When an excimer laser device is stopped from operating, an alternating current is applied to a coil of an electromagnet of a magnetic bearing for a fan so as to erase a residual magnetic field and thus weaken the adhesiveness of dust to the electromagnet. A dust sucking unit sucks to remove the dust attaching to the electromagnet together with a gas introduced into a chamber. In this way, accumulation of the dust on the magnetic bearing for the fan can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to excimer laser devices, and particularly to an excimer laser device which excites laser gas in a chamber to produce a laser beam.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view illustrating an entire structure of a conventional excimer laser device.
Referring to FIG. 11, a laser medium gas (hereinafter referred to as laser gas) containing halogen gas is enclosed in a laser chamber 81, and a predetermined high voltage is applied between discharge electrodes 82a and 82b to cause discharge and excite the laser gas so as to generate a laser beam. The laser beam thus generated is emitted to the outside of laser chamber 81 through windows 83 and 84 placed in the side walls in the direction of an optical axis. A fan 85 provided at a predetermined position in laser chamber 81 circulates the laser gas in laser chamber 81 to direct the laser gas to the location between discharge electrodes 82a and 82b.
A motor 87 for driving fan 85 to rotate it about an shaft of rotation 86 is located on the outside of laser chamber 81. Shaft of rotation 86 passes through the right and left side walls of laser chamber 81 and is rotatably supported by bearings 88 and 89 respectively.
There are further provided on the outside of laser chamber 81, a gas-dust separation unit 90 and a gas passage 91 for establishing communication between the inside of laser chamber 81 and the inside of gas-dust separation unit 90. The laser gas circulated by fan 85 is passed into gas-dust separation unit 90 through gas passage 91 so as to remove dust from the gas. Then, the gas cleaned through gas-dust separation unit 90 is returned into laser chamber 81 through a gas passage 92 formed in the side walls of laser chamber 81. At this time, the cleaned laser gas is partially returned through a labyrinth portion 93 located inside and near windows 83 and 84 into laser chamber 81, and the remaining gas is returned to fan 85 along gas passages 94 and 95, bearings 88 and 89 and shaft of rotation 86.
The conventional excimer laser device employs ball bearings as bearings 88 and 89 for fan 85. This device is accordingly disadvantageous in that impurity gas generated by reaction between the halogen gas in the laser gas and the lubricant for bearings, or the dust generated from the ball travelling surfaces of bearings 88 and 89 could deteriorate the laser gas and the resultant laser output could decrease. Further, bearings 88 and 89 themselves could wear due to the operation over a long period of time, requiring a regular maintenance.
In order to address this deficiency, the inventor of the present application has proposed a device which provides a non-contact support of rotational shaft 86 of fan 85 by magnetic bearings. This device allows rotational shaft 86 of fan 85 to be rotationally driven with no contact, so that the impurity gas and dust are never generated.
However, if any magnetic material is included in the dust generated during laser discharge or the like, the dust could adhere to and accumulate on a magnetic pole portion of an electromagnet of the magnetic bearing and accordingly, control of the magnetic bearing could be affected adversely.
A further problem of this device is increase in the size thereof due to the arrangement of rotational shaft 86 and magnetic bearings on both sides of fan 85.
One object of the present invention is to provide an excimer laser device capable of preventing accumulation of dust on a magnetic bearing of a laser gas circulation fan.
Another object of the invention is to provide an excimer laser device of a small size in which laser gas is never contaminated.
According to one aspect of the invention, a magnetic field erasing unit is provided for erasing a residual magnetic field by applying an alternating current to an electromagnet of the magnetic bearing when the excimer laser device is stopped. In this way, it is possible to weaken the adhesiveness of dust to the electromagnet and accordingly prevent the dust from accumulating on the electromagnet.
Preferably, a dust sucking unit is further provided for sucking and thus removing the dust adhering to the electromagnet of the magnetic bearing. In this way, the dust adhering to the electromagnet can easily be removed.
According to another aspect of the invention, the laser gas circulation fan is formed of a cylindrical member and vane members placed around the circumference of the cylindrical member, with a fixed shaft inserted into the cylindrical member. The fan is supported from the inside of the circumference of the cylindrical member with no contact by the magnetic bearing provided to the fixed shaft. The fan is driven to rotate by a driving unit with no contact. Accordingly, no impurity gas and no dust are generated from the bearing as they occur in the conventional device employing ball bearings or the like as the bearing, and the laser gas is never contaminated. Further, the device size can be made smaller compared with the conventional device having its shaft of rotation projecting from both sides of the fan.
Preferably, the magnetic bearing includes a radial displacement sensor for detecting the radial position of the fan and a radial electromagnet with its coil current controlled according to the result of detection by the radial displacement sensor. The magnetic bearing is thus constructed easily.
More preferably, the driving unit includes a rotor shaped into a ring along the inside of the circumference of the cylindrical member of the fan and a stator fixed onto the fixed shaft opposite to the rotor so as to generate a rotating magnetic field and thus drive the rotor to rotate with no contact. The driving unit is accordingly constructed easily.
Still preferably, a cable hole is made from the outer wall of the chamber toward the inside of the shaft of rotation, and a cable for the magnetic bearing and the stator is drown through the cable hole to the outside of the chamber. In this way, damage to the cable by the laser gas as well as contamination of the laser gas caused by impurity gas generated from the cable can be prevented.
Still more preferably, a metal cover is further provided for protecting the magnetic bearing and the stator. It is thus possible to protect the magnetic bearing from laser gas and noise and prevent generation of impurity gas from the stator.


An electric, three-wheeled motor scooter is described which can derive its motive energy either from a solar-electric array on the vehicle or an independent source of electric power. The vehicle has a unique suspension which permits limited lateral rotation of the forward portion of the vehicle relative to the rear portion, and thereby, facilitates handling and ease of use. Speed and acceleration are controlled through a modulated pulse width controller which supplies pulses of electrical energy to the DC motor in response to throttle commands.

While larger vehicles for transporting people, such as automobiles and airplanes, have become increasingly numerous and important in our society, there has also developed a need for smaller more efficient means for transporting people over relatively short distances without the expense, inconvenience, and environmental concerns usually associated with the use of larger vehicles.
Two-wheeled vehicles such as bicycles and motor cycles have of course been available for many years. These vehicles, however, require a certain amount of dexterity and skill to use safety and conveniently. Further, in the case of the typical motor cycle, there is a great deal of noise and exhaust pollution usually associated with the internal combustion engine which powers these vehicles. In the case of the typical bicycle, a certain amount of physical stamina is also required in order to power the vehicle.
Electrically powered vehicles have recently received increased attention largely because they present a nonpolluting and fuel efficient alternative to the internal combustion engine automobile. For the most part, however, electrically driven vehicles have been relatively large four-wheeled units which have attempted to mimic the internal combustion engine automobile in size and use. Although such vehicles do indeed answer some environmental concerns, they remain relatively large, cumbersome, and expensive vehicles suitable of use only on traditional highways and roads.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an environmentally friendly, quiet, nonpolluting vehicle which is economical to operate and purchase, compact and easy to store and transport and which can provide localized transportation for one or two people especially in nonhighway usage. Such a vehicle should also be safe, easy to park, relatively noncomplex, and, most importantly, pleasurable and easy to operate.
The present invention satisfies all the above requirements by providing a unique electric scooter having smooth power and acceleration and which is stable and easy to ride. Further, the unique three-wheeled of the present invention can derive its electric motor power either from solar energy provided to its battery or by recharging from an electric power line and is therefore quite economical in its operation.


A control device for a hydraulic work cylinder has a housing having an inlet, an outlet, and a valve seat, a shut-off valve having a valve body cooperating with the valve seat of the housing and having a further valve seat, a pilot valve member arranged in the valve body and cooperating with the further valve seat of the valve body under the action of a spring force. The housing and the valve body form therebetween a pressure chamber so that the valve body under the action of a pressure in the pressure chamber is pressed against the valve seat of the housing. The pilot valve member has a valve member part and a plurality of pilot portions arranged in series. Two throttles are arranged in series so that the pressure chamber communicates with the supply of the housing through the throttles and the pilot valve member is located between the throttles. The pressure chamber is connected with the outlet of the housing through the pilot valve member and a passage which opens by the pilot valve member.

The present invention relates to a control device for a hydraulic piston/cylinder unit.
More particularly, it relates to a control device which has a shut-off valve with a valve body cooperating with a valve seat, and a pilot valve member arranged in the valve body and abutting against a valve seat under the action of a spring to control the pressure in a pressure space formed between the valve body and the valve housing.
Such a control device is already known from DE-OS 30 42 277. In this control device it is brought about with the aid of a fine-control shut-off valve--a so-called lowering brake valve--that the load acting on a consumer, for instance, does not proceed in advance of the pressure medium flow associated with the consumer when the load decreases. This shut-off valve has a control valve member which is guided in its valve slide. A control pin of this control valve member projects into an outlet bore hole. Such a shut-off valve has the disadvantage that pressure medium can only flow off when the control pin emerges from the outlet bore hole. The actuating path along which an adjusting device must move the shut-off valve before pressure medium can flow at all is very long.

