A receiving device supplies a remote start bit onto a single-wire communication bus. Open-drain interfaces couple the single-wire communication bus to the receiving device and to a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) in the transmitting device. After the UART detects the remote start bit, the UART supplies initial data bits and a stop bit onto the single-wire communication bus. The data bits, stop bit and remote start bit together form a 10-bit RS232 character. Data flow control is accomplished when the receiving device supplies a subsequent remote start bit only after accepting the initial data bits. After the UART detects the subsequent remote start bit on the single-wire communication bus, the UART supplies subsequent data bits onto the single-wire communication bus. The UART also determines a pulse duration of the remote start bit and supplies each of the data bits onto the single-wire communication bus for one pulse duration.

As semiconductor devices become smaller and are placed in ever smaller packages, the space occupied by the input/output pins of an integrated circuit contributes significantly to the overall area of the packaged semiconductor device. Thus, device size can be reduced by reducing the number of pins on each integrated circuit. One way to reduce the number of pins is to share a single pin for both the transmit and the receive operations. A single-pin interface can be used both to transmit and to receive data signals conforming to the well-known "RS232" asynchronous protocol.
Where data signals are received into a memory buffer of a receiving device, the receive buffer can overflow unless the flow of data is controlled. For example, a receive buffer can overflow when data is received too quickly from a single-pin interface. The receive buffer overflows if data is not read out of the receive buffer faster than data is received from the single-pin interface. For example, a receive overrun problem can occur where the receiving device is a personal computer (PC) that receives sixty-four Kbytes of data from a FLASH array into a 16-byte first-in-first-out (FIFO) memory buffer in a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART). The operating system running on the PC ideally reads some bytes of data out of the memory buffer before more bytes of data are loaded into the memory buffer. The memory buffer overflows, however, where an application or driver that is running on the operating system does not release control back to the central processing unit (CPU) of the PC quickly enough after the CPU receives an interrupt command to read the memory buffer.
A flow control mechanism is needed to solve the receive overrun problem by interrupting the transmission of bytes of data in the middle of a communication stream. Various hardware and software flow control mechanisms have been implemented with bidirectional, full-duplex communication protocols, such as RS232.
Hardware flow control uses additional signaling lines to throttle the data rates transmitted by the target device. Hardware flow control is not possible on a single-wire communication bus because hardware flow control requires additional control signals to be sent over additional wires. Hardware flow control is not appropriate for small pin-count devices because it requires the use of an additional pin.
Software flow control involves the receiving device sending XON and XOFF commands to the transmitting device causing pauses in the data transmission. Software flow control is not possible on a single-wire communication bus that supports only half-duplex communication. The XON and XOFF flow control commands can be sent only in full-duplex communication. The receiver cannot send an XOFF command to the transmitter if the receiver is receiving data on a half-duplex communication channel.
Some existing implementations of flow control on a single-wire communication bus have obviated the need for flow control by limiting the size of read requests. These implementations employ polling with a "read command." A host sends a "read command" to request data from a target. Flow control is inherently implemented in that the host controls how much data it requests. Flow control is not necessary, for example, where the host requests only one byte of data at a time. Reading only one byte of data at a time in response to a read command, however, is slow and inefficient. If the host requests a larger block of data from the target, flow control again becomes a problem because there is no way to pause the data transmission once it has started.
A method is sought for implementing flow control for a large block of data over a single-wire communication bus.

Single-pin serial communication link with start-bit flow control


A panel removal tool includes a plastic handle, a forked portion at a first end of said plastic handle, wherein said forked portion further comprises a fulcrum, and a blade portion at a second end of said plastic handle, said second end being opposite said first end.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to hand tools, and more particularly, to the operation and use of a hand tool configured to remove interior vehicle panels.
2. Background
The art of removing interior vehicle panels has been mostly subject to brute force removal or tools that are not particularly useful beyond their restricted use to a particular make or model vehicle. Indeed, the absence of a panel removal tool that minimizes damage to fragile and delicate vehicle interiors has been prevalent in the industry. At present, one of ordinary skill in the art must either attempt to remove a vehicle's panel by using a tool that serves a different purpose, e.g., a flat-head screwdriver, a metal pry tool, etc., all of which are unsuitable for the efficient and safe removal of panels.
The use of these unsuitable tools creates a problem wherein the person of ordinary skill may inadvertently and accidentally damage a vehicle's interior panel and/or may render the clips not reusable. In addition, the unsuitable tools may not always be suitable for use in troublesome areas that are not large enough for the use of anything other than a small, compact, easily manipulated hand tool. Thus, there is a need for a small tool that will not damage a vehicle's panels or clips.


A custom fittable collar for an animal, useful to prevent the animal from contacting injured areas on the body, thus promoting healing of wounds. The collar comprises opposing sheets of flexible material with a resilient material held between them. The resulting collar is rigid enough to resist deformation thus preventing licking or biting of a wound by the animal, but soft enough that the collar is both comfortable to wear, and less likely to catch on other objects, thus improving the safety and wearability of the collar. The collar further comprises a closure assembly adapted for easy placement or removal of the collar. The collar further comprises stitching that creates fold lines to allow the collar to be conveniently folded.

When wounded or when a diseased site is present, many animals, for example cats and dogs will instinctively lick or bite at the site of the injury or disease. Repeated licking typically results in slower healing and increased risk of infection. Where animals have undergone a surgical procedure, licking further risks disruption of sutures placed to keep the surgical wound closed while the healing process proceeds. Disruption of a surgical wound is highly undesirable as it subjects the animal to the risk of serious or even fatal internal infections. In any case where a medication is applied, the animal tends to lick it.
As a result, a variety of approaches have been developed to prevent animals from licking or otherwise disturbing wounds or a diseased or injured area while they are healing. For example, one common approach is to use a protective collar known as an "Elizabethan collar" or "E-collar" as they are sometimes called. These collars usually are formed from flexible but relatively rigid materials such as sheets of plastic or cardboard, and are provided in a range of sizes in order to accommodate animals of different size. The E-collar is wrapped around the animal's neck and then secured in place as a means by which to prevent the animal from contacting or otherwise disturbing a wound or site of application of a topical medicament.
One example is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,057 (Agar), which discloses a method of using a cone-shaped collar made of a semi-rigid material that when secured forms a cone around the animal's neck and which prevents the animal from contacting a region on the animal to which a substance has been applied topically. However, while commonly used, traditional E-collars suffer from a number of limitations that detract from their usefulness.
For example, as discussed above, these collars are usually fashioned from relatively rigid materials. Consequently they are not adapted to folding and take up significant space when on a store shelf, or when stored by an animal owner after purchase and between uses. In addition, the rigid material tends to be uncomfortable for the animal to wear and it can break if bent too far. The rigid materials typically used in E-collars also make it difficult for the animal to eat or drink or get through tight spaces, and the pet is jarred if it bumps into something straight-on. The rigid E-collars can scratch furniture, knock things over and hurt a person. Also, the noise of striking something or even brushing against something can cause stress for the pet.
It is well known in the art that animals dislike the application of the E-collar and will attempt to remove it. This results in increased stress to the animal, and if removed, obviates the utility of the collar to prevent contact of an injured area by the animal, prolonging healing time and increasing the risk of serious infection.
A variety of protective collars have been described, some based on the traditional E-collar design, and others using other designs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,764 (Fick & Fair) discloses a cone-shaped E-collar with a custom fittable closure. The device improves upon the traditional collar in that it provides a "one-size fits all" capability. However, the Fick device still suffers from design limitations in that it is a rigid collar that animals dislike.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,814 (Moy & Moy) discloses a protective collar that avoids the cone-shape of the traditional E-collar. In the Moy device, the collar comprises a sheet of flexible material sized to cover the entire neck from the back of the mandible to the scapula. Thus, the movement of the neck is restricted such that the animal is prevented from licking or biting at wounds. However, the device is not useful in protecting irritation of injuries to the head as the close fitting design does not prevent pawing of an injury of the head or face.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,814 (Miller) discloses a donut shaped collar that is wide enough to prevent an animal from turning its head sufficiently in order to lick or chew at an affected area.
Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,222 (Bowen) discloses a foam sleeve that like that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,814 covers a region of the animal's neck thereby preventing the animal from bending the neck in order to contact an affected area.
As discussed, the aforementioned E-collars are generally formed from rigid materials, such as plastic, that are uncomfortable and thus not well tolerated by animals. To overcome this problem, some collars have been disclosed that are formed from softer more compliant materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,295 (issued to Lippincott) discloses a collar that comprises two side-by-side rings of soft material, with non-resilient medical padding sewn together along their inner margins. The rings are gathered to form radial pleats that interfere with the ability of the animal to chew or lick affected body parts. However, as the collar could conceivably be bent backwards from the head, it would be possible for an animal to paw at injuries in the head area, again limiting the overall usefulness of this type of collar. Also, a soft e-collar can be easily chewed by the pet due to the inside material being loose.


