in the upper and lower areas (u, d) of PDP and the two types of As are connected to respectively different address driving circuits, and they (Au, Ad) can be driven from both the sides (double (both side) A structure). In the former, for driving a plurality of (for example, n lines of) Ys, scan pulses are applied to the Ys from the top (first line) to the bottom (n-th line) of the PDP. In the latter, for example, in a group of Ys including (1 to n/2) lines of Ys in the upper area (u) (Yu) and a group of Ys including (n/2+1 to n) lines of Ys in the lower area (d) (Yd), address operation can be simultaneously performed to different two Ys.
Further, a driving circuit (driver) for driving each electrode of a PDP is mounted by an IC (semiconductor integrated circuit) board. Electrodes of a PDP (in particular, bus electrodes) and output terminals of a driver (driver IC) are electrically connected via a connection portion. For example, the ends of the Ys of a PDP and the output terminals of a driving circuit to Y (Y driver) are connected by wirings of a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) serving as a connection portion.
Furthermore, as a driving method used in a PDP apparatus of the second structure, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-5699 (Patent Document 1) discloses a progressive driving method by two-stage reset and address operation having address disable operation. In this technology, as the address disable operation, one of adjacent Ls is put into a charge state where address discharge can be made, and the other L is put into a charge state where address discharge does not occur. Then, address discharge is generated in the one of adjacent Ls. By this means, progressive drive is performed.


According to one embodiment, an information reproducing apparatus includes a memory, a decoder, an intermediate memory which is disposed between the memory and the decoder and which temporarily stores, in succession, the data that are supplied from the memory and then outputs the data to the decoder, switching circuit for switching an output of the memory to one of the decoder and the intermediate memory, memory management circuit for managing arrangement information of the data that are stored in the memory, determination circuit for determining whether the data that are stored in the memory are arranged in physically discontinuous memory areas of the memory, and switching control circuit for switching, in a case where the determination circuit determines that the data are arranged in the physically divided memory areas, the switching circuit in a manner to input the data output from the memory to the decoder via the intermediate memory.

1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to an information reproducing apparatus, for example, an information reproducing apparatus including a plurality of memory areas, and an information reproducing method for use in the information reproducing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an information reproducing apparatus includes a memory which stores resource data that is input from outside. When resource data is stored in the memory, a capacity necessary for storing the resource data is secured.
In general, when resource data is decoded, it is preferable that the data be arranged in continuous areas in the memory. Although depending on restrictions by a resource decoder, it is preferable, in general, that the resource decoder handle, as input data, data which are arranged in areas that are physically continuous to some degree in accordance with the kind (format) of input resource data.
Thus, all input data should optimally be arranged in the continuous areas. This tendency is more conspicuous in a case where the resource decoder is configured by hardware, than in a case where the resource decoder is configured by software.
There has been proposed a conventional technique wherein while each of a plurality of divisional unit memories, each being composed of a block of a predetermined capacity, is being used, continuous memory areas can easily be secured by a memory management method which manages an empty state of each unit memory (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-181785).
However, even if the memory is managed in the above-described manner, there has been a case in which the resource data that is stored in the memory is not arranged in a manner which is intended by the resource decoder. In a case where data are not arranged in continuous areas of the memory, an excess overhead of a data transfer process or an excess overhead of decoder control occurs, leading to a decrease in performance of the entire system.
For example, in a case where it is assumed that JPEG images are used as resource data and some of the JPEG images are arranged and displayed on a single screen, the time needed from the beginning to the end of the display process is shorter as the speed of the decoding process is higher, and the user regards the system as being preferable with good responsivity.

Information reproducing apparatus and information reproducing method


A clamp for securing a link to a bar or a rod in order to accommodate multiple connection points. The clamp or sway bar clamp includes multiple connection points for securing a link to a sway bar. The sway bar clamp goes over the end of the sway bar. It converts a sway bar with one connection point to a sway bar with multiple connection points to adjust flex of the sway bar.