Control device for hydraulic piston/cylinder unit


A flange bolt alignment system has an emitting unit including a beam emitting assembly adapted to emit an incident light beam and a beam reflecting assembly having a pivoting beam reflecting element continually oriented along a vertical axis by gravity; and a light reflecting surface on the beam reflecting element, the light reflecting surface positioned to receive the incident light beam and reflect a reflected light beam along a horizontal axis; and a receiving unit adapted for positioning in adjacent, spaced-apart relationship to the emitting unit. A flange bolt alignment method is also disclosed.

The background description provided herein is solely for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. Aspects of the background description are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the claimed subject matter.
In the fabrication of pipelines used to convey fluids such as oil and gas, flanged pipeline conduits are connected to each other end-to-end. The flanges on each pipeline conduit typically include multiple bolt openings which are aligned with the bolt openings in the flanges of the adjacent pipeline conduits. Bolts are typically extended through the registering bolt openings and secured with nuts to attach the flanges and the adjacent conduits to each other.
One of the challenges commonly encountered in bolting adjacent pipeline conduits to each other is properly aligning the bolt openings in the flanges of the adjacent conduits with each other to facilitate extension of the bolts through the openings. Accordingly, flange bolt alignment systems and methods which facilitate alignment of bolt openings in the flanges of adjoining conduits to expedite bolting of the conduits to each other is needed.

Flange bolt alignment systems and methods


According to one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium includes forming a first hard mask, a second hard mask and a resist on a magnetic recording layer, imprinting a stamper to the resist to transfer patterns of protrusions and recesses to the resist, removing residues remaining in the recesses of the patterned resist by means of a first etching gas, etching the second hard mask by means of the first etching gas using the patterned resist as a mask to transfer the patterns to the second hard mask, etching the first hard mask by means of a second etching gas different from the first etching gas using the second hard mask as a mask to transfer the patterns to the first hard mask, and performing ion beam etching in order to deactivate the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses and to remove the second hard mask.

1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium, such as a patterned medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the problem that improvement in track density is disturbed by interference between adjacent tracks has arisen with respect to a magnetic recording medium mounted on a hard disk drive (HDD). In particular, it is an important technical subject to reduce the fringe effect of a write head field.
As measures against this problem, a discrete track recording (DTR) medium has been developed, which is configured to physically separate recording tracks by processing a ferromagnetic layer. With the DTR medium, it is feasible to reduce side erase (erasure of adjacent track information when writing) and side read (reading of adjacent track information when reading), so that track density can be increased. Therefore, the DTR medium is expected to be a magnetic recording medium capable of providing high recording density. Also, a bit-patterned medium (BPM), which has dotted magnetic patterns, is expected to be a magnetic recording medium capable of providing a high recording density.
As a process for manufacturing the patterned medium (DTR medium, BPM), the following method is known. The known method comprises forming a hard mask and a resist on a magnetic recording layer, transferring patterns of protrusions and recesses to the resist by an imprint technique, transferring the patterns of protrusions and recesses of the resist to the hard mask and etching the magnetic recording layer using the hard mask as an etching mask to thereby form the magnetic recording layer with the patterns of protrusions and recesses.
A technology employing two hard mask layers is disclosed as an example of the above method in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2005-50468 and 2006-12332. In the references, the technology relating to the step of removing any imprint residue of the resist, transferring patterns to the hard mask lying immediately beneath the resist and transferring patterns to the lowermost hard mask layer are disclosed, which are carried out using different etching gases. In the disclosed technology, when the etching selectivity between the resist and the hard mask lying immediately beneath the resist is very high (for example, 10 or higher), desirable processing can be performed. In contrast, when the selectivity is not sufficient, the resist mask is further etched during etching the hard mask lying immediately beneath the resist, so that an undesirably small pattern width results. Consequently, a low land/groove ratio (namely, a ratio of protruded pattern width to recessed pattern width) results. Therefore, the problem that satisfactory signal quality cannot be obtained in write and read with a head after mounting the medium on a drive arises.

Method of manufacturing magnetic recording medium


There is provided a method for producing a force sensor including: a force sensor chip; and an attenuator, in which the force sensor chip and the attenuator are joined at joint portions with a glass layer sandwiched therebetween. The method includes: a film forming step in which a glass film as the glass layer is formed on regions of the attenuator containing the joint portions or on regions of the force sensor chip containing the joint portions; and an anodic bonding step in which the force sensor chip and the attenuator are stacked as a stacked body in close contact with each other at the joint portions, and the glass film and the force sensor chip, or the glass film and the attenuator, are joined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a force sensor and a method for producing the force sensor, and particularly to a force sensor in which a force sensor chip and an attenuator are joined by anodic bonding through a glass layer sandwiched therebetween, and a method for producing the force sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an industrial robot and the like, there has been adopted a multi-axis force sensor for accurately measuring a size and direction of an external force applied to the robot during an action of the robot, in order to implement a control under which the robot appropriately and flexibly responds to the external force.
As the multi-axis force sensor, for example, there has been known a force sensor utilizing a property of a strain resistive element (piezo resistive element), in which a resistance value changes in accordance with minute strain (compression, tension) caused by an applied external force (See, for example, Japanese unexamined patent publication Nos. 2003-207405 and 2003-254843, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties).
The multi-axis force sensor has a force sensor chip formed on a semiconductor substrate by a semiconductor production process, and an attenuator made of a metal member for accommodating and securing the force sensor chip.
Specifically, in the force sensor chip, the strain resistive elements are appropriately arranged around an action portion to which an applied external force is transmitted, and a change in a resistance value of the strain resistive element due to the external force is detected as an electrical signal, which presents a size and direction of the external force. If the applied external force is directly transmitted to the strain resistive element, and the external force is excessively large, the force sensor chip may be damaged. In order to receive the external force of various magnitudes without causing damage, the attenuator is introduced for attenuating the applied external force to an appropriate magnitude to transmit to the force sensor chip.
The force sensor chip is fixed to the attenuator through the joint portion, in order to accurately transmit the applied external force to the force sensor chip. If the force sensor chip formed on the semiconductor substrate is directly joined to the attenuator made of a metal member, there arise problems, such as electric hazard including leakage, detachment of two members at the joint portion due to a difference in coefficient of thermal expansion between two members, and thermal strain, all of which may deteriorate the detection accuracy.
In order to overcome the problems, some conventional techniques introduce a bulky (massive) glass plate, which has approximately the same thickness as that of the semiconductor substrate, as an interface between the force sensor chip and the attenuator, from a viewpoint of insulation property and coefficient of thermal expansion. For joining the glass plate to the force sensor chip and to the attenuator, an epoxy resin adhesive is applied to the joint faces thereof, or the joint faces are chemically bonded by anodic bonding. In anodic bonding, while the entire subject is heated, a voltage is applied to the subject with a negative voltage on a glass plate side and a positive voltage on a side of an object to be joined, in order to transfer alkali ion, such as Na+, from the glass to the object. Typical thickness of the glass plate to be joined to the object is approximately 0.1 to several mm.
The conventional anodic bonding method will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 13A and 13B. FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate steps of anodic bonding at joint portions of a force sensor chip and an attenuator with the presence of a glass plate therebetween, in which FIG. 13A shows joining of the glass plate and the attenuator, and FIG. 13B shows joining of the attenuator with the glass plate joined thereto and the force sensor chip.
In the anodic bonding, as described above, a voltage is applied to the subject with a negative voltage on the glass plate, and a positive voltage on an object to be joined.
Accordingly, when the attenuator and the glass plate are joined first by anodic bonding, as shown in FIG. 13A, a voltage is applied to the subject with a negative voltage on the glass plate 100 and a positive voltage on the attenuator 300. Then, when a complex of the attenuator 300 with the glass plate 100 joined thereto and the force sensor chip 200 are joined by anodic bonding, as shown in FIG. 13B, a voltage is applied with a negative voltage on an attenuator 300 side and thus on a glass plate 100 side of the joint portion 120, and a positive voltage on the force sensor chip 200.
It should be noted that, in this explanation of the conventional anodic bonding, the attenuator 300 and the glass plate 100 are joined first, and then the glass plate 100 and the force sensor chip 200 are joined; however, there may be a case in which the force sensor chip 200 and the glass plate 100 are joined first and then the glass plate 100 and the attenuator 300 are joined.
However, when an epoxy resin adhesive is used at joint faces of the glass plate and the force sensor chip or the attenuator, adhesion may become poor due to aged deterioration of the adhesive. In addition, a joint portion between the force sensor chip and the glass plate may be deformed or adhesive strength may become smaller, due to repeated compression and tension caused by external force on the attenuator. Due to this deterioration of the adhesive and deformation of joint portion, there arises a problem that minute change in external force cannot be accurately transmitted.
Further in anodic bonding, directions of voltage applied to the joint portion 110 are reversed between a case of joining of the attenuator 300 with the glass plate 100 (FIG. 13A), and a case of joining of the glass plate 100 with the force sensor chip 200 (FIG. 13B). As a result, fracture in the joint interface may occur from alkali ion (e.g., Na+) in the glass plate 100, leading to problems, such as reduced joint strength and detachment of the joint face.
These problems also occur in a case where the force sensor chip 200 is joined with the glass plate 100 first and then the glass plate 100 is joined with the attenuator 300.
In the conventional anodic bonding, a bulky glass plate having a thickness that is about the same as that of the force sensor chip is used. Therefore, deflection of the glass plate caused by an external force cannot be neglected. Because the deflection of the glass plate should be taken into account, design flexibility of the force sensor tends to be limited.
Further, when a machine processing, such as carving, is performed on the bulky glass plate in order to make a specific shape, microcracks (minute cracks that cannot be observed) will be generated. Since microcracks reduce a load-carrying capacity of the glass plate, there remains a problem of poor endurance and poor reliability.
Therefore, first, it would be desirable to provide a force sensor in which the joint portion is prevented from deteriorating during anodic bonding of a force sensor chip and an attenuator with a glass layer sandwiched therebetween, and a method for producing the same.
Second, it would be desirable to provide a force sensor in which the above-mentioned defects can be suppressed which may otherwise be generated by anodic bonding using a bulky glass plate, and a method for producing the same.