A manufacturing process and resultant medical devices and components thereof wherein one or more individual laces (12) is placed within an embroidered structure (10) using an automated process allowing for the manufacture of embroidered surgical implants containing laces to be mass produced repeatably and cost effectively.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices and methods generally aimed at surgical implants. In particular, the disclosed system and associated methods are related to a manner of creating surgical implants via embroidery.
II. Discussion of the Prior Art
Embroidered structures are created on substrates. Some substrates are designed to stay in place with the embroidered structure while other substrates are removed at the end of the embroidery process. If the substrate is designed to be removed, the preferred method of removal is dissolution. The dissolution processes discussed, however, are not intended to preclude the use of other means of substrate removal which those skilled in the art would employ in the manufacture of an embroidered structure, or the omission of substrate removal.
As an initial step in the creation of embroidered structures, a plurality of parallel, stationary backing threads are placed and secured on one surface of a substrate, called the "backing surface." On the opposing surface of the substrate, called the "stitching surface," is a plurality of stitching threads with one-to-one correspondence to the backing threads. Stitching may be done between one pair of threads at a time or in simultaneous multiplicity, as is described below.
The plurality of stitching threads from the stitching surface are passed to the backing surface through openings created in the substrate by the passing of each individual thread. Each stitching thread is then looped over its corresponding backing thread, in essence picking up the backing thread, which creates a lock stitch. Once each stitching thread has picked up its corresponding backing thread, the plurality of stitching threads are returned to the stitching surface by passing through the openings in the substrate created by initially passing the stitching threads to the backing surface. The lock stitches prevent the stitching threads from completely pulling back out of the openings created in the substrate. The plurality of stitching threads are then moved to a new stitching site and the process repeats until all the backing threads are joined by lock stitches to the corresponding stitching threads, creating a plurality of thread pairs of some length.
A plurality of thread pairs may be enclosed by one or more pluralities of enclosing thread pairs. To enclose a plurality of thread pairs, a subsequent plurality of backing threads are placed and secured on the backing surface of a substrate already holding at least one plurality of thread pairs, such that the subsequent plurality of backing threads covers the previously stitched plurality of backing threads. A subsequent plurality of backing threads is usually not parallel with the previous plurality of backing and stitching threads. A subsequent plurality of stitching threads, with one-to-one correspondence to the subsequent plurality of backing threads, is then stitched to the subsequent plurality of backing threads by the stitching process described above.
When the subsequent plurality of backing threads are all joined to the subsequent plurality of stitching threads by lock stitches over a desired distance, a plurality of enclosing thread pairs has been formed, enclosing all previously stitched pairs. This process may be repeated by stitching even further subsequent pluralities of enclosing thread pairs over the previously stitched thread pairs and enclosing thread pairs, such that, for example, the first plurality is enclosed by a second plurality, which is enclosed by a third plurality, which is enclosed by a fourth plurality, and so forth. This process produces stable embroidered structures which do not unravel into a pile of threads if the substrate is removed.
If the substrate is intended to be removed, the removal process is dependent upon the material from which the substrate is composed. If dissolution is the removal method chosen, the substrate materials are chosen such that the process which dissolves the substrate will minimally affect the physical properties of the stitching or backing threads used in the embroidered structure. When the substrate is removed, only the stitching and backing threads remain, in whatever combination of thread pairs and enclosing thread pairs that were utilized. The embroidered structure remains intact despite the removal of the substrate because each stitching thread is stitched to its corresponding backing thread, and vice versa, which is enclosed in one or more pluralities of enclosing thread pairs, all of which provides structural support.
In some applications, it may be advantageous to have an independent, unpaired thread, referred to as a "lace," existing within an embroidered structure. Based upon the methodology of embroidered structure creation above, however, any lace within an embroidered structure would have to be placed after completion of the embroidery process because all threads are stitched, and thus paired, during the embroidery process. On a basic level, one or more laces may be added to an embroidered structure by hand, but this is possible only with the simplest of embroidered structures. The manual placement of laces is also expensive, not easily repeatable, and not conducive to mass production.
Repeatability is paramount in medical applications because devices may work reliably in one configuration, but variations of such a configuration may cause the device to perform unreliably, inadequately, or even fail to perform altogether. Repeatable placement of a lace within an embroidered structure used for surgical implantation requires a level of reproducibility exceeding that which may be achieved manually. Repeatability notwithstanding, the expense required to manually add one or more laces to embroidered structures further limits the use of manual insertion techniques, as does the bottleneck such manual insertions would cause in a manufacturing environment.
The present invention overcomes, or at least minimizes, the limitations associated with placing one or more laces within an embroidered structure.


The present invention has an object to provide a production method of acrolein capable of producing acrolein with suppressing the yield change with time. The production method of the invention is that glycerin is dehydrated under coexistence with a catalyst having crystalline metallosilicates containing at least one kind of T atoms and 15% by mass or less of a binder, and the Si atoms to T atoms ratio (Si/T) of the catalyst is 800 or less.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing acrolein by intramolecular dehydration reaction of glycerin.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bio diesel fuels produced from vegetable oils draw attentions not only as an alternative fuel of fossil fuels but also as a point of low emission of carbon dioxide, and the increase in demand is expected. Since glycerin is generated as a by-product in producing this bio diesel fuels, it is necessary to utilize the by-product. As an embodiment of use of glycerin, it can be listed that glycerin is used as a raw material for acrolein.
Production methods of acrolein using glycerin as its raw material have been already disclosed in publications.
For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 06-211724 (1994), there is disclosed a production of acrolein such that glycerin is dehydrated using H-ZSM-5 of MFI type zeolite having an acid strength function H0 of +2 or less. However, in the case of production of acrolein in gas phase dehydration reaction of glycerin, there is a description in the above patent publication that it is not suitable to use a catalyst with a H0 value of −8.0 or less, and in examples of the above patent publication, there is a description that reactivity of catalyst was markedly lowered in continuous use of catalyst in examples of the above patent publication.
Further, in the specification of International Publication No. WO2006-087083, there is disclosed (1) a production method of acrolein by gas phase dehydration reaction of glycerin that a catalyst prepared by mixing H-ZSM-5 of a range of −10<H0<−16 and Aerosil was used; (2) conversion rate of glycerin and yield of acrolein were lowered with passage of time.
Besides, in Le H. Dao, Reaction of Model Compounds of Biomass-Pyrolysis Oils Over ZSM-5 Zeolite Catalysts, American Chemical Society, 1988, 376, p. 328-341, it is disclosed that gas phase dehydration of glycerin was conducted using a catalyst. It is described that the catalyst used herein was composed of bentonite of 20% by mass and H-ZSM-5 of 80% by mass, and the H-ZSM-5 contained Na2O of 0.55% by mass.
As disclosed in the above publications, acrolein can be produced by dehydration of glycerin using a catalyst. In the case where yield change of acrolein with time in the production are not so large, the production plan can be easily designed, thus short or excess of the production amount of acrolein may be prevented. Further, when acrolein can be produced with a high yield, it is expected that acrolein derivatives, such as acrylic acid, 1,3-propanediol, ally alcohol, polyacrylic acid, polyacrylate and methionine, which are conventionally known to be produced from acrolein as a raw material, can be produced with low costs.


