A new protective holder for hair cutting accessories for protecting blades and guards of hair clippers. The inventive device includes a panel having a generally rectangular configuration. The panel has opposed long side edges and opposed short end edges. The panel includes an upper section and a lower section. The upper section and the lower section each have a plurality of pockets formed thereon. The pockets each have a slotted opening for receiving hair cutting accessories within the pockets. The opposed short end edges each have fasteners disposed inwardly thereof for engagement together when the panel is disposed in a folded orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage devices and more particularly pertains to a new protective holder for hair cutting accessories for protecting blades and guards of hair clippers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of storage devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, storage devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art storage devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,743 to Rosinski, III; U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,843 to Stokes; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 337,654 to Galvin; U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,265 to Maire et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,498 to Menoni; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,039 to Young.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new protective holder for hair cutting accessories. The inventive device includes a panel having a generally rectangular configuration. The panel has opposed long side edges and opposed short end edges. The panel includes an upper section and a lower section. The upper section and the lower section each have a plurality of pockets formed thereon. The pockets each have a slotted opening for receiving hair cutting accessories within the pockets. The opposed short end edges each have fastening means disposed inwardly thereof for engagement together when the panel is disposed in a folded orientation.
In these respects, the protective holder for hair cutting accessories according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of protecting blades and guards of hair clippers.

Protective holder for hair cutting accessories


A method is disclosed for creating itineraries for a party of visitors to a facility, the facility having multiple attractions. Visitors give answers to questions about their preferences, which is combined with authoritative information about their admission privileges, and information stored about the attractions and facility, to generate an itinerary. The method can be executed by a portable, handheld computer which asks the questions, accepts the answers, and processes them into an itinerary which is both portable and dynamic, adjusting in real time to schedule changes and unscheduled attraction closures. In an alternative embodiment, the itinerary can be generated as the result of an Internet transaction, or through an interaction with a facility employee. The itinerary may be presented to the party in printed form, such as a schedule or ticket book. If a facility has an access control system that uses a central database, the itinerary can generated as records in the database, thereby allowing parallel use of prior art access methods.

A tourist wants to see and do the most interesting things available, with a minimum of inconvenience. The tourist wants fond memories of his visit, and maybe more importantly, he wants great stories to tell when he returns home.
A significant portion of a facility's future business comes from the word-of-mouth marketing that it earns by providing tourists with an experience that makes those great stories. Tourists returning with fabulous tales of their own exploits inspire the next season's tourists to venture forth and have those experiences for themselves.
A facility may contain many attractions. Individual rides, restaurants, exhibits, stores, shows, etc. are all part of the value a tourist can experience at a facility. Besides the individual attractions a facility might contain, a facility commonly provides collateral materials such as maps and show schedules.
Too often, this collateral material hits the tourist with a barrage of comic book action balloons: "New!," "Must See." Pages and pages of tables showing services, menus, merchandise, age appropriateness, and height restrictions are presented in a dazzling array of color and iconography.
Unfortunately, this frequently amounts to information overload. Its effect is compounded when a person is a first-time visitor, and again when they are from outside the primary marketing region of the facility (and so are unfamiliar with many of the facility's attractions), and again when there is the barrier of a language difference.
Guided tours are very effective in overcoming an unfamiliar visitor's lack of knowledge. The facility's highlights can be put together into a coherent sequence. The tour guide can be responsive to the needs of the tour's members (more so when the tour group is small). Often, the tour guide is fluent in the visitor's native language, which makes the experience less demanding on the visitor, in turn making them more comfortable. There is, however, a significant cost associated with assembling and maintaining a trained, multi-lingual pool of qualified tour guides whose utilization will fluctuate, depending on daily attendance and visitor arrival times.
Thus, self-guided tours are common. A simple printed brochure can provide instructions for getting from attraction to attraction, and call out points of interest between them. Audio walking tours, such as those produced by Antenna Audio (Sausalito, Calif.), play a sound track of directions. Their exemplary production of Alcatraz: Cellblock Tour for Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, is an audio tour which includes binaural, dramatized productions of prison breaks and encounters with famous inmates. Such tours play on simple audio cassette or CD players over headphones.
The drawback of the printed brochure and audio walking tour is that there is little ability to customize the tour for each visitor. True, the brochures and audio programs can be presented in multiple languages. Both can be taken at a slowed pace—the brochure will wait for the reader's pace, and the audio track can be paused or rewound. But they are inherently linear. Every visitor will follow the same track and have the same experience. There is no ability to customize the experience depending on type of interest or time of entry. If someone enters late in the operating day, the program cannot abbreviate the tour and emphasize the important elements. Should a party include young children, a different selection of shows or exhibits appropriate to their age level cannot be selected.
Interactive audio systems, such as the Inform Wand manufactured and programmed by Acoustiguide Corporation (New York, N.Y.), allow visitors to browse a facility randomly. These systems are used in such facilities as the Louvre in Paris and San Diego Zoo in California. The interactive audio tour systems have limited ability to guide visitors. Typically, one audio track may end with a recommendation for a subsequent track to be played, or item to be examined. As a visitor proceeds through a facility, rooms or areas are tagged with ID numbers and are described in like-numbered audio tracks. Within such areas, visitors wishing more detailed information may enter ID numbers related to individual items or displays. The system is reactive to a visitor encountering a location or item, rather than directing them.
There is a need for a tool or method by which a visitors' interests and abilities, and the temporal situation, can be understood and an appropriate itinerary within the facility created for them.
Prior Art Relating to Attraction Access
Other factors can come into play and degrade a visitor's experience. Long waits in queue are a chief reason certain portions of the population avoid some facilities.
The Walt Disney theme parks make use of a system called FASTPASS® described by Laval et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,209. Visitors to a park can either enter the regular queue for an attraction, or they can obtain an express pass to use the express queue. The express pass has a time period during which it is valid. The visitor must present the express pass during the indicated time period in order to bypass the queue and be admitted to the attraction. Obtaining an express pass is achieved by the visitor presenting an ID of some sort, to a kiosk near the ride. An express pass is issued, bearing the next available reservation time. No further express passes will be issued to an ID until the existing express pass has expired. Thus, a "first-come, first-served" virtual queue is created, and the visitor can be in only one virtual queue at a time.
Other systems for managing queue times allow visitors to select a series of attractions in order to make reservations. Mahoney et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,806 provides computer terminals for visitors having an ID to make and edit reservations. Turnstiles are equipped with ID readers and so can admit or deny admission to the visitor based on having a timely reservation on the attraction.
In both Laval et al. and Mahoney et al., visitors not having reservations are permitted to line up in a physical queue for the attraction. The attractions are configured with dual approaches. One is a long, physical queue suitable for the visitors who may be waiting over an hour for access to the attraction. The other is a relatively short queue having a gate that admits patrons whose reservations are current, and have thus been waiting in a virtual queue.
The advantage of virtual queuing is significant. While guests are waiting in a virtual queue, they can either be simultaneously enjoy other attractions, shop, or simply relax nearby.
A disadvantage of such systems, however, is that the visitor must either know to visit an attraction to claim a spot in the virtual queue (under Laval et al.) or they must know what attractions to select from the terminal (in Mahoney et al.) It may well be the case that a novice visitor has little or no idea where specific attractions are located (and thus is frustrated in trying to arrive in person to make a reservation). It can also be the case that he is not familiar with the array of attractions available, and thus cannot quickly and efficiently make knowledgeable attraction selections. Further, unless stringent restrictions are imposed, it can be the case that the reservations made by the overanxious visitor cannot actually be kept, as when two consecutive reservations are made for widely separated attractions.
In years past, Disneyland Park (Anaheim, Calif.) made use of ticket books which contained a collection of tickets graded from 'A' to 'E'. These books were sold with one's admission. An 'A' ticket was viable admission to any 'A' rated attraction. A 'B' ticket was viable admission to any 'A' or 'B' attraction. Typically, the most elaborate and most current attractions bore an 'E' designation and the only viable admission was an 'E' ticket (which became part of the industry vernacular long before the Internet popularized e-Anything!).
By providing a limited supply of 'E' coupons to each visitor, Disneyland operations was able to restrain excessive demand for 'E' attractions. The ticket books were arranged to clearly display what tickets designations remained, and what attractions fell into these designations.
Another disadvantage of systems like Laval and Mahoney, is that they do not mitigate unequal demand for various attractions. An extremely popular attraction may find that its FASTPASS® reservations for the entire operating day are dispensed within an hour of the facility's opening. Meanwhile, other attractions may not exhaust their allotment of reservations.
With such an imbalance of demand, the system of Mahoney et al. will fail as late arriving visitors find that there are no reservations available for any of the 'E' attractions, or even 'D's.
A system and method is needed which will redistribute demand for attractions efficiently, so that a facility is better able to spread demand for its attractions. Further, this would help to limit the adverse impact that a virtual queue size has on a physical queue progress.
Prior Art Relating to Itinerary Generation
A variety of route planning and navigation systems is presently available. These are available both in stationary and portable devices, and can operate standalone or connected, perhaps wirelessly, to a network (such as the Internet). Route planning systems, such as ROADNET 5000® by UPS Logistics Technologies, Inc. (Baltimore, Md.), permits fleets of trucks to efficiently deliver parcels to their destination. Users of America Online, Inc's (Dulles, Va.) mapping services Internet site, www.mapquest.com, or Street Atlas USA™ software on CD-ROM by DeLorme (Yarmouth, Me.), can get point-to-point driving instructions from their desktop computer, or wireless Internet device. In car navigation systems, such as Hertz (Park Ridge, N.J.) NeverLost™, use GPS satellites, an electronic compass, and a geographic database to provide verbal directions to a requested address: "At the next intersection, turn right."
Such systems are, in part, commercial outgrowths of various solutions to a classic optimization problem from computer science called the "Traveling Salesman Problem," or "TSP". The problem is to find the most efficient path that visits each desired destination exactly once, and minimizes the total distance traveled. Many optimized solutions to this problem have been presented in the literature, for example, Donald Knuth (1973) The Art of Computer Programming: Sorting and Searching (vol III). Such solutions are very effective for small or moderate numbers of destinations, such as are encountered in the course of itinerary preparation.
Typically, a TSP solution involves building a graph topologically representative of the set of destinations and the physical pathways between them (e.g. walkways, roadways, rail lines, airline flights, etc.) as appropriate. Each pathway is ascribed a "cost", perhaps representative of travel time, distance, expense, physical difficulty (as might be pertinent to a hiking trip), or other factors, or a combination thereof. Ultimately, an algorithm is employed to minimize the total "cost" of the overall trip. This would, based on whatever factors were included in the cost, result in the minimization of time, distance, expense, difficulty, etc.
A variation of the TSP problem, called the "Bottleneck TSP" includes a maximum cost limit, such that no path with a cost higher than the limit is permitted in the solution. Such a variation is useful to specify, for example, that an oversized load must be routed only along roads that have sufficient vertical clearances, or that a traveler in a wheelchair should not receive an itinerary directing him to traverse a rampless flight of stairs.
Efficient route planning systems that deal with large numbers of possible targets and having highly optimized computational performance, have been developed. An example is Libby, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,617
Specialized, commercial systems have been developed to assist a tourist, or his travel agent, in preparing itineraries. Such systems collect from a prospective traveler a list of desired destinations. The system then sequences those destinations to produce an efficient outcome. An example of such software is TripMaker Deluxe 2000, by Rand McNally (Skokie, Ill.), and similar capabilities are available on their web site at www.randmcnally.com.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,803, "Itinerary Making System" Kanemitsu describes a system which allows selection from a list of destinations, such as a particular museum or a specific beach. In addition, it requires a visiting purpose, such as to appreciate art or to watch the sun set, respectively. With each destination-purpose pair is associated the allowable times, as well as a recommended visiting time. For a museum, allowable times might be the operating hours of the park, however, the recommended time may be a time when crowds have historically been particularly light. For watching the sunset at the beach, the allowable and recommended times may coincide: beginning about a half hour before sunset, local time. Kanemitsu describes a number of convenience features that permit ease of destination and purpose entry. By associating destinations with a variety of categories, his system is often able to assume the purpose of a specified visit.
However, as effective as such systems are, and with all the convenience features they carry, such systems do not address certain needs.
A party visiting a facility, unfamiliar or only partly familiar with its collection of attractions, is at a disadvantage. A significant effort must be expended to determine which attractions are suitable for the party's needs, limitations, and tastes.
Someone unfamiliar with Disneyland may well wonder whether "Fantasmic" is a turbulent roller coaster, a song-and-dance gala stage presentation, or a fireworks show. It is the latter, but how long will it take a visitor to determine that? Is it suitable for an infant? Will grandmother have to transfer from her wheelchair? If the attraction operates on a schedule, when must the party enter the queue? It would take a long time to assimilate and consider the rest of the 60 attractions at Disneyland to determine a short list of suitable and most desirable attractions to visit.
A system or method is needed that allows an unfamiliar visitor to receive a near optimal experience, suited to his (or his party's) tastes, schedule, needs, and limitations. The experience should give a proper overview of the facility, so a tourist does not return feeling that they have missed a key element.
In facilities where most guests can stroll about and see attractions in an arbitrary order, efficient distribution and loading can become a key factor for the facility operator.
Some theme parks, for instance, Universal's Islands of Adventure (Orlando, Fla.), are laid out in a ring. Visitors typically proceed clockwise or counterclockwise from the park entry and encounter attractions consecutively. This leads to long waiting times in queues for attractions near the entrance in the morning, and long waits for attractions halfway around the ring near midday, where the clockwise and counterclockwise travelling parties meet.
Summary of Needs Unsatisfied by Prior Art
There is a need for a tool or method by which a party of visitors' interests and tastes can be understood and an appropriate itinerary within the facility created for them.
A system is needed that will consider a party's needs and limitations to create a personalized itinerary for the party, within the facility.
There is a need for a tool or method by which the spatial and temporal situation of the party and of the facility are considered to make a personalized itinerary for the party, within the facility.
There is a need for a system that will allow a visitor unfamiliar with a facility to create a viable set of reservations to access attractions.
A system is needed that will redistribute demand for attractions in a facility—to moderate demand for popular (i.e., 'E') attractions and create demand for other, underutilized attractions.
Similarly, a system is needed that will diffuse demand for attractions within a facility so that excessive demand, perhaps time-of-day dependent demand, or lack thereof, can be moderated.
The present invention satisfies these and other needs and provides further related advantages.