Technical Field
This invention relates to a clamp, particularly a sway bar clamp.
State of the Art
Sway bars connect suspension components on either side of a car to minimize body leaning in turns. This shifting or flexing can cause changes in rate and preload. Sway bar end links or linkages are the attachment points between a sway bar and suspension members, keeping the suspension from exceeding its design parameters when the car is in motion and turning. Generally, sway bars have one connection point on each end for the link. The location of the connection point along the sway bar effects the overall flexing of the sway bar. The closer the link to the pivot point of the sway bar, the flex increases. Depending on where the point of contact of the link to the sway bar is, the overall flex of the sway bar can be adjusted.
Accordingly, what is needed is a clamp, such as a sway bar clamp with multiple connection points in order to provide the desired flex.


Electronic information is encoded and transmitted by comparing values of adjacent pixels in an electronic image, determining an amount of entropy present in values of adjacent pixels, identifying a highest-order non-matching bit in the values of adjacent pixels, replacing bits of lower order than the highest-order non-matching bit with data, storing the image and replaced bits in a computer memory, and transmitting the image and replaced bits, via a computer network, to a recipient.

Encryption of data and steganography are well-known methods to protect sensitive data and hide information, respectively, in computer image files, audio files, video files, or other files. Encryption of sensitive information currently has a drawback, however, in that it is unusual enough to draw attention from those who would like to break the encryption. Furthermore, sending encrypted messages in a computer application typically involves first setting up keys for both the sender and the recipient, either through symmetric private keys or asymmetric public keys. These keys are used repeatedly for all or much of any communication, and they thus require careful selection, management and multiple steps to use them. A need therefore exists for a more secure means of communication.

Encoding data using a variable number of pixels and bits based on entropy


A method is provided of preparing an impregnated cathode with enhanced thionic emission from a porous billet by impregnating the billet with a suitable impregnant in the presence of an oxygen deficient compound.

Heretofore it has been known that electron emission could be obtained from a porous billet as for example a porous tungsten billet that had been impregnated with a barium containing compound such as Ba.sub.3 Al.sub.2 O.sub.6. The Ba.sub.3 Al.sub.2 O.sub.6 impregnant reacts with the wall of the porous tungsten billet generating free barium. The free barium then migrates to the surface by Knudsen flow to give electron emission.
The difficulty with this concept is that there is no mechanism for the generation of electrons. The concept of barium migrating to the surface to give off electrons is too generalized in that if 15-20 mg of barium containing compound gave free barium that was responsible for electron emission, the cathode would cease to give emission within minutes.

Method of preparing an impregnated cathode with an enhanced thermionic emission from a porous billet and cathode so prepared

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A hardline coaxial cable connector is disclosed. The coaxial cable connector comprises an integral locking feature formed in one or both of a body and a ferrule. The integral locking feature is monolithic with at least one of the body and the ferrule. The integral locking feature may comprise cogs part of and monolithic with the body, and slots, flats, pegs or fins part of and monolithic with the ferrule. In this way, cogs engaging with the slots, the flats, the pegs, or the fins act to lock the ferrule in stable position, and, thereby, retain the cable in a stable, non-rotatable position in the connector.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to coaxial cable connectors, and particularly to a hardline connector with a ferrule.
2. Technical Background
A hardline coaxial cable typically has a solid center conductor surrounded by a plastic or other dielectric material and encased within an electrically conductive solid outer conductor that may be surrounded by an outer insulative jacket. In application, each end of the cable can be terminated by a connector, which serves to electrically and mechanically engage the cable conductors to communicate signals transmitted therethrough and for gripping the outer conductor to physically secure the cable and prevent detachment during normal operation and establishing electrical continuity.
Historically, connectors for hardline coaxial cables have been designed to grip the cable in such a manner as to be removed from the cable at a later time if so desired. Such a feature is generally known as "re-usability." It is often the case in such connectors that a compressible ferrule is utilized to grip the cable outer conductor. Said ferrules are typically actuated by means of conically ramped components known as compression rings, which are often times moved axially closer together by means of a threaded coupler or nut. Rotation of the coupler system can impart a rotational force against the compression rings and be translated through the compression rings to the ferrule. As the ferrule is driven closed about the cable outer conductor the rotational force may then be translated to the cable outer conductor resulting in unwanted rotation or twist of the cable outer conductor in relation to the cable center conductor and connector components causing damage to the coaxial structure. In such connectors it is necessary to attempt to restrain the cable while tightening the connector components which is a difficult for a single installer. Two hands are typically required to manipulate the required wrenches and a third hand required to restrain the cable. Additionally, in some connectors it is possible for the cable to rotate within the connector after the connector components have been fully tightened because there is no positive means to adequately prevent the ferrule from slipping or rotating within the connector structure.
Previous attempts to provide a positive ferrule locking structure within a hardline coaxial cable connector have employed the use of a separate press-fit component resulting in unwanted higher cost.

