A method and product suited to keep track of swimming meet events, heats and lanes. There is a swimming/bathing cap whose inside facing surface is imprinted or stamped with indicia in the form of swimming competition words or abbreviations of such words, namely, “meet, event, heat, lane” with a sufficient space to the right of each indicia for the cap wearer to write in information pertaining to the indicia. The information may be the name of the swimming meet, name of the event, heat number and lane number. Other items of the kit may be an ink body marker and a remover of the mark left by the ink body marker. All may be sealed in a common package. The ink of the ink body marker is resistant to erasure from water submersion.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a swimming meet kit containing items suited to help competitors identify the events, heats and lanes the are scheduled to compete in for a swimming meet. The items may include a body ink marker, a mark remover, and a swimming/bathing cap imprinted on an inside surface with swim competition words or abbreviations of those words, i.e., meet, event, heat and lane. Sufficient spacing is provided to the right of such words or abbreviations for the wearer of the cap to write in information with the body ink marker. A promotional display may also be used.
Discussion of Related Art
According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia:                A swim cap, swimming cap or bathing cap, is a silicone, latex or lycra cap worn on the head by recreational and competitive swimmers.        Caps are worn for various reasons. Some facilities require the wearing of swim caps, in order to protect filters from becoming clogged with loose hairs which fall from the scalp of swimmers who are not wearing a cap. Caps are also sometimes worn in an attempt to keep the hair relatively dry or free from chlorinated water, to keep the sun off of the hair, and also, when a cap is worn with ear plugs, in order to keep water out of the ears. Competitive swim caps are made of tightly fitted silicone, latex, or lycra that hugs the skull of its user, providing cover for his or her hair. This reduces drag in the water caused by loose hair. During longer swimming sessions, a swim cap keeps the head warm.        A swim cap, swimming cap or bathing cap, is a silicone, latex or lycra cap worn on the head by recreational and competitive swimmers.        Caps are worn for various reasons. Some facilities require the wearing of swim caps, in order to protect filters from becoming clogged with loose hairs which fall from the scalp of swimmers who are not wearing a cap. Caps are also sometimes worn in an attempt to keep the hair relatively dry or free from chlorinated water, to keep the sun off of the hair, and also, when a cap is worn with ear plugs, in order to keep water out of the ears. Competitive swim caps are made of tightly fitted silicone, latex, or lycra that hugs the skull of its user, providing cover for his or her hair. This reduces drag in the water caused by loose hair. During longer swimming sessions, a swim cap keeps the head warm.        The English "Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation" states that "one standard swim cap" may be used for official English Channel record swims. The cap must be approved by the official observer who accompanies the swimmer on the pilot boat across the channel. "Standard swim caps" used by English Channel swimmers of record over the years include solid rubber "tank" style swim caps, molded rubber swim caps with chin strap, bubble crepe rubber swim caps with chin strap, silicone swim caps and latex "racing" swim caps. Swim caps that have neoprene within the cap construction such as the "Barracuda Hothead" or are completely made of neoprene are not allowed for record English Channel swims. Several other long distance swims such as the Santa Catalina Channel California swim have similar rules for record swims.
According to WiseGeek at www.wisegeek.com:                A swim cap is a silicone or latex head cover worn by recreational and competitive swimmers. Swim caps are also called bathing caps. Keeping the hair out of the face, protecting hair from chlorine or sea salt and reducing the loss of body heat are said to be some of the benefits of wearing a swim cap. Competitive swim caps are also designed to create less drag or resistance in the water.        Swim caps cover the entire head from the forehead to behind the ears to the nape of the neck. Both the silicone and latex types of swim cap are stretchy and made to adjust to different head sizes. Some swim caps even fit both children and adults. A swim cap is not usually recommended for children under age four. Many children's swim caps feature fun designs in bright colors.        Adult swim caps are also colorful and may feature graphic designs. Silicone caps are usually more vivid in color than latex styles. They also may be more comfortable and last longer than latex swim caps. Also, silicone is a more breathable fabric. A latex swim cap is often less expensive than the silicone variety and may be ideal for occasional use.        Both latex and silicone swim caps tend to tear easily from contact with items such as bobby pins or sharp fingernails. A swim cap may be easier to put on if the hair is wet. Many swim caps don't keep hair totally dry anyway as air pockets may be created in the cap during swimming. Shorter hair is usually easier to manage when wearing a swim cap, but longer hair may fit better in the cap if it is first twisted into a bun.        Women's designer swim caps may feature added embellishments such as flower petals made out of latex or silicone. A swim cap may or may not have a strap under the chin. Competitive swim caps may be printed in team colors and logos, but otherwise are as minimal as possible in design. Like swimsuits, swim caps should be rinsed in cold water after use and hung to dry. Damp swim caps are susceptible to mold and mildew, so a swim cap should always be completely dry before it is stored in a drawer or sports bag.
According to Triathlete Sports at www.triathletesports.com:                Silicone caps were originally invented as an alternative cap for people with latex allergies but over time people began to appreciate silicone for other reason than allergies. There are three main reason why silicone is sometimes preferred over latex, it is longer lasting, non-allergy, and it doesn't pull your hair as much. Latex, on the other hand, is less expensive, doesn't slip off very easily, and is more popular among pro swimmers.        Steps & Tips For Putting A Swim Cap On        1. Hold it down by the sides and bend your head down. The caps are slightly oblong at the opening, hold it so it's longest diameter is running parallel with our head,        2. Start putting the cap on at the forehead and work it on down.        Swimmers with really long hair can pull their hair out to the rear and put their caps on half way. Then twist up the rest and tuck it up inside as evenly and as far up as you can.        If you put long hair into a bun it can be hard to get a swim cap to cover smoothly and tightly as the bun makes the cap stick out into a point, which can cause the sides of the cap to not seal well to keep water out.        You might try a wig cap liner. A wig cap liner looks like a fabric swim cap but is thinner. An old stocking cut off and tied off can make a cheap wig cap liner.        A bit of hair preparation goes a long way to help keep hair under your cap where it can be protected and not sticking outside your swimcap!        If your cap is sticky and drags, try rubbing some corn starch on the inside—it will make your caps so slick!
When worn, the swimming cap has an outward facing side and an inward facing (that faces the wearer's head). The printing of a pattern onto the outward facing side of swimming caps is well known and custom printing is offered commercially. It is also well known to print different patterns onto both facing sides of the swimming cap to render the swimming cap "reversible". If the swimming cap is reversible, the swimming cap may be worn with either of the two reversible faces of the swimming cap facing outward at any one time with the other reversible face facing inward (to face the wearer's head).
Body ink markers are conventional whose colorants are approved for cosmetic use, such as by the Color Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The ink is removed by rubbing the area of the skin marked with the marker with a wash cloth under running water or with a hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol. Body ink markers are commercialized by Take Your Mark Sports LLC. According to their instructions, when using the marker for the first time, the marker should be shaken well to mix the ink. The cap is then removed and the tip should be pressed upon to ensure even ink flow, which is visible as the ink fills the marker tip. It can take 1-2 minutes to fill the tip the first time. If necessary, the tip should be pressed 2-3 times to re-ink the marker. Such a press tip feature keeps the ink separate from the tip to render the marker usable even if the cap is left off. The ink will also come out of most clothes during the wash cycle of a washing machine.
Sealing techniques to seal plastic packages containing items is conventional. Some conventional sealing techniques that are effective include thermal welding, sonic welding, and press-to-seal strips that are reclosable such as ziploc.
The online encyclopedia Wikipedia discusses the dye-sublimation printing process on synthetic fabrics.                The dye-sublimation printing process is used to print on polyester or other synthetic fabrics. It is used for applications such as T-shirts, banners, table covers, id cards, sportswear and flags. The original printers were an electrostatic technology using toners but now are generally large format inkjet printers using specially formulated inks. The dye sublimation inks are a pigment suspended in a liquid solvent, like water. The images are initially printed on coated heat-resistant transfer paper as a reverse image of the final design, which is then transferred onto polyester fabric in a heat press operating at a temperature around 180 to 210 C (375 F). Under high temperature and pressure, the dye turns into a gas and permeates the fabric and then solidifies into its fibers. The fabric is permanently dyed so it can be washed without damaging the quality of the image.        Advantages of dye-sublimation over other methods of textile printing:        Images are permanent and do not peel or fade.        Dye does not build up on the fabric.        Colors can be extraordinarily brilliant due to the bonding of the dye to the transparent fibers of the synthetic fabric.        Truly continuous tones can be achieved that are equivalent to photographs, without the use special techniques such as half-screen printing.        The image can be printed all over the entire item, with no difficulty in printing all the way to the edges.        There are two types of dye sublimation inks available in the market. The most popular one is aqueous dye sublimation ink for use in both desktop and large format printers. The other one is solvent dye sublimation ink that can be used in XAAR, Spectra and Konica printhead wide format printers.