Method and apparatus for providing visitors with a personalized itinerary and managed access to attractions


A lens decenter error measuring apparatus including a testing device, a lens supporter, and a lens carrier is disclosed. The testing device is configured for measuring a decenter error of a lens. The lens supporter is configured for receiving the lens. The lens carrier is installed within the lens supporter and includes at least three spheres and an elastic member. The spheres associated with the elastic member constrain the lens when the lens is placed in the lens supporter.

Nowadays, following the development of digital products, market demand of small sized optical lenses, such as pick up lenses, digital camera lenses, cell phone camera lenses, has extremely increased. An optical axis of a lens is the axis passing through two centers of curvature of lens surfaces. A mechanical axis passes through the physical center of the lens. If the optical axis of a lens is parallel to but not coincident with the mechanical axis of the lens, a decenter error exists. The decenter error negatively impacts the optical performance of the lens. Therefore, detection of decenter error of a lens is an important issue in the manufacturing of optical lenses.
Conventional methods used for measuring the decenter error of a lens include mechanical measurement and optical measurement. The optical measurement is more precise and popular than the mechanical measurement. Transmissive type and reflective type measurements are commonly utilized in optical measurement. The transmissive type measurement is achieved by projecting a light beam in a cross-line configuration from a collimator focused on a focal plane of the lens. An additional autocollimator is needed for emitting a beam parallel to the focal plane of the lens. The image projected onto the focal plane of the lens is observed through an eyepiece of an autocollimator. When a decenter error is present, the observed image describes a circle and the lens is rotated around a reference axis. A diameter of this circle is proportional with an amount of the decenter error. As a result, the radius of the circle can be taken as the amount of decenter error.
As lens technology develops, optical lenses formed by glass molding and injection forming become more popular. However, with these methods, burs and mouse bites may be formed along the annular sidewall of the lenses. As a result, measurement of decenter error may be less accurate.
In view of the above, there is a need to provide an apparatus for measuring decenter error of a lens.

Apparatus for measuring decenter error of a lens


A circuit protection system is provided that provides dynamic zones of protection for the circuit. The zones of protection can be based in part upon the topology of the circuit. The protection system can perform various dynamic zone protective functions for the zones of protection.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to power distribution systems and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for a circuit protection system providing dynamic zone protection throughout the system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In power distribution systems, power is distributed to various loads and is typically divided into branch circuits, which supply power to specified loads. The branch circuits also can be connected to other power distribution equipment.
Due to the concern of an abnormal power condition in the system, i.e., a fault, it is known to provide circuit protective devices or power switching devices, e.g., circuit breakers, to protect the circuit. The circuit breakers seek to prevent or minimize damage and typically function automatically. The circuit breakers also seek to minimize the extent and duration of electrical service interruption in the event of a fault.
It is further known to open and close these circuit breakers based upon statically defined zones of protection within the configuration of the power distribution system. The contemporary protection system applies algorithms based upon electrical properties of these statically defined zones and clears the fault through the use of circuit breakers disposed within the statically defined zones of protection.
Such a contemporary system fails to account for changes to the state, topology or configuration of the power distribution system, such as power flow changes resulting from the opening or closing of circuit breakers. The failure of the protection system to adapt to the dynamics of the state of the power distribution system results in the application of incorrect algorithms and unwanted functions of power control devices based upon the erroneous, static state within the zone of protection. This increases the risk of damage to the system, such as failure to timely clear a fault. This also decreases the efficiency of the system, such as through untimely opening of circuit breakers and nuisance tripping, and can increase the extent and duration of electrical service interruption in the event of a fault.
Accordingly, there is a need for circuit protection systems incorporated into power distribution systems that decrease the risk of damage and increase efficiency of the power distribution system. There is a further need for protection systems that can vary the zones of protection and account for the changing state within the zones as the power distribution system changes. There is also a need for protection systems that provide optimized protection without sacrificing selectivity.