Hardline coaxial connector with a locking ferrule


A programmable resistance memory element having a conductive layer as an electrode. The conductive layer and memory material may have a small area of contact. In one embodiment, the conductive layer may be cup-shaped. In one embodiment, the memory element may include a chalcogenide material.

Programmable resistance memory elements formed from materials that can be programmed to exhibit at least a high or low stable ohmic state are known in the art. Such programmable resistance elements may be programmed to a high resistance state to store, for example, a logic ONE data bit. As well, they may be programmed to a low resistance state to store, for example, a logic ZERO data bit.
One type of material that can be used as the memory material for programmable resistance elements is phase change material. Phase change materials may be programmed between a first structural state where the material is generally more amorphous (less ordered) and a second structural state where the material is generally more crystalline (more ordered). The term "amorphous", as used herein, refers to a condition which is relatively structurally less ordered or more disordered than a single crystal and has a detectable characteristic, such as high electrical resistivity. The term "crystalline", as used herein, refers to a condition which is relatively structurally more ordered than amorphous and has lower electrical resistivity than the amorphous state.
The concept of utilizing electrically programmable phase change materials for electronic memory applications is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,271,591 and 3,530,441, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The early phase change materials described in the '591 and '441 patents were based on changes in local structural order. The changes in structural order were typically accompanied by atomic migration of certain species within the material. Such atomic migration between the amorphous and crystalline states made programming energies relatively high.
The electrical energy required to produce a detectable change in resistance in these materials was typically in the range of about a microjoule. This amount of energy must be delivered to each of the memory elements in the solid state matrix of rows and columns of memory cells. Such high energy requirements translate into high current carrying requirements for the address lines and for the cell isolation/address device associated with each discrete memory element.
The high energy requirements for programming the memory cells described in the '591 and '441 patents limited the use of these cells as a direct and universal replacement for present computer memory applications, such as tape, floppy disks, magnetic or optical hard disk drives, solid state disk flash, DRAM, SRAM, and socket flash memory. In particular, low programming energy is important when the EEPROMs are used for large-scale archival storage. Used in this manner, the EEPROMs would replace the mechanical hard drives (such as magnetic or optical hard drives) of present computer systems. One of the main reasons for this replacement of conventional mechanical hard drives with EEPROM "hard drives" would be to reduce the power consumption of the mechanical systems. In the case of lap-top computers, this is of particular interest because the mechanical hard disk drive is one of the largest power consumers therein. Therefore, it would be advantageous to reduce this power load, thereby substantially increasing the operating time of the computer per charge of the power cells. However, if the EEPROM replacement for hard drives has high programming energy requirements (and high power requirements), the power savings may be inconsequential or at best unsubstantial. Therefore, any EEPROM which is to be considered a universal memory requires low programming energy.
The programming energy requirements of a programmable resistance memory element may be reduced in different ways. For example, the programming energies may be reduced by the appropriate selection of the composition of the memory material. An example of a phase change material having reduced energy requirements is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,758, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. Other examples of memory materials are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,296,716, 5,414,271, 5,359,205, and 5,534,712 disclosures of which are all incorporated by reference herein.
The programming energy requirement may also be reduced through the appropriate modification of the electrical contacts used to deliver the programming energy to the memory material. For example, reduction in programming energy may be achieved by modifying the composition and/or shape and/or configuration (positioning relative to the memory material) of the electrical contacts. Examples of such "contact modification" are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,341,328, 5,406,509, 5,534,711, 5,536,947, 5,687,112, 5,933,365 all of which are incorporated by reference herein. Examples are also provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/276,273 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Examples are also provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/620,318 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. More examples are provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/677,957 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The present invention is directed to novel structures of a programmable resistance memory element and methods for making these structures.