An electronic device is provided, including a main body, a display unit connected to the main body, and an input unit detachably connected to the main body. The input unit has a pad protruding from the bottom side thereof. When the input unit is placed on a surface of an object, the pad contacts the surface. When the main body is placed on the surface and joined with the input unit, the pad and the surface form a distance therebetween.

Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices having a detachable input unit.
Description of the Related Art
Conventional laptop computers are usually provided with an undetachable keyboard. Additionally, when using conventional tablet computers, users can only operate or click through the touch screen, but cannot apply external keyboards or touchpads to the tablet computers for data input. It is unfortunate that neither the laptop computers nor the tablet computers provide a flexible and convenient way for the users to operate them.


A silver halide photographic material enabling very rapid processing and extremely low waste liquid processing, which comprises a transparent film support having provided on each side thereof at least one light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer and a dye-fixed layer for absorbing the crossover light disposed nearer to the support, wherein a dye used in said dye-fixed layer is a compound which is decolorized in development processing.

Various attempts have hitherto been made to make rapid and low-replenishing processing compatible with the high quality of X-ray images for medical use.
For example, JP-B-1-126645 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication") discloses a technique of providing a crossover cut layer which is mordanted with a dye, between an emulsion layer and a support to make image sharpness compatible with rapid processing.
Further, JP-A-1-172828 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") discloses a technique of using a solid-dispersed decolorization type dye in a crossover cut layer for the compatibility between high image sharpness and rapid processing in which the total development processing time is less than 90 seconds and the crossover light is 10% or less.
Furthermore, JP-A-58-111938 discloses that high absorption caused by a spectral sensitizing dye allowed to be adsorbed by tabular grains high in specific surface area decreases the crossover light, and that the use of a dye low in molecular weight, high in water solubility and good in decolorization as the spectral sensitizing dye enables realization of high image quality and rapid processing.
However, these techniques have not established the compatibility of rapid processing with minimized replenishment and waste liquid of processing solutions, and formation of such high-quality images as do not substantially have the crossover light.
The conventional techniques, in which dyes or coloring matter allowed to be adsorbed by emulsions used in the crossover cut layers are quickly eluted from photographic materials in development-fixing-washing processing, thereby removing the dyes or the coloring matter so as not to remain in the photographic materials to cause no influence of contamination due to the dyes or the coloring matter on the photographic materials after the processing, have the problem that as the replenishment rate and the amount of the waste liquid of the processing solutions decrease, the dyes or the coloring matter is accumulated in the processing solutions themselves, resulting in contamination of the photographic materials, or deposited on rolls or conveying systems of the photographic materials of automatic processors to contaminate the automatic processors, or transferred to the photographic materials to contaminate the photographic materials. In these conventional techniques, the diffusibility of the dyes or the coloring matter comes into question for decolorization. Accordingly, these techniques have a limitation as a matter of course also from the viewpoint of rapid processing.

Silver halide photographic material and image formation method using the same


Method and apparatus for exposing biological materials to gas-phase or gas-borne agents, including the steps of providing a chamber for supporting said biological materials, said chamber including wicking means configured and arranged to hold said biological materials and provide said cells with a wetting medium while allowing said gas-phase or gas-borne agents to directly interact with said biological materials, humidifying said chamber to a humidity between 95% and 100%, inclusive, placing said biological materials in said chamber on said wicking means, exposing said biological materials in said chamber to one or more said gas-phase or gas-borne agents while maintaining said humidity between 95% and 100%, inclusive, and assessing the effect of said exposing on said biological materials.

This invention relates to apparatuses and methods for determining the effect of various gaseous agents on biological materials.
Schiff et al., 142 Mutation Research 41, 1985, describe an apparatus for measuring the effect of singlet oxygen on tracheal explants. The apparatus includes a chamber which contains a dish placed on a platform rocker which is rocked approximately 10 times per minute to allow the explants to alternate between immersion in culture medium and contact with the gas-phase.
Dahl et al., 46 Photochemistry and Photobiology 345, 1987, describe an apparatus for generation of singlet oxygen which is partially humidified by use of a buffer reservoir.
Dahl et al., Pure Singlet Oxygen Toxicity in Mammalian Cells, Poster 10.3, Ed. Blough and Zepp, "Effects of Solar Ultraviolet Radiation on Biogeochemical Dynamics in Aquatic Environments: Report of a Workshop Marine Biological Laboratory", Woods Hole, Mass., Oct. 23-26, 1989, describe modifications to the apparatus of Dahl et al., 1987, which include carrying out exposures in a humidified chamber, and keeping the membrane filters wicked from beneath with growth medium-saturated filter paper.
World Precision Instruments, advertisement entitled "Environmental Chamber", describes an apparatus useful for in vitro tissue experiments in which the gas content of the liquid medium in a chamber can be regulated.

Method and apparatus for study of gas-phase and gas-borne agents


A motor controller that outputs a drive signal to a direct-current brush motor to drive the motor is provided. The motor controller includes a drive signal generating section that generates the drive signal. The drive signal generating section generates the drive signal by superimposing on a direct-current voltage a compensation voltage for generating a compensation torque that can cancel rotation torque fluctuations in a no-load rotation state of the motor.

Conventionally, noise reduction of motors has been attempted, for example, by reducing the operating noise of motors. Generally, motors are designed in an optimal manner to reduce noise by selecting the materials and shapes of components that affect the resonant frequencies of the components and the number of poles of the motor. However, it is difficult and troublesome to reduce noise of motors by optimizing only the mechanical features of the components.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-1366 discloses a technology for reducing the operating noise of a motor through electric control, namely, by adjusting the direct-current voltage supplied to the motor.
Minute torque fluctuations in one revolution of a motor is one of the causes of motor vibration. However, the above publication does not provides no concrete solution against such minute torque fluctuations. Thus, it is considered that motor vibration caused by minute torque fluctuations is not sufficiently reduced. There is room for improvement in technologies for reducing noise.