The invention relates to a pair of chopsticks, comprising: an upper chopstick, and a lower chopstick with a first protrusion and a second protrusion, wherein both of the first and second protrusions protrude from the back surface of the lower chopstick, so that at the holding status of the chopsticks, the first protrusion can touch the vicinity of the first joint of the ring finger of user and the second protrusion can touch the finger pad of the third section of the index finger of user. With the two protrusions coexisting in the lower chopstick, the chopsticks can be firmly held by hand of users.

For three thousand years, Chinese people have been using chopsticks as eating utensils. FIG. 1 shows a pair of commonly used chopsticks, comprising a rod-shaped upper chopstick 10 and a rod-shaped lower chopstick 20. Generally, the ends of chopsticks used for gripping food are called as distal ends 18, 28, and the other ends are called as rear ends 19, 29. The surfaces touching the thumb of user are called as front surfaces 11, 21; the surfaces on the upper side are called as upper surfaces 12, 22; the surfaces touching the ring finger and the index finger are called as back surfaces 13, 23 (see FIG. 2, which shows a back view of the chopsticks in FIG. 1); the surfaces on the bottom side are called as bottom surfaces (not shown). Nevertheless, the shape of the cross-section of a chopstick is not limited to square or rectangle. It can also be other shapes such as polygon, circle, ellipse, etc; in these cases, as one skilled in the art can understand, the chopsticks can be similarly deemed as having the above-mentioned surfaces.
FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the correct posture for holding chopsticks. In the chopstick holding status, the vicinity of the first joint of ring finger 36 and the base of the third section of index finger 38 touches the back surface of the lower chopstick, and the second section of the thumb presses the front surface of the lower chopstick. In this way, the lower chopstick can be gripped firmly by these three finger positions. Although the lower chopstick remains fixed relatively to these three finger positions, the upper chopstick is movable. The first section of the thumb and third section of the index finger press the upper chopstick, and the first section of the index finger and the first section of the middle finger move the upper chopstick up or down, such that the upper chopstick can open and close relative to the lower chopstick for gripping and releasing food.
It is known that holding chopsticks in the correct posture is difficult, even to adults. Currently, some chopsticks are provided with one protrusion which can be touched with a particular position of hand, in order to facilitate user to hold the chopsticks in a correct posture. FIG. 3 shows some positions of hand, wherein positions 1, 4 may be touched with the protrusion of current chopsticks. For example, JP 09-044078 discloses a protrusion located on the lower chopstick for touching the vicinity of the first joint of the ring finger, i.e., position 1 of hand as shown in FIG. 3. Further, WO 2011/015033 discloses a protrusion arranged on the lower chopstick for touching finger pad of the third section of the index finger, i.e., position 4 of hand as shown in FIG. 3.
These designs, although can enhance the holding stability to some extent, still have some problems. For example, when there is only one protrusion, the holding position of hand will easily shift away from the correct position. This problem is shown in FIG. 4, which is the top view of the lower chopstick. Reference numbers 41, 44 and 40 therein are the cross section representation of first joint of ring finger, third section of the index finger and second section of thumb, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, when there is only one protrusion 54, finger joint 41 and section 44 may shift to an incorrect position, so that the solitary protrusion 54 will be in the middle of the two finger joint/section, instead of touching finger joint 41 or section 44. Therefore, the protrusion 54 cannot touch user's hand in a correct and firm manner, and as a result cannot guide the hand to stay in the correct chopstick holding posture.


An access point antenna for a wireless local area network (WLAN) includes a combiner network with a feed point, a ground plane adjacent the combiner network, and a dielectric substrate adjacent the ground plane. Conductive paths are on the dielectric substrate and are coupled to the feed point. Active antenna elements extend from the dielectric substrate. Each active antenna element is coupled to a respective conductive path and is equally spaced from a common area on the dielectric substrate. A passive director antenna element extends from the dielectric substrate and is coupled to the ground plane adjacent the common area.

A wireless local area network (WLAN) includes a distribution system in which spaced-apart access point antennas are connected thereto via wired connections. Each access point antenna has a respective zone for transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals with client stations in their corresponding zone. The client stations are supported with wireless local area network hardware and software to access the distribution system.
A typical access point antenna is a standard monopole antenna. This type of access point antenna provides omni-directional coverage with a gain of about 2 dBi over a frequency range of 2.3 to 2.5 GHz. While omni-directional coverage is desirable, an antenna gain of 2 dBi limits the range in which the client stations can be separated from the access point antenna and still exchange RF signals therebetween.
As an alternative to the standard monopole access point antenna, Cushcraft™ provides a ceiling mounted access point antenna with omni-directional coverage having a gain of 3.5 dBi. The Cushcraft™ antenna is also a monopole antenna but larger in size.
The antenna gain can be further increased without increasing the size of the access point antenna if the antenna coverage becomes directional instead of omni-directional. That is, a high antenna gain is provided in a fixed direction. However, antenna gains outside the fixed direction are low.

Access point antenna for a wireless local area network


An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of developing units. A cam shaft includes a plurality of cams having different rotation phases respectively corresponding to the plurality of developing units. A regulation means controls a rotational force of a driving force source that is transferred to the cam shaft. The regulation means includes a spring clutch having a plurality of latch portions of which phases correspond to the plurality of cams, and an actuator that is selectively connected to the plurality of latch portions and corresponds the plurality of cams to the plurality of developing units. A control means is disposed at the spring clutch and substantially prevents the cam shaft from excessive rotation to prevent the cams from being separated from a corresponding position with respect to the selected developing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that sequentially operates a plurality of developing units to form a color image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A common electrophotographic image forming apparatus illuminates light onto a uniformly charged photoconductive medium to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is developed using a toner to form a toner image. The developed image is transferred and fused onto a sheet of paper to form a color image. Generally, colors of yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C, and black K are used in a color image forming apparatus. Accordingly, four developing units are required for attaching the toners of the four colors onto the electrostatic latent image.
Examples of methods of forming a color image include a single-pass method in which respective four exposing units and four photoconductive mediums are provided, and a multi-pass method in which one exposing unit and one photoconductive medium are provided.
In a color image forming apparatus using the single-pass method, the time required for printing a color image is the same as in printing a black and white image. Therefore, it is mainly used in a high speed color image forming apparatus. However, the price of the apparatus becomes expensive since four exposing units and four photoconductive drums are required. To avoid this problem, in a color image forming apparatus operating at a relatively low speed, the multi-pass method is used in which one photoconductive drum and one exposing unit are provided. A color toner image is formed on an intermediate transfer medium by repeating the exposing, developing, and transferring steps with respect to each color, thereby transferring and fusing the color toner image onto a sheet of paper.
In the image forming apparatus using the multi-pass method, because four developing units are sequentially operated, a device is required for sequentially transferring a rotational force of a driving motor. To this end, a conventional image forming apparatus has used four electrical clutches. However, the electrical clutches are expensive and large. Additionally, because sliding may occur during clutching, there has been a problem in that a driving force cannot be timely regulated.
Accordingly, a need exists for an image forming apparatus having improved regulation of the driving force transferred to a developing unit.


There is disclosed a computer and a method of operating a computer to allow combination of data values in the context of the execution of so-called "packed instructions". A data string comprising a certain number of sub-strings representing discrete data values and which are not independently addressable is held in a source register store. A combining instruction which operates to carry out a polyadic operation on at least some of the sub-strings to generate a result sub-string is then executed.. A result data string comprising said result sub-string is loaded into a destination register. These "combining" instructions have the advantage that they are general purpose instructions which can be used in a plurality of different situations. The instructions are particularly useful in a packed arithmetic environment.

Packed instructions are carried out on packed operands. A packed operand comprises a data string consisting of a plurality of sub-strings, each defining a particular data value and referred to herein as "objects". Thus, an operand comprises a plurality of objects. Each operand is stored in a register store which has a predetermined bit capacity addressable by a single address and in which individual bit locations cannot be individually addressed. Thus, it is not possible to address and handle individual objects within each operand.
"Packed instructions" allow a common operation to be carried out on all of the objects within an operand without individually identifying them. A simple common operation is to load the operand into and out of memory.
Another "packed instruction" is an arithmetic instruction which performs the same arithmetic operation on pairs of objects from respective operands in parallel to provide a packed result operand comprising a plurality of result objects. For the execution of packed arithmetic instructions, a computer provides a packed arithmetic unit which operates on two source operands, at least one of which is packed, to generate a packed result.
It is clearly advantageous to deal with a set of objects in a single operand together, because it reduces loading and storing operations to memory and maximises the use of available register capacity by filling each register.
However, in a packed arithmetic environment, separate steps must be taken to deal with individual objects within an operand. That is, to add together objects within a single operand, each object would have to be separately loaded into a register store before it could be combined with another object. This not only wastes register capacity but also requires memory accesses, which can be slow. It further requires a plurality of instructions, which increases the length of instruction sequences.
In an article entitled "UltraSpark adds Multimedia Instructions" in Microprocessor Report of 5th Dec. 1994, an instruction entitled PDIST exists. This instruction is a single instruction which acts on the contents of a register which holds eight data values resulting from a partition substraction of two 64 bit registers. The instruction adds together the absolute value of each of the eight results. Each result represents the difference of the objects within the 64 bit registers. The PDIST instruction then further adds the resulting sum to the accumulated difference value.
The PDIST instruction is therefore a highly specialised instruction for performing one particular cumulative operation.