A method, which senses malfunctions of a water supply system employed in a boiler system, comprises the steps of a) sensing a water level in a water tank; b) controlling a supplying of supplementary water from a water source to the water tank in response to the water level sensed by step a); c) sensing an amount of overflow water which has overflowed from the water tank; and d) determining whether the water supply system is out of order based on the water level sensed by step a), the amount of the overflow water sensed by step c), and a control state by step b).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of sensing malfunctions of a water supply system employed in a boiler system and an apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a boiler system, heating water is heated in a heat exchanger of a boiler heated by heat generated by combustion of fuel such as a gas, petroleum or the like. The heating water heated in the heat exchanger is discharged to a heating pipeline system through a discharge pipe by the operation of a circulation pump of the boiler. Consequently, the indoor temperature of a heating place such as a house, a building or the like equipped with the heating pipeline system is elevated. The heating water in the heat exchanger is supplied from a water tank, and the heating water discharged from the heating pipeline system after heating the heating place returns to the water tank through a heating water return pipe. That is, the boiler system forms a heating water circulation circuit by the circulation of the heating water through the water tank, the heat exchanger, and the heating pipeline system.
The water tank supplements the heating water to the pipeline circuit when the heating water in the heating water circulation circuit of the boiler system is insufficient by the natural evaporation of the heating water therein. Furthermore, the water tank exhausts an increased or reduced pressure of the heating water in the pipeline circuit to an exterior therethrough, which is developed as the heating water volume in the pipeline circuit is varied by the temperature variation of the heating water.
Therefore, it is important in a boiler system to maintain an appropriate water level in the water tank.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for showing a water supply system of the prior art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the water supply system 100 is provided with a water tank 110. The water tank 110 is provided with an overflow pipe 160 at an inner side therein. The overflow pipe 160 drains out the superfluous water in the water tank 110. A heating water discharging pipe 170 is connected with the water tank 110 for discharging heating water in the water tank 110 into a heat exchanger (not shown) therethrough. The water tank 110 is provided with a heating water return pipe(not shown) for returning the heating water from a heating pipeline system(not shown) to the water tank 110. The water tank 110 is connected with a water source(not shown) via a supplementary water pipe 120. A supplementary water valve 130 is installed at the supplementary water pipe 120 to be able to control a supplying of supplementary water from the water source to the water tank 110. The supplementary water valve 130 is electrically connected with a controller 140, and controlled by the controller 140. The controller 140 is electrically connected with a water level sensor 150. The water level sensor 150 is installed in the water tank 110, and senses a water level of the heating water in the water tank 110. The water level sensor 150 includes a float 151, a rod 152, and a magnetic switch 153. The float 151 moves up and down in accordance with changes of the water level in the water tank 110. One end of the rod 152 is connected with the float 151, and a magnet (not shown) is installed at the other end of the rod 152. The magnetic switch 153 is mounted on an upper inside wall of the water tank 110, and is turned on or off in response to a magnetic force generated from the magnet. That is, when the magnet approaches within a predetermined distance from the magnetic switch 153, the magnetic switch is turned on by the magnetic force of the magnet, and a turn-on signal generated by the magnetic switch 153 is outputted to the controller 140.
When a turn-off signal is inputted from the water level sensor 150 to the controller 140, the controller 140 controls the supplementary water valve 130 to be opened, such that supplementary water is supplied to the water tank 110 through the supplementary water valve 130. To the contrary, when the turn-off signal is inputted to the controller 140, the controller 140 causes the supplementary water valve 130 to close to cut off the supply of the supplementary water to the water tank 110. Therefore, the water level in the water tank 110 is kept at a constant level.
However, in the water supply system, when the water level sensor 150 or the supplementary water valve 130 is out of order, since the water supply system does not sense malfunctions of the water level sensor 150 and the supplementary water valve 130, the heating water in the water tank 110 is insufficient or the supplementary water is continuously supplied to the water tank 110.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a method which can sense the malfunctions of a water supply system and an apparatus which can perform the method.

Method of sensing malfunctions of a water supply system for a boiler and apparatus thereof


An apparatus that moves through fields of leafy vegetables and trims harvested heads of leafy vegetables. The apparatus includes a body and a plurality of supports coupled to the body for movement relative thereto. The supports are configured for supporting pieces of leafy vegetables. The apparatus further includes a plurality of cutters coupled to the body that are arranged serially and a transport system for moving the supports past the cutters. A collector is included for collecting leaves cut from the vegetables.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for harvesting and processing leafy vegetables, and more particularly, to systems and methods for harvesting and processing leafy vegetables wherein the leaves are fairly loose, such as, for example, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, frizee, oriental kale, etc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The demand for leafy vegetables has greatly increased over the years. Salads are now often in high demand for meals, whether as an entree, a side dish or an appetizer. Thus, leafy vegetables are generally grown and harvested year-round in various parts of the United States.
There are numerous ways for harvesting and processing various types of leafy vegetables such as lettuce. Often, the methods include manually cutting heads of lettuce from the ground and then manually trimming the leaves from the core. This is time consuming and can lead to a fair amount of waste. Additionally, it is desirable to avoid damage to the ribs and leaves of the lettuce, which can happen during harvesting.
Furthermore, while the harvesting takes place in the fields, the processing usually takes place away from the fields, generally in large buildings or warehouses. This means that the vegetables must be harvested, temporarily packaged, unpackaged, transported, unpackaged, processed and then repackaged. The processing generally involves cutting and coring the leafy vegetables, usually manually, then washing and substantially drying the leaves and placing them in appropriate packaging.

Systems and methods for harvesting and processing leafy vegetables


Ina power conversion system having a fixed pulse pattern modulation unit 2 that is configured to refer to tables storing therein pulse patterns that determine respective command voltage levels corresponding to phase information for each modulation ratio and to generate a gate signal g on the basis of a command modulation ratio d and a control phase θ and driving a power converter 3 on the basis of the gate signal g, the fixed pulse pattern modulation unit 2 is further configured to, when performing a pulse pattern transition, search for a proper post-transition table reference position and make a command voltage level follow a command voltage level of a post-transition pulse pattern. With this, the power conversion system that can perform the pulse pattern transition without current impulse and that can also be applied to a multi-level power converter having four levels or more can be provided.

Consider a power conversion system in which an input three-phase AC voltage is converted into a DC voltage by a rectifier (an AC/DC converter) and the DC voltage is output as an AC voltage having a desired frequency and a desired amplitude by an inverter.
In such a power conversion system, a triangular-wave comparison PWM that expresses a target voltage on average in one cycle of a carrier is often used for an output of a power converter. However, there is a case where a modulation method other than the triangular-wave comparison PWM is used for the purpose of optimizing a voltage output, and a fixed pulse pattern method is an example of the modulation method. In this fixed pulse pattern method, an optimum pulse pattern for evaluation indexes is derived and converted into a table (or tabulated) in advance, and switching is performed according to the table.
In the fixed pulse pattern method, one form of a pulse pattern can express only a single modulation ratio. Because of this, if operation is performed using a plurality of modulation ratios, it is necessary to switch the pulse pattern during operation. At the time of a transition of the pulse pattern, an output voltage may become an unintended waveform, then there is a risk that a current impulse will occur. Therefore, its transition method has to be devised. In the following description, this pulse pattern transition during operation is also simply referred to as the transition.
The pulse pattern transition method in the fixed pulse pattern method is disclosed in the following Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In Patent Document 1, a voltage phase in which switching is not performed at the time of the transition for a two-level inverter is searched for in advance, and the pulse pattern is switched in the phase in which the switching does not occur.
In Patent Document 2, in a case of a transition in which the number of pulses in one fundamental wave cycle is switched for a three-level power converter, a minimum pulse is set so that an error of a fundamental wave voltage does not occur, and by gradually increasing the minimum pulse in each one fundamental wave cycle, increase in the number of pulses is performed without an impulse. As for a transition in which the number of pulses is decreased, on the contrary, by gradually reducing and finally eliminating the pulse, the impulse is eliminated.
Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot solve problems when the fixed pulse pattern method is applied in the power converter having four levels or more.
The problems of Patent Document 1 will be described. In a multi-level power converter having four levels or more, there is a possibility that at the time of the pulse pattern transition in which the number of levels used is changed, a voltage phase that uses the same level before and after the transition may not exist. In this case, there arises a problem of not being able to perform transition of the pulse pattern.
Further, in a case where there is a difference in third-order harmonic component in each pulse pattern, an impulse caused by sudden switching of the third-order harmonic component may occur. However, in Patent Document 1, its control is a control that changes the pulse pattern regardless of the voltage phase if switching does not occur before and after the transition, and thus Patent Document 1 does not consider this impulse.
The problems of Patent Document 2 will be described. In a multi-level power converter having four levels or more, it is generally undefined at which level the increase or decrease in the number of pulses occurs. Also, it is generally undefined in which voltage phase range a level of the increase or decrease of the pulse exists. For these reasons, an appropriate generation position of the minimum pulse cannot be determined.
Further, in the fixed pulse pattern, mainly due to the difference in third-order harmonic component, a switching phase may considerably change even if the number of pulses is the same. In this transition, only one or two phases may be shifted immediately (only transition of one or two phases may be performed), and the other phase may follow a waveform after the transition with a delay. However, Patent Document 2 does not discuss an appropriate transition method other than a case where the number of pulses is changed.
From the above, a task is to provide a power conversion system that is capable of performing the pulse pattern transition without the current impulse (current impact or shock) and that can also be applied to the multi-level power converter having four levels or more.