USA Swimming publishes the following information at its website www.usaswimming.org:                As the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States, USA Swimming is a 300,000-member service organization that promotes the culture of swimming by creating opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport through clubs, events and education.        Our membership is comprised of swimmers from the age group level to the Olympic Team, as well as coaches and volunteers. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games, and strives to serve the sport through its core objectives: Build the base, Promote the sport, Achieve competitive success.        USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming. We administer competitive swimming in accordance with the Olympic & Amateur Sports Act. We provide programs and services for our members, supporters, affiliates and the interested public. We value these members of the swimming community, and the staff and volunteers who serve them. We are committed to excellence and the improvement of our sport. We are committed to providing a safe and positive environment for all members.        Listed below are some very in-depth guidelines geared to help you through your first couple of swim meets. It may seem a little overwhelming, but we tried to be as specific and as detailed as we possibly could. If you have any questions, please ask your coach.
BEFORE THE MEET STARTS                Arrive at the pool at least 15 minutes before the scheduled warm-up time begins. This time will be listed in the meet information handed out to all swimmers and also in the team newsletter.        Upon arrival, find a place to put your swimmer's blankets, swim bags and/or sleeping bags. The team usually sits in one place together, so look for some familiar faces.        Find the check-in place. Usually, parents are not allowed on deck so this may be a responsibility of your swimmer or your swimmer's coach. Make sure your swimmer checks in with his or her coach! Check for special posted instructions in the check-in area.        Usually one will need to circle the swimmer's name or "#" before each swimmer's name, in each event he or she is swimming, that day. If this is not done, the swimmer will not be allowed to swim that event. Check-in is required so that the people running the meet know who is actually at the meet. After check-in, the meet administrators "seed" the swimmers into heats. Heat and lane assignments will be posted, so be sure your swimmer knows where to look!        Sometimes the meet is "pre-seeded" and no check-in is required. You and your swimmer can find heat and lane assignments by purchasing a program.        Once "checked in", write or have the swimmers write each event-number on his or her hand in ink. This helps him/her remember what events he/she is swimming and what event number to listen or watch for.        Your swimmer now gets his/her cap and goggles and reports to the pool and/or coach for warm-up instructions. It is very important for all swimmers to warm-up with the team. A swimmer's body is just like a car on a cold day-he/she needs to get the engine going and warmed-up before he/she can go all out.        After warm-up, your swimmer will go back to the area where his/her team is sitting and wait there until his first event is called. This is a good time to make sure he/she goes to the bathroom if necessary, gets a drink, or just gets settled in.        The meet will usually start about 10-15 minutes after warm-ups are over. According to USA Swimming rules (because of insurance purposes), parents are not allowed on deck unless they are serving in an official capacity. Similarly, all questions concerning meet results, an officiating call, or the conduct of a meet, should be referred to a coach. He or she in turn, will pursue the matter through the proper channels.        Psyche Sheet or Heat Sheets. A psyche sheet is usually available for sale in the lobby or concession area of the pool. It lists all swimmers in each event in order of "seed time". When the team entry is sent in, each swimmer and his/her previous best time (up to the date that the entry was submitted) in that event is listed. If the swimmer is swimming an event for the first time, he/she will be entered as a "no-time" or "NT". A "no-time" swimmer will most likely swim in one of the first heats of the event. A Heat sheet may be available close to the start of the meet that lists the actual heat and lane a swimmer will be competing in.
MEET STARTS                It is important for any swimmer to know what event numbers he/she is swimming (again, why they should have the numbers on their hand). He/she may swim right away after warm-up or they may have to wait awhile.        Most meets are computerized. There are generally two ways a swimmer gets to his/her lane:        A swimmer usually reports directly to his/her lane for competition a number of heats before he/she actually swims. Check with your swimmer's coach for specific instructions.        In some novice meets, a swimmer's event number will be called, usually over the loudspeaker, and he/she will be asked to report to the "clerk of course" or "bullpen". Swimmers should report with his/her cap and goggle. Generally, girls events are odd-numbered and boys events are even-numbered. Example: "Event #26, 10-Under Boys, 50 freestyle, report to Clerk of Course." The "Clerk of Course" or "bullpen" area is usually where all swimmers checked in before the warm-up.        The clerk will usually line up all the swimmers and take them down to the pool in correct order. You can expect at least 4-8 heats of each event. The swimmer swims his or her race.        After each swim:        He/she is to ask the timers (people behind the blocks at each lane) his/her time.        Depending on the coaches instructions, the swimmer may be asked to do some recovery swimming if a "warm down" pool or lanes are available. The swimmer should then go immediately to his or her coach. The coach will discuss the swim with each swimmer. Some coaches may wish to talk with the swimmer before her recovery swim.
Generally, the coach follows these guidelines when discussing swims:                Positive comments or praise        Suggestions for improvement        Positive comments        Things you, as a parent, can do after each swim:        Tell him how great he did! The coaching staff will be sure to discuss stroke technique with him. You need to tell him how proud you are and what a great job he did.        Take him back to the team area and relax.        This is another good time to check out the bathrooms, get a drink or something light to eat.        The swimmer now waits until his next event is called and starts the procedure again. When a swimmer has completed all of her events she and her parents get to go home. Make sure, however, you, as a parent, check with the coach before leaving to make sure your swimmer is not included on a relay. It is not fair to other swimmers who may have stayed to swim on a relay where your swimmer is expect ed to be a member and she is not there.        Results are usually posted somewhere in the facility. Awards are often gathered for a team and given to the coach at the end of the meet. The coach will give the awards to the swimmers at a later time.
The Badger Junior Team has always been a highly successful USS club, both in the Metropolitan area and nationally, consistently producing nationally ranked Top 10 swimmers as well as Top 10 relays. Badger junior swimmers have gone on to be State, Sectional and Regional Champions, World champions, NCAA and Olympic champions. Head Junior team Coach Kip Fierro, who is the inventor of the present patent application, has been active with Badger for forty years, first as an alumnus of John Collins and then as Badger Age Group Head Coach for over twenty-five years. He has been the Head Coach of the New Rochelle High School team for twelve years, was Head Coach at the New York Athletic Club for eighteen years and Head Coach at Coveleigh Club for three years.
As a result of his decades of swim meet experience and knowledge of the running of swim meets, the inventor has made some observations about swim meets that follow the USA Swimming guidelines.
Children competing in the swimming meet competition is primarily responsible to figure out which event he/she is competing in, which heats for each event he/she is competing in and which lane for each heat he/she is assigned to swim in. Generally, the information is unavailable until shortly before the swim meet starts, because the swimming heat data schedule for each event's heat and lane assignments is adjusted on the day of the competition to take into account no-shows, i.e, swimmers who were scheduled to compete in the swimming meet that day, but did not show up on time prior to commencement of the swimming meet.
Children competing in the swimming meet competition find it necessary to continuously ask their swimming coaches for help in identifying, from the swimming meet schedule, which event they are scheduled to compete in and their heat and lane number assignments. Although they may write the applicable heat and lane numbers on their bodies with a body ink marker, the children competing in the swimming meet competition still check the swimming heat data schedule and/or ask their swimming coaches to verify their heat and lane assignments for each scheduled event they are to compete in. While one might contend that such verification is unnecessary since they wrote the pertinent information on their bodies, the reality is that the children still do seek to verify event, heat and lane information from the posted swimming heat data schedule and from their swimming coaches. Perhaps the children in the competition simply do not trust their interpretation of what information they wrote on their bodies since they are the ones that are charged solely with interpreting what is written. Since multiple heat and lane assignments are involved in their writing and that needs to be correlated with the events they are scheduled to compete it, perhaps the manner in which the information is written on their bodies lends itself to multiple interpretations as to which event, heat and lane information is being identified by what they wrote.
Making a mistake as to the assigned heat and lane number for a scheduled event can have adverse consequences for the child in the swimming competition. For instance, if the child is at the wrong end of the swimming pool when his/her heat is called, the child misses the heat and may have no further recourse to be in the competition for that event. If the child is in a swimming lane assigned to a different child competitor who is late getting there, then the child become aware at the last moment about the mistake from the different child competitor and both children may undergo some stress as a result before competing due to the mix-up in lane assignments. If the child swims in the wrong lane, then the child may or may not be properly credited with having swum in the heat and the competition records may need to be corrected later thereby creating some stress on the meet officials as well the parents. Indeed, swimming coaches, parents and meet officials are under stress during swimming meets as a consequence of the practice of relying upon children to write event/heat/lane assignments on their bodies and to interpret the information written on their bodies so that the children be on time at the right event, right heat and right lane.
The present inventor believes there is a better way to help swimmers be informed as to what their events, heats and lanes are other than by relying upon children to mark their hands and arms with the correct information and relying upon them to interpret what they wrote down. The present inventor that such a better way would relieve stress for coaches, parents and meet officials as well as swimmers, because fewer swimmers would miss their races and would be on time to race in their assigned lanes in the heats for their events.