Computer and a method of operating a computer to combine data values within a singularly addressable data string


A thermowell assembly for use in measuring a temperature of a process fluid includes an elongate thermowell body configured to mount to a process vessel and extend into the process fluid. An elongate bore extends along a length of the thermowell body from a proximal end of the thermowell body proximate a wall of the process vessel to a sealed distal end of the thermowell body positioned in the process fluid. A side bore extends from an exterior of the thermowell assembly to the elongate bore. The side bore is positioned outside of the process vessel. A verification valve includes an inlet coupled to the side bore at the exterior of the thermowell assembly and further includes an outlet.

The present invention relates to a system which measures a process variable and an industrial process. More specifically, the present invention relates to a measuring process temperature using a thermowell which extends into a process fluid.
Industrial processes are used in the production and manufacture of goods such as oil, chemical, paper, etc. In such industrial processes, it is often desirable to measure a process variable, such as a temperature of a process fluid, and use that information to control or otherwise monitor the industrial process. One technique used to measure a process temperature is through the use of a process variable transmitter which includes a temperature sensor. The temperature sensor is thermally coupled to a temperature to be measured using what is known as a "thermowell" which extends into a process fluid. The process variable transmitter measures the process temperature using a temperature sensor and reports that information back to another location such as a control room.
The thermowell is typically formed by an elongate thermowell body having a bore extending therethrough. For purposes of maintenance or diagnostics, an operator may need to remove the process variable transmitter from the thermowell. It is possible that over the lifetime of the thermowell, a wall of the thermowell may fail and the bore of the thermowell fills with the process fluid. If the process fluid is under pressure, removing the process variable transmitter can be difficult and result in the loss of process fluid through the opening in the thermowell and into the environment.

Thermowell with primary seal verification


A multiple path light source has a first and second laser source that generate low power continuous wave laser beam at wavelength λ1 and λ2 respectively. A pump laser source generates a high power pulsed narrow linewidth laser beam at wavelength λ0. A first pair of DFGs convert the low power continuous laser beams at λ1 and λ2 to high peak power pulsed laser beams at wavelengths λ1 and λ2, and generate pulsed laser beams at wavelength λ1DFG=λ1*λ0/(λ1−λ0) and λ2DFG=λ2*λ0/(λ2−λ0). A second pair of DFGs receives the high peak power pulsed laser beams at λ1 and λ2 and the pulsed laser beams at λ1DFG and λ2DFG and generates laser beams at wavelength λ3=λ1*λ2/(λ2−λ1) and λ3DFG=λ1DFG*λ2DFG/(λ2DFG−λ1DFG). A beam splitter combines the high power pulsed laser beam at wavelength λ3 with the high power pulsed laser beam at wavelength λ3DFG to form a single laser light.

Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between radiation (electromagnetic radiation, or light, as well as particle radiation) and matter. Spectroscopy is often used in physical and analytical chemistry for the identification of substances through the spectrum emitted from or absorbed by them.
In a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), a highly energetic laser pulse is used as an excitation source. LIBS can analyze any matter regardless of the state of the matter. Since all elements emit light when excited to sufficiently high temperatures, LIBS can detect all elements, limited only by the power of the laser as well as the sensitivity and wavelength range of the spectrograph and/or detector.
Recently, LIBS has been used to help identify hazardous compounds. Detection of hazardous substances typically requires a laser source that is tunable in the spectral region containing absorption features of the compounds of interest. For many nitrogen containing compounds such as explosives and other hazardous gases this is in the long wave infrared (LWIR) spectral region from 7-14 μm.
Generation of long wavelength laser light is complicated because relatively few direct laser sources exist in this spectral region. Most efficient long wave infrared laser sources (e.g., carbon dioxide [CO2] gas lasers) have limited tuning range, resulting in limited ability to access the spectral signatures of materials of interest in spectroscopic detection. Those efficient techniques that possess broad tunability tend to produce broad spectral linewidth (or line width) as well.
Nonlinear optical frequency conversion techniques are another option to convert light from shorter wavelengths into the desired longer wavelengths. While various nonlinear optical techniques have been devised that permit the generation of tunable laser light in the LWIR spectral region, most suffer from low efficiency, that is low power delivered in the desired spectral region from a given amount of power from the initial optical or electrical source.
These nonlinear optical frequency conversion techniques are typically inefficient for two reasons. First, due to quantum efficiency, photons at the shorter wavelength are converted into those at the longer wavelength resulting in a power decrease equal to the ratio of the wavelengths. Second, due to photon conversion efficiency, only a fraction of the available photons at the shorter wavelength will be converted to photons at the longer wavelength. The optical conversion efficiency is the product of the quantum and photon conversion efficiencies and, with starting wavelengths in the 1 μm region of commonly available solid state lasers, is typically well under 10% for conversion into the long wave infrared region.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method that overcomes the above problems.


The present invention provides novel conjugates of camptothecin and camptothecin analogs with a linker and an HSA-binding moiety. The novel conjugates are prodrug forms of the camptothecin or camptothecin analogs and can be used to treat mammalian cell proliferative diseases, such as cancer.

Camptothecin is a well-known alkaloid that was first isolated in 1966 from Camptotheca acuminate. Camptothecin shows strong cytotoxic activity and anti-tumor activity. Due to its poor water solubility (2.5 ug/mL), the first clinical trials in the early seventies were performed using CPT as the sodium salt of the hydroxycarboxylate form, with an open E-ring. However, severe and unpredictable side effects hindered further clinical development.
A renewed interest in CPT and CPT derivatives came with the elucidation of their mechanism of action, i.e. the inhibition of the nuclear enzyme topoisomerase I. It was also discovered that the lactone ring of CPT is necessary for specific interaction with topoisomerase I and selective antitumor activity. Several derivatives of CPT with improved solubility and lactone ring stability have been synthesized, including irinotecan and topotecan (which have been FDA approved for clinical use in the therapy of colorectal, ovarian and lung cancer), as well as SN-38, 9-Aminocamptothecin, 9-Nitrocamptothecin, GI-147211, Exatecan and Karenitecin. See Table 1. The clinical application of these drugs is, however, limited by their toxic, dose-related side effects, such as myelosuppression, gastrointestinal disorders and stomatitis.
Experience with these CPT derivatives suggests that the behavior of CPT derivatives in the presence of human serum albumin (HSA) is one of the determining factors of their clinical efficacy. The equilibrium concentration of active 9-Aminocamptothecin in blood is less than 0.5% due to preferential binding of the inactive 9-AC open-ring carboxy to HSA which shifts the blood equilibrium between the active, closed-ring 9-AC lactone and the inactive open-ring carboxy form toward the inactive, open-ring 9-AC carboxy form. CPT displays similar behavior. In contrast, the clinically important CPT derivative irinotecan and topotecan display enhanced lactone stability in the presence of HSA.
TABLE 1Well-known CPT derivatives. CompoundR2R3R4R5R6Camptothecin—H—H—H—H—HTopotecan—H—CH2N(CH3)2—OH—H—H Irinotecan—CH2CH3—H—H -HSN-38—CH2CH3—H—OH—H—H9-Aminocamptothecin—H—NH2—H—H—H9-Nitrocamptothecin—H—NO2—H—H—H GI-147211—H—OCH2CH2O— -HExatecan—CH3—F—H Karenitecin—H—CH2CH2Si(CH3)3—H—H—H
Furthermore, attempts have been made to selectively bind a biologically active, lactone form of a CPT derivative to HSA, in order to prevent HSA from preferentially binding and stabilizing the inactive carboxy form of the CPT derivative, thereby driving the lactone ring/open-ring carboxy blood equilibrium toward the active lactone ring form. However, these attempts have been only partially successful. For instance, in Z. M. Prijovich et al., Biochem. Pharm. 66 (2003): 1181-1187, 9-Aminocamptothecin glucuronide (9AGC) shows improved stability of the active lactone ring form in blood, reaching equilibrium in blood of about 20% lactone ring form and a blood half-life increased to about 50 minutes.
Accordingly, there is a clear and continuing need to create more soluble forms of CPT and analogs which remain substantially in their clinically effective lactone ring form in blood, and particularly in the presence of HSA.


The invention relates to a container with a closing device. Said container comprises a base, a lid (C) and a vertical partition joining the base and the lid, a tongue element comprising a grip end (4) and an opposite bearing end (8), said tongue element (4,8) comprising a lug (3), being integral with the lid (C) by means of a plug (2) fixed to the lid (c). The tongue can be rotationally displaced around the longitudinal axis XX of the plug (2) and can be inclined at a certain angle α in relation to the plane of the lid, an opening zone (1) being defined by a precut (10) in said lid (C) and being able to be opened using the tongue, whereby the bearing end thereof (8) exerts a force from the outside to the inside of the container on said area (1) defined by the precut (10). The tongue is such that the grip end thereof (8) has a closing/opening area (7) which is originally convex and which can be deformed, as a result of the flexibility and elasticity thereof, by a pushing movement from the outside to the inside of the container in order to take on a concave shape and vice-versa, being able to be deformed in order to revert to a convex shape by pressing the inside towards the outside of the container on the bearing edge. The invention can be used in containers, especially beverage containers.