Image data is separated from three lines of image data in accordance with a storage capacity of a source memory. The separated image data is transferred to the source memory, Several pieces of image data are read out in sequence from the transferred image data and forwarded to a filtering process. These operations are then repeated to provide a line of filtered image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-processing method and image processor for filtering image data to operatively remove encoding-caused noises.
2. Description of the Related Art
Encoded and decoded images over a videophone and a TV conference have heretofore been used to provide a reduced amount of image information in order to achieve efficient image transmission.
A majority of such an image encoding-decoding method in recent years uses discrete cosine transform.
The discrete cosine transform achieves a substantial reduction in image information amount. At the same time, the discrete cosine transform brings up a problem of peculiar Gaussian noise called a mosquito noise. The noise appears on a decoded image, and spoils subjective image quality.
The Gaussian noise as represented by the mosquito noise is removable using a spatial filter. The spatial filter functions to remove high-frequency components.
The following specifically discusses filtering, in which image data having a QCIF (quarter common intermediate format) size (144 lines by 176 pixels) is filtered as an illustration. Each gang of three-pixels-by-three-pixels image data is filtered. A pixel located at the center of three pixels-by-three pixels has target image data subject to filtering.
FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a prior art image processor designed to filter target image data subject to filtering.
As shown in FIG. 25, the prior art image processor includes a processor 500, an image memory 501, line buffers 502 and 504, and a filtering circuit 503.
The processor 500 includes a source memory 505 and a destination memory 506.
The processor 500 reads out encoded image data from the image memory 501 and writes the same encoded image data into the source memory 505.
The processor 500 decodes the encoded image data in the source memory 505.
The processor 500 at first stores the decoded image data into the destination memory 506, and then transfers the same image data to the image memory 501.
The decoded image data in the image memory 501 are filtered.
In order to filter the decoded image data, 3-lines-by-176-pixels image data are transmitted to the line buffer 502 from the image memory 501.
The line buffer 502 stores the transmitted 3-lines-by-176-pixels image data.
The filtering circuit 503 reads out the three pixels-by-three pixels image data from the line buffer 502 to filter a piece of target image data subject to filtering.
The filtering circuit 503 repeats the above steps, thereby filtering 174-pieces of target image data subject to filtering that are stored in the line buffer 502.
Image data located in a central line of 3-lines-by-176-pixels (except for image data at opposite ends of the central line) among the 3-lines-by-176-pixels image data in the line buffer 502 are target image data subject to filtering.
The filtering circuit 503 feeds the filtered 174-pieces of image data into the line buffer 504.
At the same time, the filtering circuit 503 feeds the image data at opposite ends of the central line as previously discussed into the line buffer 504 without filtering them.
As a result, the line buffer 504 stores a line (176-pieces) of filtered image data.
As discussed above, the past practice is to transmit the image data to the line buffer 502 for each gang of 3-lines-by-176-pixels, thereby filtering the QCIF-sized image data.
Details of the filtering are now discussed.
FIG. 26 is a block diagram illustrating the filtering circuit 503 as shown in FIG. 25. FIG. 26 illustrates the same reference characters on the same components as those shown in FIG. 25.
As shown in FIG. 26, the filtering circuit 503 includes a data readout unit 507, a filtering unit 508, and a data write unit 509.
As shown in FIG. 26, assume that the line buffer 502 is designed to store the 3-lines-by-176-pixels image data at maximum.
The data readout unit 507 reads out image data from the line buffer 502.
The filtering unit 508 filters the read image data.
The data write unit 509 writes the filtered image data to the line buffer 504.
The line buffer 504 is constructed to store a line (176-pixels) of image data at maximum.
The prior art image processor repeats the following steps: the data readout unit 507 reads out three-pixels-by-three-pixels image data from the line buffer 502; the filtering unit 508 filters the read three pixels-by-three pixels image data; and the data write unit 509 writes a pixel to the line buffer 504.
The following discusses the filtering with reference to a specific example.
FIG. 27 is a descriptive illustration showing how image data in "N"-line of a QCIF image are filtered in a conventional manner.
FIG. 28 is a descriptive illustration showing how image data in "N+1"-line of the QCIF image are filtered in a conventional manner.
As shown in FIG. 27, the data readout unit 507 reads out three-pixels-by-three-pixels image data 600 to perform the first filtering.
The filtering unit 508 filters image data (N, 2) using surrounding image data (N−1, 1), (N, 1) (N+1, 1), (N−1, 2), (N+1, 2), (N−1, 3), (N, 3) and (N+1, 3).
The data write unit 509 writes the filtered image data (FN, 2) to the line buffer 504.
The data readout unit 507 reads out three-pixels-by-three-pixels image data 601 to execute the second filtering.
The filtering unit 508 filters image data (N, 3) using surrounding image data (N−1, 2), (N, 2) (N+1, 2), (N−1, 3), (N+1, 3), (N−1, 4), (N, 4) and (N+1, 4).
The data write unit 509 writes the filtered image data (FN, 3) to the line buffer 504.
The above steps are repeated 174-times. As a result, the line buffer 504 stores "N"-line of image data (N, 1), (FN, 2) to (FN, 175), and (N, 176).
Upon completion of the filtering of the image data in "N"-line, image data in "N+1"-line are filtered, as shown in FIG. 28.
Deleting "N−1"-line, "N+2"-line is added as the last line.
In this way, lines to be filtered are selected in sequence to repeat the above steps.
In general, pixels at both ends of the central line where surrounding pixels are absent are not filtered. In addition, pixels in the first line as well as the 144th line are not filtered.
Accordingly, 142-lines-by-174-pixels image data are filtered. This means that separate steps must be taken to decode the QCIF image.
As previously discussed, filtering the image data using the prior art image processor requires one line buffer (the line buffer 502 according to the above example) adapted for plural lines (three lines according to the above example) and another line buffer (the line buffer 504 according to the above example) designed to store a line of filtered image data, in accordance with the number of pixels to be filtered at a time (three pixels-by-three pixels according to the above example). For details, refer to the published Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-251065.
Such a requirement causes a problem of an area increase in an image processor.
Another problem is that the image data are filtered in a lengthy time because each gang of three-pixels-by-three-pixels image data is read out, for each time of the filtering, from the line buffer 502 to repeat the above steps. For details, refer to the published Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-111586.
Furthermore, in order to process edgewise pixels, only a predetermined number of pixels are processed.
This causes a further problem that a change in image size precludes the filtering of the image data.

Image-processing method and image processor

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method of electrically inspecting semiconductor display devices, which is capable of inspecting whether a signal is normally input to the pixels and whether an electric charge is normally held by the holding capacitors without using the video signal line as a passage for reading the electric charge and without separately providing an inspection-dedicated circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical inspection method (hereinafter simply called inspection method) for the pixel unit, that is conducted in the step of fabricating an active matrix semiconductor display device or after the completion of the active matrix semiconductor display device. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of fabricating semiconductor display devices by employing the above inspection method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attention has been given to technology for fabricating thin-film transistors (TFTs) by using a semiconductor film of a thickness of about several to about several hundreds of nanometers formed on the surface of an insulating material to meet an increasing demand for the active matrix semiconductor display devices using TFTs as switching elements. Representative examples of the active matrix semiconductor display device may include liquid crystal display devices, light-emitting devices and DMDs (digital micromirror devices).
The active matrix semiconductor display device includes switching elements that are arranged in the pixels corresponding to several hundreds of thousand to several millions of regions divided like a matrix. The switching elements control the input of voltage or current to the semiconductor elements arranged in the pixels. Hereinafter, the voltage stands for a potential difference from a particular fixed potential unless stated otherwise.
There has recently been realized a so-called system-on-panel technology according to which drive circuits such as scanning line drive circuits for selecting the pixels and signal line drive circuits for inputting video signals to the selected pixels, are integrally formed on the same substrate of the pixel unit on where the pixels have been arranged. The system-on-panel makes it possible to greatly decrease the number of connection terminals and, hence, to decrease space for arranging the connection terminals and to increase the yield while suppressing the occurrence of defective connection.
The active matrix semiconductor display device (hereinafter simply referred to as semiconductor display device) is completed through a variety of fabrication steps. For example, a liquid crystal display device is fabricated chiefly through a step of forming a semiconductor film and forming a pattern, a step of forming color filters for realizing a color display, a step of fabricating cells by forming a liquid crystal panel by sealing liquid crystals between an element substrate having elements inclusive of a semiconductor and an opposing substrate having opposing electrodes, and a step of assembling a module by providing the liquid crystal panel assembled through the step of fabricating the cells with drive parts for operating the liquid crystal panel and with a back light thereby to complete a liquid crystal display device.
Here, the element substrate is the one in a state of before the display elements are completed in a step of fabricating the semiconductor display device.
An inspection step is often provided after the above steps though it may differ to some extent depending upon the kinds and specifications of the semiconductor display devices. If defective parts can be discriminated at an early step before the product is completed, then, the panel needs not be passed through the subsequent steps. Therefore, the inspection step is a very effective means from the standpoint of decreasing the cost.
Described below is the principle of the inspection method for confirming the operation of the pixel unit possessed by the semiconductor display device. The inspection includes three steps, i.e., accumulating an electric charge in a holding capacitor possessed by a pixel, holding the electric charge, and reading out the electric charge.
Referring, first, to FIG. 12A, a signal for inspection (hereinafter called inspection signal) is input to a signal line 1202 when a switching element 1201 possessed by a pixel is being turned on. Then, due to a current or a voltage of the inspection signal, an electric charge is accumulated in a holding capacitor 1203 provided in the pixels.
Referring, next, to FIG. 12B, the electric charge accumulated in the holding capacitor 1203 is stored therein when the switching element 1201 is turned off.
Referring to FIG. 12C, the switching element 1201 is turned on again to read the electric charge held in the holding capacitor 1203 through a signal line 1202. Relying upon the amount of electric charge that is read out, it is allowed to inspect whether the signal is normally input to the pixel and the electric charge is normally held by the holding capacitor.
In a real panel, the signal lines have not been directly connected to the connection terminals and, hence, passages are necessary for reading out the electric charge from the signal line to the connection terminal. As a passage for reading out the electric charge, a video signal line has so far been generally used.
FIG. 13A illustrates a general constitution of an element substrate of a semiconductor display device. The element substrate may be in a state where there have been completed the holding capacitors and semiconductor elements such as TFTs for controlling the accumulation of electric charge in the holding capacitors; i.e., the element substrate is in a state of before completing the display elements.
In FIG. 13A, a shift register 1211 generates a timing signal and inputs it to a sampling circuit 1212 in synchronism with a clock signal CK and a start pulse SP input to a signal line drive circuit 1210. In a sampling circuit 1212, a video signal line is electrically connected to signal lines S1 to S4 in synchronism with timing signals that are input. Hereinafter, the connection stands for an electric connection unless stated otherwise.
In the case of the element substrate shown in FIG. 13A, the electric charge can be read out from the signal line via the video signal line. Therefore, there is no need of changing the constitution of the element substrate for inspection, and the inspection is carried out relatively easily.
In recent years, however, it is a trend to use video signals of a digital form and to use an increased number of pixels, resulting in a complex connection constitution of the semiconductor elements in the pixels and a complex constitution of a signal line drive circuit, and the signal lines can no longer be simply connected to the video signal lines.
FIG. 13B illustrates the constitution of the element substrate of a semiconductor display device using digital video signals. In FIG. 13B, a shift register 1221 forms a timing signal and inputs it to a latch 1222 in synchronism with a clock signal CK and a start pulse signal SP input to a signal line drive circuit 1220. The latch 1222 latches a digital video signal input to the video signal line in synchronism with the timing signal that is input. The switching of the inverter 1223 that works as a buffer is controlled according to the digital video signal that is latched, and a power source voltage VDD or VSS (VDD>VSS) is given to the signal lines S1 to S4.
In the thus constituted element substrate, a digital video signal is input to the gates of two TFTs possessed by the inverter 1223, and the signal lines are connected to the drains of the two TFTs. Further, the video signal line is connected to the input side of the latch 1222. Here, however, the input side of the latch 1222 cannot necessarily be connected to the output side thereof. When the signal line drive circuit shown in FIG. 13B is used, therefore, it is difficult to electrically connect the video signal line to the signal lines, and it is not allowed to use the video signal line as a passage for reading the electric charge.
Therefore, a circuit dedicated to reading the electric charge (inspection-dedicated circuit) is used for inspecting the element substrate having the above constitution. FIG. 14 illustrates a state where an inspection-dedicated circuit is connected to the element substrate shown in FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B.
The inspection-dedicated circuit 1225 shown in FIG. 14 includes a sampling circuit 1227 for inspection which controls the connection of the signal lines S1 to S4 to an inspection-dedicated wiring 1228 used as a passage for reading the electric charge, and a shift register 1226 for inspection which controls the operation of the sampling circuit 1227 for inspection.
Owing to the above constitution, there is no need of using the video signal line as a passage for reading out the electric charge. Therefore, the electric charge can be read out even when the video signal line cannot be connected to the signal lines.
There, however, arouse some problems even when the inspection-dedicated circuit is used as shown in FIG. 14.
First, when the inspection-dedicated circuit is provided outside the element substrate, the inspection-dedicated circuit must be connected to the signal lines via connection terminals. Therefore, the element substrate must be provided with connection terminals for the inspection-dedicated circuit, and space for the connection terminals becomes useless after the inspection has been finished. Besides, increasing the area of the substrate for securing the place for arranging the connection terminals hinders the effort for realizing the semiconductor display devices in small sizes, and is not desirable.
When the inspection-dedicated circuit is fabricated on the same substrate as the pixel unit, further, the inspection-dedicated circuit that needs not be shipped with products becomes a factor that hinders the effort for decreasing the size of the semiconductor display devices. If the inspection-dedicated circuit were to be cut off by cutting the substrate after the inspection has been finished, the element substrates are obtained in a decreased number from a piece of large substrate which is a mother glass due to space occupied by the inspection-dedicated circuit.