Method of and swim cap product for keeping track of scheduled swim meet events, heats and lanes


A sacrificial anode assembly. The sacrificial anode assembly includes a sacrificial anode, an insulator positioned around an end of the anode, an electric coupler positioned around the insulator and extending beyond the end of the anode, the electric coupler electrically isolated from the anode, a resistor having a first lead and a second lead, the first lead electrically connected to the anode and the second lead electrically connected to the electric coupler, and a cap positioned around the electric coupler, the cap electrically connected to the electric coupler and electrically isolated from the anode. The cap complete encapsulates the resistor, the first lead, and the second lead.

Corrosion is an electrochemical process involving an anode, an electrolyte, and a cathode. When a piece of metal corrodes, the electrolyte provides charged hydrogen ions and hydroxide molecules to the metal. Corrosion occurs as the charged hydroxide ions combine with the metal, metallic hydroxides are created and metal is liberated into the electrolyte. Electrons are released into the metal by this reaction. A balancing cathodic reaction also occurs when the hydrogen ions flow through the electrolyte to the cathode, electrons are released from the metal and hydrogen gas is formed. These reactions involve a transfer of charge and therefore the sum of the electrons released by the corrosion of steel and aluminum (anodic reactions) must be consumed by the hydrogen evolution (cathodic reaction).
A cathodic protection system is implemented in water heaters to prevent corrosion of the water heater tank. The cathodic protection system includes an anode rod, which is electrically connected to the metal water heater tank. The anode rod is comprised of a metal, such as aluminum, magnesium, zinc, or other alloy that is more active than the metal tank of the water heater. The water heater tank is generally comprised of glass coated steel.
When water is introduced into the water heater tank, a galvanic circuit is created between the metal tank (and/or connectors) and the anode rod. As a result, electrical current flows from the anode, to the cathode, and ions flow through the water to complete the circuit between the anode and cathode, thus, the anode rod begins to corrode. The water supply may be modeled as a resistor within the electrical circuit. If the water supply has a high mineral content, the resistance through the water is low and current flow will increase, resulting in a corresponding increase in the consumption of the anode rod.
The addition of a resistor in the galvanic circuit can reduce the consumption time of the anode. Current resistored anodes, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,256,267 and 5,334,299 issued to Roden, are relatively difficult to assemble and the assembly is fragile. The exposed solder connection of the first lead of the resistor to the metal cap is susceptible to damage during installation in a water heater and during shipping and handling of the water heater and/or anode assembly. A fragile resistor connection can be broken, and can result in a loss of the connection of the anode to the water heater tank, resulting in accelerated corrosion failure of the water heater tank.


A system for providing a service comprising: —a service provisioning control means adapted for identifying a user, and for providing services to said user; the system further comprising: —a location information retrieval means adapted for receiving location information of user; and for identifying a local service delivery system; —an available service pack information retrieval means adapted for retrieving available service pack information corresponding to local service delivery system, the available service pack information comprising information about the set of possible services which can be delivered to user by local service delivery system; and wherein service provisioning control means is adapted for —selecting a subset of services of available service pack information corresponding, based on at least a set of priority rules; and for —providing at least one of subset of services to the user; and associated methods and devices.

Today, many types of service interfaces and service systems exist for providing services to a person. These service interfaces are adapted to be suitable for an "average" person. For instance many hotels have television screens in each room, on which service menus and service options are displayed and which can be selected by the user by means of a remote control.
One who regularly travels needs to get acquainted with the interface every time and needs to find his way in the menus. Moreover the command needs to be present, manipulated, needs batteries, may be complex in use, may not be visible under low illumination conditions, and cannot be used by blind people.
Some of these issues occur as well in home entertainment systems based on television.
There is a need for methods and systems which make the interaction with local service delivery systems more comfortable and straight forward.