This Invention concerns a device ensuring the alternating opening and closing of a self-opening container, more specifically a container for liquid or a container for a mixture of solid and liquid, or a container for a solid product. A device of this kind may be used as a container for food liquids, for instance drinks such as beer, tea, milk, drinks based on fruit juice, on tea, on sparkling water, lemonades, soups, sauces or as a container for foodstuffs consisting of mixtures of liquids and solids, for instance culinary preparations based on fish and sauce, on meat and source, preparations based on milk products and fruit, jams or honey, or as a container for solid products such as pastes, mixed salads, animal feed, etc.
Self-opening containers are already well known and that are widely used in modern society, available on a widespread basis in the trade. Such containers consist of a flat bottom and a flat upper lid connected by a vertical wall. More often than not they are made of stainless steel or white metal or aluminium, or any other appropriate metal or alloy. The material forming the container is a metal sheet having some flexibility and which, when warped by a certain amount of force, returns to its initial position. Up to a force limit, the sheet of material maintains its elasticity and returns to its initial shape. It is only warped temporarily. When said force limit is exceeded, the sheet of metal loses its elasticity and is definitively warped. The bottom and lid may be of a circular, oval, square, rectangular, trapezoidal or of another shape.
These containers, on the upper lid, have a cutout of a suitable shape, for instance, round, oval, etc, which must be opened by pushing from the outside toward the inside. The pushing force is applied by the pointed end of a tab whose other end, referred to as the gripping end, is raised from the inside toward the outside by the user. When the bearing end of the tab bears on the cutout, it gives way and the area formed by the cutout then opens. This tab is made integral with the lid by means of a contact. However, it is evident that this contact allows the swivelling of the tab about the contact, along the longitudinal axis of the contact, so that the bearing end of the tab may rotate through 180° about this axis, then bringing the gripping end of the tab opposite the cutout area. In general, at the end of the gripping tab there is a hole allowing the user to insert a fingertip to pull the tab to the outside and therefore, by the tilting of the tab, apply the bearing end of the tab to the area delimited by the cutout.
The area delimited by the cutout may be pressed toward the inside of the container. In this case, the tab is placed outside of the area delimited by the cutout and only the bearing end is above the area delimited by the cutout.
The area delimited by the cutout may be pulled toward the outside. In this case, the tab is placed entirely inside the area delimited by the cutout.
This type of device offers the advantage of easier container opening and dispenses with the need for a specific can opener.
However, one major drawback of these devices represented by a previous technical embodiment is that, once opened, they cannot be closed again.
Accordingly, their contents must be used immediately or if used a few hours following its opening, may be denatured. For instance, in the case of fizzy drinks, they may go flat, as well as lose their aromas, and the drink will no longer be suitable for consumption. In the case of a solid product, such as fish preserve, the foodstuffs may undergo fermenting, etc, and what is more, the solid or liquid product may seep from the container.
Therefore, the container's closure, once it had been opened, was sought using the above-described device.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,712, U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,950, WO 00011587, DE A1-199 12 880 and DE-A1-40 35 395 documents describe a self-opening system that may be closed and opened several times in succession. These systems are based on a tab that includes, instead of the hole provided in the gripping end, a lower extra thickness having the shape of the cutout. When the area delimited by the cutout is opened by tipping the tab so that its bearing end presses in the area delimited by the cutout, the user causes the tab to turn 180° about the longitudinal axis of the contact and brings the extra thickness of the tab opposite the opening area delimited by the cutout and presses on the gripping end of the tab, pushing it from top to bottom, so as to engage the extra thickness in the opening area.
Extra thicknesses of this type, provided instead of the gripping hole in the tab, have several drawbacks. The first drawback is that the extra thickness causes the inclination of the tab with respect to the lid so that the bearing end of the tab rests on the cutout area and the gripping end is already raised with respect to the lid of the container. Accordingly, the tab is already brought into an inclined position with respect to the lid of the container. A position like this can cause the inadvertent lifting of the gripping end and, accordingly, the tilting of the tab, then the inadvertent opening of the cutout area.
Another drawback of the lower extra thickness is that the tab includes more material and is therefore more expensive to manufacture.
Another drawback of the lower extra thickness is that in order to prevent the tab from being inclined with respect to the lid, in the initial starting unopened position, there must be a hollow in the lid of the container to accommodate this extra thickness. A hollow of this type is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,950 documents. Here again, the manufacturing of the container is more complicated and more expensive.
Therefore, the invention has the purpose of remedying the drawbacks of the prior technique.


A touch panel includes a first electrode substrate including a first substrate and a first conductive film formed on the first substrate, and a second electrode substrate including a second substrate and a second conductive film formed on the second substrate to face the first conductive film. A part or the entirety of the first conductive film is divided into plural conductive areas.

A touch panel is an input device that is provided on a surface of a display and allows the user to input instructions directly on the display. Touch panels are widely used for various purposes to allow the user to directly input instructions via a visual interface on a display.
A resistive touch panel is a type of touch panel that is widely used. A resistive touch panel includes an upper electrode substrate and a lower electrode substrate on which transparent conductive films are formed. The upper and lower electrode substrates are disposed such that the transparent conductive films face each other. When a point on the upper electrode substrate is pressed, the transparent conductive films contact each other at the pressed point and the position of the pressed point is thereby detected.
There are two types of resistive touch panels: a 4-wire touch panel and a 5-wire touch panel. In the 4-wire touch panel, X-axis electrodes are provided on one of the upper and lower electrode substrates and Y-axis electrodes are provided on the other one of the upper and lower electrode substrates. In the 5-wire touch panel, both X-axis electrodes and Y-axis electrodes are provided on the lower electrode substrate, and the upper electrode substrate functions as a probe for detecting a voltage (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-272722 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-293129).
An exemplary 5-wire touch panel is described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary 5-wire touch panel 200, and FIG. 2 is a cut-away side view of the 5-wire touch panel 200.
The 5-wire touch panel 200 includes a film 210, a transparent conductive film 230 formed on a surface of the film 210, a glass 220, and a transparent conductive film 240 formed on a surface of the glass 220. The film 210 and the transparent conductive film 230 constitute an upper electrode substrate, and the glass 220 and the transparent conductive 240 constitute a lower electrode substrate. The upper and lower electrode substrates are disposed such that the transparent conductive film 230 and the transparent conductive film 240 face each other via a spacer 250. The 5-wire touch panel 200 is electrically connected via a cable 260 to a host computer (not shown).
As illustrated in FIG. 3A, electrodes 241, 242, 243, and 244 are provided at the corresponding sides of the transparent conductive film 240. A voltage is applied alternately in the X-axis and Y-axis directions via the electrodes 241, 242, 243, and 244. When the transparent film 230 (or the film 210) is pressed at a contact point A, the transparent conductive film 230 and the transparent conductive film 240 contact each other at the contact point A. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 3B, a voltage Va is detected via the transparent conductive film 230, and the X and Y coordinates of the contact point A are detected.
Here, although the 5-wire touch panel 200 described above can detect the position of one contact point each time, it cannot detect the positions of plural contact points at the same time.
Assuming that the transparent conductive film 230 is pressed at contact points A and B at the same time, and the transparent conductive film 230 and the transparent conductive film 240 contact each other at the contact points A and B while a voltage is being applied alternately in the X-axis and Y-axis directions via the electrodes 241, 242, 243, and 244 (see FIG. 4A), the coordinates of a point that is not pressed and located between the contact points A and B are detected. This is because, as illustrated in FIG. 4B, only one voltage Vc is detected via the transparent conductive film 230 even when the transparent conductive film 230 and the transparent conductive film 240 contact each other at the contact points A and B.


The present invention provides a quartz glass single hole nozzle for feeding fluid capable of performing high-precision control of a flow rate, a burner for heat processing equipped with the quartz glass single hole nozzle, a quartz glass multihole burner head for feeding fluid preferably used in flame processing or the like, and a quartz glass burner for heat processing equipped with the multihole burner. By using the nozzle, even if a distal end portion of the quartz glass burner, namely the nozzle is broken by contact with a workpiece or the like, it is enough to only replace the broken nozzle with a new one without a necessity for replacing the entire expensive quartz glass burner. When applying the nozzle to a metal burner, there can be given usefulness of the quartz glass such as heat resistance and contamination resistance or the like. The quartz glass single hole nozzle for feeding fluid according to the present invention comprises: a nozzle body portion made of a quartz glass material; and an attaching portion provided at the proximal end of the nozzle body portion, wherein a fluid feed path is bored in the interior of the nozzle body portion and the attaching portion of the nozzle body portion is detachably attachable to the distal end of a burner body for heat processing.