Abstract: Power source lines which are used as passages for supplying the power source voltage are used as passages for reading the electric charge. Namely, the power source lines that can be connected to the signal lines are used as passages for inputting an inspection signal to the holding capacitors in the pixels and for reading the electric charge from the holding capacitors in the pixels.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits include first and second pads on an integrated circuit and first and second well regions in the integrated circuit substrate. The first and second well regions include respective first and second circumferences or walls. First and second diodes are included in the respective first and second well regions. The first and second diodes are serially connected between the first and second pads. A first guard ring is included adjacent the first circumference, and preferably in the first well. The first diode is included within the first guard ring. A second guard ring is also preferably included adjacent the second circumference, and most preferably in the second well. The second diode is included within the second guard ring. The first and second well regions preferably are of first conductivity type, and the ESD protection circuit further includes a third well region of second conductivity type in the integrated circuit substrate, between the first and second well regions. The first and second guard rings are of the first conductivity type at higher concentration than the first and second well regions.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits are widely employed in integrated circuits to protect against high voltage spikes that may be applied to pads (also referred to as pins) of an integrated circuit. These high voltage spikes may be caused by discharge of a built-up static charge resulting from human handling of the integrated circuit. ESD protection circuits may be applied to power supply pads, ground pads or input/output pads (including instruction, data and address pads) of integrated circuit devices.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional ESD protection circuit. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional ESD protection circuit includes diodes D1-D4 that are connected between first and second pads 1 and 2 on an integrated circuit substrate. As shown in FIG. 1, pad 1 is a first power supply pad Vcc1 and pad 2 is a second power supply pad Vcc2. However, ground pads or input/output pads may also be used. As shown, a plurality of internal circuits 3 and 4 are also connected to the first and second pads 1 and 2 and are protected by the ESD protection circuit.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an integrated circuit including conventional ESD protection circuits. In FIG. 2, only one of the conductive paths comprising diodes D1 and D2 is shown. However, the conductive path comprising diodes D3 and D4 is similar.
Referring to FIG. 2, p+ and n+ regions 22 and 24 correspond to the anode and cathode of diode D1 respectively, and p+ and n+ regions 32 and 34 correspond to anode and cathode of diode D2 respectively. The first and second diodes D1 and D2 are contained in respective first and second well regions 20 and 30 in an integrated circuit substrate such as a semiconductor substrate 10. A p-well region 40 is included between first and second regions 20 and 30. P-well region 40 acts as an isolation region between the n-well regions 20 and 30. As shown, the first and second well regions 20 and 30 include respective first and second circumferences or walls. N-type buried layers 12 and 14 are also included in substrate 10 beneath the n-well regions 20 and 30 respectively. As also shown, the first and second diodes are serially connected between the first and second pads 1 and 2 by a conductive line 5.
Conventional ESD protection circuits described in FIGS. 1 and 2 generally operate when the voltages Vcc1 and Vcc2 applied to the power supply pads 1 and 2 are equal to each other. However, when the voltages Vcc1 and Vcc2 are at different levels, power dissipation may be caused due to the formation of parasitic bipolar transistors Q1 and Q2, shown in FIG. 2, or transistors Q3 and Q4 which would be formed by diodes D3 and D4. As shown in FIG. 3, the transistors Q1 and Q2 form a PNP Darlington pair which can produce high amplification.
For example, if Vcc1=5V and Vcc2=6V, the transistors Q1 and Q2 both conduct. Similarly, if Vcc1=6V and Vcc2=5V, transistors Q3 and Q4 both conduct. If the current gains of the transistors Q1 and Q2 are .beta.1 and .beta.2 respectively, the current gain .beta. of the PNP Darlington pair becomes .beta.1-.beta.2. As shown in FIG. 3, if .beta.1=10 and .beta.2=10, then I2, the base current of parasitic transistor Q2=3 mA and I1, the emitter current of transistor Q1 can become 300 mA or more.
This large leakage current can degrade the performance of the ESD protection circuit and can also increase the power dissipation of the integrated circuit. Moreover, the since the lateral resistance of the substrate 10 may vary based on the position thereof, latch-up may be caused by the parasitic components in the integrated circuit substrate 10. Finally, the formation of the parasitic transistors may reduce the effectiveness of the ESD protection circuit itself.