Electrically programmable memory element with reduced area of contact


An image-pickup apparatus includes an exposure condition calculator configured to calculate an exposure condition of an image sensor determined by accumulation time of the image sensor, an amplification amount and an aperture value of an image signal, and an image generator configured to generate a high dynamic range image. When the plurality of exposure conditions have equal exposure differences, the exposure condition calculator changes the accumulation time so as to follow a change of the object brightness from a first value to a second value, and the exposure condition calculator calculates the plurality of exposure conditions by fixing the accumulation time and by changing the amplification amount so as to follow a change of the object brightness from a third value smaller than the first value to a fourth value smaller than the second value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-pickup apparatuses, such as a digital camera and a video camera, configured to capture a motion image.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that a dynamic range (which is a ratio between the minimum brightness and the maximum brightness by which the gradation can be identified) of a solid-state image sensor, such as a CCD or CMOS image sensor is generally narrower than that of the human eye (FIG. 10).
It is thus difficult to reproduce the gradation actually perceived by the human eye in a picture. One known solution for this problem is a method for superimposing a plurality of images captured with different exposure conditions (such as an H image of a bright overexposure, an M image of a proper exposure, and an L image of a dark underexposure) for a high dynamic range ("HDR" hereinafter) wider than usual imaging (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. ("JP") H06-141229).
FIG. 11 illustrates one illustrative photography for the HDR disclosed in JP H06-141229. A plurality of images (which are three images containing an H image, an M image, and an L image) are captured with different exposure conditions after the photography starts. Then, these images are synthesized for the HDR that contains an exposure difference between the H image and the L image.
JP H06-141229 discloses a method for creating an exposure difference utilizing the exposure time period. Hence, this method is unsuitable for the motion image photography in which an image is captured for each predetermined period (such as 30 fps) which means that 30 images are captured per second.

Image-pickup apparatus, control method for the same, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium


An electronic device, which has a USB interface capable of extraction proof, includes a main body and a USB metallic plug. One side of the main body has a USB metallic plug, on a face of which at least one fastening component is arranged. When the fastening component is buckled into the groove of a USB connector of an electronic product, it can prevent the electronic from being stolen by a thief.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention in general relates to a connection interface, in particular, to a connection interface capable of anti-extracted by a thief at will.
2. Description of Prior Art
Universal Series Bus or so-called USB is a serial bus standard connecting external device. Because of the biggest merit of supporting hot plugging and "plug-and-play", USB is comprehensively used in computer today. When a device is plugged in, computer mainframe will load driving software needed by this device, which is more convenient than using PCI and ISA serial bus.
Since of USB connector, USB plug of portable electronic device can be quickly plugged in and used simultaneously. But, there is no mechanism existing between the USB connector and the USB plug of the portable electronic device for preventing the extraction. Therefore, as long as the USB plug of the portable electronic device is still plugged in the USB connector, the portable electronic device in connection with the USB connector is easily extracted and stolen, when user leaves the computer.
Accordingly, as disclosed in ROC Patent No. I273161 and entitled "Locking Structure of USB Connector", a locking structure with password is additionally arranged on the USB connector. This kind of prior art can prevent a portable electronic device from being stolen by a thief. Although the USB connector of a desktop computer can be additionally arranged a password locking structure, not all USB connector of desktop computer is arranged password lock. Therefore, when the USB plug of the portable electronic device is plugged in a USB connector without any password lock, there is still a risk that the portable electronic could be stolen by a thief.

Electronic device having USB interface capable of extraction proof


An apparatus for measuring the height of a solder wave having a supporting horizontal member, at least one elongated pin slidably affixed to the horizontal member extending vertically downward. The elongated pins have a sensing means affixed to it and the sensing means communicate with and indicator means to notify a technician the height of a solder wave relative to the top surface of the solder pot. The elongated pins with sensors attached thereto are set up to notify a technician if the solder wave is too low, too high, or at an optimum level. A screw and nut provide height adjustment for the elongated pins.