Conventionally, in order to ensure durability against a high temperature generated in company with combustion, or durability against contamination and degradation in company with a chemical reaction such as a vapor phase reaction at a distal end and in a flow path, a burner made of quartz glass as a material has been known especially as a combustion burner for heat processing. In order to form a flow path in a quartz glass burner, however, a skilled artisan had to manually fabricate the burner from a quartz glass tube as starting materials taking a long time. Especially, a quartz glass burner with many flow paths has been fabricated using many quartz glass tubes as starting materials by a skilled artisan in such a way that the quartz glass tubes are deliberately processed one by one and thereafter the quartz glass tubes are accurately bundled into a single body to thereby complete the quartz glass burner.
However, since such a quartz glass burner is manually fabricated, there have inevitably arisen variations in dimensional precision between product lots and therefore a necessity has occurred for various settings or adjustments for heat processing in each lot of the burners by a scent of an operator manipulating a burner.
Therefore, as disclosed in, for example, JP A 2000-104908, a method has been proposed in which a burner head is mechanically and integrally machined from a quartz glass rod according to a boring method using a drill.
The inventors have continuously investigated and developed uses of the fabrication method, and have repeated serious studies on application thereof to a single hole burner nozzle and a multihole burner of a straight type which were mainly fabricated from metals such as stainless steel, iron, brass or copper in the prior art. As a result, the present invention has been achieved.
That is, conventionally, a metal single hole burner especially used for local heat processing lacks problematically agile operability because it is heavy for an operator, and more than anything else, when heat processing is continued for long time, since a distal end of the metal burner is overheated by reflecting heat from a workpiece, a phenomenon unavoidably occurs that spray of the metal or metal ions from the distal end may be stuck or migrated to the workpiece.
Even in case of no heat processing, when liquids high in corrosiveness and reactivity, for example, strong acids such as hydrochloric acid or strong bases such as caustic soda, or gases high in reactivity such as silicon tetrachloride are fed to the nozzle, an inconvenience inevitably occurs that the metal itself is corroded.
In view of the above, while a quartz glass single hole burner has been employed in a specified field, the burner is not of a type fabricated by directly drilling a high purity synthetic quartz glass rod with a boring diameter precisely set in such a way as disclosed in the present invention; therefore, flow control thereof cannot be necessarily performed with a high precision, and it requires various kinds of adjustment operations based on a scent of an operator manipulating the burner. Especially, in recent years, the heat processing utilizing a robot has been tried. In this case, if the heat processing is operated placing the burner at a fixed position and setting the other operating conditions, there are severely demanded uniformity in performance and reproducibility of a product of the burner itself, with which a complete measure for coping has been requested.
Moreover, when the distal end of the burner is broken by contact with a workpiece, an expensive quartz glass burner has to be totally replaced with a new one; measures to solve the problem have been awaited in various aspects. In a micro-processing field, for example, when a syringe drug glass ampoule for medical use is heat sealed, since a nozzle diameter is especially small, slight dimensional errors result in a difference in a feed rate of fluid; a quantitatively exact specification has been required. A precise specification has been similarly required in an ordinary micro-welding field as well.
Since JP A 2000-104908 described above discloses such a construction as convergence of a gas flow is indispensable, it has been also demanded to fabricate a multihole burner of non-convergence (in which feed paths are parallel to each other) which is employed, for example, in flame processing. However, since it has been difficult to fabricate the multihole burner maintaining an exact straight advance of drilling for boring, a problem has remained that fabrication of the multihole burner involves difficulty.
The inventors have continuously investigated and developed uses of the fabrication method, and found it to apply the method to a single hole burner head and a multihole burner of straight type which were mainly fabricated from metals such as stainless steel or copper in the prior art. As a result, the present invention has been achieved.

Quartz glass single hole nozzle for feeding fluid and quartz glass multi-hole burner head for feeding fluid


A manned space vehicle is described whose altitude control is achieved by constant drag compensation through the action of low level thrusters. The space vehicle include a low pressure electrolyzer that generates hydrogen and oxygen from water in a mass ratio of eight parts of oxygen to one part hydrogen. Oxygen and hydrogen from the electrolyzer are fed to the low level thrusters, with the oxygen proportion being reduced to limit thruster degradation. A life support system employs the excess oxygen from the electrolyzer and extracts carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of the vehicle. The extracted carbon dioxide is fed to the low level thrusters. The carbon dioxide enters into the combustion process with the oxygen and hydrogen, providing additional oxygen to the process and serving as a diluent to reduce the combustion temperature.

The propulsion system of a manned space vehicle, such as the space station, must satisfy a number of requirements. It must provide for reboost to compensate for loss of altitude due to atmospheric drag; provide a capability to perform a velocity change maneuver for collision avoidance; and act as a backup for the control gyros of the guidance and control system to provide space station attitude control. To meet those propulsion requirements, the prior art has suggested a number of different systems. A hydrogen-oxygen propulsion system has been proposed which uses a high pressure electrolyzer to generate hydrogen and oxygen propellants from on-board water. The expected specific impulse of such a system, combined with its ability to use on-board water for fuel, has made it a viable alternative. However, there are significant system development risks and safety risks associated with storing large quantities of high pressure gaseous hydrogen and oxygen on a space station. In particular, space-qualified, high pressure electrolyzers are beyond the state of the art and are also a possible safety risk.
Another propulsion system proposed to meet the above noted space station requirements employs a hydrazine monopropellant to power the thrusters. The hydrazine system's electrical power consumption, as contrasted to the hydrogen-oxygen system, is significantly less since the only power usage is for controls, and heaters to keep the hydrazine from freezing. The principal disadvantage of a hydrazine-based system is the resupply problem. Because of the large mass of resupplied hydrazine, the expense of resupply is high.
In a space station, approximately ninety percent of on-board propellant is employed for altitude maintenance. Two altitude control methods are commonly used, i.e. reboost and constant drag compensation. A reboost flight profile allows the space vehicle's orbit to decay to a certain altitude, at which point the vehicle is reboosted to a higher altitude orbit. Such reboost requires relatively high thrust and is performed at periodic intervals to maintain a minimum orbit altitude or orbit lifetime. Constant drag compensation involves continuing altitude compensation to avoid orbit decay. Such systems can employ low level thrusters which are not sufficiently powerful to be used for attitude control or collision avoidance.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a space station with hydrogen-oxygen based low level thrusters for constant drag compensation.
It is another object of this invention to utilize carbon dioxide as an additional propellant in low level hydrogen-oxygen thrusters.
It is still another object of this invention to utilize oxygen and hydrogen from an electrolysis process for low level thrusters wherein excess oxygen is employed for crew life support and the proportion of oxygen and hydrogen fed to the thrusters is in a range to enable long thruster life.

Manned space vehicle with low-level hydrogen-oxygen-carbon dioxide propulsion unit


Each pixel includes first and second photodiodes that are receiving-light detecting elements. The first photodiode applies a first potential according to an amount of light entering into the corresponding pixel. An internal node is electrically coupled with an internal node in another pixel via a resistance component. Hence, the second photodiode applies a second potential according to an average amount of light on the periphery to the corresponding internal node. A pixel signal generating circuit reads out a multiplied result of the first and second potentials as a pixel signal. The pixel signal has an intensity corresponding to the amount of light in the pixel in accordance with a receiving-light sensitivity characteristic (signal amplification factor) that is automatically adjusted based on an average amount of light in a region on the periphery of the pixel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device that realizes receiving-light sensitivity characteristic that is close to the sensibility of human vision, and more particularly, to an image pickup device that can detect sufficient contrast in an entire region even if there is an area with a large difference in luminance present in a field of view. Hence, the inventive technique can be utilized in various situations for an imaging device having high visual sensibility, such as a monitoring camera for an area including outdoors, a camera that is mounted on a car and the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
Solid-state imaging devices such as CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) and CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor) imagers, i.e. semiconductor image sensors (hereinafter also referred to as "image pickup device"), have been embedded in video cameras, digital cameras, and nowadays even in a mobile phone, and have become widespread as inexpensive imaging devices with low power consumption.
The sensing capability of an image pickup device, however, is much inferior to the sensibility of human vision. Human vision can sufficiently detect contrast in brighter and darker portions even if there is a luminance distribution ranging over approximately four to five digits. This excellent capability in contrast sensing is realized by such a function that each of photoreceptive cells in retina can individually adjust its receiving-light sensitivity characteristic per cell.
By contrast, in a conventional image pickup device, all pixels had the same receiving-light sensitivity characteristic, which made it difficult to obtain sufficient contrast in both brighter and darker portions in the field of view at the same time.
FIGS. 14 and 15 are the first and second views showing examples of images shot by the conventional image pickup device.
Referring to FIGS. 14 and 15, each of these image examples shows a scene shot in a room lighted with a fluorescent in the daytime on a sunny day, containing the outside of a window. Such a scene is commonly seen in everyday life. It is clear from experience that a human eye would have no difficulty in seeing both the inside and outside of the room with sufficient contrast.
In the conventional image pickup device, however, when a receiving-light sensitivity characteristic is adjusted to allow the inside to be seen, the outside of the window becomes too bright, so that contrast in a brighter portion cannot be detected, as shown in the example shot in FIG. 14. On the contrary, when the sensitivity is so adjusted as to allow the outside to be seen with sufficient contrast, as shown in FIG. 15, the inside of the room now becomes too dark, preventing detection of contrast in a darker portion. This reveals that the conventional image sensor is much inferior to human vision in detection of sufficient contrast in the entire region when there are brighter and darker portions present at the same time in the field of view.
The low contrast sensibility is one of major problems to be solved in order to practically use the conventional image pickup device as a device for detecting visual information that substitutes for human vision.
The low contrast detecting capability of the conventional image pickup device will now be described with reference to FIG. 16.
In general, illuminance of the outdoors in the daylight is approximately several tens of thousands of lux. By contrast, illuminance in a room lighted with a fluorescent is approximately 500 lux at a portion not exposed to sunlight, and is 100 lux or lower at a darker portion. That is, as can be seen in the example of luminance distribution in FIG. 16, the example shots shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 exhibit the difference of two to three digits between the average luminance of the outside of the window and that of a dark portion in the room (the face portion).
In the example shot shown in FIG. 14, the receiving-light sensitivity characteristic of pixels is adjusted to have a sensitivity line shown in FIG. 16, such that sufficient contrast can be detected in a relatively bright region (at most 500 lux) in the room. In the conventional image pickup device, however, all pixels have the same sensitivity characteristic as described earlier. Hence, with the same sensitivity characteristic, a bright portion outside the window will be white due to saturation of the sensitivity. Moreover, in a dark portion, contrast will also be insufficient, since the amplitude is lowered to one-fifth of the whole. Thus, the conventional image pickup device cannot detect sufficient contrast even in a scene we often come across in everyday life.