A method of forming a thin film on a substrate to fabricate a microelectronic device, a microelectronic device comprising a thin film deposited according to the method, and a system comprising the microelectronic device. The thin film may include on of a low k thin film, a thin film comprising photoresist, and a sacrificial polymer. The method comprises dispersing a precursor preparation into a spray of charged droplets through subjecting the liquid precursor preparation to electrostatic forces; directing the charged droplets to move toward the substrate; and allowing the charged droplets to generate a beam of gas-phase ions as the charged droplets move toward the substrate. The method further includes directing the gas-phase ions to impinge upon the substrate to deposit the thin film thereon to yield a deposited thin film on the substrate.

Fabrication processes of integrated circuits typically involve various stages for depositing thin films of various materials on the surface of a semiconductor substrate. The preparation of such thin films typically includes such methods as evaporation, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PEVCD), sputtering, and spin casting. The above deposition schemes are conventionally used as appropriate to deposit metals, silicon, polysilicon, and dielectrics such as silicon dioxide and silicon nitride on the substrate. Typical PEVCD precursors include DMDMOS (dimethyldimethoxysilane), or TOMCATS (tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane). PEVCD tends to be limited, however, in allowing engineering latitude with respect to resulting film characteristics and types of precursor materials.
Alternatively, thin films may be deposited using a spin-on ultra low-k dielectric material, such as LKD-5109, a methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) material manufactured by the JSR Corporation. Although high yields are possible using an ultralow-k material, in some cases it has been necessary to use thicker passivation and an additional oxide layer on top of the structure to deliver a more mechanically stable stack, in this way driving up fabrication complexity and cost, and further leading to a deterioration of the dielectric constant of the resulting film stack by virtue of the additional oxide layer. Moreover, similar to PEVCD, the spin-on technique allows limited resulting characteristics (e.g. toughness).
Electrospray (ES) ionization, a CVD technology in which a conductive liquid is volatilized in transit to the growth front, is also known as a method for depositing molecules onto relevant surfaces. The deposition of pure complex molecules on semiconductor surfaces under ultra high vacuum conditions using ES to allow an exploration of the interaction of the deposited molecules with the surface and with each other is also known. ES is typically used as an ionization technique for mass spectrometry, especially for the analysis of compounds of biological significance. ES has also been used for the deposition of protein thin films, for the deposition of ceramic thin films, and for the deposition of ferroelectrics. ES has also been disclosed along with a pretreatment of a substrate with radio frequency (RF) plasma.

Electrospray and enhanced electrospray deposition of thin films on semiconductor substrates


A radio-frequency quadrupole which includes four, extruded, identical cross-section, elongate structural components, each of which lacks any longitudinally extending plane of bilateral assembly. Joinder of these components to form a quadrupole body results in an overall axial cross-sectional configuration which has an infinite number of claims of inverted bilateral symmetry extending in all radial directions relative to the long axis of that body. Coolant-carrying boreholes extend longitudinally throughout each component with precise location and proper longitudinal-axial-parallelism.

It is typical in the prior art relating to this area of technology for a radio-frequency quadrupole to have a main body formed, fundamentally, from four, elongate electrode structures, or segments, which include elongate vane tips opposing each other in pairs, and disposed symmetrically about the long axis of the quadrupole. These tips function to concentrate, accelerate and focus a beam of particles in a stream along that axis.
Prior to the advent of the present invention, such segments, normally four in number (as mentioned), which are assembled in the final quadrupole unit to form an appropriate confronting vane-tip configuration with surrounding wall structure, have included, typically, two different kinds of segments, configured with two, quite different cross-sectional configurations. Good illustrations of this situation are found in the disclosures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,885,470 (Integrally Formed Radio Frequency Quadrupole) and 4,949,047 (Segmented RFQ Accelerator). Given this kind of construction, it is obvious that the manufacturing process must deal with proper, differentiated forming and machining of two differently shaped segments, and any inventory of segments maintained in a preassembly state must necessarily include both kinds of required segments.
As part of the ever-present need, and commercial desire, to increase simplicity, and to reduce manufacturing and assembling costs, designers in this field have sought ways to deal with the necessary cross-sectional configurations of the usually required four segments, in the hope of addressing these issues. In this setting, the structure proposed by the present invention offers an extraordinary step forward, by providing, and demonstrating, that each of the four segments typically required to build a radio-frequency quadrupole can have a cross section which is identical to that of each other segment. This advance in the art clearly makes an important stride toward improved simplicity, and in addition, greatly minimizes costs relating to manufacture and maintenance of inventory. As an important example of the greatly improved manufacturability of a segment formed in accordance with this invention, what might be thought of as raw segment material can, foundationally, be formed through a process of extrusion, with extruded product then cut into whatever lengths are chosen by a designer. Any final machining operations thereafter, with the exception of certain specific differences required in vane tip configurations, are then exactly the same for each of the four segments required to put together a quadrupole.
Significantly, extruding allows for the precise creation and placement of longitudinally extending coolant-carrying boreholes--boreholes which, in prior art approaches, have had to be drilled, with all of the attendant problems of drill-bit "wanderlust"--the tendency, typically, of a drill bit to drift off axis beyond about 24-inches of drilling depth.
As will become apparent from the drawing illustrations herein, and from the description of the invention which follows, the novel segment structure of this invention springs from a unique asymmetry which exists in segment cross section, which asymmetry ultimately allows four segment units to be joined in such a fashion that the finally assembled unit contains the appropriate degree of bilateral symmetry required in a quadrupole assembly.
Various other objects and advantages which are attained by the invention will become more readily apparent as the mentioned description of the invention which now follows is read in conjunction with the two drawing figures that form part of this disclosure.


A kit containing a plurality of pet waste containers each of which may scoop or pick up pet excrement is provided. Each container provides a plastic bag with a simple frame about the bag mouth. Each pet waste container is held in a pouch removably attached to a leash until desired for use. The used pet waste container is then grasped by a squeeze clip which is attached to a ring attached to the pouch until convenient for disposal.

This invention relates generally to the field of waste management and, in particular, to a kit containing apparatus used to facilitate cleanup and transport of pet waste.
Many pet owners walk their pet to provide the pet with exercise and an opportunity to relieve themselves away from the pet owner's domicile. Nearly all pet owners will have a leash either directly attached to the pet during the walk or in hand while controlling the pet with voice commands. In most locations, local ordinances require the pet owner to clean up pet waste excreted by their pets. During nearly every pet walk, the pet will have been trained to relieve itself at least once. During longer walks and hikes, this will occur more than once.
Therefore, it would be most convenient for the pet owner to have several disposable pet waste containers removably attached to the pet leash. It is then desirable that the pet waste container be sealable and reattachable to the pet leash, thereby providing the pet owner with hand-free and convenient transport of the pet waste container until disposed of.


A foldable display device includes a flexible display panel including a bendable area and flat areas on both sides of the bendable area, and a lower case housing the flexible display panel and including a hinge corresponding to the bendable area and including a first rotation point connected to a first link having a first radius of rotation and a second rotation point connected to a second link having a second radius of rotation, the second radius of rotation being different from the first radius of rotation, and supports on both sides of the hinge and corresponding to the flat areas, wherein the first link has an end connected to the first rotation point and a first guide opening connected to each of the supports, and the second link has a first end connected to the second rotation point and a second end engaging the first guide opening.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a foldable display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A foldable display device uses a flexible display panel that may be bent. The foldable display device is easy to carry when folded and provides a large screen when unfolded. Therefore, the foldable display device may be applied in a variety of fields including mobile devices such as mobile phones, ultra-mobile PCs, electronic books and electronic newspapers but also televisions and monitors.
The foldable display device includes a case that supports the flexible display panel. The case is configured to support a lower surface of the flexible display panel, which has a bendable area between flat areas on both sides. For example, the case may include flat parts that correspond to the flat areas on both sides and a hinge (e.g., a hinge part), which are formed in the middle to correspond to the bendable area. The flexible display panel may be folded as the case is bent. Here, the inside of the bendable area is contracted by a compressive force, and the outside of the bendable area is stretched by a tensile force. However, because the flexible display panel is constrained by the support structure, stress generated by the compressive and tensile forces fails to be released. This stress may damage the flexible display panel, thereby reducing durability.
In addition, the hinge and the bendable area may interfere with each other at the initial stage of bending of the flexible display panel, and the interference may aggravate the stress of the bendable area.


A sheet of material having forming indicia and bonding material thereon which permits an operator to form the sheet of material into a decorative cover without the use of a mold. Methods for forming a decorative cover from a sheet of material having forming indicia and bonding material thereon without the use of a mold.

Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sheets of material having indicia thereon which provide guidance to an operator for forming a sheet of material into a decorative cover, and methods of performing same.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Sheets of material have been formed into decorative covers for various items. When the decorative cover is formed by a user, the material from which the decorative cover is constructed is frequently shape-sustaining. Such materials would include foils with dead fold characteristics.
Other sheets of material having non-shape-sustaining characteristics have been formed into shape-sustaining decorative covers; however, formation of a non-shape sustaining sheet of material into a shape-sustaining decorative cover requires either the use of a mold to form the material the decorative cover or a band or bonding material to secure the formed cover about an object. A mechanical process which uses a mold to form a non-shape sustaining sheet of material into a substantially shape-sustaining decorative cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,182, entitled xe2x80x9cArticle Forming Systemxe2x80x9d, issued to Weder et al on Sep. 27, 1988. Another example of the use of a mold to form a non-shape sustaining material into a shape-sustaining decorative cover is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,355,559 entitled xe2x80x9cCover For Containersxe2x80x9d, issued to Renner on Nov. 6, 1940.
Therefore, there is a need felt within the art for a shape-sustaining decorative container which may be formed from a non-shape sustaining sheet of material without the use of a mold to assist in the formation thereof, and which do not require a band or a bonding material to hold the decorative cover about an object.
The present invention provides a sheet of material having forming indicia and bonding material thereon for enhancing formation of the sheet of material into a decorative cover, as well as methods for forming such sheet of material into the decorative cover. Broadly, the sheet of material is formed into the decorative cover by gathering together at least a portion of the sheet of material designated by the forming indicia which are bonded by the bonding to material to provide a shape-sustaining decorative cover having a plurality of gathered portions. The decorative cover when formed is substantially both self-supporting and shape sustaining.
An objective of this invention is to provide a quick and easy way to form a decorative cover from a sheet of material without the use of a mold or the need to form the decorative cover about a flower pot.
Another object of the present invention, while achieving the above stated object, is to provide a decorative cover which, once formed, can be substantially flattened and unflattened for storage and/or shipping and which is provided with a substantially continuous pattern, with little or no disruption in the majority of the pattern of the decorative cover due to numerous and irregular creases and folds.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Sheets of material having forming indicia for forming into flower pots or plant covers and methods


A first semiconductor region and a second semiconductor region separated by a shallow trench isolation region are formed in a semiconductor substrate. A photoresist is applied and patterned so that the first semiconductor region is exposed, while the second semiconductor region is covered. Depending on the setting of parameters for the location of an edge of the patterned photoresist, the slope of sidewalls of the photoresist, the thickness of the photoresist, and the direction of ion implantation, ions may, or may not, be implanted into the entirety of the surface portion of the first semiconductor region by shading or non-shading of the first semiconductor region. The semiconductor substrate may further comprise a third semiconductor region into which the dopants are implanted irrespective of the shading or non-shading of the first semiconductor region. The selection of shading or non-shading may be changed from substrate to substrate in manufacturing.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a semiconductor structure, and particularly to a method of employing a photoresist profile, direction of ion implantation, and arrangement of semiconductor regions in a semiconductor substrate to enable adjustment of ion implantation dose across multiple semiconductor regions with a single ion implantation mask.
There are many instances in semiconductor chips in which transistor matching is of paramount importance; that is, two identically designed transistors are to perform identically to one another. One such instance is in a six-transistor static random access memory (6TSRAM) cell. In this cell there are two halves to the cell (called here left and right), each side consisting of three transistors. Cell functionality is optimum when the three transistors in the left half match exactly (in threshold voltage and drive current, for example) their corresponding transistor in the right half. As there is often a large number of such cells in a design, the area consumed for such a cell is of great importance also, and the cell is to be made as small as possible. The small spacings employed therein poses additional challenges to transistor matching.
In view of the above, there exists a need for a method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure in which tightly packed transistors match as identically as possible.
Typically, an ion implantation mask enables two different dopant profiles, one formed underneath an area covered with a photoresist and protected from implantation of ions and another formed outside the area covered with the photoresist and implanted with ions. However, transistors located in close proximity to the mask edge may experience partial blockage of the implanted ions, and this partial blockage can vary with mask alignment.
Therefore there exists a need for a method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure in which the ion implantation is not sensitive to the mask placement over normal process variations, and yet small spacing is employed.

Method of selectively adjusting ion implantation dose on semiconductor devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of sharpening the blades of a rotary shaver having rotating discs with a plurality of cutting blades consisting of the following steps. Firstly, substitute a cup shaped sharpening head for a comb-like shaving head on a rotary shaver. The cup shaped sharpening head has a flat abrasive bottom in communication with cutting blades on the rotating disc. Secondly, activate the drive motor whereby the disc rotates rapidly rubbing the cutting blades against the abrasive bottom of the cup shaped sharpening head.

There are existing apparatus which can be used to sharpen a cutting blade of a rotary shaver; such as, U.S. Pat. No. 2,953,851 which issued to Wheeler in 1960 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,932,967 which issued to Hanes in 1976. Both of these patents disclose abrasive annular rings which are intended for insertion between a disc form rotary cutting blade and a comb-like circular shaving head of a rotary shaver.
There are a number of disadvantages with using abrasive annular rings. One disadvantage is that the annular rings must be specially adapted for use with a particular model of rotary shaver. Another disadvantage is that the annular rings are relatively fragile and are prone to being torn or bent by a misaligned blade. A final disadvantage relates to difficulties in installation as the shaving head or the annular ring can be damaged when installing the annular rings in position within the shaving head.

Method and apparatus for sharpening a cutting blade of a rotary shaver


The invention discloses an adjustable apparatus for adjusting an upper blade position of a hair clipper to further adjust the hair cut length. The upper blade is connected to a blade spring. The blade spring is placed in a spring housing. The spring housing is connected to a pushing block. The pushing block is connected to a rotary wheel. Therefore, the position of the upper blade is adjustable by moving the rotary wheel.

(a) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an adjustable apparatus for a hair clipper, and more particularly, to an adjustable apparatus for a hair clipper, in that the adjustable apparatus moves an upper blade assembly using a pushing block driven by a rotary wheel and restores the upper blade assembly to an original position thereof using a spring blade, thereby moving the upper blade as desired.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Electric hair cutters are often used in household-styled barber shops and beauty parlors. To meet customers' needs on hair lengths, a length adjuster is necessarily installed to a tip section of a blade of the electric hair cutter in order to control lengths of hair being cut. However, due to various needs of different customers, a diversity of length adjusters is required, and tremendous usage inconveniences are resulted. Also, economical values are disadvantaged for that length adjusters of numerous styles must be additionally purchased.
To overcome the aforesaid drawback, an electric hair cutter using principles of an inclined surface for accomplishing position adjustment of a cutter thereof had become available. Such prior electric hair cutter is provided with a loop-like adjustment switch, a sliding channel with a spiral inclined surface devised in a dented manner at an inner wall of the adjustment switch, a protruding block at a front end thereof, and a blade driving rod connected to a lower side of the protruding block, with the protruding block fastened in the sliding channel of the adjustment switch. When a user rotates the adjustment switch, the protruding block at the blade driving rod is allowed with back and forth sliding movements along the spiral inclined sliding channel at the adjustment switch to adjust positions of the blade, thereby controlling lengths of hair being cut. However, this prior invention is again disadvantaged that it cannot be operated with one hand but can only be smoothly operated using both hands, and thus is yet considered as unhandy when operated.
In the view of the several drawbacks of the prior invention, it is a vital task of the invention as how to provide a novel adjustable apparatus for a hair clipper that overcomes the aforesaid drawbacks.


A detection device comprising a substrate comprising a plurality of objects of which properties are changed due to the contact with a target substance, means for bringing the target substance into contact with the objects, and means for detecting a change in properties of the objects caused when the target substance is brought into contact with the objects, based on light output when the objects are irradiated with light, wherein the plurality of the objects are located in the direction in which the light for irradiation travels, and the detecting means is means for detecting the change in the properties based on the summation of light output from the plurality of the objects upon irradiation with light.