1. Field of the Invention
Generally, this invention is directed towards an apparatus for manufacturing printed circuit boards and for assisting the process of soldering metals to integrated circuit boards. More specifically, this invention relates to a gauge device for measuring the height of a solder wave during setup that will provide more consistent soldering applications during the manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, when a circuit board is prepared for soldering a multiplicity of component together, the circuit board is run through a device using a wave solder approach. The circuit board is placed onto a conveyor line whereby the circuit board is held by a plurality of gripping fingers. The circuit board is first carried through a fluxing bath, and then through an oven to prepare the components for soldering. The bottom face of the circuit board is then carried in contact with a wave-like flow of molten solder. All of the components are thereby soldered together with increased accuracy.
The problem occurs when the height of the solder wave that comes in contact with the circuit board is not at an optimum level. If the wave height is too high, solder will flow on the top surface of the circuit board and ruin the board or at least cause the circuit board to fail. If the height of the solder wave is too low, some of the components may not be soldered appropriately and the circuit board may fail or at least fail prematurely in time. Employees are often reprimanded if they adjust the height of the wave to high whereby the solder flow gets onto the top surface of the integrated circuit board. Thus many employees, tend to adjust the wave height too low thereby giving inconsistent solder to the bottom of the integrated circuit board. Thus, there is a higher failure rate for the circuit board under test functions.
Several approaches have been provided for solder wave measurements, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,175, "In a wave solder manufacturing process, a test device is used to measure the contact-area between a solder wave and a printed wiring board. In particular, the test device is a printed wiring board (PWB) that includes at least two arrays of electrical contact, one array near each side of the PWB. As the PWB make contact with a solder wave, the number of electrical contacts in each array that are grounded by the solder wave are counted and displayed on an alpha -numeric display mounted on top of the PWB."
In the art taught by Willemen, of U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,988, "The invention relates to a device for measuring the height of a solder wave in a soldering apparatus which comprises a solder bath and which is provided with at least one solder tower for generating a solder wave and a pump connected to the solder tower, wherein the measuring device comprises: means for measuring the liquid pressure in the connection between the pump and the solder tower. As a result of these steps, it is possible to measure accurately the pressure of the solder moving out of the pump to the solder tower. This pressure is in any case a good measure for the height of the solder wave."
While some of the prior art may contain some similarities relating to the present invention, none of them teach, suggest or include all of the advantages and unique features of a solder wave height set-up gauge as presented by the applicant's invention.


A method for coating objects with silicone that includes the steps of preparing the silicone material; applying the silicone material onto a surface that is resistant to adhesion to silicone, such as an acetate film layer or the inside surface of an open air mold; allowing the silicone material to sufficiently cure to allow for bonding to an object; pressing the object against the silicone material; allowing the silicone material to bond to the outer surface of the object; and then removing the object from the surface resistant to adhesion to the silicone material.

Conventional methods employed to apply or mold silicone onto preformed objects encounter several problems. One such problem is the requirement to have an external heat source to help cure a layer of silicone foam to fabric as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,227. Other problems evident when using conventional methods include the need to use of a layer of cement to attach the sealing silicone material to an object to be covered as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,666,747.
There are also conventional methods for producing a silicone foam backed plastic film or metal foil to product a flame-retardant material as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,567. However, the 567 Patent flame retardant material is not described or disclosed to be used to transfer the silicone foam material to a separate object for providing a uniform layer of silicone foam to the separate object. Further, there are conventionally known compositions for producing a bondable and sealable silicone composition that can be used to seal or cover objects, such as the composition set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,974. The 974 Patent disclosed silicone foam composition that is heat resistant and which can be used for covering walls and overheads, or for making bodies from the claimed composition. Similarly, the silicone foam described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,940 is claimed to be directed to a foam that can be used to make heat shields by lining aluminum foil with the produced foam. The 947 Patent and 940 Patent do not explain or describe how to make a smooth layer of silicone foam or rubber surface with a specific design that is applied to a material resilient to silicone adhesion for later pressing the foam material against other objects for bonding the layer to the other object.
Additionally, conventional methods employed to mold silicone foam into large shapes encounter several problems. By using the disclosed method for coating objects with silicone a silicone skin layering process is described that includes applying pre-determined amounts of a silicone foam or rubber material into a detailing mold to produce an outer layer, and sealing and adhering the outer layer to an object to create a silicone skin layered object. The silicone skin layered object can be formed to have various shapes and sizes having a low density, uniform cell structure with a smooth outer skin.
It has been discovered in accordance with the invention described below that a low density, lightweight, buoyant, fire-resistant, non-toxic, non-acidic and non-corrosive alternative to plastics or polyurethane is presently available through the curing of silicone foam or silicone rubber and applying the curing silicone foam or silicone rubber to an object having a porous surface for applying the curing material to a separate preformed object for applying a uniform layer of silicone foam with designed characteristics for texture or other physical characteristics.