Electrostatic discharge protection circuits including circumferential guard rings


An ostomy device including a collecting bag and a base plate with an adhesive plate for being fastened on the user, the base plate having a stomal opening and a first flange for repeated and removable adhesive connection to a coupling element on the collecting bag which has a second flange. The adhesive connection is provided by at least one layer of an adhesive. Furthermore, the device includes a further flexible layer placed between the adhesive layer and the one of the first and second flanges having the lower tensile strength, the flexible layer having a yield strength exceeding the adhesive strength of the adhesive layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an ostomy device comprising a collecting bag and a base plate with an adhesive plate for being fastened on the user, said base plate having an opening for receiving an ostomy, said base plate further comprising a first flange for repeated and removable adhesive connection to a coupling element on the collecting bag, said first flange being manufactured from a material with a first tensile strength, said coupling element comprising a second flange manufactured from a material with a second tensile strength, said adhesive connection being provided by at least one layer of an adhesive.
The invention also relates to an ostomy collecting bag comprising a coupling element that comprises a second flange for removable and adhesive connection to a first flange on a base plate and for being fastened on a user, said first flange being manufactured from a material with a first tensile strength, said second flange being manufactured from a material with a second tensile strength, said adhesive connection being provided by at least one layer of adhesive.
2. Description of the Related Art
WO 96/38106 teaches an ostomy collecting system comprising a collecting bag with an inlet opening configured in a bag wall and with surrounding connecting elements for connection to an ostomy and a carrier device for the collecting bag. The carrier device comprises a base plate for fastening on the user and has an annular first flange connected to the base plate. The connecting elements comprise a second flange, which is permanently connected to the collecting bag and is configured to constitute a removable and adhesive connection to the first flange.
WO 01/85074 also describes an ostomy collecting system. The adhesive connection between the collecting bag and the carrier device is provided by an adhesive layer being applied onto one part, whereby repeated adhesions of the two flanges are possible. Both the first and the second flange are flexible and manufactured from elastic materials.
When designing adhesive couplings for this purpose, different materials are frequently used for the two coupling parts, and an increased flexibility for the coupling system is often achieved by using a very soft material for at least one of the coupling flanges, eg a foamed material like PE or EVA foam, preferably with closed cells. The adhesive is normally designed to yield as high an adhesive force as possible while still keeping a separable connection.
However, as the long-term properties of an adhesive connection may vary due to production variations, problems are experienced when separating the adhesive connection for removing the bag or repositioning the bag on the base plate. If, due to the above-mentioned variations, the adhesive forces become higher than the tensile strength of the softer material, residues of this material and the adhesive are left on the counterpart of the coupling, thereby compromising the proper functioning of the part which would normally be re-used by incurring a risk of leakage or even involuntary disconnection of the coupling system.
It should be mentioned that the term 'elasticity' is used for the material properties. A high elasticity module is characteristic of a rigid material, while a low elasticity module is characteristic of an elastic material.
'Flexibility' expresses a property of a component of a product: its ability to be bent, and it depends on the chosen material and the dimensions of the element.

Ostomy device including a collecting bag and a base plate, and an ostomy collecting bag


A method for compressing (16) and decompressing files is provided. The method includes creating a list of shift-invariant focal points (108) of neighborhoods in the stream and comparing those focal points (108) to a list of focal points (106) created using the same method on the reference stream. The method of the present invention searches for the longest sequence of focal points (108) that appear in both files (102, 104). The method of the present invention also verifies that neighborhood contain the same focal points (108). The changed data and references to the reference stream are then encoded (114). The decompression process decodes the encoded stream of data (114), and using the reference stream recreates the new version of stream.

The development of the Internet and the "Global Village" concept has resulted in many distributed computer systems. Frequently, those systems have "core" information repository that can be either a large set of documents, programs, databases, tables in database or even Intranet web sites. Although there are many high-speed communication technologies are available today, it is still usually not practical for all systems in the distributed network to access a central location because failure to reach this location can result in total company information system failure. Moreover, the bandwidth required for such accesses is very large to render such accesses impractical. Many organizations handle this problem by either updating periodically all the branches, or mirroring on periodic basis a central repository to several distributed repositories, thereby achieving some level of fault tolerance. As transferring full repositories requires very large amounts of time due to large sizes of the repositories, many solutions have been developed to speed up this process.
The most common method is compressing the files before shipping them over using common general purpose compression algorithms such as LZ77 or LZ78. These methods, however, rely on the statistical properties of data, and is not suitable for compressing other types of data. For example, LZ77 usually shows very poor performance when handling executables. Another disadvantage associated with existing methods is that if a very small sector of the file is changed, all of the file data typically need to be compressed and resent to a receiving system.
Other methods use the fact that updates usually involve only minor change to the files. The most common of those assumes that the repository contains only text documents, and looks for the lines that have changed and transfers only those lines with additional information regarding where to place them and what other section of the file they replace. The most common example of this is the diff/patch/merge programs used in the UNIX environment. These programs, however, are ill-suited to handle binary data by definition.
Other, less common, systems try to find ways of comparing small fixed portions of the files. These types of systems appear to work only if the changes are made by replacing a section by another section, and requires that the sections have the same length. These systems, however, fail when arbitrary insertions and deletions are involved.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to have a method that can manage to quickly find similar portions of the file regardless of a specific attribute or type of the data such as text, spreadsheet, word processor, and documents. It is also highly desirable to have the method that can quickly differentiate changed portions in any types of files, regardless of the type of changes made to the file.

Focal point compression method and apparatus


A ferrule is constructed with a modified surface to interact with a coordinating housing. The housing is constructed to be integral with the modifications of the ferrule and to fill the recesses in the ferrule body. The coordination between housing and ferrule decreases electromagnetic interference from the ferrule.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for interconnecting multiple optical fibers, and more particularly to a fiber optic ferrule with a high level of insulation from electromagnetic interference.
2. Background of the Invention
The use of optical fibers for high-speed communication and data transmission via optical signals has become well established. Modem telecommunications and data transmission systems employ numerous optical fiber signal transmission lines and it is necessary to provide connections between the optical fibers at various locations within these systems.
Various optical connectors have been used for connection of optical fibers. For instance, in FIG. 1, there is shown an optical connector 10 which comprises a rectangular-parallelpiped ferrule 12 having a contact face 14 at a front portion of ferrule 12 and positioning guide pins 16 formed at opposite sides in a transverse direction of ferrule 12, and a fiber ribbon 18 having a plurality of optical fibers 20 running in a lateral direction and mounted to a rear portion of ferrule 12. Guide pins 16 and respective optical fibers 20 are arranged in parallel with each other so that they are perpendicular to contact face 14.
At present, the above-mentioned potential applications of optical fibers are complicated by the fact that the distribution of signals such as radio frequency (RF) signals are disrupted by electromagnetic interference (EMI) which escapes from contact face 14.
As a result of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a fiber optic ferrule with a high level of insulation from electromagnetic interference.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a fiber optic ferrule which will provide a high level of insulation from electromagnetic interference.
It is a further object to provide a fiber optic ferrule with a decreased virtual aperture.
It is yet another object to provide a housing that is integral with a ferrule constructed in accordance with the invention.
It is yet another object to provide a method for making a modified ferrule.
It is yet another object to provide a method for making a housing that is integral with a modified ferrule.
In all of the above embodiments, it is an object to provide a reduction in EMI passing through the ferrule.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment.


A system for remotely controlling an electrical switching device is disclosed. The system includes a mounting fixture configured to be mounted in a wall. An electrical switching device is supported by the mounting fixture. The system also includes a cover configured to cover at least a portion of the mounting fixture. The system further includes a shielding plate configured to have a high electrical conductivity. The shielding plate is mounted proximate to the mounting fixture between the cover and the electrical switching device. The system also includes a directional, non-isotropic radio frequency (RF) antenna sized to fit within the cover and configured to transmit RF frequency signals. The RF antenna is located between the shielding plate and the cover at a predetermined distance from the shielding plate. The predetermined distance is selected to increase the capability of the RF antenna to send and receive the RF signals.

People have desired home automation for years. The ability to remotely control electrical fixtures, appliances, and electronics remotely or through a central location has often seemed like it was just a few years away. However, the revolutionary automated home of the future has remained illusive. The few products that have been made available are often so expensive that they are typically used only by the wealthy and in prototype homes of the future. Many automation products also lack the necessary functionality to enable a truly automated home.
Even a decade ago, creating an automated home usually meant that the necessary wiring and infrastructure had to be installed during a home or building's construction. The wiring alone could cost tens of thousands of dollars. The field of home automation has been incongruent, with differing products unable to affectively communicate. These incompatibilities have further limited the potential of creating interconnected, remotely controlled homes and buildings.
In the last several years a wireless infrastructure has been developed. Computers having wireless connections are now ubiquitous. Homes and buildings no longer need to have expensive networking cables installed to enable computers to communicate over the Internet. Standards such as IEEE 802.11b have been set which allow the computers to communicate with the Internet and with each other.
However, the wireless infrastructure developed for computers has drawbacks for home automation. The transmitters and receivers are expensive and have a limited range. Homes and buildings can have dead spots where signals have too little power to be received. Wireless devices connected using the 802.11b standard typically can only communicate with a central hub. They usually cannot intercommunicate.
Embedding a radio frequency (RF) or wireless device such as an 802.11b transceiver into typical residential or commercial structures, such as a wall switch junction box, has a number of technical challenges. Installation practices and materials vary widely. One of the worst environments is a metal junction box which is used in older homes and some new construction of residential and commercial buildings.

System for remotely controlling an electrical switching device


A headlamp module of a vehicle includes a housing including a window, an illumination submodule disposed inside the housing and configured to provide illumination light to be transmitted through the window toward a scene in front of the vehicle, and a first LiDAR sensor disposed inside the housing and laterally displaced from the illumination submodule. The first LiDAR sensor includes one or more laser sources configured to emit laser beams to be transmitted through the window toward the scene, the laser beams being reflected off of one or more objects in the scene, thereby generating return laser beams to be transmitted through the window toward the first LiDAR sensor and one or more detectors configured to receive and detect the return laser beams.

