A radio communication system includes ID control equipment, a operation control unit, line controller, pieces of base station, and radio terminals. In the radio communication system, environment information about identification information (IDs) etc. set for the radio terminals is managed effectively. In the ID control equipment, an ID information setting means sets information about IDs for the radio terminals. In the ID control equipment, the operation control unit or the line controller, an ID information storage unit (e.g. memory 4) stores the information about IDs set for the radio terminals by the ID control equipment.

In a radio communication system such as an airport digital mobile telecommunication system, base station, line controller, etc. are installed in an airport so as to make wireless communication between the base station and each terminal. As a communication system to be used, there is an FDMA system in which a system bandwidth is frequency-divided into communication channels, or a TDM/TDMA system in which each radio carrier is defined as a frame, and the frame is divided into four slots so as to form multi-channels.
FIG. 7 shows a concept of an airport digital mobile telecommunication system in the background art. A radio communication system in the background-art is arranged, for example, by base unit of one airport, and constituted by control station equipment, base station and mobile station equipment so as to make communication between a premises terminal and a mobile station or between a mobile station and another mobile station. The background-art radio communication system in FIG. 7 shows a minimum system configuration by way of example, in which functions such as direct communication between mobile stations are added to a one-base-station zone system in which an operating area of mobile stations is covered by one base station.
FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of the base station zone system in the background art. An entrance line between the control station equipment and each base station may be constructed of a wire line. Each channel to be used for communication is comprised of a control channel and a communication channel.
Non-Patent Document 1:
ARIB STD-T87, "Airport Digital Mobile Telecommunication System", written about airport digital mobile telecommunication systems in the background art by The Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB).
In order to give shape to a radio communication system in the background art, there have been invented an airport radio communication system (airport MCA (Multi-Channel Access) radio system) using an MCA system as shown in FIG. 5 and an airport MCA radio system allowing environment information to flow therein as shown in FIGS. 6(A) and (B).
However, in the radio communication system as described above, it is still insufficient to manage environment information such as identification information (IDs) set for each terminal. Thus, there has been a request for further development.

Radio communication system having ID management apparatus, operation management apparatus and line controller


Search methods. A string is first received. The string is divided to generate at least one string fragment set, comprising of at least a first and a second fragments. A record conforming to the string fragment set is searched for and retrieved. A first data block of the record may include or begin with the first fragment, and a second block may include or begin with the second fragment. The first block may include or begin with the second fragment, and the second block may include or begin with the first fragment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to search methods, and, more particularly, to search methods based on string fragments.
2. Brief Discussion of the Related Art
Devices such as computer systems and portable devices provide an address book function for managing address records. Most address books provide an easy-to-use single field interface for the quick entry of search strings, allowing address records to be retrieved accordingly. While simple and convenient, search results using this conventional method are often inconclusive. For example, entering a common first name such as "JOHN," could yield numerous address records beginning with "JOHN."
As described previously, all portable devices, such as mobile phones, PDA phones, and smart phones, have address book functions. Since portable devices are limited in size, the search procedure is particularly inconvenient. For example, scrolling up and down to locate a correct address record requires more effort than on a personal computer.
To improve search result accuracy, the conventional address book search method provides first and last name search string fields. This method, however, makes the user interface too complicated for most applications, particularly in mobile phones.


A convertible furniture frame is disclosed which is intended for use with a futon or other resilient cushion. The convertible frame includes opposed arm or end frames interconnected by front and back rails to define a rigid rectangular frame. Seat and back members are movably connected to the rectangular frame and to each other in such a way that an individual can convert the frame between sitting and sleeping positions from a point in front of a frame. By virtue of its construction, the converting mechanism inherently maintains the seat and back members in either position without a separate locking mechanism or additional manipulative functions by the user.

The invention broadly relates to seating devices that may be converted between sitting and lying positions, and is specifically directed to a two section convertible frame intended for use with futons. A three section convertible frame is disclosed in the companion application described above.
The popularity of futons has increased over the past several years because they are relatively inexpensive while at the same time being capable of being used for both sitting and sleeping. This popularity has spawned considerable activity in the development of frames that are adapted for use with futons and which can be converted between sitting and sleeping positions. Thus, a single article of furniture may be used for both a sofa and a bed, which not only reduces the need for and cost of separate articles of furniture, but also permits a single room to provide both living and sleeping functions. Many such convertible frames are now commercially available which generally include back and seat sections that can be moved between sitting and sleeping positions, and these existing devices include a variety of mechanisms of varying degrees of complexity requiring various operations by the user during the converting process.
Currently available futon frames generally suffer with disadvantages in a number of broad respects. First, some lack in sturdiness and stability. It is obviously essential that any article of furniture that provides both sitting and sleeping functions will be used both day and night and will therefore be subject to greater wear. Many existing futon frames are not only manufactured from inexpensive materials, but also are not designed to withstand wear over extended use.
Another problem in the conversion mechanism of many existing futon frames is the need during the conversion process to perform an additional manipulative function or functions in order for the frame to reach the point of rigidity and stability. For example, after the back and seat sections have been moved to the sleeping position, in which they are both horizontally disposed, it is necessary with many prior art devices to make a further manipulation of one of the sections or the mechanism itself to lock both sections in place. The failure to do so may cause the sections to fold up when weight is placed on them.
Another disadvantage with existing convertible futon frames is the requirement either that more than one person be involved in the converting process, or that a single person move from position to position before the converting process can be completed.
Another problem with many existing futon frames is release of the back section by the conversion mechanism during conversion but before conversion is completed. This typically occurs as the seat section is lifted to initiate conversion, and as the back section is accordingly tilted toward horizontal from its upright position, it is released and falls by gravity, striking the frame. This causes stress to the frame which may eventually damage it. The problem may be overcome with the assistance of a second person, who must position himself/herself to catch the back section as it is released.
Yet another disadvantage with prior art devices is the difficulty in manufacturing. Because most futon frames are formed primarily from wooden components, many current designs include metal components for reinforcement purposes. This makes the manufacturing process more complex and increases the cost of the device through increased labor and more expensive parts. Further, convertible futon frames that use a number of metal components are less attractive from the aesthetic standpoint, and are therefore less desirable to consumers.
The inventive convertible futon frame solves most of these problems. The disclosed frame includes first and second arm or end frames that are interconnected by front and rear cross rails, resulting in a sturdy rectangular frame. Back and seat members are carried by this stationary frame for movement between sitting and lying positions. Each of these members is generally rectangular in the preferred embodiment having front and rear sides and opposed ends. Specifically, the back member includes pivot pins that project laterally outward from each end proximate its lower or front side, and which guidably slide in elongated horizontal grooves formed in the arm end frames. The back member is also supported by a pair of metal straps that are pivotally connected between each of its ends and each of the end frames.
The seat member is pivotally connected along its rear side to the front side of the back section by a pair of pivot pins that project laterally from each end of the back member and which are slidably retained in short grooves formed in the ends of the seat member, permitting relative linear as well as pivotal movement. Abutment members are secured to each end of member which engage the back seat member in the sitting position to prevent relative rotation to the open or sleeping position. The seat member may be moved linearly out of engagement with the abutment member by virtue of the pin/short groove relationship, which permits the seat and back members to be relatively rotated to the open or sleeping position.
Based on this unique construction, a single person may quickly and easily move the convertible frame from the sitting to the sleeping position and vice versa from a single standing position in the front of the frame. Further, because of the unique construction and position of the strap members, the seat and back members are both rigidly held in both the sitting and sleeping positions without additional detent or locking mechanisms. All that is necessary is for the user to grasp the front edge of the seat member in either the sitting or lying position, and to make relatively simple movements with the seat member from a single position that accomplish the desired objective. Further, downward pressure resulting from the weight of both the futon and the user tends to retain the back and seat members in the chosen position, resulting in greater support and stability but without adversely affecting subsequent operations to the opposite position.
The inventive convertible frame is also designed to distribute the forces generated over the various components during seating, sleeping and conversion between positions, which enables the device to operate with a minimum of components other than wood. Metal reinforcing plates are therefore unnecessary, which simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces the cost of manufacture, all without compromising rigidity and stability. The fact that the inventive frame can be fabricated predominantly from hardwood components results in a frame that is aesthetically pleasing and hence more attractive to purchasers.


A light guide panel is disclosed. The panel comprises a plate for dispersing light and at least one light-emitting diode (LED) coupled to the plate for providing the dispersed light. When the panel is coupled to a keyboard, the at least one LED is under a portion of the keyboard such that when the at least one LED is illuminated, the light from the LED does not distract a user. Accordingly, by strategically placing LEDs within the panel and providing the LEDs under appropriate portions of the keyboard, the device utilizing the keyboard can be smaller than when a conventional light guide panel is utilized. In addition, a further improvement in illumination is provided when a mechanism is provided which reflects light escaping from the edges of the panel back into the panel.