In recent years, with increased awareness of problems of health, environment and safety, a technique for detecting a trace biological or chemical substance involved in these problems has been desired.
However, such a substance to be detected (hereinafter may be referred to as "target substance") is often included only in a slight amount in a complicated mixture of various substances, and a specimen comprising such a target substance can be collected only in a limited amount. Therefore, detection and measurement of a target substance require high sensitivity, accuracy and reproducibility.
Further, the specimen is often a specimen derived from an organism (hereinafter referred to as "sample"), and it is difficult to acquire the sample. Thus, detection requiring a smaller amount of the specimen has been demanded. This demand for a smaller amount of the sample is also based on the fact that the sample may be a source of infection after disposal, because it is a specimen derived from an organism.
In terms of applications of human clinical laboratory equipment, reduction in the length of time between the acquisition of a sample and the output of detection results, so-called "turn around time", has been strongly demanded.
As a technique for responding to these demands, a method of improving the reaction efficiency by using a microstructure having a reaction space for trapping a target substance, which is microscopic and has a large surface area per unit volume, has been developed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H03-223674 discloses a reaction vessel for measuring a trace substance in vivo in a simple manner, wherein the reagent fixed parts and/or reagent attached parts formed in a passage through which a fluid flows are concaves and/or small projection aggregates.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-196920 discloses a body fluid component analyzing instrument having a specimen receiving port, a pump connection port, a specimen treatment region with a specimen labeled with a labeling substance located therein, and a specimen treating and photometric region with a porous material, in which one of a pair of specific bonds is fixed, located therein.
National Publication of International Patent Application No. 2003-514221 discloses a microfluidic device comprising a microchannel for transportation of fluids, wherein the microchannel contains spatially separated defined regions of a specific binding pair member fixed on a porous polymer, beads or microstructures fabricated in the microchannel.
On the other hand, detection methods differing from conventional ones have been now proposed in order to satisfy the above-described demands. Specifically, the detection methods are, as illustrated below, utilize metal-containing microparticles. Metal element-containing microparticles, which have optical characteristics highly sensitive to a slight change in the medium adjacent to the surface of the microparticles, can sensitively recognize a physicochemical change due to the presence of a labeled trace substance.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-356587 discloses a localized plasmon resonance sensor which has a sensor unit constituted to have a given substrate and metal microparticles fixed on the surface of the substrate and detects the refractive index of a medium near the metal microparticles by measuring the absorbance of light transmitted through the metal microparticles when the sensor unit is irradiated with light.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-365210 discloses a method for detecting living body molecules, characterized in that an apparatus for optically detecting molecular adsorption utilizing optical characteristics of an optical multilayer film, constituted by a substrate, a noble metal thin layer, dielectric microparticles and noble metal microparticles, detects molecular absorption in which, when the optical multilayer film absorbs molecules, the maximum absorption wavelength of the reflection spectrum of the optical multilayer film shifts, but, when the refractive index of a liquid in which the optical multilayer film is immersed changes, the maximum absorption wavelength of the reflection spectrum changes at a level of 1,000 nm or less per unit of the refractive index.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-268592 discloses a structure, characterized in that the structure comprises anodized alumina layers, having a plurality of independent pores formed almost perpendicular to the surface of the layers, integrally with mutually isolated metal particles formed with which the respective independent pores are filled, and a sensor, characterized in that the sensor detects the refractive index of a medium near the metal particles fixed on the substrate by measuring the absorbance of light reflected from or transmitted into the metal particles in the structure upon irradiation of the structure with light.
In such a way, various detection chips and devices have now been developed in order to detect a trace target substance. However, it is obvious that a more slight amount of a component must be detected in a short period of time from a small amount of a sample. In addition, it is desirable that clinical laboratory equipment can sensitively detect a trace component as described above and quantitatively measure a component at a high concentration without dilution of a sample.

Recognition chip for target substance, and detection method and device for the same


A method for treating waste water and a plant designed for preventing the precipitation of carriers under the air blower installed for reaction tank or aeration tank, wherein the plant comprises an aeration tank 1 containing the carriers 2 for growing microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or the subunit 1a joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall 4 including the screen capable of separating the carriers 2, air blower 3 provided for the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank, air bubble generator 5 or submerged stirrer provided under the air blower 3 for creating the flow of water so that the carriers 2 under the blower 3 can be liquidized by the flow of water created by the air bubble generator or the submerged stirrer to prevent the precipitation of the carriers 2 under the air blower 3, whereby not only the precipitation of the carriers under the air blower 3 can be prevented but also the water treatment efficiency and capacity meeting the designed numerical requirements can be maintained and exerted by the aeration tank.

The present invention relates to a waste water treatment method and plant, more particularly to a waste water treatment method and plant designed for biological treatment of the organic and inorganic substances in the waste water for obtaining purified water by using granular carriers formed mainly from a macromolecular substance or an inorganic substance capable of carrying microorganism having water-purifying ability in a inclusively-immobilized form or adhesively-immobilized form or bindingly-immobilized form.
As generally known, the existing waste water treatment plant is available in the forms of the standard activated sludge process reaction tank, immobilized microorganism carrier reaction tank and the like. The immobilized microorganism carrier reaction tank is advantageous over the standard activated sludge process reaction tank in that the microorganism concentration can be maintained at a higher level for decomposing the organic and inorganic substances in the waste water with a higher efficiency. The reaction tank provided with air blower is called an aeration tank.
FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a waste water treatment plant designed for using immobilized microorganism carriers, wherein A is a plan view and B, a cross-sectional view along X-Y line of the plan view. The waste water treatment plant shown in the diagram B of the same figure is a plant comprising an overall air blowing type aeration tank, that is, an aeration tank 1, about 5 m deep, containing immobilized microorganism carriers 2, an air blower 3, for blowing the air covering all over the bottom of the tank, and an air blowing pipe 3a connected to the air blower 3. Normally, the overall air blowing type air blower 3 is installed 200 mm to 600 mm above the bottom of the tank. With this air blower 3, the speed of water flow created by the blow of air from the bottom of the tank is not high enough for producing a stirring effect sufficient for liquidizing the carriers 2, thereby making the carriers 2 tend to precipitate on the bottom of the tank as precipitate 9. The numeral 8 represents the inlet of the waste water to be treated.
The waste water treatment plant shown in FIG. 10 has a shortcoming that the precipitation of the carriers under the air blower 3 causes the formation of a dead space in the aeration tank 1 and the resulting shortage of the carriers necessary for the treatment, which results in the decline of the water treatment capacity of the water treatment plant. In order to prevent the carriers from precipitating under the air blower 3, conventionally employed method has been such as filling the space under the air blower 3 with urethane resin or the like or supplying additional carriers for covering its shortage, thereby preventing the decline of the treatment capacity of the plant.
The method of filling the space under the air blower 3 with the urethane resin or the like, as being a means for preventing the carriers 2 from precipitating under the blower 3, has a shortcoming that this incurs the additional material cost and labor cost for the refill of the urethane resin. Further, since the space under the air blower filled with the urethane resin or the like becomes a dead space, this gives rise to a problem, that is, in order for the reaction tank to maintain a necessary cubic volume, it is necessary for the reaction tank to have a design cubic volume including the dead space, which results in the increase in the construction cost.
Further, such a waste water treatment plant is required to prevent the decline of its treatment capacity by supplying additional carriers corresponding to the carriers precipitated under the air blower 3, and the plant designed in this way gives rise to a problem such as the increase in the cost of carriers as the quantity of the necessary carriers increases. Furthermore, such conventional plant has shortcomings such as the decrease in actually available cubic volume of the reaction tank due to the formation of the dead space under the air blower by being occupied by the precipitate of the carriers, which results in poor treatment effect and resulting poor quality of treated water due to the decomposition of the sludge formed among the spaces of the precipitated carriers.
Thus, the object of the present invention is to resolve the problems as are described above by providing a waste water treatment method and plant capable of preventing the immobilized microorganism carriers from precipitating under the air blower installed with the reaction tank or the aeration tank.
The first aspect of the invention relates to a waste water treatment method by using an aeration tank containing the carriers capable of growing microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or a subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screen capable of separating the carriers, an oxygen-supplying air blower for the subunit of the aeration tank and an air bubble generator installed under the air blower, wherein the air bubbles from the air bubble generator is used for creating the flow of the water for liquidizing the carriers under the air blower, thereby preventing the carriers from precipitating under the air blower.
More specifically, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising an aeration tank containing the carriers for growing the microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or the subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screen capable of separating the carriers, oxygen-supplying air blower for the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank and submerged stirrer for generating air bubbles to create the flow of water for liquidizing the carriers under the air blower. According to this arrangement, the air bubbles from the air bubble generator creates the water flow to liquidize the carriers under the air blower and remove the carriers on the bottom of the aeration tank under the air blower, thereby maintaining the treatment efficiency required for the aeration tank or reaction tank and the designed treatment performance.
Further, the invention relates to a water treatment plant comprising a plurality of air bubble generators installed under the air blower and arranged in parallel or orthogonally to the direction of the flow of the waste water or along one or both of the side walls of the aeration tank, wherein the precipitation of the carriers can be prevented effectively by generating the air bubbles by the air bubble generators in those places where the carriers are apt to precipitate.
Still further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising the air bubble generators installed at equal intervals between any of opposing pairs of the side walls of the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank, wherein the air bubble generators are installed at those places where the carriers are apt to precipitate, thereby enabling the air bubbles to be generated to effectively create the flow of the water that prevents the precipitation of the carriers.
Yet further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising the air bubble generators installed at equal intervals of 2 m to 20 m between any of opposing pairs of the side walls of the aeration tank or the subunits of the aeration tank, wherein the flow of the water can be created throughout the space under the air blower and the carriers can easily be set afloat. Further, it is preferable for the air bubble generators to be installed at equal intervals of 2 m to 10 m.
Still further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising the air bubble generators provided with an air bubble outlets for discharging the air bubbles towards the bottom of the aeration tank, wherein the suspendibly afloat carriers which tend to precipitate on the bottom of the tank is set afloat by the air bubbles blown towards the bottom of the tank, thereby enabling the carriers to be effectively utilized for the growth of the microorganism which is capable of decomposing the organic macromolecular substance and the like in the waste water.
The second aspect of the invention relates to a waste water treatment method by using an aeration tank containing the carriers of growing microorganism for biological treatment of the waste water or the subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screen capable of separating the carriers and oxygen-supplying air blower for the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank, wherein submerged stirrer installed under the air blower creating the flow of water to liquidize the carriers for preventing the carriers from precipitating under the air blower.
Further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising an aeration tank containing the carriers for growing microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or the subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screen capable of separating the carriers, oxygen-supplying air blower for the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank and submerged stirrer installed under the air blower. This arrangement provides a plant wherein the carriers under the air blower is liquidized by the flow of the water created by the submerged stirrer to prevent the carriers from precipitating under the air blower, whereby the reaction tank can be kept capable of operating with designed efficiency and designed treatment performance without forming any dead space.
Still further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising the submerged stirrers installed at intervals of 2 m to 20 m on the bottom of the tank, wherein the flow of the water can be created throughout the space under the air blower to set all the carriers suspendibly afloat and distributed throughout the tank, thereby enabling the plant to maintain its designed capacity for decomposing the organic macromolecular substance in the waste water.
The third aspect of the invention relates to a waste water treatment method by using an aeration tank containing carriers for growing microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or the subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screens capable of separating the carriers, oxygen-supplying air blower for the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank and a supply pipe for supplying the water to be treated into the tank for creating the flow of water or circulation of water under the air blower to prevent the precipitation of the carriers under the air blower, wherein the supply pipe is installed under the air blower so that the water to be treated flowing along the bottom of the tank creates the flow of water to liquidize the carriers on the bottom of tank to prevent the precipitation of the carriers.
Further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment method characterized by that the direction of the water to flow on the bottom of the tank or the direction of the circulating water is reverse to the direction of the flow of the treated water, wherein the flow of water to be treated along the bottom of the tank is made reverse to the direction of the flow of treated water to create the circulating flow of water to set the carrier suspendibly afloat for enabling the carriers not only to be kept in contact with the water to be treated for a sufficient length of time but also to be prevented from precipitating, thereby reducing the number of the carriers which are unable to contribute to the biological treatment of the waste water.
Still further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant comprising an aeration tank containing the carriers for growing microorganism for biological treatment of waste water or the subunit of the aeration tank joined with the aeration tank through a partition wall including the screen capable of separating the carriers, oxygen-supplying air blower installed under the aeration tank or the subunit of the aeration tank, water supply pipe having a number of outlets for letting the water to be treated flow into the tank and installed under the air blower so as to create the flow of the water reverse to the flow of the treated water, wherein the water supply pipe is installed in the direction of the width of the aeration tank so that the water to be treated discharged from the outlets creates the flow of water or circulation of water reverse in direction to the direction of the flow of the treated water on the bottom of the tank, thereby preventing the precipitation of the carriers.
Yet further, the invention relates to a waste water treatment plant characterized by that the supply pipes are arranged orthogonal to the direction of the flow of the treated water and at intervals of 2 m to 20 m along the direction of the flow of (water) on the bottom of the tank, wherein the flow of the water can be created covering all over the bottom of the tank depending on the size of the tank, thereby preventing the precipitation of the carriers.