Methods and systems for service delivery


A method of applying a multi-component coating of a desired composition over a substrate includes providing a coating device in flow communication with a first coating component having a first rheological profile and at least one second coating component having a second rheological profile. The method further includes defining a desired ratio of the first and at least one second coating components to provide a coating of a desired composition, and selecting the rheological profiles of the first and at least one second coating components such that the coating components are supplied at a desired ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to a method and apparatus for applying a multi-component coating of a desired composition over a substrate and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for applying a multi-component refinish coating over an automotive substrate.
2. Technical Considerations
Automotive refinish coatings are used to cover damaged areas of a vehicle in order to restore the original appearance of the vehicle. Conventional refinish coatings are typically supplied to automotive repair shops in the form of multi-package systems. An example of one such system is a two-package system, with one package containing a polymeric material and the other package containing a catalyst or curing agent. When a refinish coating is to be applied onto an automotive substrate, the components in the separate packages are mixed together, typically at a particular ratio specified by the coating manufacturer, and the mixed coating composition is placed into a container. The container is connected to a coating device, such as a pneumatic spray gun, and the mixed coating composition is spray applied onto the automotive substrate.
While generally acceptable for most automotive refinish operations, this conventional refinish coating method does have some drawbacks. For instance, after mixing the separate components together, the pot-life of the resultant coating composition is typically limited to only about 30 minutes. By "pot-life" is meant the time within which the coating composition must be used before the coating composition becomes too viscous to be applied due to cross-linking or curing. Also, since most refinish coating jobs need only cover a relatively small area of a vehicle, the separate packages typically do not contain a large amount of the respective coating components. Therefore, for larger jobs, several different batches of the coating composition must be consecutively prepared and applied. This batch mixing increases the time required to coat a large substrate and requires the coating process to be intermittently stopped and started while batches of the coating composition are mixed. As will be appreciated by one skilled in the refinish coating art, it would be advantageous to increase the curing speed of the coating composition to decrease the curing time of the applied coating composition so that the applied coating could be more quickly sanded or further coatings applied. However, increasing the curing speed would also disadvantageously decrease the pot-life of the mixed coating composition.
In an attempt to alleviate some of these problems, spray devices have been developed in which specific amounts of the separate coating components are mechanically metered to the spray device to provide a desired coating composition. Examples of known coating dispensers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,405,083; 4,881,821; 4,767,025; and 6,131,823. While generally acceptable, the mechanical pumping and metering equipment required to accurately meter specific amounts of the coating components to the spray device add to the overall cost of the system. Moreover, the metering equipment must be regularly checked and maintained to ensure that it is in proper working order to accurately supply the required amounts of the coating components to the spray device.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the automotive refinish coating art, it would be advantageous to provide a method and/or apparatus for applying a multi-component coating onto a substrate which reduces or eliminates at least some of the drawbacks of known coating application systems.

Method and apparatus for mixing and applying a multi-component coating composition


A cryogenic air separation process and method in which air is cooled and after compression and purification then rectified in a rectification column to produce an oxygen rich liquid. An argon-oxygen stream containing liquid lean in nitrogen is separated to form oxygen and argon streams. Argon vapor is condensed to supply reflux to the argon column. An oxygen rich liquid stream is expanded to a pressure at which the oxygen rich liquid is at or below the condensation temperature of the argon vapor and is then vaporized against condensing the argon vapor. The vaporized oxygen rich liquid is then introduced into a nitrogen stripper column and nitrogen is stripped therefrom by a stripper gas to produce the argon-oxygen liquid which is introduced into the argon column. The nitrogen stripper column is regulated to operate at a predetermined pressure range so that the entry level at which oxygen enters the nitrogen stripper column has a pressure level no greater than the pressure of the oxygen rich liquid after expansion. Argon is removed from the top of the argon column as a product. The process and apparatus can be operated to produce high purity argon vapor or liquid very lean in nitrogen and oxygen with the use of trays and/or structured packing as liquid contacting mass transfer elements in the columns. Additionally, high purity oxygen and nitrogen products can also be produced by such process and apparatus.

The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for cryogenically separating air to produce high purity argon. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a process and apparatus employing a three column distillation system in which argon is produced in an argon column having a sufficient number of theoretical stages to produce the high purity argon as a product.
Conventionally, argon is separated from air in a three column distillation system which consists of a high pressure column, a low pressure column and an argon column. In such a system, the high pressure column produces an oxygen rich liquid, the low pressure column further refines the oxygen rich liquid to produce an argon enriched mixture as a vapor, and the argon column refines the argon enriched mixture to produce crude argon as a tower overhead. In order to provide reflux for the argon column, a stream of the crude argon is condensed in a head condenser by a subcooled and expanded stream of the oxygen rich liquid from the high pressure column.
The crude argon contains oxygen and nitrogen which must be removed to produce high purity argon. Therefore, the crude argon is upgraded, generally through catalytic combustion to remove the oxygen followed by adsorbers to remove formed water and further distillation to remove nitrogen.
Theoretically, it is possible to increase the number of stages of separation within the argon column to enhance the separation of argon and oxygen. However, at least with argon columns employing trays or plates, this is not practical because the resultant pressure drop would lower the condensation temperature of the crude argon and therefore raise the degree of expansion required of the oxygen enriched liquid such that the oxygen enriched liquid would be at too low a pressure to flow into the low pressure column. The operating pressure range of the low pressure column cannot not be reduced to accommodate such a highly expanded oxygen enriched liquid because the crude argon feed flows from the low pressure column to the argon column under impetus of the pressure of the low pressure column.
There are prior art three column plants that are designed with a sufficient number of theoretical stages in the argon column to separate oxygen from the argon to an extent that catalytic combustion is not required in the upgrading of the crude argon. An example of this can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,145 in which 150 theoretical stages are employed in an argon rectification column utilizing low pressure drop packings. The use of such packings prevents the excessive pressure drop that would otherwise occur with plates or trays.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,790 is an example of cryogenic rectification process and apparatus in which both oxygen and nitrogen concentrations are directly reduced so that a high purity argon product can be withdrawn directly from the argon column without subsequent catalytic and distillation stages. In this patent, the low pressure column is operated with a sufficient number of theoretical stages (provided by structured packing) such that the nitrogen concentration in the feed to the argon column is less than 50 parts per million. Since less nitrogen is being fed to the argon column, there will be a lower concentration of nitrogen in the argon produced in the argon column. In order to remove the oxygen, the argon column can be fabricated with structured packing to provide approximately 150 theoretical stages, as called for in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,145, to effect the degree of oxygen separation required for the production of the high purity argon product.
The prior art patents, discussed above, both depend on the use of a low pressure drop packing in at least the argon column to prevent excessive pressure drop. As will be discussed, the present invention provides a process and apparatus for producing a high purity argon product directly from the argon column that does not depend on structured packing for its operability. In fact, both the argon and low pressure columns can be conventionally designed with sieve trays, a low pressure drop packing or any other type of liquid-gas contact device or any combination thereof. Further advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following discussion.

Cryogenic air separation process and apparatus


According to a structure herein, parallel fins comprise channel regions and source and drain regions. Parallel gate conductors are over and intersecting the channel regions of the fins. Electrical insulator material surrounds sides of the gate conductors. Each of the fins has a main fin body and wider regions extending from the main fin body between the electrical insulator material surrounding the sides of the gate conductors. The wider regions comprise a first wider region extending a first width from the main fin body and a second wider region extending a second width from the main fin body. The material of the second wider region is continuous between adjacent fins.

The present disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit device design, and more specifically, to a layout for a field effect transistor (FET) device with a multiple fins that are tapered and have merged regions.
Multi-fingered field effect transistors (FETs) are widely used in various integrated circuit applications. Multi-finger transistor layouts are widely used in CMOS circuit designs. Compared with single-finger transistor layout, its main features include effectiveness in reducing circuit physical size, reducing gate resistance (and thus improve the RF performance of the FET), and improving device matching. One FinFET architecture employs the 'merging' of source/drain regions of fins to arrive at planar-like contact rules/processes. This merged region adds to gate-to-drain (and source) capacitance, which increases circuit delay and power, both elements highly undesirable. This disclosure teaches a structure and method to reduce this deleterious capacitance in a merged Fin architecture.