Light guide panels are utilized in keyboard assemblies to backlight the keypads of the keyboard. Typically, such light guide panels utilize a bundle of optical fibers to backlight the keyboard assembly. FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a conventional light guide panel 10. As is seen, an optical fiber bundle 12 is provided there within. The fiber bundle 12 receives light via a ferrule 14. The light for illuminating the fiber bundle is provided via at least one light emitting diode (LED) 16.
When LED 16 is activated, a fiber-mat 18 is illuminated to provide backlighting for the keyboard. The top surface of the fiber-mat 18 is abraded to let a controlled amount of light emit from top surface. The top surface of the fiber-mat 18 is abraded to provide a uniform distribution of light out of the top surface. Much light is lost out of the end of the fiber-mat 18, which is not recaptured.
In addition to the inefficient lighting issues associated with conventional light guide panels, there is also a problem with the size of the panel when utilizing such a panel. As is seen, in the conventional panel 10, each fiber of the fiber bundle 12 must bend at with at least a minimum curvature value to allow light to be provided to the particular fiber. As a result, the radius of curvature shown at 19 must be at least some minimum value to allow for light to come in. For example, for an optical fiber bundle that radius must be 0.5 inch or so to allow for enough light to be brought in to illuminate the fiber mat 10.
Accordingly, this 0.5 inch of radius of curvature adds a 0.5 inch of width onto the panel 10 in the direction, as is shown. As is well known, it is desirable to reduce the size of a keyboard, especially for portable devices, in any way possible. Hence, providing a light guide panel which does not increase the size of the keyboard assembly is desirable.
Accordingly, what is needed is a light guide panel that has increased illumination over conventional light guide panels when in use but does not add to or increase the size of the keyboard. The system must be easy to use, compatible with existing devices and cost effective. The present invention addresses such a need.
Another common technique for providing backlighting is to use a light-guide panel (clear sheet of plastic with texture or printed ink) to disperse the light as needed. However, in the existing light guide panels, the sources for illumination are placed beyond the perimeter of the lighted area. This increases the overall form-factor of the light guide panel and is undesirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for backlighting a device


A curable composition comprising (i) a polymerizable monomer, (ii) irregular-shaped inorganic particles (A) having an average particle diameter of from 1 to 9 .mu.m, and containing particles having particle diameters of not smaller than 10 .mu.m in an amount of not larger than 3% by weight, such as silica-zirconia irregular-shaped particles, (iii) spherical inorganic particles (B) having an average particle diameter of from 0.1 to 5 .mu.m, such as spherical silica-zirconia particles; (iv) inorganic fine particles (C) having an average particle diameter of from 0.01 to 0.1 .mu.m, such as fine particles of at least one inorganic oxide selected from the group consisting of silica, alumina, silica-zirconia and silica-titania; and (v) a polymerization initiator; wherein the irregular-shaped inorganic particles (A), spherical inorganic particles (B) and inorganic fine particles (C) are used in a total amount of from 300 to 1900 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the polymerizable monomer, and, when the total amount of the spherical inorganic particles (B) and the inorganic fine particles (C) is set to be 100% by weight, the spherical inorganic particles (B) are used at a ratio of from 50 to 99% by weight and the inorganic fine particles (C) are used at a ratio of from 50 to 1% by weight, and wherein the weight ratio (A)/{(B)+(C)}! of the irregular-shaped inorganic particles (A) to the total amount of the spherical inorganic particles (B) and the inorganic fine particles (C) is from 0.3 to 3, and the polymerization initiator is used in an amount of from 0.01 to 5 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the polymerizable monomer.

1. (Field of the Invention)
The present invention relates to a curable composition that can be favorably used as a dental composite restorative. More specifically, the invention relates to a curable composition which forms a cured product that features very high mechanical strength and, particularly, a very high fracture toughness value and a very high bending strength.
2. (Prior Art)
In recent years, a composite restorative has been much used as a restoring material in the dental field since it imparts a color equivalent to that of natural tooth and it can be easily handled. The restorative is generally used in a manner that a cavity in a tooth is directly filled with the restorative and is polymerized, and is cured by such a polymerization means as irradiation with light to restore the tooth. The restored part accomplished by the above-mentioned method has a relatively low mechanical strength. Therefore, this restoring method is generally effected for the portions where mechanical strength is not much required.
Recently, however, the composite restorative has been used even for restoring posterior teeth etc. that receive the pressure of occlusion. For instance, a mold of the cavity of a tooth is filled with the curable composition which is then polymerized upon the irradiation with light or by heating for a sufficient period of time, so that the composition is adhered to the cavity.
However, the restored portion obtained by polymerizing the curable composition according to the above-mentioned method, has a strength smaller than that of a natural tooth, and is broken at the edges due to a strong pressure of occlusion.
In order to solve this problem, it has been reported that a technology has been developed for obtaining a curable composition containing a filler at an increased density by using an inorganic powder having dissimilar particle sizes at a particular mixing ratio, or for blending a polymerizable monomer with irregular-shaped inorganic particles having particular particle diameters and properties and with spherical inorganic particles having particular particle diameters at particular ratios (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132102/1991) and a method of obtaining a high mechanical strength by mixing spherical inorganic particles having particles of the order of submicrons and inorganic fine particles having particle diameters of from 0.01 to 0.1 .mu.m and further by using the highly dispersed mixture particles as a filler (Japanses Patent Laid-Open No. 12305/1996). The cured products obtained by these method and technology, however, have bending strengths which are smaller than 250 MPa. There has been no curable composition available that was capable of forming a cured product having a bending strength greater than 270 MPa possessed by the dentin of a tooth.
Besides, according to a report by Fujishima et al., "The Journal of the Japanese Society for Dental Materials and Devices, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 375-380, 1994", the breaking toughness value (K.sub.1C) which is an important property related to the breakage of the composite restorative is as low as 2.28 Mpa.multidot.m.sup.1/2 at the greatest.


A flat panel display device and a manufacturing method thereof. In the flat panel display device, a thin film encapsulation structure covering a display unit on a substrate includes an alternating layers stack in which organic layers and inorganic layers are alternately stacked; and an AlOx layer on the alternating layers stack as an outermost thin film layer of the thin film encapsulation structure. According to the above structure, because the protective film is adhered onto the AlOx layer of the thin film encapsulation structure, which has a relatively weak adhesive force, the adhering and releasing processes may be performed smoothly, and thus, the thin film encapsulation structure may be prevented from being damaged in the adhering and releasing processes.

1. Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a flat panel display device and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a flat panel display device including a thin film encapsulation structure and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display devices, such as organic light-emitting display devices, may be manufactured to be thin and flexible, and research is being actively conducted on them.
In organic light-emitting display devices, a display unit deteriorates due to penetration of oxygen or moisture. Accordingly, in order to prevent penetration of oxygen or moisture from an external environment, an encapsulation structure for sealing and protecting a display unit is typically used.
A thin film encapsulation structure for covering a display unit with a multi-layer structure (in which organic layers and inorganic layers are alternately stacked) may be used as an encapsulation structure. The display unit is sealed by the alternately stacked organic and inorganic layers.
Here, in general, the organic layers provide flexibility to a flat panel display device and the inorganic layers prevent penetration of oxygen or moisture.
After the thin film encapsulation structure is formed in a manufacturing process, a protective film may be adhered thereon, and then, the protective film may be released in a subsequent process, for example, a process for bonding a polarizing plate. However, in this case, if the protective film is not released smoothly, the thin film encapsulation structure may also be released, and thus, its encapsulation function may be reduced.
Accordingly, a solution for preventing the above phenomenon when a protective film is released is desired.

Flat panel display device having thin film encapsulation and, manufacturing method thereof


Automated decision making techniques are provided. For example, a technique for generating a decision associated with an individual or an entity includes the following steps. First, two or more data streams associated with the individual or the entity are captured. Then, at least one time-varying measure is computed in accordance with the two or more data streams. Lastly, a decision is computed based on the at least one time-varying measure. One form of the time-varying measure may include a measure of the coverage of a model associated with previously-obtained training data by at least a portion of the captured data. Another form of the time-varying measure may include a measure of the stability of at least a portion of the captured data. While either measure may be employed alone to compute a decision, preferably both the coverage and stability measures are employed. The technique may be used to authenticate a speaker.