Method and apparatus for treating waste water


Buffers on a clock tree are reduced, as long as there is enough set-up margin, in order to reduce power consumption in the clock tree. An FF group coupled to a partial tree, which is a part of the clock tree and expanded from the branch point being focused on, is defined as the target FF and the other FFs are defined as non-target FFs. The target buffer of an elimination candidate and the target and non-target FFs are defined so as not to change the slack in principle in a signal propagation path between the non-target FFs even if the buffer is eliminated. The buffer which can be eliminated is specified within a range in each signal propagation path which has a start point at the non-target FF and an end point at the target FF and in each signal propagation path between the target FFs.

The present invention relates to an LSI design method, and, in particular, relates to a technique which is effective for suppressing power consumption due to a clock tree.
For a logic LSI, there is typically used synchronous design providing a clock tree from a clock generation source to a flip-flop (hereinafter, abbreviated as FF) which is operated in synchronization with a clock therefrom. A combination circuit exists between the FFs and a timing specification such as a set-up time and a hold time is defined by a relationship among a clock skew, a signal propagation delay by the combination circuit, and a clock period. The clock skew represents a time difference when the clocks arrive at one pair of FFs, which are a start point and an end point of signal propagation, from the clock generation source. When the start point FF shifts output level in synchronization with the clock, the logic operation result arrives at the endpoint FF having a signal propagation delay by the combination circuit. The arrival timing needs a certain degree of margin for the clock period, and the margin is referred to as the set-up time. Further, the hold time is defined for preventing a problem referred to as racing that the signal propagation delay is too small and the signal level shift at the start point appears in the output of the end point within the same clock period.
Such an LSI design method generally includes the steps of Logic Synthesis, Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS), placement and routing, timing analysis, and verification.
In the Logic Synthesis, a logic circuit is synthesized at a gate level from an input of a logic which is designed by a designer in a format of high-level logic description. The logic circuit is synthesized typically by synchronous design which provides a clock tree from a clock generation source to FFs which are operated in synchronization with a clock therefrom. The FFs are disposed at a start point and an end point of signal propagation delay by a combination circuit and configure timing definition circuits in the synchronous design. When the FF which is the timing definition circuit at the start point shifts output level in synchronization with the clock, the logic operation result arrives at the FF which is the timing definition circuit at the end point, through a signal propagation delay by the combination circuit. The arrival timing needs a certain degree of margin for the clock period and the margin is referred to as a set-up time. Meanwhile, a hold time is defined for preventing a problem referred to as racing that the signal propagation delay is too small and the signal level shift at the start point appears in the output of the end point within the same clock period. The timing definition circuit includes not only the FF but also a latch circuit, a clock-synchronous type memory, a gate circuit which controls clock gating, and the like.
In the Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS), clock buffers are configured to form a tree shape so as to supply the clock from the clock generation source to all the timing definition circuits such as the FFs. For supplying the clocks from one clock generation source to many timing definition circuits, the number of supply targets is increased through a plurality of times of branching. One or a plurality of buffers is provided in series in each of a plurality of branches extended from a branch point and further coupled to the next branch point. In the synchronous design, generally, the design is performed so that the clock arrives at all the timing definition circuit at the same time. This is because the Logic Synthesis is carried out on the premise of the above requirement. An error of time when the clock arrives at the timing definition circuit is referred to as a skew.
The placement and routing determines an arrangement of cells corresponding to respective gates of the logic circuit and performs routing between the cells. As a result, LSI layout information is generated.
The timing analysis includes dynamic timing analysis of performing transient analysis and Static Timing Analysis (STA) which extracts a load capacitance and a wiring resistance of a wiring, thereby calculates a delay time for each gate and performs the timing analysis by addition and subtraction of the delay times, without performing the transient analysis. The STA, which requires a small operation amount, is employed typically in LSI design for a large circuit scale. The STA calculates a signal propagation delay from the clock generation source to the timing definition circuit of the start point or the endpoint by accumulating the delays of the clock buffers, calculates a signal propagation delay by a combination circuit between the start point and the end point, and calculates margins to the set-up time and the hold time. The margin for the set-up time is referred to as a slack, and the slack is expressed to be negative when violation occurs and expressed to be positive when a margin exists. The STA calculates all the margins to the set-up time and the hold time for all the combination circuits having the start points and the end points at all the timing definition circuits. When the STA is performed after the placement and routing, a parameter affecting the delay such as the load capacitance and the wiring resistance is extracted from the layout information and the delay can be calculated more accurately.
The verification includes Design Rule Check (DRC) and circuit layout verification (LVS; Layout vs. Schematic), and performs verification of various kinds of rules in the layout information and agreement verification between a layout and a circuit diagram.
In contrast, reduction of power consumption in a logic LSI is a subject which has become more and more important and, in particular, it is extremely important to reduce power consumption of a clock system represented by the clock tree. Although the circuit scale of the clock tree is smaller than that of the combination circuit, since state transition probability per unit time of the clock is several times higher than that of data, the power consumption of the clock tree occupies a comparatively high ratio in the logic LSI. Accordingly, suppression of the power consumption in the clock tree contributes greatly to the reduction of the power consumption in the whole logic LSI.
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-031141) discloses a technique of adjusting the arrival time of the clock at the FF for resolving the set-up violation. This is a technique of eliminating the worst slack in the set-up violations by adding or removing the clock buffer in the clock tree.
Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No 2002-108962) discloses a flow optimizing a clock line for resolving the set-up violation. The FF at the end point of a set-up violation path is replaced by the FF provided with a delay for delaying the clock.
Patent Document 3 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No 2006-319162) discloses a clock tree generation method which can perform reduction of the power consumption and improvement of a set-up/hold error. This is a technique of reducing the power consumption by reducing the number of delay elements on the clock tree and resolving the error by re-arranging cells configuring a path where the set-up/hold error is caused and by reducing wiring lengths. Clock load cells (typically, FF) are re-arranged so as to cause the wiring length from the clock generation source to the clock load cell to fall within a predetermined range, and thus the number of buffers on the clock tree is reduced to a minimum to be required and the set-up/hold error is resolved at the same time.