LiDAR is a device that measures distance to a target by illuminating the target with a laser beam and measuring a reflected laser beam with a detector. A LiDAR sensor may be used to obtain digital three-dimensional (3D) representations of objects in an environment. LiDAR has been used as 3D sensors for obstacle detection and navigation guidance for autonomous vehicles. Integrating LiDAR sensors in a vehicle may pose technical challenges.

Systems for incorporating LiDAR sensors in a headlamp module of a vehicle


In an outboard motor adapted to be mounted on a hull and equipped with an engine having a crankshaft located parallel with a gravity axis and a vertical shaft connected to the crankshaft to be rotated around the gravity axis, an urger is disposed at a position between the crankshaft and the vertical shaft to urge the crankshaft upward in a direction parallel with the gravity axis.

Technical Field
An embodiment of this invention relates to an outboard motor.
Background Art
In an engine of outboard motor or vehicle, there have been proposed a variety of bearing structures of crankshaft having a journal supporting part of a cylinder block to rotatably support a crank journal connected to a crank arm, a journal bearing installed between the crank journal and journal supporting part to receive load in the radial direction of the crank journal, and a thrust bearing installed between the crank arm and journal supporting part to receive load in the axial direction (thrust direction) of the crankshaft, for example, by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2013-238277.
In the above mentioned reference, although it is not limited to the outboard motor, there is disclosed a technology to prevent butting between a slide-contact surface of the thrust bearing and crank arm, by providing an inclined part etc., on the slide-contact surface of the thrust bearing with the crank arm even when the journal supporting part is deformed due to bolt fastening during assembly of an engine and the like.


In a system that controls access to information resources, a session manager in cooperation with a topology mechanism enables a client to securely interact with a plurality of access servers and associated runtime elements using a plurality of sessions that are coordinated and tracked. The information resources are stored on protected servers. Access to each of the protected servers is controlled by one of the access servers. Client session information is stored in a session manager that is bound to and associated with the runtime of the access server, and the topology mechanism. In operation, a user of a client or browser logs in to an access server and then submits a request for a resource of a protected server associated with a different access server. A runtime module on the access server receives the request and asks the session manager to validate the session. The session manager determines whether the client is involved in an authenticated session with any access server in the system. If so, the client is permitted to access the resources without logging in to the specific access server that is associated with the protected server. In this way, the client can access multiple resources of multiple protected servers, in a stateless network system, without logging in to each of the access servers that controls each of the protected servers.

This invention generally relates to information retrieval over a network, and, more specifically, to a method, apparatus, and product for managing one or more sessions in a stateless network system.
Computer networks have become ubiquitous in business, industry, and education. In one approach, a network is configured with one or more user accounts, each of which is uniquely associated with a human network user or host computer. The network also has one or more resources, such as application programs that provide various computing functions, which are available to all users. In this approach, a user logs into his or her user account, selects a desired application. A disadvantage of this approach is that every user has the same rights to access any of the network resources.
Development of the globally accessible, packet-switched network known as the Internet has enabled network resources, accounts and applications to become available worldwide. Development of hypertext protocols that implement the World Wide Web (xe2x80x9cThe Webxe2x80x9d) is enabling networks to serve as a platform for global electronic commerce. In particular, the Web is enabling the easy exchange of information between businesses and their customers, suppliers and partners.
Businesses are rushing to publish information on the Web and just as quickly stumbling into several roadblocks. For example, some information is valuable and sensitive, and needs to be made available only to selected users. Thus, there is a need to provide selective access to network resources and information over the Web.
This need exists in the context of internal Web networks that are available to employees of an organization, called Intranets, as well as Web networks and resources that are available to external customers, suppliers and partners of the organization, called extranets. Extranet users may require information from a large number of diverse sources, for example, product catalogs, customer databases, or inventory systems. There may be millions of potential users, the number of which grows dramatically as an organization prospers. Thus, there is a need for a large-scale system that can provide selective access to a large number of information sources for a large number of users.
Because some of the information sources are sensitive, there is a need to provide secure access to the information. Current networks and Web systems, including Intranets and extranets, are expensive and complex to implement. These technologies also change rapidly. There is a need for any information access method or system to integrate with and use existing equipment, software and systems. There is also a need for method and system that is flexible or adaptable to changing technologies and standards.
One approach to some of the foregoing problems and needs has been to provide each network resource or application program with a separate access control list. The access control list identifies users or hosts that are authorized to access a particular application. As new users or hosts are added to the network, the access control lists grow, making security management more complicated and difficult. Use of a large number of separate lists also makes the user experience tedious and unsatisfactory.
Another disadvantage of the foregoing approaches is duplication of management processes. To add new users to the system, a network administrator must repeat similar access processes for each application or resource to be made available to the new users. The redundancy of these processes, combined with rapid growth in the number of users, can make the cost of deploying, managing and supporting a system unacceptably high.
Thus, there is a need for a mechanism to govern access to one or more information resources in which selective access is given to particular users.
There is also a need for such a mechanism that is equally adaptable to an internal network environment and to an external network environment. There is a further need for such a mechanism that is easy to configure and re-configure as new users and resources become part of the system. There is still another need for such a mechanism that is simple to administer.
A related approach is described in prior application Ser. No. 09/113,609, filed Jul. 10, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,142 entitled xe2x80x9cControlling Access to Protected Information Resources,xe2x80x9d and naming Teresa Win and Emilio Belmonte as inventors. In an embodiment of the system described in such prior application, a client process interacts with one or more server processes to obtain authorization to access protected resources. These interactions generally occur during one or more HTTP sessions that are established between the client and the server.
One problem of this configuration is how to store and manage information about the sessions. Since HTTP is a stateless protocol, it does not inherently have a mechanism for keeping track of information from session to session. A prior approach to this problem involves creating, storing, and accessing locally stored files called xe2x80x9ccookies.xe2x80x9d A cookie is a text file, created and stored at the client, that contains information that identifies a particular session. In one embodiment of the system described in the above-referenced prior application, a cookie is created and stored by a browser each time the browser accesses and interacts with an authentication server.
Each cookie includes an expiration time value. If the client attempts to access a protected resource after the time represented by the expiration time value, the client must re-authenticate itself with the authentication server.
Although this approach provides a modicum of security, it is subject to attack. For example, a cookie can be copied and moved to another computer without authorization.
One workaround is to create cookies that have an expiration time of xe2x80x9c0.xe2x80x9d Such cookies never expire, and are stored only in volatile memory at the client. Thus, security is improved. However, this approach is impractical, because it prevents the administrator of the system from limiting the amount of time after which a user is required to undergo authentication. Potentially, the user could be logged in and authenticated for an indefinite and perhaps unlimited period of time. Further, if the authenticated user leaves his or her workstation unattended, the user remains logged in, and an interloper could access the system without authorization.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need in this field for an improved way to manage client-server sessions in networks that use stateless protocols.
The foregoing needs, and other needs and objectives that will become apparent from the description herein, are achieved by the present invention, which comprises, in one aspect, a method of managing sessions in a stateless network system that includes a plurality of first servers each controlling access by one of a plurality of clients to resources of a plurality of second servers. In one embodiment, the method involves creating a session manager that is bound to the first server. One of the first servers receives a request of the client to obtain one of the resources of one of the second servers. The session manager determines from information stored therein whether the client is part of an authenticated session with any of the first servers. The session manager grants the client access to the resource only when the information in the session manager indicates that the client is part of an authenticated session.
In one feature, the determining step involves determining, at the session manager from information stored therein and based on a session identifier that is generated by the first server and provided to the session manager, whether the session identifier is valid; and granting the client access to the resource only when the session identifier indicates that the client is part of a valid session.
In another feature, the determining step involves determining, at the session manager from information stored therein and based on a session identifier that is generated by the first server and provided to the session manager, whether the session identifier is valid; determining, at the session manager, whether the client has failed to contact any of the first servers within a predetermined period of time; and granting the client access to the resource only when the session identifier indicates that the client is part of a valid session and the client has contacted at least one of the first servers within the pre-determined period of time.
Another feature relates to determining, at the session manager from information stored therein and based on a session identifier that is generated by the first server and provided to the session manager, whether the session identifier is valid; determining, at the session manager, whether the session identifier has been revoked; and granting the client access to the resource only when the session identifier indicates that the client is part of a valid, un-revoked session.
In another feature, the method includes creating and storing a plurality of session managers, each session manager being associated with at least one of the first servers, each session manager having a locally stored set of session information defining one or more valid sessions between the clients and the second servers; and synchronizing the session information of each of the session managers with the session information of all other session managers.
In still another feature, the method involves creating and storing a plurality of session managers, each session manager being associated with at least one of the first servers, each session manager having a locally stored set of session information defining one or more valid sessions between the clients and the second servers; when one of the session managers is created: receiving, at that session manager, a list of all other session managers that are online; synchronizing the session information of that session manager with each other session manager in the list; and storing information in that session manager indicating that it is online.
Yet another feature includes creating and storing, in association with each of the first servers, a monitoring element that monitors whether each of the first servers is bound to its associated session manager.
Yet another feature involves creating and storing a topology management element that communicates with all of the first servers and all of the session managers and determines whether each first server is bound to an associated session manager.
Still another feature includes the steps of creating and storing a topology management element that communicates with all of the first servers and all of the session managers and determines whether each first server is bound to an associated session manager; registering one of the first servers with one of the session managers by creating and storing, in association with each of the first servers, a monitoring element that monitors whether each of the first servers is bound to its associated session manager; registering each of the session managers with the topology management element.
According to another feature, the method includes creating and storing, in association with each of the first servers, a topology management element that monitors whether one of the first servers is bound to a first session manager; using the topology management element, detecting a failure of the first session manager; at the first server, binding the one of the first servers to a second session manager; monitoring, with the topology management element, whether the first server is bound to the second session manager.
In another feature, the method involves creating and storing, in association with each of the first servers, a topology management element that monitors whether one of the first servers is bound to a first session manager; using a first interceptor that is bound to the topology management element, detecting a failure of the first session manager, and in response thereto, deactivating the first session manager; using a second interceptor that is bound to the first server, detecting a failure of the first session manager, and in response thereto, at the first server, binding the one of the first servers to a second session manager; monitoring, with a third interceptor that is bound to the second session manager, whether the first server is bound to the second session manager.
In one embodiment, a user logs in to a system having protected resources. User login may occur when a user goes directly to an Access Server or because the user accesses a resource in a Protected server before login and a Runtime redirects the user to the Access Server. The Access Server authenticates the user. The Access Server communicates with an authentication mechanism that creates a session for that user in the Session Manager. The session is replicated to all other Session Managers. The User requests a resource in a Protected Server that has a Runtime. The Protected Server sends the user""s session to the Session Manager for verification. As a result, multiple sessions are managed and controlled.

Session management in a stateless network system


A tremolo device is provided. The tremolo device has a base plate with a leading edge that comprises a bearing surface. The base plate also comprises a bracket for attachment of a lever. The tremolo device also includes a pivot rail comprising a pivot bearing surface that matingly engages the bearing surface of the leading edge. When matingly engaged, the bearing surface of the leading edge and the pivot bearing surface defines 3 or more contact surfaces having a length of from about 20% to about 100% of the length of the leading edge.

It has long been known to equip guitars and other stringed musical instruments with a tremolo. The tremolo enables the instrument player to change the tension in the strings when desired, and thereby change the sound of the guitar.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,146 discloses a tremolo for use with a guitar. The tremolo comprises a base plate attached to a bar that extends within a cavity in the body of the guitar. The bar is attached at its lower end by springs to an anchor within the cavity. A leading edge of the base plate is beveled to form a fulcrum ridge, and the plate is loosely attached to the guitar body using a plurality of screws linearly disposed along the fulcrum ridge. With this arrangement, the base plate may pivot about a fulcrum defined by the screws. A lever arm is attached to one side of the base plate. As a player presses down on the lever arm the spring-biased base plate pivots forward, stretching the springs, and reducing the string tension causing the pitch of the guitar strings to decrease or "go flat". When the player releases the lever arm, the base plate returns to a neutral position or "in-tune" state due to the biasing effect of springs that counteract the tension of the guitar strings attached to the bridge.
Modifications of a tremolo device are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,661, U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,004, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,568, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,374, or U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,550, and include a base plate having two knife-shaped regions located on either side, and typically along the leading edge, of a base plate. Each knife-shaped edge region registers against a screw or pin set into the upper surface of the guitar body. The contact are between the knife shaped edge and pin is small permitting easy movement of the tremolo device when in use. However, as the contact area is small, both surfaces are subject to wear during use as the tremolo device is pivoted back and forth.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,945, discloses a leading edge of a base plate that is curved (a rocker element) and contacts two pins positioned on either side of a base plate, each pin has an approximate "I beam" cross section defining three contact surfaces. The three contact surfaces comprise two confining surface portions that may be planar or convex located above and below, and spaced apart by, a planar bearing surface that is oriented essentially perpendicular to the curved leading edge of the base plate. The three surfaces of the pin ensures that the contact between the curved leading edge of the base plate and the pin occurs at one (when contacting the bearing surface) or two (when contacting the bearing surface and one of the confining surfaces) contact points.


A side cart mounted directly to one side of a tractor or rider lawn mowing blade housing deck. The side cart has an opening adjacent to the grass cutting discharge chute. Fastened to the bottom of the side cart is a steel sheet which is bent upwards at the front and rear. In one embodiment of the invention a hard plastic liner is pivotally installed in the side cart. The liner has a long handle attached thereto which permits the user to empty the side cart to the rear of the side cart without using a snow shovel.

This invention relates to grass catchers, and in particular, to grass catcher for a rider lawn motor having a side grass discharge port in the blade housing.
Riding lawn mowers are widely used. These mowers are generally used for cutting grass on large lawns, and further for clipping and mulching leaves and other organic material on such lawns. It is desirable to have all of the debris thrown from the outlet of the mowing blade housing such as grass clippings, thatch, and leaves, collected so that they do not fall on the cut lawn. It is, therefore, necessary to provide means to contain the clippings on the mower and easily dispose of the container contents.
Various types of containers for collecting debris produced from a riding lawn mower have previously been suggested. Periodically, as the container is filled to capacity, the container must be emptied before equipment operation can continue. In the absence of automatically powered emptying means (which are very expensive and complicated), a user must stop the rider mower, dismount, and manually empty the container, either by physically removing and upending it, or by directly removing the collected load of debris itself. Proper safety precautions demand that the user completely halt operation of the rider mowing equipment and fully deboard prior to carrying out such emptying procedure.
The disruptive effect this causes to the user's efforts to complete the required work and the added physical exertion it requires of him or her are significant. This is especially so given that, where a receptacle container is reduced in size to lessen the weight and volume of its load capacity (so as to minimize the physical exertion required to empty it), the frequency with which the container must be emptied is necessarily increased. Conversely, where the receptacle assembly's container is increased in capacity to reduce the frequency with which it must be emptied, the container quickly becomes much more cumbersome and difficult to empty. Yet, prompt and regular emptying of the receptacle assembly's container remains a necessity, lest a clog form in the chuted path through which solid debris is expelled and directed from the vehicular equipment's working mower deck to the receptacle assembly not only interrupting further equipment operation, but requiring the user to take the necessarily time consuming and inconvenient remedial measures.


A flow computer is operable to interface with a first instrument suite associated with a first flow monitoring system. The flow computer includes a network, a first input/output (I/O) block, and a first processing unit. The first I/O block is coupled to the network and operable to communicate with the first instrument suite. The first processing unit includes a first display. The first processing unit is coupled to the network and operable to communicate with the first I/O block to receive flow monitoring data from the first instrument suite, process at least a subset of the flow monitoring data to generate flow output data, and generate a graphical image of the flow monitoring system on the display. The graphical image includes at least a subset of the flow output data.

The present invention relates generally to industrial control and, more particularly, to a flow computer with networked I/O modules.
Flow control and monitoring systems are employed in a variety of industrial applications, such as refining, chemical processing, product distribution, dairy processing, etc. Flow computers may be used with liquid or gas products. Typically, process inputs, such as temperature, pressure, flow meter pulses, density, and the like, are provided to a processing unit and processed to generate flow information, such as flow rate, total volume delivered or produced, total mass, etc.
Liquid metering applications range from relatively small liquid production units, to fiscal and custody transfer flow metering systems, to large-scale crude export facilities (i.e., involving high volume transfer of crude oil). Gas metering applications include production well meters, fuel and flare gas metering, and large pipeline transportation facilities.
Conventional flow computers are typically implemented using an architecture whereby the instruments for a metering application are connected a processing device to complete the flow calculations. In some cases, the unprocessed sensor signals are directly connected to standalone or rack/panel mounted device that uses the sensor data to complete the flow calculations. In other cases, distributed I/O modules may be used to consolidate data from multiple sensors and send the data over dedicated signal lines (e.g., serial connections) to the processing unit. In either implementation, dedicated connections between the sensors and the flow computer processing unit are used. A single processing unit is paired with a single sensor suite to implement the flow computer.
This architecture limits the flexibility and increases the cost of flow monitoring systems. A separate flow computer and sensor suite is required for each monitoring application. To implement a redundancy scheme, the entire system must be duplicated, including the I/O modules, processing unit, and cabling connecting the I/O modules to the processing unit.
This section of this document is intended to introduce various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention described and/or claimed below. This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Flow computer with networked I/O modules