The decision making process of authenticating (e.g., recognizing, identifying, verifying) a speaker is an important step in ensuring the security of systems, networks, services and facilities, both for physical and for logical access. However, accurate speaker authentication is also a goal in applications other than secure access-based applications.
Some existing automated speaker authentication techniques rely exclusively on an audio stream captured from the speaker being authenticated. However, it is known that, even in the case of clean speech (e.g., speech collected over a high quality microphone in an environment with little noise), as opposed to the case of degraded speech (e.g., speech collected over noisy phone lines or in environments with substantial background noise and distortion), there exists a subset of the population for which audio-based authentication is problematic and inconsistent. For example, in G. Doddington et al., "Sheep, Goats, Lambs and Wolves: An Analysis of Individual Differences in Speaker Recognition Performance," NIST Presentation at ICSLP98, Sydney, Australia, November 1999, it is shown that there are speakers, termed "goats," who are difficult to recognize based on their voice. Speakers who are readily recognized based on voice are termed "sheep."
Thus, other existing automated speaker authentication techniques have adopted an approach wherein, in addition to the use of the audio stream, a video stream representing the speaker is taken into account, in some manner, in making the speaker authentication decision.
In accordance with such two-stream systems, one may manually choose to make an a priori decision as to the efficacy of audio data versus video data for each individual and subsequently use only the data corresponding to the most effective modality.
Another option is to model the joint statistics of the data streams. However, a more flexible option is to create models independently for each data modality and utilize scores and decisions from both. Previous studies utilizing independent models, such as those detailed in B. Maison et al., "Audio-Visual Speaker Recognition for Video Broadcast News: Some Fusion Techniques," IEEE Multimedia Signal Processing (MMSP99), Denmark, September 1999, have been applied only at the test utterance level in the degraded speech case.

Automated decision making using time-varying stream reliability prediction

International Business Machines Corporation


A game of skill comprising a three piece game set including two sticks or rods and a ball, with the ball attached to one of said sticks with a string. After placing the ball on the end of one stick, the object of the game is to transfer the ball to the end of the other stick without touching the ball or using the string. This is done by placing a rapid movement downward of the stick holding the ball while holding the second stick near the hole and catching it as the first stick is lowered. The process can be repeated transfering the ball back to the first stick and so on.

My invention was developed from an experiment I witnessed. In that experiment, a friend placed a ball with a hole on it on the small end of a drumstick and not otherwise attached thereto. The hole extended straight into the ball and the ball had a flattened area around the hole. A second stick was placed near the hole, both sticks being in a generally vertical position. Attempts were then made to transfer the ball from the first stick to the second by a slow upward movement of the second stick and attempting to pierce the hole. Frequently, attempts were not successful and the ball had to be retrieved after it fell to the floor or other surface.
Another game of skill uses a stick or handle having a cup on the end. Attached to the stick is a string with a ball at the end. The object of the game is to swing the ball up above the cup and to catch the ball in the cup. This differs from my invention in which the ball stays relatively stationary while the sticks are moved.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,307,905 (1943) discloses a wooden rod with a ball on a string attached to one end of the rod suitable for use in exercising pets. While different balls can be used, the concept is different from that disclosed herein.


An illuminated hand wand carrying a plurality of high intensity LEDs is provided as an improved visual signaling device. The hand wand is provided with multiple modes of use and a unique design that may be produced at low costs with high durability and longevity characteristics.

There are a number of hand wands on the market today used to provide means for visually signaling others. Visual signaling may be desirable in a wide variety of situations, including traffic direction when parking vehicles, for safety and emergency personal to control traffic flow during periods of abnormally heavy roadway use or at the scene of an accident or in other hazardous or dangerous circumstances, to guide aircraft on the ground to gates, hangers or runways, or when signaling crowds or persons or vehicles at large events. It may be desirable in a number of other such circumstances to have a means for signaling others with visual stimulation that is readily perceived by the persons being signaled.
There are devices known in the art, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. D 449,011 to Kuvlesky that provide useful features for hand wands. However, these and other prior art devices rely on reflecting light back toward a visual signaling target. Such methods, while useful, may not be readily perceived by the intended targets of the signal and do not employ any self generating light sources.
Some devices currently in use employ the use of a small number of LED light sources of low intensity that are more visible to others during the nighttime than the daytime, being ineffective during the day. Poor perception of current devices by the targets of visual signaling present serious safety issues to safety and emergency workers, as well as other visual signaling subjects. For example, in circumstances involving traffic direction of vehicles traveling on a roadway, poor perception of visual signals by drivers results in less time for the drivers to react to the visual signals. Because of the dangers often associated with situations in which visual signaling is important, there exists a continual need in the art for means of providing a greater distance for visual signaling targets to react to the signals.
In less hazardous situations, users of visual signaling devices also often desire to pair the task of visual signaling with other functions. For instance, police officers directing traffic at checkpoints may desire from time to time to illuminate specific areas. Flashlights may be used, for example, to search the interior of a vehicle during nighttime, or to read documents. In other situations, additional light sources may be needed, such as when changing a tire. These types of multifunction circumstances requires the user of current visual signaling devices to carry one or more devices in addition to the visual signaling device to perform all desired functions. Doing so is cumbersome and inefficient. Therefore, there exists a current need for a visual signaling device with inherent abilities in addition to providing visual signaling.
Additionally, other devices currently available provide only one direction of light, or may provide light emission around the entire perimeter of the device. Both configurations create, respectively, less visibility of the visual signaling device, and impair the vision of the user by directing light unnecessarily toward the user.
Therefore, there exists an unmet need in the prior art for a device that provides solutions to the aforementioned problems.


A primarily domino logic block uses static buffers instead of clocked domino buffers to correct a phase skipping problem, while realizing the same logic function with less integrated circuit area, power consumption, and cost. The use of static buffers simplifies the clock network and clock tree synthesis. A domino logic circuit including at least one logic gate including a fast input and a slow input, and a static buffer inserted in series with the fast input of the logic gate. The falling time of the static buffer is set to be greater than a defined minimum falling time and less than a defined maximum falling time.

The present invention relates to domino logic circuits, and, more particularly, to the use of specially designed skewed static buffers in domino logic circuitry in order to avoid the loss of data in a four overlapping phase clocking scheme, wherein phase 3 is the invert of phase 1, phase 4 is the invert of phase 2, and phase 2 is a delayed version of phase 1 (usually by a quarter of a period).
As is known in the art, domino logic is a precharged, non-inverting family of CMOS logic that can be pipelined using multiple clock phases to achieve high-speed operation. Domino logic is faster than standard static logic, but it is more difficult to design because of its increased complexity, primarily in the clocking network. In addition, domino logic uses more power and more integrated circuit area than equivalent standard static logic.
In domino logic, a "precharge" clock phase is used, followed by an "evaluate" clock phase. During the precharge phase, when the clock is low, the output of the cell is preset to a low logic state (logic zero). During the evaluate phase, when the clock is high, the output of the cell either stays low or transitions to a high value on the condition that, based on the data inputs, the function of the cell evaluates a logic one value. This is in contrast to standard static logic typically used with CMOS technology. In static logic designs, the output of the cell can rise or fall any time an input changes.
As discussed above, domino logic is a pulsed logic. Within a given clock period, domino gates evaluate and then go to precharge. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the result from a gate is consumed by the next gate before going to precharge. Also, if a domino signal is logically ANDed with other domino signals, their pulsed values must overlap long enough to allow the gate to compute the correct value.
As is known in the prior art, in a four phase clocking scheme, in order to effectively propagate timing critical data in a datapath, it is important that, for each domino cell, the clock rises some time before the latest data arrives, otherwise the data has to wait and consequently the output is delayed. It is also important, for each domino cell, that the data arrives some setup time before the clock falls in order to be correctly captured. One way to initially assign the phases, as defined in the prior art, is to choose, for each domino gate, the latest phase rising immediately before the arrival of the latest data.
FIG. 1(a) shows an example of two interconnected datapaths, which have been phase assigned according to the rules mentioned above. The first datapath is from "REG1" to "REG2", and the second datapath is from "REG3" to "REG4". In the configuration shown in FIG. 1(a), the AND gate U0 on the first datapath is coupled to a domino gate U1 from the same path, clocked on phase 3 (at the slow "A" input), and to a domino gate U2 from the second datapath, clocked on phase 1 (at the fast "B" input). This situation is known in the prior art as "phase skipping". The timing diagram of FIG. 1(b) shows that the fast input goes to precharge some time ("tp") after phase 1 goes low, whereas the slow input goes high some evaluate time ("te") after phase 3 goes high. In the situation shown in FIG. 1(b), the data on the slow input arrives after the data on the fast input has been lost and therefore can never be captured by the AND gate.
To prevent this situation, the fast input B has to be delayed such that its logic one value overlaps long enough ("ov") with the logic one value on the slow input A, before going to precharge. The overlap requirement is a characteristic of the cell, under certain conditions (process, voltage, temperature, transition time on the inputs) and has been previously characterized.
In the prior art, one way of achieving this delay, as shown in FIG. 2(a), was to insert a domino buffer D0 before the fast input, and to assign this buffer to the intermediate phase (i.e. phase 2 in this example). The new arrangement shown in FIG. 2(a) modifies the timing conditions, which are shown in FIG. 2(b), since the precharge on the fast input is now relative to the falling edge of phase 2. The drawback of this prior art solution is that it adds to the clock network loading, increases power consumption and integrated circuit area, and makes clock tree synthesis more complex. The number of dynamic buffers added to a design to fix the phase skipping problems can be significant (typically adding 5% to the total number of dynamic cells).
What is desired, therefore, is a circuit and method for providing the necessary delay to satisfactorily address the phase skipping issue in a domino logic circuit, but overcoming the problems of the prior art domino buffer solution that leads to increased complexity, power consumption, and integrated circuit area.