A medical procedure system, including a medical instrument to be inserted into a body part, and including position-tracking transducers to provide position signals, a distal end, and at least one radiopaque marker, a position tracking sub-system to compute a position including at least one location and orientation of the distal end in a position-tracking sub-system coordinate frame responsively to the position signals, a fluoroscope to capture fluoroscopic images of an interior of the body part and the radiopaque marker(s), and a registration sub-system to render, to a display, the captured fluoroscopic images including at least one marker-image of the radiopaque marker(s), and at least one graphical representation indicative of the computed position of the distal end, receive user-alignment input aligning the graphical representation(s) with the marker-image(s), and register the position-tracking sub-system coordinate frame with a coordinate frame of the fluoroscope responsively to the received user-alignment input.

Medical images such as CT scans are often captured prior to a medical procedure and then registered with a position tracking coordinate system of a medical instrument so that the medical instrument may be displayed together with the medical scan to aid navigation of the medical instrument in a body-part by a physician.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,621 to Graumann, et al., describes a method and apparatus for catheter navigation in three-dimensional vascular tree exposures, particularly for intercranial application, the catheter position is detected and mixed into the 3D image of the pre-operatively scanned vascular tree reconstructed in a navigation computer and an imaging (registering) of the 3D patient coordination system ensues on the 3D image coordination system prior to the intervention using a number of markers placed on the patient's body, the position of these markers being registered by the catheter. The markers of a C-arm x-ray device for 3D angiography are detected in at least two 2D projection images, from which the 3D angiogram is calculated, and are projected back on to the imaged subject in the navigation computer and are brought into relation to the marker coordinates in the patient coordinate system, using projection matrices applied to the respective 2D projection images, these matrices already having been determined for the reconstruction of the 3D volume set of the vascular tree.
US Patent Publication 2014/0114173, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,441,236 on Oct. 15, 2019, of Bar-tal, et al., describes a coordinate system registration module, including radiopaque elements arranged in a fixed predetermined pattern and configured, in response to the radiopaque elements generating a fluoroscopic image, to define a position of the module in a fluoroscopic coordinate system of reference. The module further includes one or more connections configured to fixedly connect the module to a magnetic field transmission pad at a predetermined location and orientation with respect to the pad, so as to characterize the position of the registration module in a magnetic coordinate system of reference defined by the magnetic field transmission pad.


An optical apparatus is arranged in a compact size and yet to be capable of adequately performing lens control whereby, in the optical system of the apparatus which is of the kind having a focusing lens arranged to compensate for a shift of a focal plane caused by a power varying action, the speed of the movement of a zooming lens is reduced when the speed of the movement of the focusing lens increases following the movement of the zooming lens.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical apparatus of the kind having a lens control device for controlling the movement of a lens, such as a camera, a lens unit, a measuring equipment, a projection type TV set or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The volume and the weight of a lens part and an automatic focusing device arranged in a video-integrated type camera have recently come to decrease rapidly to permit a reduction in size and weight of the camera of this type. For this purpose, the automatic focusing device has been changing from an active type which has an infrared ray projecting and receiving means to a passive type which finds an in-focus point through a video signal coming from an image sensor without using the infrared ray projecting and receiving means. As for the lens part, a so-called inner focus type has come to be often used wherein a lens which serves to compensate for a shift of a focal plane caused by a power varying action is arranged to perform also a focus adjusting function so that a front lens located nearest to an object to be photographed can be fixed for reduction in
FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the above-stated inner focus type lens. The illustration includes a first lens group 101 which is fixed; a second lens group 102 which is a zooming lens group performing a power varying action; a diaphragm 103; a third lens group 104 which is fixed; a fourth lens group 105 which is a focusing lens group performing the combined functions of compensating for a shift of a focal plane due to a power varying action and adjusting a focal point; and the image pickup plane 106 of an image sensor. The lens groups, the diaphragm 103 and the image pickup plane 106 are serially disposed one after another on an optical axis.
FIG. 5 shows changes taking place in position of the fourth lens group 105, in the arrangement shown in FIG. 4, for focus adjustment to each object distance in relation to the changes of focal length, i.e., changes in position of the second lens group 102. When there is no change in the focal length with the second lens group 102 in repose, the fourth lens group 105 makes focus adjustment by moving in parallel to the axis of ordinate for an applicable focal length, as shown in FIG. 5.
During the process of zooming, one of the loci of the fourth lens group 105 as shown in FIG. 5 is selected according to an applicable object distance, and driving control corresponding to the change of the focal length is performed on the fourth lens group 105 according to the locus thus selected. Under this control, an image can be obtained without any blur by adjusting the focus while compensating for any shift of focal plane resulting from power variation even during the process of zooming.
FIG. 6 shows by way of example a case where a zooming-lens moving area shown in FIG. 5 is divided into small areas. In this case, while the zooming-lens moving area is equally divided, the focusing lens positions are grouped together in such a manner that a plurality of loci of the focusing lens position considered to have about the same inclination are included within each of the divided areas of the zooming lens positions. In FIG. 6, arrows which vary their angles from moment to moment represent information on the speed of the fourth lens group 105.
In the case of FIG. 6, the moving range of the second lens group 102, on the axis of abscissa, is divided equally into a total of 16 areas, which hereinafter will be called "zoom zones". When the curves shown in FIG. 5 are divided by these zoom zones, these curves can be grouped into the portion having about the same inclination within each zoom zone. In a case where the speed of zooming is constant, the fourth lens group 105 can be allowed to move at a constant speed irrespectively of variations in the object distance as long as these curves have the same inclination.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the axis of ordinate is divided for every one of the zoom zones into parts in each of which the above-stated curves have the same inclination. Then, one representative speed is assigned to each of the divided parts. With the lens part arranged in this manner, the moving locus shown in FIG. 5 can be followed always at an optimum moving speed of the fourth lens group 105 by adjusting the lens part to an in-focus position at the beginning of zooming and then by performing the zooming action while detecting the positions of the zooming and focusing lenses.
In FIGS. 5 and 6, a term "WIDE (W)" means a wide-angle state, or a wide-angle end (position), where the zooming lens has the shortest focal length; and a term "TELE (T)" means a telephoto state, or a telephoto end (position), where the zooming lens has the longest focal length.
In the conventional lens control device, the inclination of the movement locus of the fourth lens group suddenly increases relative to the axis of abscissa in the neighborhood of the telephoto end, as shown in FIG. 5. This change indicates a sudden increase in the moving speed of the focusing lens in the neighborhood of the telephoto end. It has been known that this tendency becomes more salient accordingly as the focal length of the lens part increases.
It is, therefore, necessary to use such an actuator that gives a sufficient torque for realizing the speed desired in the neighborhood of the telephoto end. This necessity increases accordingly as the zooming magnification is increased. Generally, however, the actuator has a larger size, makes a larger noise and increases power consumption accordingly as its rotation speed and torque are increased. In other words, a greater zooming magnification necessitates an increase in the maximum drivable speed of a focusing-lens actuator accordingly. Then, it increases the size of the lens part, consumption of electric power and the size of a battery to be used for the camera. These things are detrimental to a reduction in size and weight of the camera.

Optical apparatus having lens control device