Method for coating objects with silicone


An armature manufacturing line includes one or more manufacturing cells, each having a winder facing a fuser and a rotatable armature transfer apparatus that transfers unwound armatures to the winder and wound armatures from the winder directly to the fuser. The armature transfer apparatus has a rotatable turret upon which are mounted a pair of grippers that face in mutually opposite directions and which are movable along mutually parallel axes. Independent drive means drives the grippers along their respective paths of movement relative to the turret. The turret is rotatably driven through 180.degree. in alternately opposite directions to place one gripper in confronting relation with the winder, then in confronting relation with the fuser, and so on. An elevator at the fuser moves wound and fused armatures from the fuser to a conveyor. Different embodiments are disclosed.

The manufacture of an armature for an electric motor typically begins with the formation of an armature subassembly including a commutator and a laminated core mounted on an armature shaft with appropriate insulating sleeves between the core and the commutator and between the opposite ends of the armature shaft and the core and the commutator. The commutator has plural bars, each of which has a coil lead wire-receiving portion, such as a hook-like tang or a slot. The core has outwardly opening, coil-receiving slots, insulating laminations or coatings at each end of the core, and insulators lining the coil-receiving slots. The armature subassembly thus formed is loaded into an armature winder which winds coils of insulation-coated magnet wire into the core slots and connects coil leads extending to and from the coils to the lead wire-receiving portions of the commutator bars. Following completion of the winding and lead-connecting operations, the armature subassembly is removed from the armature winder and transferred to a machine known as a fuser or hot staker which permanently connects the coil leads to the commutator bars by application of heat and pressure to the commutator bars which burns off the insulating coating from the magnet wire in the areas of the connections to the commutator bars and fuses the commutator bars and wire leads together.
For purposes of the following specification including the claims, the term "armature", including both singular and plural forms, is used to refer to unwound armature subassemblies described above as well as to wound subassemblies and to wound and fused subassemblies, unless a contrary usage is evident.
Armatures often have to be produced in vast quantities at low costs and there is always a need for low cost yet reliable methods and apparatus for manufacturing armatures at a high rate of speed. This need has led to the development of armature manufacturing lines having conveyors for transporting unwound armatures to armature winding machines, then to fusers and then to unload stations or to other processing stations, such as wedge inserting, balancing and testing stations. Conveyors used in these procedures include simple inclined supply tracks, chain conveyors, or pallet conveyors of varying degrees of sophistication. Various armature handling devices, such as elevators and transfer or loading and unloading devices are used at the several processing stations for presenting the armatures to the processing machines and for removing the armatures from the processing machines.
Armature manufacturing apparatus have been used which have a rotating turret plate upon which are mounted armature loading and unloading devices that operate to grip an unwound armature lifted off a conveyor by an elevator and, after rotation of the turret plate through 180.degree., insert the unwound armature into a winding machine collet. After the winding of the armature is completed, the armature is again gripped by the gripping device and removed from the winding machine. Then, after the turret indexes through an additional 90.degree., the gripping device inserts the newly wound armature into a fusing machine after which the gripping device grips the newly wound and fused armature and retracts it from the fuser. The turret plate is indexed to return the wound and fused armature to the load station at which time the gripping device is extended to move the newly wound and fused armature onto the elevator which returns it to the conveyor. A conveyor and elevator such as the type disclosed in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,827 has been used for this purpose. The turreted winding and fusing machine was of the type sold by The Globe Tool and Engineering Company of Dayton, Ohio, a predecessor of the assignee of the present invention, under its model designation MDF 6000.
Another example of the use of a rotating turret plate for handling armatures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,054. In this case the turret plate carries two gripping mechanisms mounted on sliders and driven between retracted positions near the center of the turret plate and extended positions near the ends of the turret plate. The turret plate reversely rotates through successive 180.degree. increments to position the gripping mechanisms in confronting relation alternately to a pallet and to an armature winder. When extended, the gripping mechanisms either remove armatures from or insert armatures into the pallet or the armature winder. The gripping mechanisms of U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,054 include collets and shields which are used at the winding station to assist in the winding of the armatures.
In another prior art manufacturing line sold by The Globe Tool and Engineering Company, an unwound armature, which has rolled down along an inclined supply track to a pick-up point to the right of an armature winder, is clamped by a clamp assembly carried by a pivoting arm and, following pivotal movement of the arm, inserted into the armature winder. The pivoting arm is pivoted back to pick up the next unwound armature at the bottom of the track. After the winding is completed, a second transfer mechanism having two grippers transfers the wound armature from the winder to a fuser located above and to the left of the winder, and simultaneously transfers a wound and fused armature to a chain conveyor having a load station located adjacent the fuser.
Various armature manufacturing systems using pallets for carrying armatures to different processing stations have been used. An example of such a system, which also includes an armature loading and unloading apparatus, is shown in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,319.