Dynamic phase assignment optimization using skewed static buffers in place of dynamic buffers


A method of operating an imaging device having a failed or failing media-full sensor determines whether or not a controller can trust the output signal received from the media-full sensor. A reduced power or intensity level is used to test the media-full sensor and, in particular, the light source to counter the dimming of the light source that occurs due to aging and electrical noise in the system. When the output signal of a photoreceptor is at or below a threshold value, the photo-receptor is considered to have not detected the light beam from the light source and the light beam is deemed not to have been detected even though the photo-receptor may be providing a lower level output signal. Thus, an output signal of the photo-receptor is not trusted and an indication that a media storage area is not full is provided and an imaging operation is carried out.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to control of sensors used in imaging devices such as printers and scanners, and more particularly to control of a failing or failed sensor allowing for continued operation of the imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A media-full sensor is used to tell the controller in an imaging device when the output bin is full so the imaging device can pause printing or scanning This stops the imaging device from ejecting pages into the output bin that may push previous pages onto the floor. This also prevents paper jams caused by the peek-a-boo duplexer jamming paper into a stack in the output bin. In one form the media-full sensor comprises an infrared LED and a photo-transistor positioned on opposite sides of the bin that are separated by approximately 24 cm. The LED and photo-transistor are typically positioned transverse to the media path. The LED emits an infrared beam that with the media bin not full reaches the photo-transistor actuating the photo-transistor to change its state.
In Table 1, a truth table shows the digitized photo-transistor output of the media-full sensor for various fill conditions in the output bin and operational states of the LED.
TABLE 1ConditionDigitized Photo-Transistor OutputBin is emptyLow (light reaches the photo-transistor)Bin is partially fullLow (light reaches the photo-transistor)Bin is fullHigh (no light reaches the photo-transistor)LED is broken, bin isHigh (no light reaches the photo-transistor)emptyLED is broken, bin isHigh (no light reaches the photo-transistor)full
The truth table shows a problem with this sensor: a broken or failing LED looks just like a bin full condition. Thus, the imaging device will stop when the LED fails or breaks. The imaging device will refuse to operate until a service person goes onsite and fixes the sensor. A failed LED is one which emits no light or emits a light at such a low level that it is of insufficient intensity to activate the photo-transistor. It should also be stated that the photo-transistor may also fail instead of the LED but the LED is orders of magnitude more likely to fail first due to the higher currents and higher heat involved with energizing the LED to emit a light beam that will reach the photo-transistor on the opposite side of the output bin. Also field experience has soon that failure of the bin full sensor due to a failed photo-transistor is extremely rare. What is needed is a method that allows the media-full sensor to fail gracefully, i.e., a soft failure, such that a failed sensor does not stop the imaging device.

Method for operating an imaging device with a failed media bin level sensor


A computer system provides for the secure installation and operation of software. The computer system includes a platform, such as a personal computer, having a processor and the Microsoft® Windows® operating system. The computer system also includes a first drive, such as a network, DVD or CD-ROM drive, adapted for access by the processor, and a second drive, such as a hard disk, adapted for access by the processor. The second drive includes an NT File Structure logical volume. The computer system further includes an installer operatively associated with the first drive. The installer cooperates with the processor to write a Primary Data Stream file to the NT File Structure logical volume, to associate data with the Primary Data Stream file, and to write the associated data to the NT File Structure logical volume as an Alternate Data Stream file.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to methods for installing software and, more particularly, to methods for the secure installation and operation of software applications. The invention also relates to systems for the secure installation and operation of software.
2. Background Information
Known software installation products for Microsoft® Windows®-based platforms are believed to be designed to be generic in nature and do not take advantage of media-specific properties that are not common across all media types. Furthermore, known software products, in general, are believed to be designed to be generic in nature and do not take advantage of media-specific properties that are not common across all media types.
Alternate Data Streams (ADSs) have been available since the NT File Structure (NTFS) was first introduced. In NTFS, everything on disk is a file. For example, the metadata (e.g., eleven metadata files, such as $MFT, the Master File Table, are created in which NTFS stores data associated with disk management) is stored as a set of files. The Master File Table (MFT) is an index of every file on the NTFS logical volume. For each file, the MFT keeps a record containing attributes of information about the file.
It is known to employ an ADS as a secondary storage mechanism when file-specific MFT data exceeds 1,500 bytes. This is an automatic process within the Windows® operating system. It is also known for this operating system to automatically employ ADSs to store thumbnails of all image files stored on an NTFS logical volume. This process is enabled by default, and can be disabled through modification of the system registry. It is believed that no installer has been written to take advantage of NTFS ADSs because Windows®-based installation programs are written to work on FAT, FAT32 and NTFS volumes. Also, FAT and FAT32 volumes do not support ADSs.
Installation logs, application configuration files and other secure data may readily be accessed, archived, compressed, backed up, viewed, scanned, modified, manipulated or deleted by employing conventional techniques, such as, for example, standard system tools. Hence, these files are subject to possible accidental access, storage, modification, use or deletion. Moreover, these files are readily accessible to a user who might improperly seek to intentionally access, archive, view, modify, use or delete the contents. Accordingly, there is room for improvement in methods and systems for the secure installation and operation of software.

Computer system and method for secure installation and operation of software


A mixer includes a primary operating switch for connecting the mixer to a source of electrical energy and a secondary operating switch for selectively increasing the power of the mixer. The primary operating switch is movable between a first position whereat the mixer is disconnected from the source of electrical energy and a second position whereat the mixer is connected to the source of electrical energy. The primary operating switch includes a stop. The secondary switch is movable between a first position whereat the mixer is operating at normal power and a second position whereat the mixer is operating at increased power. The stop of the primary switch is disposed in the path of travel of the secondary switch when the primary switch is in its first operating position to prevent the secondary switch from being placed into the second position thereof. The stop is displaced from the path of travel of the secondary switch when the primary switch is placed into its second operating position.

This invention relates to electrically operated mixers and, in particular, to such mixers having a power boost circuit which can be electrically energized to increase the power of the mixer.
Hand-held electrically operated mixers are one of the primary devices used by persons in cooking and baking foods. Some high performance mixers have power boost circuitry to selectively increase the torsional power of the mixer when the user is mixing particularly heavy food products. Generally speaking, the mixers of the foregoing type have a primary operating switch which is used to connect the mixer to a source of electrical energy and to change the speed of the mixer as desired by the user. The mixer will also include a secondary switch for selectively increasing the torsional power of the mixer.
Since both the primary and secondary switches connect various electrical circuitry of the mixer to the source of electrical power, it is desirable that the secondary switch not be independently capable of electrically actuating the mixer. That is to say, the primary switch should be the sole means for initially energizing the mixer while the secondary switch should only be actuated when the primary switch has already connected the mixer to the source of electrical power.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to prevent the secondary switch from connecting the mixer to a source of electrical energy in the absence of the primary switch being initially placed into an operating position for connecting the mixer to the source of electrical energy.

Mixer with lockout device for power boost switch


The present invention provides an apparatus of an optical disc drive for adjusting a focus error signal. The apparatus includes a focus offset determining unit and an adjusting module. The focus offset determining unit is utilized for determining a target focus offset corresponding to a target condition, and the adjusting module is coupled to the focus offset determining unit and utilized for receiving the focus error signal and adjusting the focus error signal with the target focus offset to generate an adjusted focus error signal.

The present invention relates to an apparatus applied to an optical disc drive with adjustable focus offset and a method thereof.
When an optical disc is accessed by a pickup head in an optical disc drive, the conventional servo system of the optical disc drive will control the pickup head to emit a controlled laser emission to a proper location on the optical disc. The optimum focus point of the laser power (emission) upon the optical disc varies with the type of pickup head, optical disc, etc. This is because different type of pickup heads will have different structure of optical paths, and different types of optical discs will have different thicknesses. In other words, the minimum focus error (FE) signal will not guarantee that the current focus point is the optimum focus point upon a specific optical disc. Therefore, in the conventional focus control loop, a focus offset is added to the focus error signal to generate an adjusted focus error signal, which then the adjusted focus error signal is transferred to a controller. The controller tunes the position of the pickup head to optimize the focus of the laser spot upon a data recording layer of the optical disc. Accordingly, an optimized focus offset will be obtained to achieve an optimum reflected signal quality.
Furthermore, it is well-known that higher rotational speeds of the optical disc result in decreased SNR performance, degrading the decoding accuracy of the physical address and data of the optical disc. Thus, to increase the reading quality of the optical disc, strength of the laser power is dependent on the tangential velocity of the position of the optical disc to be accessed. In other words, the focus offset should be adjusted when the laser power changes. If the same focus error is adopted and added to the focus error signal in a case where the laser power changes in response to the tangent velocity change, the actual focus of the laser spot is shifted from the optimum focus. Therefore, a novel scheme of dynamically calibrating the focus error is required to optimize the focus of the laser spot for every position of the optical disc to be accessed.