In this optical disk device, a reflected light of a light beam reflected from a pre-pit-formed side of a track wobbled on a disk is detected as a first detection signal. A reflected light of the light beam reflected from the other side of the track is detected as a second detection signal. The first detection signal and/or the second detection signal are/is amplified with a gain(s) so set that a peak value of a wobble signal component of the first detection signal coincides with a bottom value of a wobble signal component of the second detection signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an optical disk device, and more particularly, to an optical disk device causing a light beam to be projected intermittently with different powers.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disk device. FIG. 2 is an illustration for explaining a structure of an optical disk.
An optical disk device 100 shown in FIG. 1 is a DVD-R drive, for example; a DVD-R disk 40 is mounted thereon so that the optical disk device 100 records/reproduces information to/from the DVD-R disk 40.
On the DVD-R disk 40, as shown in FIG. 2, a wobble 40b is formed along a track 40a to/from which information is recorded/reproduced. The wobble 40b is so formed as to undulate in radial directions of the disk at a predetermined cycle. By reproducing the wobble 40b, a disk revolution control signal, a pre-pit detection gate signal and so forth are obtained.
Additionally, on the DVD-R disk (or a DVD-RW disk), an address on the disk is recorded as LPPs (land pre-pits) pre-pitted on the land (the track) 40a.
The optical disk device 100 comprises an optical system 41, a spindle motor 42, a sled motor 43, a laser driver 44, a front monitor 45, an ALPC (Auto Laser Power Control) circuit 46, a recording compensation circuit 47, a wobble signal processing unit 48, an RF amplifier 49, a focus/tracking servo circuit 50, a feed servo circuit 51, a spindle servo circuit 52, a DVD encode/decode circuit 53, RAMs 56 and 58, an interface/buffer controller 59, and a CPU 60; the optical disk device 100 records/reproduces information according to a command from a host computer 61.
The spindle motor 42 is driven by the spindle servo circuit 52 so as to cause the disk 40 to revolve at a predetermined revolving speed. The optical system 41 is positioned opposite the disk 40. The optical system 41 includes a laser diode and a quadripartite photodetector. The optical system 41 projects a laser light on the disk 40 so as to record information on the disk 40, and also outputs a reproduction signal corresponding to recorded information according to a light reflected from the disk 40. The quadripartite photodetector is divided in four zones of A, B, C and D, for example. As shown in FIG. 2, the zone A detects a portion of the reflected light of a laser beam LB, the portion being located at an outer side, i.e., at an arrow-A1 side, and at a scanning-direction side of the laser beam LB, i.e., at an arrow-B1 side. As shown in FIG. 2, the zone B detects a portion of the reflected light of the laser beam LB, the portion being located at an inner side, i.e., at an arrow-A2 side, and at the scanning-direction side of the laser beam LB, i.e., at the arrow-B1 side.
As shown in FIG. 2, the zone C detects a portion of the reflected light of the laser beam LB, the portion being located at the inner side, i.e., at the arrow-A2 side, and at a non-scanning-direction side of the laser beam LB, i.e., at an arrow-B2 side. As shown in FIG. 2, the zone D detects a portion of the reflected light of the laser beam LB, the portion being located at the outer side, i.e., at the arrow-A1 side, and at the non-scanning-direction side of the laser beam LB, i.e., at the arrow-B2 side.
The optical system 41 is controlled by the sled motor 43 and the focus/tracking servo circuit 50 in positioning the light beam LB projected on the disk.
The above-mentioned sled motor 43 is driven and controlled by the feed servo circuit 51 so as to cause a carriage composing the optical system 41 to move in the radial directions of the disk 40. The focus/tracking servo circuit 50 drives and controls a focus and tracking actuator (not shown in the figure) of the optical system 41 so as to perform a focus/tracking control.
The reproduction signal reproduced by the optical system 41 is supplied to the RF amplifier 49. The RF amplifier 49 amplifies the reproduction signal. A primary signal of the reproduction signal is supplied to the DVD encode/decode circuit 53, and is decoded thereby. Additionally, various servo signals are extracted and output to each of the servo circuits.
The RAM 56 is used as a working storage for processes in the DVD encode/decode circuit 53. The interface/buffer controller 59 exchanges data with the host computer 61, and controls a data buffer. The RAM 58 is used as a working storage for the interface/buffer controller 59.
The CPU 60 controls the optical disk device 100 as a whole according to commands from the host computer 61.
On an optical disk, such as the DVD-R disk, the wobble is formed beforehand along the track that is to be formed so as to record information. By detecting this wobble, a wobble signal is reproduced. Additionally, on the disk, the pre-pits are formed on the land. By reproducing these pre-pits, information, such as an address representing a disk position is obtained. In this course, in order to obtain accurate information, such as an address, a pre-pit signal needs to be converted accurately into digital data.
Besides, the LPP needs to be read out accurately also before recording, during recording, and after recording.
At this point, a description will be given of a method of detecting the pre-pits.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a conventional pre-pit detecting method.
To detect the pre-pits, [(Sa+Sd)−(Sb+Sc)] is obtained, first, assuming that a detection signal in the zone A shown in FIG. 2 is Sa, that a detection signal in the zone B is Sb, that a detection signal in the zone C is Sc, and that a detection signal in the zone D is Sd. In FIG. 3, a solid line represents a waveform of (Sa+Sd), and a dashed line represents a waveform of (Sb+Sc).
Next, by comparing a waveform of [(Sa+Sd)−(Sb+Sc)] with a predetermined level L11 as a threshold value, the LPP is detected. However, during recording, a power of the laser beam LB fluctuates in a pulse form according to information being recorded. This fluctuation becomes noises which impede the detection of the LPP.
FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 illustrate how the fluctuation of the power of the laser beam LB impedes the detection of the LPP. In FIG. 4, a solid line represents the waveform of (Sa+Sd), and a dashed line represents the waveform of (Sb+Sc). FIG. 5 represents the waveform of [(Sa+Sd)−(Sb+Sc)].
In FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the power of the laser beam is at a write power level at times t1 and t2, and the power of the laser beam is at a read power level at a time t3.
At the times t1 and t2, since the pre-pits are detected with the write power level, the pre-pits are clearly distinguished from surroundings; accordingly, signal levels at the pre-pits are prominent. At the time t3, since the laser beam at the read power level is projected on the pre-pit, a detection signal level becomes smaller than the detection signal levels that are detected when the laser beam at the write power level is projected on the pre-pits. Accordingly, there has been a risk that the detection signal of the pre-pit at the time t3 may become undetectable being buried in the levels of wobble signals detected with the write power level.
As a solution therefor, there has been proposed a technology described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-283638. In the technology described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-283638, the LPP is detected at a gate timing of a sample-and-hold circuit, etc.
However, since the technology described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-283638 necessitates the gate timing of the sample-and-hold circuit, etc., a control therefor is complicated. Additionally, there is a problem that noises occur due to the sampling-and-holding. Further, there is a problem that the sampling-and-holding becomes difficult to perform as a recording speed becomes higher.