A stop ring is made of an elastic member curved substantially in a plane into a ring shape having a first end and a second end spaced apart from each other in a circumferential direction. The first end is bent in a plane to incline inward with respect to a radial direction from the circumferential direction of the stop ring and to extend towards the second end.

The present invention relates to a stop ring, and in particular, to a stop ring for securing a valve at a predetermined position in an internal fluid passage of a hydraulic/pneumatic device member, such as a female and a male coupler constituting a pipe coupling.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a female coupler of a pipe coupling.
The female coupler 10 comprises a cylindrical female coupler body 16 including a fluid passage 14 having a male coupler inserting section 12 at one end thereof, a locking ball 18 disposed in the female coupler body for engaging with a male coupler inserted into the male coupler inserting section 12 and rigidly securing the male coupler in an inserted position, a sleeve 20 operatively mounted to an outside of the female coupler body so as to be slidable in an axial direction thereof to position the locking ball in a radial direction, and a valve assembly 22 arranged within the fluid passage 14 for opening and closing the fluid passage 14.
The valve assembly 22 comprises: a poppet valve 22-1 adapted to be movable in an axial direction of the fluid passage 14 between a closing position where the poppet valve engages with a valve seat 23 formed on a wall surface of the fluid passage to close the fluid passage, and an opening position where the poppet valve is retracted from the closing position to open the fluid passage; and a retainer 22-3 having a hole for receiving a valve stem 22-2 of the poppet valve so as to movably hold the poppet valve. The retainer 22-3 comprises a cylindrical valve retaining section 22-4 disposed in a central location of the fluid passage, and four fixing sections 22-5 extending radially outwardly from the cylindrical valve retaining section 22-4, wherein the fixing sections 22-5 engage with a stop ring 30 mounted to an interior surface of the female coupler body so as to securely hold the retainer 22-3 in the fluid passage 14.
This type of stop ring 30 is conventionally formed as a split-ring having ends (30-1 and 30-2) opposing each other in a circumferential direction. Upon fitting the ring in an annular groove 16-1 formed in the fluid passage wall, the opposing ends are pressed towards each other to reduce the diameter of the ring and thereby enable the ring to be fitted in the annular groove. Once the ring has been fitted in the groove, a contracting force to which the ring is subject before reaching the groove is released, thereby enabling the ring to expand under its own elastic force in the groove, whereby its opposing ends move apart from each other in a circumferential direction, and the ring securely seats in the groove.
The conventional stop ring described above, however, suffers from the problems detailed below.
Use of the conventional stop ring does not reliably ensure proper holding of the valve retainer. As described above, the stop ring is subject to a contracting force to reduce its diameter during fitting in the annular groove. Once the ring reaches the annular groove, it expands under its own elastic force to become securely seated in the groove, and its opposing ends move apart in a circumferential direction. Consequently, when the ring is seated in the groove a gap exists between the opposing ends 30-1 and 30-2. While the existence of such a gap enables the ring to be engaged for removal from the groove, it also gives rise to a problem that during use of the pipe coupling there is a possibility that the valve retainer 22-3 will become displaced in its circumferential direction. If such displacement occurs, one of the fixing sections 22-5 may come into mating contact with the gap between the ends of the ring, which could result in failure of the ring to hold the valve retainer 22-3.
One approach to overcoming the problem of the conventional art stated above is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in the figure, opposing and spaced apart ends 30-1 and 30-2 of the stop ring are bent to form respective radially inwardly extending protrusions. The fixing sections 22-5 are provided with notches 22-6, which are as shown in FIG. 1, formed in the radially outer edges thereof, and which are radially aligned with the setting groove 16-1 when the stop ring is installed in the valve retainer 22-3. In this way, it is possible to fit the stop ring with the notches and the protrusions 30-3 and 30-4 of the stop ring being positioned between adjacent fixing section 22-5 and 22-5 of the valve retainer 22-3. By this configuration, even if the valve retainer 22-3 is moved in the circumferential direction, one or other of the protrusions 30-3 or 30-4 will abut against one of the adjacent fixing section 22-5 and 22-5 of the valve retainer 22-3 which will prevent the fixing section from coming into mating contact with the gap between the ends 30-1 and 30-2 of the stop ring.
However, use of a process to bend each of the ends of the stop ring and/or a forming of the notches 22-6 in the valve retainer 22-3 as described above results in a significant increase in fabrication costs.
While efforts have been made in the conventional art to reduce a diameter of the stop ring for fitting in the setting groove 16-1, the work involved is complicated. In the conventional practice for reducing a diameter of the stop ring, the protrusions 30-3 and 30-4 illustrated in FIG. 2 are pulled towards each other using a tool; otherwise holes are formed in each end of the stop ring, and a tool is used to engage these holes and pull the ends of the ring towards each other. (Refer to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-41332 and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Hei4-9492, the entire specifications of which are incorporated herein by reference.)
However, use of a process for forming such holes or protrusions again results in a significant increase in fabrication costs. Moreover, using a tool to engage such protrusions or holes to manipulate the stop ring is both difficult and time consuming.

Stop ring and a hydraulic/pneumatic device equipped with a stop ring


An air cushion vehicle having improved maneuverability is produced by providing air discharge vents for diverting at least a portion of the pressurizing cushion air from the side of the volute housing opposite that to which the vehicle is being turned, and discharging it from a thruster at said opposite side in a direction away from the direction of the turn. The thruster is located at a forward position, above the deck of the vehicle and adjacent the centerline thereof, and the discharged air produces a thrust which causes the vehicle to roll in the direction of the turn and permits cushion air to escape from beneath the vehicle at said opposite side, producing a thrust complimentary to the thrust from the volute housing.

The present invention relates to a novel maneuvering system for air cushion vehicles or hovercraft. Puffport systems or side thruster systems are well known which function by the discharge of air from the skirt system to improve the maneuverability of air cushion vehicles, particularly their ability to make turns without excessive side slippage. Such systems traditionally function by diverting a portion of the skirt wall air or the cushion air from beneath the vehicle, on the side to which the vehicle is being turned, whereby the supporting skirt system at that side dips down into the water, and discharging the diverted air from the puffport at said side of the vehicle, but in a direction opposite to the direction of the turn, whereby the air discharging from the puffport provides a thrust to the vehicle in the direction of the turn. The net result is an improved maneuverability or effectiveness in turning the vehicle.

Air cushion vehicle having volute side thrusters