Method and apparatus for adjusting focus offset based on target condition


The present invention relates to relates to a method of optimizing a plastic composition formed from a plurality of resin feedstocks. A plurality of resin feedstocks are provided. The plurality of resin feedstocks are blended to form the plastic composition. One or more properties of the plastic composition, including radiation absorption, radiation transmission, gas evolution, radiation fluorescence, or melting properties, are measured. The ratio of the plurality of resin feedstocks being blended into the plastic composition is adjusted, based on said measuring, to form an optimized plastic composition. A system for performing the method is also disclosed.

In recent years, federal and state legislation has been proposed to increase the use of sustainable (bio-based) and recycled packaging materials. The adoption of recycled plastic or bio-plastic alternatives has been slow due to contaminant loads, the costs associated with collection and sorting, and overall quality. Bio-plastics have been viewed as a costly alternative to traditional plastics. Thus, there is a need to incentivize the use of bioplastics and recycled packaging materials.
Agricultural growers and packers utilize plastic packaging for retail convenience foods and food service products and are currently the largest users of plastic film and sheeting in the United States. Studies have indicated that the vitamin content of current fruits and vegetables is significantly lower than 50 years ago. This is important as most Americans do not eat enough of these products.
It has been suggested that the increased haze, scattering, and filtering of light in recycled and bio-plastic substrates reduces the rate of product degradation. As such, recent initiatives by retailers have called for an increase in the use of recycled packaging substrates. However, the nature of recycled packaging material, which includes variance in the overall composition, makes it difficult to predict how effective the final plastic product will be at providing these benefits. Further, once the product is finalized, there is no opportunity to adjust the composition to provide the maximum benefit with respect to increasing the shelf-life of perishable products.
The present invention is directed to overcoming these and other deficiencies in the art.

Method for optimizing plastic compositions used in packaging to increase shelf-life of perishable products and a system thereof

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION, INC.


A high-speed semiconductor device which comprises an emitter layer, a base layer, a collector layer, a potential barrier layer disposed between the emitter layer and the base layer, and a superlattice disposed between the base layer and the collector layer. The superlattice provides a multitude of quantum-mechanical transmission coefficients which can be applied to linear analog circuits and high frequency circuit. In addition, the high speed semiconductor device may act as a frequency multiplier, providing an output signal having 2n times as many frequencies as an input signal when n is the number of energy pass bands in said superlattice below a predetermined applied voltage.

Hot-electron transistor designs have evolved over the past two decades. An example of an early design of a hot-electron transistor is dislcosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,241, entitled, "High-Speed Semiconductor Device", and issued to Naoki Yokoyama. The structural elements which generally define these hot electron transistors are an emitter layer, a base layer, a collector layer, an emitter potential barrier layer disposed between the emitter layer and the base layer, and a collector potential barrier disposed between the base layer and the collector layer.
In operation, a voltage bias is applied between the emitter and the base. The function of the emitter potential barrier is to limit the amount of emitter current at a given emitter voltage. By adjusting either the thickness or the height of the emitter barrier, the desirable emitter current level can be obtained. A low emitter barrier allows high energy electrons to penetrate the base while filtering out lower energy electrons, thereby limiting the current penetrating into the base. On the other hand, a high barrier inhibits tunneling of electrons. Once the high energy or "hot electrons" (herein defined as thermally non-equilibrium electrons) penetrate the emitter barrier, these electrons gain energy from the applied electric field and travel through the base to reach the collector potential barrier.
Heretofore, it has been generally assumed that the transmission coefficient of the electrons through the barrier is zero when the hot-electron energy is less than the collector potential barrier height and equal to one if the hot-electron energy is higher than the collector barrier height. This assumption concerning the basic operation of the device, however, is based on the theory that the hot-electrons experience both elastic and inelastic scatterings in the base and therefore, the propagation of hot-electrons does not exhibit quantum-mechanical characteristics. If this is the case, the phases of the hot-electrons will become incoherent and the subsequent motion of the hot-electron will be characterized by uncorrelated phases. Accordingly, prior art designs of collector potential barriers ignored the wave nature of the electrons. As a consequence, the collector potential barrier in previous designs have conventionally been made of a single material layer which serves as an electron energy filter. (See Yokoyama, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,241).
The conduction-energy-band diagram for a prior art hot-electron transistor device is illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein the emitter to base voltage is labeled V.sub.eb. This figure illustrates the relationship among the essential structural elements of a hot-electron transistor which include: emitter 1, base 3, collector 5, and two potential barriers, an emitter potential barrier 2 (EPB) and a collector potential barrier 4 (CPB) 4. It should be noted that in this diagram the thermal electrons are assumed to follow a Boltzman distribution whereas the high-energy hot-electrons follow the distribution curve shown in FIG. 1. An important feature of prior art hot-electron transistors, as noted above, is that the collector potential barrier is composed of a one material layer. Thus, only the electrons with energy higher than the barrier height of the filter could overcome the barrier and be collected in the collector. The electrons with lower energy, however, would be blocked by the filter and drained through the base.
FIG. 2 is a graph of the current transfer ratio versus the emitter to base voltage of the hot-electron transistor previously described. It should be noted that a similar graph results from all prior art designs. The current transfer ratio is defined as I.sub.c /I.sub.E, where I.sub.c is the electron current flowing out of the collector and I.sub.E is the electron current flowing into the emitter. The current transfer ratio is measured under the condition that the emitter bias V.sub.eb is increased while the collector to base bias V.sub.cb is kept constant. As the emitter bias increases, the energy of the hot-electrons injected into the base increases. The portion of the hot-electrons that can overcome the collector potential barrier after traversing through the base will also increase. As a result, the current transfer ratio increases steadily with an increase in emitter bias for a large range of emitter bias.
Those skilled in the art know, however, that there are small oscillatory features superimposed on this smoothly rising background. These oscillations are demonstrated by a graph of the quantum-mechanical transmission coefficient of the collector potential barrier, as shown in FIG. 3. Here, FIG. 3 shows the oscillatory features of the transmission coefficient above the potential barrier height, which is 165 meV in this example. This may be compared to the transmission coefficient of unity above the collector potential barrier height and zero below it. Thus, it is the quantum mechanical oscillations of the transmission coefficient which explain the oscillatory structures on the graph of the current transfer ratio. These oscillations, however, eliminate the possibility of providing for a constant increase in the current transfer ratio over a range of voltages. Despite this disadvantage, these oscillations were ignored in prior art hot-electron transistor designs. The present invention addresses this problem.

Quantum collector hot-electron transistor

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


An OFF state, maximum attenuation level, for an electro-optic attenuator/switch results when either a first or second control voltage is applied to the control input. An AC generator, coupled to the control input, generates minimum and maximum peak voltages that correspond to the first and second control voltages, respectively, so that the maximum attenuation level of the light beam being switched is provided by the electro-optic attenuator while either of the minimum and maximum peak voltages is applied to the control input. An ON state is achieved by introducing a voltage pulse with a magnitude corresponding to the minimum attenuation level. The ON voltage pulse is added to the square wave. This permits operation of the electro-optic switch in a normally OFF state without requiring a DC bias voltage.

Electro-optic switches are used for a variety of applications in which a laser light beam is switched between ON/OFF states. For example, electro-optic switches utilized in telecommunication systems are typically maintained in an OFF state by an applying a bias DC voltage, e.g. −2 volts, to the control input and are switched to a maximum light transmission state (ON) by causing +2 volts to be applied to the control input. This can be accomplished by adding a +4 volt pulse to the −2 volt DC bias. Such electro-optic switches have generally proved successful in such applications.
Problems are associated with a drift of the applied DC bias necessary to keep the switch in a normally OFF state. Charge migration effects within the optical switch cause this drift over time and/or temperature. Failing to maintain the proper DC bias voltage results in the electro-optic switch not being fully OFF, i.e. the maximum attenuation that can be provided by the switch will not be attained. This causes in a decrease in the ON to OFF signal ratio and increases the amount of bleed-through light passing through the switch during the OFF state. Thus, there exists a need for an improvement in controlling electro-optical switches that will minimize this problem.