Optical disk device setting a gain of an amplifier so that a peak value and a bottom value of wobble signal components coincide


A method of generating a virtual internal combustion engine vibration in an electric vehicle includes collecting driving variable information, determining a virtual internal combustion engine vibration characteristic on the basis of the collected driving variable information, determining a vibration torque command having the determined virtual engine vibration characteristic, determining a final motor torque command using a basic motor torque command determined from the collected driving variable information and the determined vibration torque command, and controlling the operation of a vehicle driving motor according to the determined final motor torque command.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
As is well known, an electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that operates using a motor. The drive system of such an electric vehicle includes a motor provided as a vehicle driving source, a battery connected to the motor in a chargeable or dischargeable manner to supply power to drive the motor, an inverter connected to the battery to drive and control the motor, and a reducer reducing and transmitting the rotational force to drive wheels.
Here, the inverter serves to convert the direct current (DC) supplied from the battery to alternating current (AC) and apply AC to the motor via a power cable during the driving of the motor, and to convert AC generated from the motor to DC and supply DC to the battery, charging the battery.
In a conventional electric vehicle, unlike a conventional internal combustion engine vehicle, a multi-stage transmission is not used, and instead a reducer using a fixed gear ratio is disposed between the motor and the driving wheels. This is because unlike the internal combustion engine (ICE), in which a distribution range of energy efficiency is wide depending on the operating point and high torque is offered only in the high-speed region, in the case of a motor, the difference in energy efficiency from the operating point is relatively small and low speed and high torque can be realized only by the characteristics of the motor alone.
In addition, for a vehicle equipped with a conventional internal combustion engine drive system, a transmission mechanism such as a torque converter or a clutch because of the characteristics of an internal combustion engine that cannot be driven at a low speed is desired. However, the electric vehicle drive system can eliminate such a transmission mechanism because the motor is ready to be driven at a low speed. Due to this mechanical difference, electric vehicles can provide smooth driving without interruption in drivability due to shifting, unlike internal combustion engine vehicles.
In the meantime, the main vibration source in a vehicle equipped with a conventional internal combustion engine drive system is an engine (internal combustion engine). The vibration generated by the periodic explosive power in the engine in the start-on situation is transmitted to the vehicle body and passengers through a drive system or a mount. Often these vibrations are considered negative factors to be damped. In this respect, since a vibration source does not exist in an electric vehicle in which a motor replaces an engine, the electric vehicle is more advantageous than an internal combustion engine vehicle in terms of improving ride comfort.
However, for drivers who enjoy driving, the absence of vibrations from the engine can make them feel bored. In particular, an electric vehicle with a characteristic that aims for high performance is desired to offer a harsh and trembling effect, not just a soft feeling. However, in the case of the conventional motor control method in an electric vehicle, such effect may not be provided to the driver.

Method of generating virtual vibration effect of internal combustion engine in electric vehicle


The present invention provides a method for treating the wafer surface, suitable for removing residues on the wafer surface. The method includes forming a photo-sensitive material layer over the wafer surface covering the bumps and the under bump metallurgy layer on the wafer surface. Using the bumps as masks, the photo-sensitive material layer is exposed and developed, to expose the wafer surface between the bumps. A wet etching process is then performed to remove residues on the exposed wafer surface and then the remained photo-sensitive material layer is removed. Therefore, no residues remain on the wafer surface, and the yield of the bumps is increased.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for treating a surface of a wafer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for removing residues on the surface of the wafer.
2. Description of Related Art
In the semiconductor industry, the manufacturing of integrated circuits (ICs) can be categorized as three stages: wafer production, IC fabrication and IC packaging. In general, the wafer is fabricated into chips through layout design, lithography/etching and wafer scribing. After completing the integrated circuits of the wafer, a plurality of bonding pads are formed on the active surface of the wafer and a passivation layer is formed to cover the active surface. The bonding pads exposed by the passivation layer are electrically connected to the external medium, for example, a package substrate or a circuit board. Taking the flip chip package as an example, after forming the bonding pads, bumps are formed on the wafer surface to electrically and mechanically connect the external package substrate or the circuit board. After the formation of bumps, the wafer is scribed into individual chip packages. Since bumps have high reliability and are arranged on the bonding pads in arrays, they are suitable to be applied in high-density flip chip packages, including flip chip/ball grid array packages.
FIGS. 1A–1G are cross-sectional display views illustrating a conventional fabrication process for forming bumps. Referring to the FIG. 1A, a wafer 110 having an active surface 112 is provided. The wafer includes bonding pads 116 and a passivation layer 114 on the active surface 112. The bonding pads 116 are exposed through openings 118 of the passivation layer 114, so that the wafer can be electrically connected to the external circuit (not shown) through the exposed bond pads.
Referring to FIG. 1B, a metal layer 130 is formed over the active surface 112 of the wafer 110, for enhancing adhesion. The metal layer 130 is a composite layer formed by either sputtering or evaporation. The material of the metal layer 130 includes titanium, tungsten, chromium, nickel, copper and the alloys thereof.
After forming the metal layer 130 on the active surface 112 of the wafer 110, a plurality of bumps are formed on the bonding pads 116 by either electroplating or screen printing.
Taking electroplating as an example, the following steps are described in FIGS. 1C–1E.
As shown in FIG. 1C, a photoresist layer 140 is formed on the metal layer 130. After lithography and developing, the photoresist layer 140 is patterned to form a plurality of openings 142 therein, while openings 142 expose a portion of the metal layer 130.
Referring to FIGS. 1D–1E, the openings 142 are filled by solder paste to form a plurality of solder (bump) paste globs 150 within the openings 142 by electroplating. The location of each solder paste glob 150 (opening) corresponds to the location of each bonding pad 116. Afterwards, the photoresist layer 140 is removed, leaving a portion of metal layer 130 between the solder paste globs 150 being exposed.
Referring to FIGS. 1F–1G, using the solder paste globs as an etching mask, a wet etching process is performed to removed the exposed metal layer 130 between the solder paste globs 150, thus forming an under bump metallurgy (UBM) layer 132. Next, a reflow step is performed, so that the solder paste glob 150 becomes a globular bump 152.
However, as shown in FIG. 1E, if some photoresist 134 is not completely removed but remained on the metal layer 130 between the solder paste globs 150, the remained photoresist 134 will cause problems in the subsequent wet etching process. Because the remained photoresist 134 covers the underlying portion of the metal layer 130, the exposed metal layer 130 between the solder paste globs 150 can not be completely removed during the wet etching process and residual metal 136 stays on the passivation layer 114 between the globs 150. The residual metal can deteriorate the yield of the wafer. On the other hand, if the wet etching process is prolonged to remove the residual metal entirely, undercut of the UBM layer 132 may occur, which likewise decreases reliability for the flip-chip packages. Therefore, it is important to remove residues of the UBM layer without degrading the UBM layer.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


A gas burner operation monitoring apparatus for enabling convenient diagnosis of gas burner and control problems. The invention is a temporarily attached device that collects and stores information concerning the key functions indicative of a gas burner's operation. If a fault occurs, the apparatus generates a signal to indicate to a downstream microprocessor, if such is connected, that a problem has occurred. This eliminates the need for the technician to randomly replace parts until the problem is located. The system monitors the status of the thermostat or aquastat; the presence and the level of voltage being sent to the main gas valve; the pressure of gas at the inlet and outlet of the main gas valve and either the temperature on the outside of the vent stack pipe or the presence and quality of flame at the main gas burner. The device also provides a signal in the event of a fault that can be connected to a downstream microprocessor that, in turn, can activate various warning devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to diagnostic tools for gas burners.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a need to log events that occur during the operation of a gas burner when there is an intermittent problem that causes the gas burner primary control to cycle to a safety standby condition.
Presently, the only method for a repair technician to diagnose and repair such an intermittent problem is to replace one part of the gas burner system each time there is a malfunction.
Occasionally, proper operation of a gas burner is interrupted by an intermittent condition that causes the burner to go to a condition, variously called safety standby, safety lockout, or to "go out on safety." When this occurs, manual resetting of the gas burner primary control by either the resident or a service technician is required. This condition can be caused by a faulty part in the gas burner, a faulty gas burner primary control, fuel delivery problems, or an improperly operating igniter assembly.
When the service technician arrives, the intermittent condition causing the safety lockout may or may not be still present. The gas burner may operate satisfactorily for several days, only to go to a safety lockout again when the intermittent condition reoccurs. This frustrating sequence can occur several times as presently the only method of diagnosis and repair available is to replace one part after another and wait to see if the problem reoccurs again. This process can take several days or weeks and throughout this period, the resident of the property is unsure whether the heating system of the building is reliable and whether any absence coincidental to such an occurrence will result in significant damage to the building due to freezing conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,527, issued to Price et al. on Nov. 5, 1991, discloses a monitoring system directed to controlling safety aspects of burners. This is done by referencing real time conditions relative to reference standards. The system does not disclose or suggest the need for monitoring an historical record of operation or the necessary structure to accomplish such monitoring or is suitable for use with low voltage on/off thermostats found on residential gas burners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,739, issued to Bartels et al. on Oct. 5, 1993, discloses an apparatus for sensing the operating condition of a burner system. Bartels et al. teaches a temperature sensor mounting within the exhaust flue and providing a temperature signal encoding the temperature of the combustion gases within the flue. Bartels does not measure the outside of the flue pipe nor utilize a light sensitive cell to indicate burner status (on or off). Bartels et al. uses the measured temperature level of the actual flue gases to evaluate heating system performance including efficiency at various fuel firing rates. Bartels et al. teaches monitoring gradual changes in the flue gas temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,142, issued to Lipchak et al. on Apr. 2, 1991, discloses a sensor system for communicating to a control section which compares the signals to a standard and then sounds a warning if there is significant deviation.
A system that logs the data history of residential gas burners, accurately recording the history of events as they occurred so that the record can be viewed for diagnosis of the problem is not taught in the prior art.

Gas burner monitor and diagnostic apparatus


The invention relates to a novel kind of anthranilic acid compound that releases a UG as a function of chemical bond cleavage according to Formula (I):Q-(AAS)-UGwhere UG is an useful group and is chemically bonded to (AAS); (AAS) is an anthranilic acid switching group; and Q is a group in which the bond to (AAS) is broken so that the -(AAS)-UG fragment subsequently decomposes to the free UG.

In many processes, such as in a chemical process, it is desirable to have a specific chemical moiety, group or fragment available so that it can provide a beneficial and useful effect. These are called useful groups (UG). However, in some cases, the useful group cannot be directly present in the system or process but must be incorporated as a precursor group in a precursor compound. In such a compound the active part (useful group) that causes the useful effect is chemically blocked or is otherwise unavailable and then is converted or de-blocked into its active form at some point after the process has begun. Often, it is desirable that this conversion or de-blocking occurs as a function of cleavage of a specific chemical bond within the precursor compound. In such cases, there is an unstable intermediate group (sometimes referred to as a blocking group) that chemically connects the UG to that part of the molecule where the bond is broken during the process. After the bond is broken, the intermediate subsequently decomposes to release the UG.
For example, processes are known where reducing bacteria are added to a redox carrier that contains a blocked and shifted dye. The bacteria reduce the redox carrier to a form where the dye is released and provides optical density in a region different from its blocked form. Thus, an increase in optical density is a measure of the number or strength of reducing bacteria. In this example, the UG is the released dye and the redox carrier serves as a kind of chemical switch that causes the conversion of the inactive UG (the blocked dye) into its useful form as a function of a broken chemical bond (due to the bacteria). There are many different kinds of blocking groups that are known to release UGs under specific conditions or process.
As a particular example, it is well known in the photographic art to use compounds that upon reaction with oxidized developer (Dox) release various types of photographically useful groups (PUGs) in an imagewise fashion. There are many known ways to accomplish the release of a PUG upon reaction with Dox.
For example, the PUG can be chemically attached directly to the site of reaction with Dox such that the bond connecting the PUG to the rest of the compound is broken and the free PUG fragment released. Alternatively, the PUG can be attached to the rest of the compound indirectly through the use of an unstable intermediate group. Upon reaction with Dox, the unstable intermediate group still bearing the PUG is released and the free PUG fragment is then produced only after a subsequent decomposition step. It should be noted that reaction with Dox to release a PUG could be either via coupling (in which the oxidized developer becomes chemically bound to part of the compound) or via a redox reaction (in which the oxidized developer is reduced and the compound oxidized).
In the photographic art, these unstable intermediate groups that connect a PUG to a site of reaction with Dox are commonly referred to as timing or switching groups. These unstable groups have also been occasionally described as linking groups, but the term "linking group" is more correctly applied to intermediate groups that are stable and remain part of the PUG after reaction with Dox.
The function of these timing groups is widely varied and depends heavily on the requirements of the photographic use, the nature of the PUG and concerns over other issues such as rate of reaction with Dox, long-term keeping and synthesis. For example, it is often desirable for the timing group to decompose slowly on the development timescale so the -(timing group)-PUG complex can diffuse away from the site of reaction with Dox and thus release PUG in a remote location. In other uses, it is desirable for the timing group to decompose quickly such that the PUG is released almost instantaneously. In a similar manner, it may be desirable to increase the water solubility of a timing group in order to maximize diffusion in some uses, but decrease the water solubility and increase the molecular weight by adding an oil soluble ballasting group in order to restrict diffusion for other uses.
When the PUG is a fragment that inhibits silver development, compounds that release the inhibitor directly upon reaction with Dox are commonly referred to as DIRs (development inhibitor releasers). Compounds with an unstable timing group between an inhibitor fragment and the Dox reaction site are generally referred to as DIARs (development inhibitor assisted releasers).
Many different types of timing groups are known. For example, compounds that release a PUG via an intramolecular nucleophilic displacement have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,962, U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,440 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,185. Compounds that release a PUG via an electron transfer along a conjugated system have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,323, U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,578, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,167, U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,845, U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,563 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,680. U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,989 describes a timing group that undergoes an intermediate redox reaction to release a PUG.
Despite a large number of attempts to provide UG releasing compounds with desirable performance, there still remains a need for materials with improved properties. In a particular embodiment, the problem remains to provide a silver halide photographic element having the desired tone scale with improved image structure and excellent color reproduction.

Compound containing an anthranilic acid blocking group

Abstract: In one embodiment this invention relates to a multilayer silver halide photographic element comprising a support bearing a cyan dye image-forming unit comprised of at least one red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer having associated therewith at least one cyan dye-forming coupler, a magenta dye image-forming unit comprising at least one green-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer having associated therewith at least one magenta dye-forming coupler, and a yellow dye image-forming unit comprising at least one blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer having associated therewith at least one yellow dye-forming coupler, wherein at least one layer additionally contains an anthranilic acid compound according to Formula (II):G-(TG1)q-(AATG)-(TG2)p-PUGwhere G is a group in which the bond to the timing group is cleaved upon reaction with oxidized developer; TG1 and TG2 represent any known timing or switching group and may be the same or different; q and p are independently 0 or 1; AATG represents an anthranilic acid timing group and PUG is a photographically useful group.


Devices are disclosed that include a positionable elongated member configured to support and delivery tube and maintain a distal end of the tube in a desired position, and to allow the position of the distal end of the tube to be adjusted by a user, and an attachment device configured to allow a proximal end of the elongated member to be secured in a fixed position. These devices may be used, for example, in the delivery of vaporized medicine to a patient, e.g., a child or infant on a bed.

Many respiratory diseases, including asthma, are treated with the use of a device called a nebulizer. These "nebulizers" take liquid or solid medication (such as respiratory steroids) and, through compressed air or other technologies, nebulize the medication into a fine mist that is then blown through a tube into a mask. Generally, the following conditions must be met during delivery of the nebulized medicine: a) the mask must be placed on a cooperative patient's mouth and nose, b) the patient must sit in an upright position, c) the mask must form a tight seal on the patient's face, and d) the medicine must be administered for a fairly extended period, e.g., 10 minutes, with the patient in this state. During this process (a)-(d) are often not possible, and the patient may be uncooperative during the treatment resulting in an incomplete or ineffective treatment. If treatments are not given effectively on a regular basis the result is often deterioration of the respiratory condition, often resulting in an attack that sends the patient to the Hospital or Emergency Room.
Research has identified that treatments given at night while the subject is sleeping are most effective due to the deep regular breathing conditions achieved during sleep. Medication delivered to a sleeping subject penetrates deeper into the lungs, allowing more effective treatment and prevention of respiratory attacks. However, when delivering treatments to a sleeping patient, parents or caregivers are often forced to manipulate nebulizer devices or use them ineffectively.
In hospital settings where multiple infants, or patients have respiratory conditions that require nebulized medical treatments, nurses and care givers are required to administer treatments on an individual basis. Due to current limitations in respirator medical devices, nurses and caregivers generally must physically hold a mask on or near a patient's face and carefully watch that the medicine cup is held in an upright orientation.


A Universal Serial Bus hub circuit includes an upstream port and a plurality of downstream ports. The hub circuit further includes input circuitry via which data received on one of the downstream ports is to be repeated to the upstream port. Asynchronous event detection circuitry is to detect an asynchronous event in the received data for the one downstream port. Port selection circuitry to select the one downstream port. Timer circuitry is to measure a time period from a time that the asynchronous event detection circuitry detects an asynchronous event. Synchronous event detection circuitry is to detect a synchronous event in the received data for the one port. End-of-event generation circuitry generates a simulated end-of-event signal if the detected synchronous event is not before the end of the measured time period, and provides the simulated end-of-event signal to the upstream port.

Universal Serial Bus is a standard peripheral interface for attaching personal computers to a wide variety of devices: e.g. digital telephone lines, monitors, modems, mice, printers, scanners, game controllers, keyboards and other peripherals. USB thus replaces existing interfaces such as the RS-232C serial ports, parallel ports, PS/2 interface and game/MIDI ports.
In accordance with USB, all attached devices connect to a personal computer through a single connector type using a tiered-star topology. A host controller of the USB interfaces with the host processor inside the personal computer. A USB system has only one host controller, which controls all accesses to USB resources and monitors the bus's topology. A USB hub provides USB attachment points for USB devices. A USB hub is shown in FIG. 1. The host controller includes a root hub, but a USB system can include other hubs that provide easy plug-in points for peripheral devices.
In particular, the USB hub is responsible for transferring data both upstream and downstream. All data transfers occur between the host (i.e., the personal computer) and the individual peripheral devices. The host is always at the root of the tree, and the devices are on leaves of the tree. A hub resides at each intersection. As shown in FIG. 2A, when the host transfers data to a device, data is transferred downstream through all hubs, from an upstream port (shown as Port 0 in FIG. 2A) to all non-disabled downstream ports (shown as Port 1 in FIG. 1) to all other hubs and devices. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2B, when data is transferred from a device to the host, the transfer occurs upstream only on the direct path to the host. A device is only allowed to transmit data only upon receipt of a special data packet, called a token. Devices may also be implemented to include hub functionality.
During a data transfer (from either the upstream port or a downstream port), the hub locks out all other data transmissions on any other port of the hub. Furthermore, conventionally, the hub has no inherent token detection capability. Thus, the hub essentially trusts that a packet received is valid, and the packet is directed upstream if detected on a downstream port, or downstream if detected on the upstream port. The detection of a packet by the hub must occur very quickly so that the hub can determine the data direction. According to the USB standard, data must be repeated by a hub from an input port to an output port in less than 40 ns. Thus, direction detection of a packet must occur as soon as possible upon detection of the first non-idle symbol of the packet. Only after the transfer direction is determined can the data packet be interrogated for validity. If the data packet is valid, the packet is transferred until an End-of-Packet symbol is detected, at which time the connection is torn down and detection of the next data packet is anticipated.
But, because the hub has no inherent token detection capabilities, a noise event occurring on one of the downstream ports cannot be distinguished from the beginning of a bona fide upstream data transfer, and any subsequent upstream data transfer from the downstream port will be blocked by the hub in response to the noise event. In addition, upstream data transfers on all upstream hubs will also be blocked. This "block" condition will persist until the end of the current (1 ms) frame period, at which time the currently selected port will be disabled, and transfers to and from any device in the downstream branch of this hub port will be disabled until management software intervenes to re-enables the entire connection.

Increasing the availability of the universal serial bus interconnects


A computer-readable medium including computer-executable code for enhancing an electronic document with one link and being served via a network responsively to a request received via the network and correspondent to an electronic document. The chat application may be for use with a mobile device and be less computing resource intensive. Certain embodiments of the present invention may not require a code or applets to be inserted to provide chat functionality. Advantageously, only a link may need to be inserted, for example. This may provide particularly well suited for use with websites where traditional chat code or applets may not be inserted.

Computerized chat services (referred to herein as "chat services") provide for real-time or substantially real-time communications between a plurality of users via computing devices. Chat services generally provide a relatively anonymous, non-threatening way for parties, such as prospective agents, brokers, buyers and/or sellers, to communicate. A "chat" application, as used herein, generally refers to computing device executable code being tangibly embodied on a computing device—readable media, such as a memory, which provides for real-time or substantially real-time communications between a plurality of registrants via computing devices (i.e., chat services). Once a chat has been initiated, a chat user can typically communicate text to another communicating chat user by entering it into their computing device, such as by typing on a keyboard. The entered text will typically appear on the other chat user's computing device display.
While the present invention is not limited to electronic commerce channels, it is believed sell-through via electronic commerce channels, e.g., websites, can be enhanced using chat services. Indeed, some have indicated that self-through on web sites may be increased by 500% if chat services are offered via product web pages. It is thus believed that chat services can fill a necessary void in online sales, allowing buyers to communicate substantially anonymously, such as with prospective agents, brokers or sellers, without fear of sales pressure.
Further, electronic commerce channels for amateur and/or sellers having relatively limited computing and/or financial resources are expanding. For example, online classifieds, such as those commercially available via www.ebay.com and www.craigslist.com are generally finding greater acceptance and use among sellers and prospective buyers. Other expanding electronic commerce markets may include the automobile and real estate markets, and service provider markets, such as for insurance services, for example.
Due to the nature of e-commerce channels (e.g., 24/7/365 availability) offering conventional chat services for use with e-commerce channels may typically require one or more seller persons to continuously monitor for chat requests by interacting with a personal computer. Amateur and/or sellers having relatively limited computing and/or financial resources may typically not be able/willing to provide such coverage. Further, conventional chat services may typically require chat application code, such as JAVA code corresponding to the chat application, to be inserted into a web page. Where a listing web page is operated by a third party that does not allow for chat application code insertion, conventional chat applications may not be suitable for use. Conventional chat services may thus be relatively ill-suited for certain uses.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for enhancing digital content