Image pickup device with high contrast detection capability

Exploitation of Next Generation Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for forming a film used for flattening a substrate surface having unevenness in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, and has for its object to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device for making it possible to flatten a film by processing at a lower temperature without deteriorating the film quality.. The present invention is structured including a process of depositing a film composed of BPSG or PSG on a substrate surface having unevenness, a process of depositing a SiO.sub.2 film or depositing a film composed of BPSG or PSG having concentration lower than phosphorus concentration or boron concentration in the film or a SiO.sub.2 film on the film, and a process of melting and fluidizing these films so as to flatten them by applying heat treatment.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a method for forming a film used for flattening a substrate surface having unevenness in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device.
Formation of a very fine pattern and a multilayer interconnection structure are demanded according as high densification and high integration of a semiconductor device in recent years, and a tendency that the unevenness of the substrate surface becomes still more conspicuous is being developed.
However, as the unevenness of the substrate surface becomes more conspicuous, it becomes more difficult to form a highly precise fine pattern and disconnection of interconnection and the like are also liable to occur. Therefore, lowering of reliability of a device and lowering of yield of semiconductor devices are caused. Thus, techniques for flattening the substrate surface are required.
In the early stage of flattening techniques, a PSG film obtained by adding phosphorus to a SiO.sub.2 film has been used as a flattening film which is able to flatten a substrate surface at a comparatively low temperature. This PSG film has a nature that the flattening temperature is lowered by increasing an addition quantity of added phosphorus, but the film absorbs moisture and the film quality is deteriorated when the addition quantity of phosphorus is increased, thus becoming unfit for practical use. In a PSG film having phosphorus concentration showing no deterioration of the film quality, the softening point is approximately 1,000.degree. C. at the most. Thereupon, a BPSG film obtained by adding both boron and phosphorus having a softening point lower than that of the PSG film has been developed as a flattening film. For example, a flattening temperature at approximately 850.degree. C. has been obtained by adding boron and phosphorus into a SiO.sub.2 film at 3 to 4 mol %, respectively, and the foregoing is the main current of present techniques of flattening a VLSI as a low temperature process.
FIG. 12 shows diagrams showing a process of flattening a BPSG film by means of reflow related to a conventional example. In FIG. 12(a), a SiO.sub.2 film 23 is formed on a Si substrate 22, and a polysilicon film 24 formed in a pattern is formed on the SiO.sub.2 film 23. Next, a BPSG film 25 is formed by a Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method as shown in FIG. 12(b).
Next, when heat treatment (reflow processing) is applied at 850.degree. C. for about one hour in nitrogen (N.sub.2) atmosphere, the BPSG film 25 is softened, melted and fluidized. Thus, the substrate surface is flattened. Further, the film quality of the heat treated BPSG film is made fine, thus forming a film of good quality having no hygroscopic property. When the substrate surface is flattened as described above, it becomes possible to make the pattern of interconnector or film formed thereon fine, thus enabling to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device having little disconnection and short-circuit of interconnection.
Hereupon, as refinement of a device is advanced, a low temperature, and consequently a still lower temperature of the flattening temperature (reflow temperature) becomes required, and it is demanded in recent years to obtain the flattening temperature at 800.degree. C. or below. With respect to a BPSG film (SiO.sub.2 -B.sub.2 O.sub.3 -P.sub.2 O.sub.5), the softening temperature can also be lowered by increasing the concentration of B(B.sub.2 O.sub.3) and P(P.sub.2 O.sub.5) in the film similarly to the case of the PSG film.
FIG. 8(b) shows experimental data showing the relationship between the total quantity of impurities (P.sub.2 O.sub.5 +B.sub.2 O.sub.3) contained in a BPSG film and a reflow angle .alpha. at the reflow temperature of 900.degree. C. (parameter is boron concentration), and a tendency that the reflow angle .alpha. becomes smaller as the total quantity of impurities (P.sub.2 O.sub.5 +B.sub.2 O.sub.3) is increased, i.e., a tendency of being flattened is shown as shown in FIG. 8(b). Besides, FIG. 8(a) is a diagram for explaining the definition of the reflow angle. However, as the impurity quantity increases, hygroscopic property of the film becomes higher, and phenomena such as precipitation (B.sub.2 O.sub.3 or boric acid, etc.), moisture absorption (generation of H.sub.3 PO.sub.4) and clouding on the surface (devitrification) become liable to be presented, which cause an obstacle in the next process. Namely, an unstable process is caused, and there are many problems in point of the reliability of the device, too.
FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 are diagrams for explaining the foregoing, and show the relationship between phosphorus concentration/boron concentration and film quality stability of the BPSG film. The axis of abscissa represents boron concentration (mol %), the axis of ordinate represents phosphorus concentration (mol %), and the characteristic curve shows a boundary whether the film quality is stable or not. Namely, the instability of the film quality is increased when going in the right upper direction with the curve as the boundary, and the film quality is stabilized more when going in the left under direction. The characteristic curve was determined by whether the film quality of the BPSG film was deteriorated or not within one week after the BPSG film was deposited. As described, the film quality is deteriorated in general as the phosphorus concentration/the boron concentration is increased. Besides, the substrate temperature when the BPSG film is deposited is used as the parameter in FIG. 9, and the ozone concentration when the BPSG film is deposited is used as the parameter in FIG. 10.
Further, FIG. 11 shows experimental data (parameters are boron concentration and phosphorus concentration) showing the relationship between the reflow temperature and the reflow angle .alpha., and shows a tendency of being flattened as the reflow temperature is increased as shown in FIG. 11 (F. S. Becker, D. Pawlik, H. Schafer and G. Standigl J. Vac. Technol. B4(3), 1986, pp. 732-744).
It has been in such a dilemma that, when the phosphorus concentration/the boron concentration is increased aiming at a low temperature, the film quality is deteriorated thereby to affect the device, and, when the phosphorus concentration/the boron concentration is decreased, reflow at a high temperature is compelled as described above. A limit is placed to 850.degree. C. at present for the reflow temperature of the BPSG film at concentration showing no deterioration of the film quality.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which is able to lower a reflow temperature by utilizing a BPSG film or a PSG film having high impurity concentration as a flattening film.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device which is able to arrange so that a BPSG film or a PSG film of high impurity concentration including a drawback that the film quality is deteriorated by moisture absorption does not absorb moisture.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device having a self-planarizing film


A tire lever for removing tires from wheels having an axle and installing tires thereon provides separate hooks for removal and installation, an attachment to the wheel axle and length adjustment for accommodating different size wheels. Tire removal and installation is accomplished by rotating the lever around the wheel using the axle as a center of rotation while the appropriate hook engages the tire bead.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of bicycle accessories and more particularly to the field of bicycle tire levers for removing and installing bicycle tires or the tubes thereof.
2. Prior Art
Bicycle tire levers are typically made in the same way, namely a three pack of about 4.5 inch.times.0.6 inch.times.0.3 inch each plastic pieces with a partial hook at one end for prying under the bead of the tire and a notch at the other end for catching under a spoke.
There are several reasons for having to remove and install tires. Leaking tubes can be caused by foreign matter poking a hole through the tire and tube, by "pinch flats" where the tube becomes pinched between the tire and rim during a hard impact with an object on the road, a defective or broken tube valve stem, or age; the tire is damaged; the rider wants a different tire for different riding conditions; the rider wants a different tube for different riding conditions (lighter for racing or more heavy duty for rough terrain).
The need to change the tire because of a leaking tube often occurs while in remote locations. In these situations, convenience and speed are particularly important, especially if in a race, bad weather, the dark, or a dangerous location (such as in high crime or heavy traffic areas). Most riders carry tire levers, a pump, and a spare tube or patch kit to handle these situations.
Most bicycle wheels consist of a hub with axle, spokes for connecting the hub to the rim, a C-channel rim, an expandable tube with valve stem, and a tire that has a strip of wire on each side called the bead. The bead is made of a material such as steel wire or Kevlar that strongly resists being stretched. It is mainly the two beads that retain the tire to the rim by catching under a lip on the rim and by not easily stretching. It is also primarily the bead that makes changing a tire rather difficult because it must be stretched over the rim for removal or installation. The axle is connected to the hub and the bicycle fork or frame by either nuts or quick release axle skewers. In either case, the nuts or axles skewers are normally loosened but not removed in order to remove the wheel from the bicycle.
Generally, the higher the air pressure rating of the tire, the stronger and less stretchable and tighter the fit of the bead of the tire to the rim of the wheel. This is because higher air pressure exerts greater force into pushing the tire off of the rim. As a consequence, the higher the pressure rating of the tire, the more difficult it is to remove and install the tire. Generally the first part of removing the bead and the last part of installing the bead is the most difficult because this is where the bead must be stretched the most.
Changing or repairing a tube requires the following steps: Loosen the axle nuts or quick release skewer and remove the wheel from the bicycle; release all air from the tube (if any remains); pry one bead off the rim (currently people use one, two, or three tire levers depending on how difficult the bead is to remove--current levers are designed to have one end wedged under the bead of the tire and then the lever is rotated until the other end can catch under a spoke which allows the user to have two hands to use the next lever); remove the tube by reaching between the rim and the tire (which still has one bead on the rim); the other bead is not necessary to remove from the rim unless the tire is to be replaced; patch the tube (if necessary--inflate the tube slightly to create its tubular shape); replace the slightly air-filled, repaired or new tube between the rim and the tire; push the bead back onto the rim being careful to not pinch the tube (currently people use their hands as far as possible and then use one, two, or three tire levers to finish depending on how difficult the bead is to install); fully inflate the tube to the rated tire pressure; reinstall the wheel to the bicycle and tighten the axle nuts or quick release skewer.
Changing the tire requires the following steps: Loosen the axle nuts or quick release skewer and remove the wheel from the bicycle; release all air from the tube (if any remains); pry one bead off of the rim (currently people use one, two, or three tire levers depending on how difficult the bead is to remove; pry the other bead off of the rim; push one bead of the new tire onto the rim (currently people use their hands as far as possible and then use one, two or three tire levers to finish depending on how difficult the bead is to install); push the other bead back onto the rim being careful to avoid pinching the tube; fully inflate the tube to the rated tire pressure; reinstall the wheel to the bicycle.
The two most difficult and often most time consuming steps of changing a tube or tire are prying the bead off the rim and then pushing the bead back onto the rim. In fact, it is so difficult to push the bead of some high pressure tires back on a rim that some people will choose to use a lower pressure tire even though this increases rolling resistance. Some high pressure tires can require as much as 10 minutes or more of intense effort to remove the bead from the rim and then reinstall it, even by someone skilled in the art. Even lower pressure tires usually require a few minutes to remove and install the bead. Furthermore, every time a tire lever end is wedged under the bead and then pried, there is a chance of pinching the tube causing a new leak. Current tire levers often require repeatedly wedging the lever under the bead and prying. Changing a high pressure tire could easily require 10 instances of this. It is particularly frustrating to repair a tube and then discover a new leak caused by the tire lever.
One technique for removing a bead from a rim is to pull the tire lever along the rim after prying it under the bead. In this way the bead is peeled off the rim. This sometimes works for low pressure tires but is very difficult with high pressure tires because the lever usually slips out from under the bead. It can be painful when the lever slips from under the bead because the person's hand often impacts spokes or other hard objects. The slipping is likely because it is difficult to push or pull hard on the lever while keeping the lever aligned along the rim. This sliding technique is not currently used for installing a bead because current lever design does not allow it. Current tire levers have a partial hook at one end. This same hook is used for both removing and installing a tire bead onto the rim. This hook is particularly unsuited for installing the tire bead.


A magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device comprises a bottom electrode over a tapered bottom via, a tapered magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) over the bottom electrode, a top electrode over the MTJ, and a top via over the top electrode. The top via, top electrode, MTJ, bottom electrode, and bottom via (and electrical interfaces therebetween) are substantially aligned along a common vertical axis. The bottom via has a taper angle of about 120° to about 150°. The MTJ has a taper angle of about 70° to about 85°. The MTJ is isolated and protected with dual sidewall spacers.

Semiconductor memories are used in a variety of applications, including various consumer electronics and commercial goods. One such semiconductor memory technology employs spin electronics. In these devices, the spin states of electrons are manipulated to store digital information. When exposed to an externally applied magnetic field, an electron's magnetic moment will align either parallel or antiparallel to the external field. For example, an electron in a parallel spin state (i.e., +½ or "spin up") may represent a binary value of 1, while an antiparallel spin state (i.e., −½ or "spin down") may represent a value of 0.
One such electronic spin device is a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), which includes conductive lines (e.g., word lines and bit lines) positioned in different directions (e.g., orthogonal to each other in different device layers). The conductive lines electrically interface with a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) serving as a magnetic memory bit cell.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding elements, unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to representatively illustrate relevant aspects of disclosed embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A method for configuring a network element of a software-defined network “SDN” is presented. The network element maintains at least one look-up table defining actions to be executed in conjunction with managing a first data frame. The method comprises i) receiving (301) second data frames from a controller of the software-defined network, ii) reading (302), from the second data frames, a configuration program comprising one or more computer executable instructions defining at least one action to be executed in conjunction with managing the first data frame, and iii) associating (303) the configuration program to the at least one look-up table so that the configuration program is callable to be executed in conjunction with managing the first data frame with the aid of the at least one look-up table. The use of the configuration program instead of mere configuration parameters increases the freedom to implement different functionalities in the network element.

Software defined networking is an emerging architecture for data transfer networks. In a software-defined network "SDN", the control plane is separated from the data plane so that the control plane is implemented in one or more controllers that can be separate from the network elements and the data plane is implemented in the network elements. The network elements can be, for example, Internet Protocol "IP" routers, multiprotocol label switching "MPLS" nodes, packet optical switches, and/or Ethernet switches. Each network element may consist of a single apparatus or a combination of a plurality of apparatuses. Typically, the software defined networking allows for quick experimenting and optimization of switching and/or routing policies and external access to the innards of network elements that formerly were closed and proprietary.
Internet Protocol "IP" based networks were initially built based on the concept of Autonomous Systems "AS". This concept allows networks to scale and extend by connected junctions that forward packets to a reasonable next hop based on partial need-to-know information. The AS principle works much like the traditional post office service, where a postal worker in a given city does not need to know all the tenants of all the streets in another city in order to choose a reasonable next hop for a letter at hand. This approach to networking is simple, and has proven resilient and scalable. This approach has, however, a few drawbacks. It does not allow the designated destinations, or tenants with home mail-boxes, to move without changing their identity as far as the packet delivery service is concerned. The topological location of destinations, which is the network interface they are attached to, dictates their identity related to the packet delivery service. In addition, using only the basic AS principle, it is hard to specify other qualities, such as logical grouping, access control, quality of service, intermediate network processing, or to specify aspects that relate to a sequence of packets that form a flow.
Using the analogy of the postal service, the software defined networking works, for any given street location, so that all the letters from all the tenants would first be aggregated by a network element on an edge a software-defined network. This network element is configured to examine the current location for each of the letter-destinations using a global lookup mechanism. Based on that global lookup and on other globally defined and globally measured considerations, such as access control or remote location load conditions, the said network element places one or more of the original letters in an additional envelope addressed to each of the street locations where the destinations currently are. It then uses the normal postal service which works like the traditional Internet Protocol "IP" to get these outer envelopes to the remote locations. This is done based on the existing and scalable hop-by-hop forwarding services. The outer letters are then opened by a remote network element and the original envelopes are delivered to the destinations. It is to be noted that the above-presented analogy between the software defined networking and the postal service is a strong simplification and it gives only a limited viewpoint about the versatile possibilities provided by the software defined networking.
The software defined networking is, however, not free from challenges. Some of the challenges are related to configuring the network elements so that they are capable of carrying out desired tasks. In many cases, a protocol according to the OpenFlow specification is used for communicating configuration data from the controller of a software-defined network to the network elements of the software-defined network. The OpenFlow specification is managed by the Open Networking Foundation "ONF". A network element supporting the OpenFlow specification is adapted to maintain one of more look-up tables, i.e. one or more flow tables and a group table, which define actions to be executed when managing, e.g. forwarding or modifying, data frames. The versatility of the actions is dependent on the flexibility of a look-up table structure and on a set of pre-determined actions that can be related to the entries of the look-up tables and are executable in response to a situation in which a relevant portion of a data frame matches the relevant entry. For example, in conjunction with the OpenFlow, the need to add new actions has led to increased complexity of the OpenFlow specification and, as a corollary, to increased complexity of network elements supporting the OpenFlow specification. Therefore, there is still a need for technical solutions for configuring network elements of software-defined networks.

Method and equipment for configuring a software-defined network