Electro-optic switching apparatus not requiring DC bias


In an aspect, a composite cathode active material a cathode and a lithium battery including the composite cathode active material, and a method of preparing the composite cathode active material is disclosed.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to a composite cathode active material, a cathode and a lithium battery including the composite cathode active material, and a preparation method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Technology
High energy density of lithium batteries is desirable for various miniaturized and high performance devices. Also, electrical vehicles require stability of lithium batteries under conditions of high capacity, high temperature, and high voltage.
Various cathode active materials have been examined in order to realize lithium batteries in accordance with the above uses.
Nickel-based lithium transition metal oxide may provide high discharge capacity per unit weight in comparison to typical LiCoO2, but may have low capacity per unit volume due to low packing density. As a result, the nickel-based lithium transition metal oxide in a lithium battery may provide low discharge capacity. Also, the stability of the nickel-based lithium transition metal oxide may be inadequate.
Therefore, a method of improving charge-discharge efficiency, high-rate characteristics, and lifetime characteristics of a lithium battery including nickel-based lithium transition metal oxide by improving the packing density and thermal stability of the nickel-based lithium transition metal oxide is desirable.

Composite cathode active material, cathode and lithium battery including the composite cathode active material, and preparation method thereof


A plating apparatus can form a bump having a flat top or can form a metal film having a good in-plane uniformity even when the plating of a plating object (substrate) is carried out under high-current density conditions. The plating apparatus includes a plating tank for holding a plating solution; an anode to be immersed in the plating solution in the plating tank; a holder for holding a plating object and disposing the plating object at a position opposite the anode; a paddle, disposed between the anode and the plating object held by the holder, which reciprocates parallel to the plating object to stir the plating solution; and a control section for controlling a paddle drive section which drives the paddle. The control section controls the paddle drive section so that the paddle moves at a velocity whose average absolute value is 70 cm/sec to 100 cm/sec.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plating apparatus and a plating method for carrying out plating of a surface of a plating object (substrate), such as a semiconductor wafer, and more particularly to a plating apparatus and a plating method useful for forming a plated film in fine interconnect recesses or holes or resist openings, provided in a surface of a semiconductor wafer, or for forming bumps (protruding electrodes), which are for electrical connection to, e.g., electrodes of a package, on a surface of a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is common practice, e.g., in TAB (tape automated bonding) or flip chip to form protruding connection electrodes (bumps) of gold, copper, solder or nickel, or of multiple layers of such metals at predetermined portions (electrodes) of a surface of a semiconductor chip, having interconnects formed therein, so that the semiconductor chip can be electrically connected via the bumps to electrodes of a package or TAB electrodes. There are various methods available for the formation of bumps, such as electroplating, vapor deposition, printing and ball bumping. Of these, electroplating, which can form fine bumps and can be performed in a relatively stable manner, is most commonly used as the I/O number of a semiconductor chip increases and the electrode pitch becomes smaller.
A high-purity metal film (plated film) can be obtained with ease by electroplating. Further, electroplating can not only form a metal film at a relatively high rate, but can also control a thickness of the metal film relatively easily. In the formation of a metal film on a semiconductor wafer, the in-plane uniformity of a thickness of the metal film is strictly required in order to attain high-density packaging, high performance and high yield. When electroplating is used to form a metal film, the distribution of metal ion feed rate and the distribution of electric potential in a plating solution can be made uniform. It is therefore expected that electroplating will be capable of obtaining a metal film excellent in the in-plane thickness uniformity.
Among plating apparatuses that employ a so-called dipping method, a plating apparatus is known which comprises a plating tank for holding therein a plating solution; a substrate holder for holding a substrate (plating object) vertically with its peripheral portion watertightly sealed thereby; an anode vertically held by an anode holder and disposed so as to face the substrate in the plating tank; a regulation plate of dielectric material, having a central hole, disposed between the anode and the substrate; and a paddle disposed between the regulation plate and the substrate for stirring the plating solution (see, e.g., International Publication No. WO 2004/009879 pamphlet, patent document 1).
In operation of the plating apparatus described in the patent document 1, the anode, the substrate and the regulation plate are immersed in the plating solution in the plating tank while the anode is connected to an anode of a plating power source and the substrate is connected to a cathode of the plating power source via conducting wires, and a predetermined plating voltage is applied between the anode and the substrate, thereby depositing a metal and forming a metal film (plated film) on the surface of the substrate. During the plating, the plating solution is stirred with the paddle disposed between the regulation plate and the substrate so as to uniformly supply a sufficient amount of ions to the substrate, thereby forming a metal film having a more uniform thickness.
According to the plating apparatus of the patent document 1, the distribution of electric potential in the plating tank can be controlled by the regulation plate, having a plating solution passage in a cylindrical body, disposed between the anode and the substrate disposed opposite the anode. This enables control of a thickness distribution of a metal film formed on the surface of the substrate.
Further, a plating apparatus has been proposed which, by minimizing the distance between a regulation plate and a plating object, both immersed in a plating solution in a plating tank, can make the distribution of electric potential more uniform over an entire surface of the plating object, thereby forming a metal film having a more uniform thickness (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2001-329400, patent document 2).
These days, in order to increase productivity, there is a strong demand to shorten plating time taken for forming a plated film having a given thickness to about ⅔ of the conventional plating time. In order to form a plated film having a given thickness and a given plating area in a shorter time, it is necessary to carry out plating at a higher plating rate by applying a higher current, i.e., at a higher current density. However, if plating is carried out under high-current density conditions using a conventional common plating apparatus and its operating method, the in-plane uniformity of a thickness of a plated film tends to become worse. The in-plane uniformity of the thickness of the plated film is required to be at a higher level than ever. Therefore, shortening the distance between a regulation plate and a plating object, as described in the patent document 2, is therefore important in carrying out plating under high-current density plating conditions.
It has been found by the present inventors that, when plating is carried out under high-current density conditions using a conventional common plating apparatus and its operating method, bumps formed by the plating tend to have a convex top, not a flat top. The formation of such convex-top bumps would cause the following problems: In WL-CSP (wafer level-chip size package) currently under development, after forming bumps by plating, the bumps are coated with a resin. If bumps have a convex top shape, an excess amount of resin must be applied to cover the entire bumps, leading to an increased cost. After the application of a resin, a surface of the resin is usually leveled with a spatula, called squeegee. A tall bump with a convex top can fall down upon leveling of the resin surface with a spatula (squeeze). After coating bumps with a resin, it is also a common practice to polish the resin and the bumps to a predetermined thickness by mechanical polishing. If the bumps have a convex top and therefore the resin has been applied in an excess amount, then the excess resin must be polished away, resulting in increased cost.
A plating apparatus and method has been proposed in which plating of a printed circuit board having through-holes is carried out while driving a pair of stirring bars, one at 5 cm/sec to 20 cm/sec and the other at 25 cm/sec to 70 cm/sec, in a plating solution (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-41172, patent document 3). However, bumps having a flat top will not be formed if plating is carried out while moving a pair of stirring bars respectively at such a velocity.


A heat exchanger, particularly a flat-tube heat exchanger for a motor vehicle, which includes two coolant boxes and a tube block with an inlet tube attached to one of the boxes and an outlet tube attached to another of the boxes, and wherein each tube extends at least in part along one longitudinal side of the associated box and has at least one radial opening which communicates with a side opening formed in the box.

German Patent DE 44 03 402 A1 discloses a heat exchanger that features two coolant boxes with a tube block including several parallel tubes that may have a flat configuration. An inlet tube may be attached to one coolant box at one front side via a connector pipe. Accordingly, outlet tubes are attached to the other coolant box by means of suitable connecting pipes. Connecting individual tubes to the associated coolant boxes is particularly expensive.
German Patent DE 197 19 255 A1 describes another heat exchanger, in which one of the coolant boxes contains three chambers, namely an inlet chamber, a reversal chamber and an outlet chamber. Inlet tubes are attached to the fronts of these coolant boxes, and the inlet tube is connected to the inlet chamber, while the outlet tube is connected to the outlet chamber. Such a frontal connection of the tubes to the boxes is relatively complicated.
German Patent DE 35 11 952 C2 describes a heat exchanger with a coolant box made of plastic. This special coolant box contains two inlet chambers, one outlet chamber, and corresponding connector pipes that are integrated into the coolant boxes for attachment of the inlet tubes and of the outlet tube. The outlet chamber of this coolant box has an additional peculiarity, since it is divided into an inlet region and an outlet region, and these regions are connected to each other by means of an overflow opening. The coolant flows from the tube block into the inlet region of the outlet chamber and moves from there through the overflow opening into the outlet region of the outlet chamber. From the outlet chamber the coolant then flows into the outlet tube. Due to the cross sectional design of the overflow opening, a specific flow and thus a specific heat distribution in the tube block can be established.
Thus, a need exists for a heat exchanger of the type described above which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost. The invention provides such a device, which overcomes the disadvantages of other existing heat exchanger designs. These and other advantages of the present invention, as well as additional inventive features will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.


A DC motor pulse signal generating device comprising a DC motor including a rotor frame with a magnet for pulse generation and a substrate for supporting the rotor frame. A magnetic sensor is mounted on the substrate for detecting magnetic flux generated from the magnet and outputting a signal. A positioning groove is formed on the substrate to receive the magnetic sensor on a fixed position. Thereby, the gap between the magnetic sensor and the magnet is fixed so that stable pulses are generated, and the height of the center of the magnetic sensor is lowered to the level of the center of the magnet so that magnetic flux is detected most efficiently by the magnetic sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pulse signal generating device of a direct-current (DC) electric motor used for office automation appliances.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
In recent years, a thinner and less expensive floppy disk drive (FDD) has been realized. To be adaptable for such a floppy disk drive, a DC motor pulse signal generating device is also required to be thin and inexpensive while the efficiency thereof is enhanced. To achieve this, it is essential for the DC motor pulse signal generating device to generate pulses with a stabilized waveform and minimize leakage of magnetic flux.
A conventional DC motor pulse signal generating device will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 shows a vertical sectional view of a half part of a conventional DC motor pulse signal generating device which comprises a rotor including a shaft 19, a housing 21 fitted in the shaft 19, and a rotor frame 23 fixed to the housing 21 with caulking. A Teflon sheet 20 is attached to the housing 21. A hub magnet 22 and a frequency generating (FG) magnet 25 are formed by integral molding with the rotor frame 23. A rotor magnet 24 is attached to the inner surface of the rotor frame 23. A pulse generating (PG) magnet 29 is fitted in a groove formed on the circumferential side face of the FG magnet 25. The top surface of the PG magnet 29 is covered with a shield plate 26 so that leakage of magnetic flux from the PG magnet 29 is minimized.
The DC motor pulse signal generating device also comprises a printed board 30 to which a core 32 and a bearing 34 are fixed with a pin 33. A coil 31 is wound around the core 32. A magnetic sensor 27 for generating magnetic index pulses is also fixed to the printed board 30 through a support of a holder 37 at a position appropriately spaced apart from the circumferential end face of the FG magnet 25. A terminal of the magnetic sensor 27 is fixed to the printed board 30 with a solder 28.
The operation of the conventional DC motor pulse signal generating device with the above-described structure will be described.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main portion of FIG. 5. The magnetic sensor 27 detects a magnetic flux from the PG magnet 29 fitted in the groove of the rotating FG magnet 25 once every rotation thereof. The waveform of the detected flux is shaped through an amplifying circuit and a Schmitt trigger circuit known in the art, so that a pulse signal is generated every rotation.
In the conventional pulse signal generating device, the height T of the FG magnet 25 from the surface of the printed board 30 is restricted to a certain level so that the FG magnet 25 does not hit the magnetic head of an FDD. As a result, the positions of the magnetic center of the PG magnet 29 shown by a reference numeral 35 and the center of the magnetic sensor 27 shown by a reference numeral 36 are not on the same level, but the former is lower than the latter. Accordingly, the strongest magnetic flux generated from the magnet center 35 of the PG magnet 29 is not effectively detected by the center 36 of the magnetic sensor 27. FIGS. 3 and 4 show enlarged views of the PG magnet and the magnetic sensor in perspective, respectively, for reference.
To make the magnetic sensor operative under the above-described condition, it is necessary to use a magnet having a high magnetic energy product, such as samarium cobalt and neodymium iron with a high residual flux density. The use of such magnets results in a cost increase and also leakage of magnetic flux from the PG magnet 29 made of these magnets is increased.
Furthermore, in the conventional pulse signal generating device, the holder 37 is used to fix the magnetic sensor 27 to the printed board 30. This requires additional cost. Moreover, since the magnetic sensor 27 is not provided with a positioning mechanism, it tends to incline itself, and also an air gap G between the magnetic sensor 27 and the PG magnet 29 tends to vary both within a device and between devices. As a result, pulses generated from the magnetic sensor 27 can not be stabilized.
The objective of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive DC motor pulse signal generating device capable of generating stable pulses with reduced leakage of flux.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Disclosed is a method of treating light waveguide ends in which the light waveguide is mechanically polished and thereafter the reflectance of the light waveguide is reduced by vaporizing at least some glass at the light waveguide end by the use of a laser beam.

A method of treating glass light waveguide distal ends to obtain better return loss results was disclosed in commonly assigned U. S. patent application Ser. No. 07/898,653, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,101 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. A method was therein disclosed to mechanically polish the distal end of a glass waveguide thereafter to slightly melt the surface of said distal end to reduce return loss, the preferred means of inducing such melting being a laser.
While the method is described in said former patent achieved and proved results, potential problems remained. Melting the class at the surface of the light waveguide can alter the light waveguide surface geometry, and the degree of melting can be difficult to control. Due to the large amounts of energy needed, undesirable melting and the formation of holes in the light waveguide surface can occur. Another related problem is that of changes to the mode field diameter of the light waveguide due to dopant diffusion.
Therefore, it is believed that an improved method which retains the advantages of the former method while reducing or eliminating some of the disadvantages would be an improvement in the art.

Laser removal of altered index of refraction layer on glass fibers


A cutting insert (1) has an insert body (2) with an upper central clamping surface (3) and a lower clamping surface (4) through which passes an axis of symmetry (A) about which the cutting insert is indexable. The insert body (2) has a pair of opposite and identical cutting end portions (8A,8B) disposed laterally with respect to the upper clamping surface. The cutting end portions (8A,8B) each have a rake surface (9A,9B), a front cutting edge (11A,11B) and side cutting edges (15A,16A,15B,16B). Planes (20A,20B) passing through the midpoints (21A,21B) of the front cutting edges (11A,11B) and being normal thereto are inclined in opposite senses with respect to the axis of symmetry (A) in an end view of the cutting insert. A front cutting edge (11A) has at least two component cutting edges (22A,23A,25A), each pair of adjacent component cutting edges (22A,23A;23A,25A) overlapping via a common bridging section (26A,27A) thereby providing chip splitting means, each component cutting edge (22A,23A,25A) being associated with localized chip control means (27A,29A,30A) including chip breaking means.

In U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,502, there is illustrated and described a double ended cutting insert having an insert body with an upper central clamping surface and a lower clamping surface through which passes an axis of symmetry about which the cutting insert is indexable. A pair of opposite cutting end portions laterally disposed with respect to the upper central clamping surface are each provided with a front cutting edge adapted to cut a chip of the same width as the cutting edge.
In an end view of the cutting insert, planes passing through the midpoints of the front cutting edges and being normal thereto are inclined in opposite senses with respect to its axis of symmetry whereby the projection of one front cutting edge is less than the width of the other front cutting edge when the latter is disposed horizontally so as to maximize its width in a top view of the cutting insert.
By virtue of this construction, together with suitably tapering side surfaces, the cutting insert is particularly adapted for deep face grooving operations, namely, at depths of cut greater than its length. However, up to the present time, such operations are performed at a relatively slow stock removal rate.


A fluorescence sensing device for determining the presence or concentration of an analyte in a liquid or gaseous medium is constructed of a light-emitting diode having a hole generally perpendicular to the P-N junction, such that light is emitted from said junction into said hole. The hole is filled with a fluorescent matrix which is permeable to analyte and which contains fluorescent indicator molecules whose fluorescence is attenuated or enhanced by the presence of analyte. A photodetector is positioned at one end of the hole, such that fluorescent light received from the fluorescent indicator molecules if converted to an electrical signal that may be correlated to the presence or concentration of analyte in a gaseous or liquid medium in contact with the fluorescent matrix.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to an electro-optical sensing device for detecting the presence or concentration of an analyte in a liquid or gaseous medium. More particularly, the invention relates to a fluorescence sensing device which is characterized by an extraordinarily compact size, fast response times and high signal-to-noise ratios.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,313, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes a fluorescence sensing device comprising a layered array of a fluorescent indicator molecule-containing material, a high-pass filter and a photodetector. In this device, a light source, preferably a light-emitting diode ("LED"), is located at least partially within the indicator material, such that incident light from the light source causes the indicator molecules to fluoresce. The high-pass filter allows emitted light to reach the photodetector, while filtering out scattered incident light from the light source.
The fluorescence of the indicator molecules employed in the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,313 is modulated, i.e., attenuated or enhanced by the local presence of the analyte. For example, the orange-red fluorescence of the complex, tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)ruthenium(II) perchlorate is quenched by the local presence of oxygen. This complex can, therefore, advantageously be used as the indicator molecule of an oxygen sensor. Similarly, other indicator molecules whose fluorescence is affected by specific analytes are known.
In the sensor described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,313, the material which contains the indicator molecule is permeable to the analyte. Thus, the analyte can diffuse into the material from the surrounding test medium, thereby affecting the fluorescence emitted by the indicator molecules. The light source, indicator molecule-containing material, high-pass filter and photodetector are configured such that fluorescence emitted by the indicator molecules impacts the photodetector, generating an electrical signal which is indicative of the concentration of the analyte in the surrounding medium.
While the sensing device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,517,313 represents a marked improvement over prior art devices, there remains a need for sensors that are even more compact, less expensive and which have superior sensing characteristics to those described therein. Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improvement to the sensing devices described in the aforementioned patent.


A buckling resistant spring clad bar (BRSCB) assembly is described. The BRSCB assembly includes a plurality of bars arranged to form a perimeter, each of the plurality of bars having a top end and a bottom end. A plurality of springs are provided, wherein at least one of the plurality of springs is wrapped around each of the plurality of bars. A diameter of the at least one of the plurality of spring is greater than a diameter of the each of the plurality of bars. The at least one of the plurality of springs is wrapped around each of the plurality of bars in close contact to provide buckling resistance against a load applied over each of the plurality of bars.

Seismic load resistant buildings are developed to avoid loss incurred due to natural disasters. According to building codes, earthquake-resistant structures are developed so as to withstand strong earthquakes of a certain probability. Avoiding the collapse of a building, in the event of a natural disaster can help minimize the loss of lives. So many natural disaster resistant structures are formed based on the severity of the potential disaster.
Globally, different systems are developed to withstand shaking of the structures with some damage being accepted as collateral. In some structural designs, the base of the building is isolated and in some other cases 'structural vibration control technologies' are utilized in order to reduce the impact of forces and resulting deformations. Commonly displacement control systems are installed for making earthquake resistant buildings. In implicit systems, measures are embedded (ex: reinforced concrete structures with closure spacing of ties in potential damage zones of lateral load resisting elements) and placed externally in explicit systems (seismic resistant bracings in buildings, viscous resistant dampers in vehicles).
The reinforced concrete, an example of implicit system, is usually made of steel reinforcing bars (rebar), tied at closure intervals with lateral reinforcement (hoops) and embedded passively in the concrete before setting. Provision of ties delays buckling of rebar and closure spacing of ties improves the cyclic response ductility up to a limited displacement and specified load drop beyond which structure loses strength at a rapid rate. Hence, there exists a need for improving behavior/performance of implicit systems to achieve improved seismic performance of reinforced concrete buildings.
According to one of the prior arts for the explicit system, which has advantage in compression only, when the core (bar) starts buckling, it establishes contact with the sleeve and induces hoop stress. At higher loads, subject to bending capacity of sleeve, core goes into multiple modes of curvature. There is a need for a system to effectively reduce buckling of the bars to improve response in compression and also exhibit similar resistance to tension to withstand cyclic loads, for example, due to earthquake or seismic event. Further, the optimization in material consumption shall also be the focus.
Therefore, there exists a need in prior art to develop an optimized system for improving cyclic response for both explicit and implicit systems. Such systems that resist cyclic response also form a suitable alternative to needs in related fields such as shock absorption systems/blast/impact resistant systems.


A glass forming system (200) and a method are described herein for forming a glass sheet (230). In one example, the glass forming system and method can use a glass composition with a liquidus viscosity less than 1000 poises to continuously form a glass sheet.

Glass produced in the form of a sheet has a very broad range of uses including being used in architectural applications, automotive applications, liquid crystal display (LCD) applications etc.
Today several glass sheet forming processes are being used to manufacture glass sheets. Each of the glass sheet forming processes has limitations in terms of a working range and product properties which limit the domain of glass compositions that can be used to make glass sheets. One of the main product properties that limit the use of glass compositions is the liquidus temperature. The liquidus temperature corresponds to a practical viscosity below which the glass sheet forming process may not be maintained in continuous conditions.
The fusion draw process has the ability to produce a glass sheet with very good surface qualities, usable for instance in thin-film transistor (TFT) applications without needing prior surface polishing. The fusion drawn glass sheet which has pristine surfaces can be produced in the 0.1 to 3 mm thickness range. The limit of the fusion draw process, considering gravity effects, is that the glass sheet forming must take place with glass that has a viscosity which is higher than 40000 poises. This means that every glass composition which has a liquidus viscosity that is below 40000 poises cannot be practically formed into a glass sheet by utilizing the fusion draw process.
The rolling process produces a glass sheet that has surfaces which have traces of contact between glass and forming rolls. The rolled glass sheet can be produced in the 2 to 50 mm thickness range. The limit of the horizontally oriented version of the rolling process is that the glass sheet forming must take place with a glass that has a viscosity higher than 3000 poises. This means that every glass composition which has a liquidus viscosity that is below 3000 poises cannot be practically formed into a glass sheet by utilizing the horizontally oriented rolling process.
The float process produces a glass sheet which can be very large in size and can be manufactured at extremely high flow rates. The glass sheet which is produced by the float process has pristine surfaces and a thickness in the range of between 0.3 and 10 mm. FIGS. 1A-1B (PRIOR ART) illustrate a traditional float system 100 which has a structure 102 within which a molten glass 104 flows over a lip-stone 106 and free falls onto a liquid tin bath 108 and then flows over the liquid tin bath 108 to form a glass sheet 110. The traditional float system 100 also includes heaters 112 and an atmospheric opening 114. The traditional float system 100 is described in detail within an article by L. A. B. Pilkington "The Float Glass Process", Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., Vol. 314, pp 1-25 (16 Dec. 1969). The contents of this article are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The float process generally works well when used to make glass sheets for architectural and automotive purposes. However, the float process also has a limitation where glass compositions which have a liquidus viscosity around 1000 poises cannot be practically formed into a glass sheet. This limitation occurs because the float process utilizes the lip-stone 106 to deliver the molten glass 104 to the liquid tin bath 108. In general, the lip-stone 106 can continuously spread glass with a viscosity around 3000 poises. However, due to a significant free surface flow on the lip-stone 106 before the molten glass 104 is delivered to the liquid tin bath 108 means that a significant volatization would occur in glass which has a viscosity in the 1000 poises range. This means that every glass composition which has a liquidus viscosity that is below 1000 poises will undergo volatization when formed into a glass sheet by utilizing the current float process. Thus, the float process needs to be adapted to improve the delivery of the molten glass 104 to the liquid tin bath 108 in order to be able to continuously form a glass sheet from a glass composition which has a liquidus viscosity less than 1000 poises. This need and other needs will be satisified by the present invention.

System and method for forming a glass sheet


A method is provided for carrying out proton magnetic resonance thermal analysis measurements. To this end, the method provides locating a sample within a coil forming part of an RF tuned circuit and applying a magnetic field to the sample. The sample is heated in accordance with a predetermined temperature regime. Pulsed RF energy is applied to the coil to generate a pulsed RF electromagnetic field which is applied to the sample. The magnitude of the magnetic field is adjusted to insure that the NMR frequency of the sample is substantially identical to the RF frequency. The resonant frequency of the tuned circuit is adjusted to compensate for temperature induced changes in the tuned circuit components and the sample. The energy of the pulsed RF energy is adjusted to obtain an optimum output from the RF tuned circuit. The RF tuned circuit output is recorded as a function of either time or temperature of the sample. A proton magnetic resonance thermal analyzer is further provided as well as a high temperature heater probe for nuclear magnetic resonance measurements.

It is known to take such NMR measurements with the sample held at, or near, room temperature by use of commercially available equipment known as an NMR spectrometer. One such spectrometer which is commercially available is the BRUKER MINISPEC manufactured by Bruker of Germany. While this device has a price which is within an acceptable range, the device suffers from the disadvantage that the temperature range at which measurements can be taken is limited. As the temperature controlled probes used with this device are water cooled, the maximum temperature at which any measurement can be taken is approximately 100.degree. C.
Another NMR spectrometer which is commercially available is that sold under the trade name MAGNEPULSE PC/AT 2000 by Auburn International Inc. of Danvers, Mass., U.S.A. Again this device operates at a substantially constant temperature.
However, many substance-q such as coal, NYLON, KEVLAR (Registered Trade Marks) and generally any solid, semi-solid or liquid organic material including polymers are desirably subjected to PMRTA. As such substances are heated they undergo various transformations from an initial equilibrium state to a final equilibrium state. The intermediate states are inherently non-equilibrium and transient. Thus, in order to capture information about these intermediate states, the measurement techniques would ideally be instantaneous. In practice this ideal is never met but practical results can be achieved if the time resolution of the in-situ measurement is adequate to monitor phenomena of interest. The NMR properties, which reflect the physical and chemical properties of the substance, are required to be recorded and monitored as a function of temperature and time as the substance is subjected to a controlled temperature program.
The measurement difficulties arise because of the continually changing nature of the properties of the specimen and the measurement equipment during the course of the analysis. For example, the dielectric properties of the specimen, coil resistance, and other electrical properties of the resonant radio frequency (RF) circuit change during the temperature changes. An analogy may be drawn to attempting to take fast exposure photographic snap shots of an object having a variable distance from the lens while the lens itself is changing its shape.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation