Disclosed is a Hall sensor probe that configured to be coupled with one of a plurality of magnetic targets for measuring the thickness of a non-ferromagnetic wall. The probe comprises a magnetic field source, a Hall sensor, a concentrator and a main housing. The novel aspects of the probe include a wear tip that is exchangeably affixed onto the main-housing, leaving a permanent gap from and disjoined from the concentrator in a manner that transfers stress from the tip directly onto the main-housing. To serve every aspects of the primary objective, being it mechanical, thermal and operational, the material of the tip preferably has a fracture toughness higher than 20 MPa·m1/2, wear coefficient higher than 100, and a magnetic susceptibility lower than 0.001.

Hall effect based electronic gauging is known to be used in thickness gauging. A typical Hall Effect probe deploys a magnetic field applied at right angles to a semiconductor element carrying a current. This combination includes a voltage in another direction perpendicular to the current flow and magnetic field. The magnetic circuit of the measurement system comprises a Hall sensor and a magnetic source such as magnets within a probe, and an external magnetic flux field. A ferromagnetic target such as a steel ball of known mass, placed in the magnetic circuit, alters the reluctance of the magnetic circuit, the magnetic flux density through the Hall sensor, and hence the induced voltage is changed. As the target is moved further away from the magnet, the magnetic reluctance is increased and hence the induced voltage is changed in a predictable manner. If these changes in the induced voltage are plotted, a curve can be generated which compares induced voltage to the distance of the target from the probe.
To make a measurement, a Hall sensor probe is simply placed on a first side of the test object, such as a blow-molding part, to be measured. A ferromagnetic target, frequently a small steel ball bearing, is placed opposite the probe on a second side of the test object. An electronic gauging instrument connected to the probe measures the probe voltage and displays the corresponding distance between the target and the probe tip, which is wall thickness. The target moves freely in all other dimensions except being drawn by the magnetic force of the Hall probe to stay aligned with the Hall probe on the opposite side of the wall of the test target.
A Hall probe is often favored for thickness gauging and quality checking for applications with non-magnetic test objects and thin walls such as molded plastic containers, automobile dashboard, fiber reinforced plastics and titanium castings.
Existing Hall probes have been seen in thickness gauge products, such as Magna-Mike 8600 by Olympus NDT. The Hall probes come in as one piece in an integral housing, including an un-exchangeable probe wear tip. Inside the housing, there's a magnet, a Hall sensor, electrical interconnections and a concentrator tip having high magnetic permeability and low magnetic remanence.
However, the existing Hall probes present some problems including an issue attributed to the unexchangeable probe tip, or wear tip. It is understandable that the tips of the Hall probes are often used to be slid over abrasive surfaces such as titanium castings and fiberglass layups, and are subject to wear. Probe tip wear changes the induced voltage to distance curve and the accuracy of thickness measurements compared to the original curve. Excessive wear can also damage the integrity of Hall sensor and electrical interconnections between the Hall sensor other electrical circuits. A tip damaged by other means such as impact from dropping or simply banning on the test object also changes the induced voltage and accuracy of thickness measurements. Damage or wear that degrades measurement accuracy or integrity of the probe requires expensive repair or replacement.
Another aspect of the problems presented by the existing probes involves direct force of the probe. The magnetic flux passing through a portion of the circuit comprising the Hall sensor and concentrator tip is dependent on the magnetic reluctance of the tip. The reluctance of the tip is reciprocally related to its magnetic permeability, a material characteristic that is a function of pressure and temperature. A force holding an object or a target on a tip that is opposed by an equal force extending through the concentrator exerts a pressure in the concentrator that can change the circuit reluctance and hence the induced voltage. Therefore any force exerted on the concentrator has an undesirable effect on the measurement accuracy.
Yet another factor affecting the measurement accuracy of existing Hall sensor probe relates to temperature variation within the existing probe. The induced output voltage of a Hall sensor is dependent on the input current, the flux passing through it, and the temperature. The flux passing through the Hall sensor is dependent on the temperature dependent reluctance of the concentrator tip. Heat transferred between an object or environment at one temperature and the outer surface of the tip at a second temperature will cause a change in the temperature of the tip. The heat flowing through the tip results in a temperature gradient throughout the tip. The temperature of a Hall sensor that is in intimate contact with an inner surface of the concentrator tip will change in response to temperature changes at that inner surface. Means for compensating temperature dependent output could be devised with on one or more discretely located temperature sensors that indicate localized conditions. However, in terms of transient thermal gradients within the magnetic circuit affecting measurement accuracy, it may be necessary to maintain physical contact until thermal equilibrium is achieved through the continuous volume of the concentrator. Therefore, it would be desirable that the probe's mechanical design functions to minimize the thermal gradients through the wear tip which can be minimized by increasing the thermal resistance and restricting heat flow through the probe.
Test object surfaces often include small radii or recessed contours preventing access of large probe tips to sharply curved surfaces. Test objects with severe contour restrictions such as automobile safety bag deployment tear seams require custom tip geometries.
Existing efforts have improved wear resistance of concentrator tips by a number of surface treatments or coatings, for example boride, nitride or carbide diffusion processes, or coating deposition by physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) among others that harden surfaces and reduce wear. The Borofuse Process™ is an example of a commercially available method of case hardening a variety of metals that has been used to substantially improve surface properties of concentrator tips. However, the improvement in wear life remains limited by the thinness of the surface treatment and the softness of the substrate concentrator material. Coatings do not protect the probe from impact damage and pressure or heat applied to a coated tip is readily transferred to the concentrator affecting tip permeability and Hall output voltage.
Another existing effort involves using hard, wear resistant caps made of ceramic or ceramic/metal composite material (cemented carbide) which are permanently adhered to concentrator tips to improve wear resistance. Ceramics offer superior wear resistance but ceramics are brittle and subject to fracture during impact. Cemented carbides offer improvement in fracture toughness relative to ceramics at the expense of lower wear resistance. Cemented carbides with a high cobalt content having moderately high magnetic permeability can serve as the concentrator and wear tip. Although wear is reduced by ceramic or cemented carbide tips relative to metal or coated metal tips, the tips have a finite wear life and present a series of other problems. For instance, probes with worn, permanently adhered wear tips may need expensive repair or replacement. Pressure or heat applied to a ceramic or cemented carbide tip is readily transferred to the tip affecting tip permeability and Hall output voltage. In addition, a hard cap rigidly adhered to a concentrator having different thermal expansion will be subject to varying stress with a change in temperature. Changing stress may change concentrator permeability resulting in Hall sensor output voltage and thickness measurement variation.
Similar issues have been experienced with existing replaceable, conformal plastic wear caps used to protect probe concentrator tip from wear. Those include a limited wear life, little protection from impact damage, needed adjustments to indicated thickness to compensate for plastic material lost progressively to wear. Plastic wear caps provide minimal increase in thermal resistance and pressure applied to the plastic is readily transferred to the tip affecting tip permeability and Hall output voltage.
Therefore the service life of Hall sensor probe assemblies for thickness measurement would be much improved with an exchangeable tip, provided that a range of challenges are addressed. One of the foremost is to make sure the exchangeable wear tip does not interfere with measurement accuracy in terms of its magnetic susceptibility and residual magnetization. Another challenge is to assure the exchangeable wear tip provides consistent tolerance, enduring incidences normal to regular field use, such as banging, pushing and occasionally dropping. A further challenge is to provide a measurement reference surface at a fixed distance from the concentrator tip. An ancillary challenge is to provide a reference surface at fixed distance from the tangent of a small concave surface. Yet a further requirement is to conserve measurement range greater than the test object thickness. An additional challenge is to oppose and withstand the measurement force without increasing the pressure on the concentrator tip. A supplemental challenge is to reduce temperature gradients within the probe by restricting heat flow between the probe and object being measured.

Hall effect probe with exchangeable wear tips


A fabrication method for a horizontal direction semiconductor PN junction array which can be achieved when an epitaxial layer is grown by a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD method) by introducing (or doping) a small amount of CCl.sub.4 or CBr.sub.4 gas, includes forming a recess on an N type GaAs substrate by using a non-planar growth, performing a growth method of a P type epitaxial layer on the N type GaAs substrate by a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition method, and forming a horizontal direction PN junction array of P-GaAs/N-GaAs or P-AlGaAs/N-GaAs by introducing a gas comprising CCl.sub.4 or CBr.sub.4 .

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fabrication method for a semiconductor memory device, and in particular, to an improved fabrication method of a level semiconductor PN junction array which allows a significant increase of growth in the horizontal direction so that a PN junction array structure can formed by introduction or doping of a CCl.sub.4 or CBr.sub.4 gas when a GaAs or AlGaAs epitaxial layer is grown on a GaAs substrate having a V-shaped or U-shaped recess by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (hereinafter, called MOCVD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, studies on the fabrication of photoelectro devices on the basis of a chemical composition semiconductor are being conducted, and such photoelectro devices fabrication requires a complicated process.
If a selective epitaxy technology which has been recently studied as one of the MOCVD methods is employed, a three dimensional epitaxial layer can be desirably embodied by putting a test piece in a reaction tube one time without going through a complicated fabrication process for a semiconductor device. As a result, since the complicated construction of a semiconductor device is formed during the growth of a epitaxial layer without being exposed to air during the process, a default and damage on junction boundary surfaces as well as undesired oxidation of the surface of the epitaxial layer can be effectively prevented.
However, in fabricating a photoelectro device for a chemical composition semiconductor according to the conventional art in which the epitaxial layer is formed by the MOCVD method, a horizontal direction PN junction cannot be realized, and therefore, in semiconductor devices using light, the PN junction exists within the semiconductor device, and the light is absorbed into the epitaxial layer before it reaches a PN junction layer, resulting in a large optical loss.

Fabrication method for horizontal direction semiconductor PN junction array

Korea Institute Of Science And Technology


An image display device preferably used for educational applications is disclosed. In the image display device, an instructor gives a lecture while seeing an original document without being disturbed by any element of the device. In addition, a video camera, which is detachably attached to the camera mount, may be tilted to the left or right or tilted upward or downward so that it is not required to move the original document when the left, right, upper or lower side of the document has to be picked up by the camera. The above display device also includes a means used as either a whiteboard or an OHP-filmed image revealing panel. The device thus improves educational effect when it is used for educational applications. The device is not expensive thus being widely used for educational applications without forcing excessive costs on the owner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an educational image display device used for inputting an image from a video camera to a TV and displaying the image on the TV for educational applications and, more particularly, to a structural improvement in such a device to give recording, close pickup and video microscopic functions to the device, detachably attach a video camera to the camera mount, selectively rotate the camera mount as desired, equip the device with a means used as a whiteboard or a filmed image revealing panel and use an RF (radio frequency) module in the device in order to make the device usable with any TV, including AV TVs and outmoded TVs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, specifically-designed image display devices for educational applications are not known. Therefore, known image display devices, which are designed to be mainly used for conference applications and are individually equipped with a fixed camera, are used for educational applications. However, such known image display devices are problematic in that they are destitute of recording and close pickup functions required for the educational applications. Another problem of the known devices resides in that each of them only picks up and displays a limited area of an original document laid on a stand, thus limiting the quantity of educational information provided by the displayed image. In addition, the location of an instructor, giving a lecture with such a known image display device, is limited to a side of the original document laid on the stand so that the device is inconvenient to the instructor while lecturing. A further problem of such a known display device resides in that a board, on which the instructor writes letters and/or draws figures with chalk or a board marker to expound further upon the lecturing point, has to be prepared in addition to the display device. Yet another problem experienced by the device is that the device is very expensive and thereby makes a user hesitant to buy it.


A device and method for removing and replacing a needle-protecting cover associated with an injection apparatus, the device comprising a housing, a receptacle in the housing for accommodating the injection apparatus, and a holding mechanism, wherein the receptacle is movable in the housing and, in a first position of the receptacle, the holding mechanism is in a releasing position and, in a second position of the receptacle, the holding mechanism is in a holding position.

The invention relates to an devices and methods for temporarily or releasably coupling, connecting or attaching components. More particularly, it relates to apparatus and methods for the temporary removal, retaining and replacing of a protective needle cap of an injection apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises a housing, a receptacle part arranged in the housing for accommodating the injection apparatus, and holding means.
Needle protectors, shields or caps are known in many embodiments. With typical, manually operated injection syringes the protective needle cap, as a rule, is removed by hand before use and after use is replaced by hand. In doing this, there exists for a user a considerable danger of injury from the used injection needle. For this reason, aids have already been proposed for removal and especially for replacement of the protective cap, all of which, however, require a separate operational step.
It would be advantageous if a protective needle cap could be removed and afterwards be replaced through a process step that is a step or part of the preparation, handling and/or use of an injection device.

Device for temporarily retaining a protective needle cap of an injection apparatus


A system and method for measuring an animal includes a light source and an optical source. The light source, which is preferably an array of monochromatic light emitting diodes, at least partially backlights one or more of the animal's legs. The optical sensor or device, which is preferably a single dimension camera or charged-coupled device, opposes the light source and obtains an image that includes silhouettes of one or more legs of the animal. A processor, such as a computer with software and data storage, determines measurements, such as the approximate skeletal trunk length of the animal, from the silhouetted legs in the image. One or more first ultrasound transducers can be arranged to determine an approximate height of the pelvic region, and one or more second ultrasound transducers can be arranged to determine an approximate width of the pelvic region.

Various animals, such as beef cattle, dairy cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and swine, are raised for profit. For beef cattle, for example, it is preferred that the animal attains an optimum endpoint of tissue growth for it to be the most profitable. For a replacement dairy heifer, for example, it is preferred to minimize fat deposition in udder while maximizing bone, organ and muscle tissue. Increasing fat deposition in udder decreases heifers lifetime milking production potential. When considering the optimum endpoint of tissue growth and the optimum rate of growth, it is important to note that the weight at which animals obtain the same chemical composition differs depending on the age, the skeletal size, the sex, or the maturity of the animals. Hence, chemical composition of the animals can be different even when the weight of the animals is the same. Based on their own visual prediction and days on feed of the average meat quality grade or specification for the cattle in a pen, a feedlot manager may sell the entire pen of cattle at one time, for example. As a consequence, a proportion of the beef cattle may have been overfed past optimal fat deposition, whereas some cattle have not been fed to their genetic growth potential or maturity.
It is known in the art that English heifers are very easily overfed because they fatten readily at a light weight. However, Salers, Charolais, and other Continental breeds generally show their best carcass quality characteristics at much heavier weights than English breeds. Thus, some of the cattle may not be marketed at their optimum economic tissue endpoint, taking into consideration live and carcass prices for the cattle, incremental cost of gain to feed the cattle, and discounts for under or oversized carcasses, insufficient, and excess carcass fat on the cattle.
Work done by Dr. John Brethour (The Composition of Growth in Beef Cattle in Honor of Dr. Rodney L. Preston," Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Aug. 2, 1996) and studies completed at Kansas State University indicated that the economic consequences of suboptimal marketing of fed cattle include: 1) costs of % 1/head/day for each day away from optimal marketing date that an animal is under or over fed (greater than 30% of the pen is marketed more than 25 days away from their optimal marketing date); and 2) results in $3.50 per hundred weight (cwt) increased cost of gain throughout the feeding period when marketing cattle greater than 28 days beyond the optimum. However, when cattle are sorted three ways, less than 3% of the cattle in a pen are marketed greater than 20 days from their optimum tissue endpoint. Thus, identifying reliable and effective techniques for optimum economic tissue endpoint will improve end-product quality and consistency and will positively impact profitability of fed cattle.
Currently, optimum endpoints of growth in feedlot animals can be achieved by predicting such things as the incremental cost of gain, the carcass quality, and the yield grade. Equations to predict incremental cost of gain and accounting for differences in net energy for maintenance requirements (NEm) of the animals, the effect of environment on maintenance requirements (NEm), the differences in body size, the implant program and feeding system have been reported in the Journal of Animal Science, Volume 70 by Sniffen et al. (1992; page 3562 to 3577) and Fox et al. (1992; page 3578 to 3596) and in the 1996 NRC model (currently known as the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System). Equations to predict carcass weight and body composition of different beef cattle breeds finished at three different endpoints have also been reported in the Journal of Animal Science, Volume 69, page 4696 to 4702, by Perry et al. (1991), in the Journal of Animal Science, Volume 72, page 1806 to 1813 by Tylutki et al. (1994), and in the journal of Animal Science, Volume 75, page 300 to 307 Perry and Fox (1997).
In addition, several reports and technologies exist in the art that address the issues of growth and management, particularly in feedlot cattle. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,733,971; 4,889,433; 4,815,042; 5,340,211; and 5,315,505 to Pratt pertain to the delivery of feed additives and inventory of drugs for feedlot cattle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,647, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/838,768, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20020050248 disclose automated systems for managing and monitoring cattle. Ultrasound techniques have been developed to measure backfat in cattle by Professor John Brethour as explained in an article entitled "Use of Ultrasound to Estimate Body Composition" presented at a symposium entitled, "The Composition of Growth in Beef cattle in Honor Of Dr. Rodney L. Preston," Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Aug. 2, 1996.
In the art of managing cattle, body weight is commonly used to project feed performance or to estimate economic profitability of the cattle. Techniques for weighing cattle are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,288,856; 4,617,876; and 4,280,448. The measurement of animal weight is used because the measuring equipment is relatively simple. However, animal weight is highly variable and thus, represents a poor indicator of animal growth. For example, body weight is sensitive to the volume of water (tissue and gastrointestinal tract content). Measurement of body water and specific gravity are indirect methods of estimating body composition, as reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Volume 158, page 685 to 696 by Pace and Rathbun (1945). Using body water and nitrogen measurements of guinea pigs, the authors concluded that the water content of the lean body mass is 73% and thus should be a reasonable estimate of most species of mammals (Pace and Rathbun, 1945). The drive to measure body water generated the use of various proposed dilution techniques involving deuterium, tritium, antipyrine, and urea. The decrease in body weight due to water loss is termed "shrink" and is well recognized in the beef industry.
Not only is the amount of weight loss an animal experiences dependent upon recent water intake, but also it is dependent upon other factors, such as feed intake and stresses related to transport or sickness. Furthermore, cattle are fed differently around the world so that the percentage of empty body weight due to fat deposits (empty body weight fat percentage is sometimes referred to as empty body weight fat) and the maturity of the animals can vary dramatically from place to place. As an example, cattle of similar age, sex, breed, and weight are fed either low or high-energy ration. These cattle will both grow similar skeletal, organ, and muscle deposits. However, the cattle fed low energy ration will possess lower empty body weight fat percentage, whereas cattle fed the high energy ration will possess higher levels of empty body weight fat, have heavier weights because of additional fat, and have an eventual higher carcass dressing percentage.
Skeletal measurements of the cattle can avoid some of the transient factors associated with merely measuring the weight of the animals discussed above because changes in an animal's skeleton are independent of feed and/or water intake and transient environmental stress. As an animal grows and metabolizes nutrients, tissues are deposited through the following sequential series from first to last: nervous system, bone tissue, organ tissue, muscle tissue, and fat. In addition, tissues are deposited from the cranial to caudal region of the animal from first to last: head, neck, thorax, rump, loin, and rib area. Bone tissues that are deposited as skeletal structure regulate muscle deposition, red blood cell production, and various immunological factors and can, therefore, be a suitable determining factor of an animal's growth potential. Furthermore, skeletal measurements are not influenced by water loss or adequacy and are, therefore, a more adequate method to define the body size of the animal. In addition, the author's own research has shown that skeletal pelvic height has a high correlation to finished carcass weight for the animal compared to entry and finished weights for cattle fed over a 70-day period.
Physical measurements including pelvic measurement can be used to estimate animal characteristic, such as potential skeletal and muscle development. Typical parameters used in such estimates are hip height and width, shoulder width, and body length. Measurements of these parameters can be used to calculate shoulder muscle to bone ratio, rump muscle to bone ratio, and musculoskeletal development per unit height and length. It is believed that skeletal size or hip height of cattle can be correlated with the ultimate carcass weight of the cattle fed for a 70-day period. It is also believed that the shoulder height and the body length of cattle can be used to determine the potential average daily gain and feed conversion to final body weight of the cattle.
Unfortunately, making manual measurements of the cattle's shoulder height and body length are time consuming and less reliable. Moreover, determining points on the cattle for making such manual measurements are not well defined on the 3-dimensional animals. It is known in the art to use a conventional 2-dimensional video camera to obtain an image of the animal. The image taken with the 2-dimensional video camera, however, is not particularly useful for determining the skeletal trunk size of the animal. The image includes body mass from muscle and fat and can be confounded by lighting conditions and the hide color of the animal, for example, making it difficult to differentiate the body tissue composition (bone, muscle & fat) of the animal. For example, the anatomical juncture of the neck with the shoulder (i.e., major tubercle of humers or "point of shoulder") is not well defined in such an image made with a 2-dimensional video camera because muscles in this anatomical region of the neck make it difficult to distinguish the skeletal elements of the major tubercle of humerus.
Another method of measuring animals uses ultrasound technology. Suitable teachings of measuring animals with the ultrasound technology are disclosed in WO99/67631, AU744213, AU449219, and CA2335845, which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The reader is also referred to the following references that describe techniques for measuring animals: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,745,472; 5,483,441 and 5,576,949, CA 2216309; and JP 10206549.
Although the techniques discussed above are useful, feedlot managers or operators are constantly seeking to improve measurement and management techniques for animals. Accordingly, a need exists in the art for accurate techniques to measure the skeletal structure of animals that can enhance a feedlot manager's ability to manage the animals to an optimum economic endpoint, thus avoiding discounts for too much fat and outsized carcasses and avoiding the economic consequence of suboptimal marketing of cattle (e.g., increased cost of gain).
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.


Color management constraints on the use of selected hypocolorant(s) and a black colorant in the rendering of a given pixel reduce ink or toner usage and/or reduce pressure on an ink limit. Additionally, the enforcement of this mutual exclusivity between the black and the selected hypocolorant(s) allows screen frequencies and angles to be shared between halftone screens used for the black colorant and a selected hypocolorant. This reduces the likelihood of objectionable moiré associated with the use of hypocolorant colorants in addition to the conventional CMY(K) colorants. In some embodiments, color management constraints prevent the use of black colorant for pixels beyond a threshold lightness or luminance. This constraint allows the use of the selected hypocolorants in the region of color space beyond the threshold. The threshold can be a function of hue and/or chroma. In some embodiments the threshold is a constant.

The presently disclosed embodiments are directed toward methods and systems related to rendering images with hypochromatic or relatively low chroma colorants in addition to corresponding conventional or relatively higher chroma colorants such as the conventional cyan, magenta, yellow and black colorants. Using hypochromatic colorants, such as light cyan and light magenta in addition to the conventional colorants allow images to be rendered with smoother gradations and reduced texture and visual noise than is possible with conventional colorants alone. Embodiments will be described that reduce colorant consumption and allow for clustered shape halftone screens such as clustered dot and line halftone screens to be used in halftoning more than four separations.
Image rendering technologies are associated with physical restrictions. For example, display devices are limited in the amount of phosphor or the number of light emitting elements that can be included in the given area and/or in the dynamic range of the amount of light that can be produced by such elements. One physical restriction experienced in printing systems is referred to as an ink limit. For example, many electrophotographic or xerographic rendering devices exhibit ink limits of about 240-280%. That is, the print media, such as paper, can typically accept 2.4-2.8 layers of ink or toner. Attempts to apply amounts of colorant beyond the ink limit result in image quality degradation due to retransfer and fusing considerations. This is an issue even in conventional printing systems where there are four colorants and theoretically, it might be desirable to apply three or four layers of colorant (i.e., 300% or 400% inking). This issue is exacerbated when additional colorants, such as a first, second or third hypocolorant (e.g., light cyan, light magenta, and/or grey) is added to the pallette of available inks or toners.
Another issue related to the use of additional colorants is that of halftone screen selection. Each additional halftone screen required to render an image increases the likelihood of the generation of objectionable moiré. Stochastic screens can be used to mitigate this, however, stochastic screens can lead to a noisy or grainy appearance that is inappropriate for the high quality applications typically associated with hypochromatic colorants. Accordingly, clustered shape halftone screens such as, clustered dot or clustered line screens are preferred. However, as indicated above, if clustered screens are not selected carefully, the screens selected for each color separation may interact with one another to create objectionable moiré patterns. While solutions to the moiré issue have been found for the conventional colorants (i.e., CMYK) efforts to find methods for halftoning 5, 6, 7 or more colorants are ongoing. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,891 to Dalal et al. discusses using the same screen for a hi-fi colorant and its complementary colorant (e.g., cyan and orange). Those techniques are not applicable to hypocolorants. In "Halftone-Angle Combinations for N Color Separations", M. Coudray suggests using the same screen for a lightened colorant and a different conventional colorant (e.g., light magenta and conventional cyan). However, in at least some instances this suggested technique could lead to significant moiré and color shifts for small registration errors between color separations.
Accordingly, there is a desire for color management techniques that are applicable to hypocolorant environments that intelligently use the available ink budget or limit. Additionally, there is a need for halftoning methods that allow for the use of hypocolorants in combination with the conventional colorants while minimizing any aggravation of the moiré issue.


A drive unit for use in an optical memory unit has a front panel, a drive mechanism, and sealing members. The front panel has an air vent and a slot for allowing passage of a cassette case containing a disk-shaped recording medium. The drive mechanism loads the cassette case through the slot and drive the recording medium in a specified direction in order to record and reproduce information on and from the recording medium. The sealing members seals the drive mechanism nearly completely, in order to prevent migration of the outside air into the drive mechanism as the air is introduced via the air vent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive unit for use in an optical memory device which records and/or reproduces information by using optical beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional drive unit for use in an optical memory unit which uses optical disks or photoelectromagnetic disks, a front panel with a cassette slot is attached to a deck unit which has a spindle motor to rotate a disk, a pick-up to record/reproduce the information to the disk, a motor to drive the pick-up in the radial direction of the disk, and an automatic load/eject mechanism to load a cassette containing a disk into the deck unit through the cassette slot, and to unload the cassette from the deck unit through the cassette slot.
In order to improve the drive unit, various efforts have been made. For example, the Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 64-43888 proposes a drive unit, in which the front surface having a cassette slot is provided with an air vent. To the air vent air is supplied by a cooling fan from the slot via the back surface of a cassette case thereby to lower the temperature in the device unit.
In the conventional drive unit as mentioned above, since the back surface of the cassette case is used as a part of the air passage, the dust entering from the outside adheres to the disk in the cassette case, and also to the various optical components of an optical head. The dust decreases the quantity of light, making it difficult to record or reproduce information accurately or stably.
To solve this problem, a high-performance filter with high dust collecting efficiency can be installed the air vent, through which the outside air is admitted, for collecting dust so that the drive unit can be cooled with clean air. However, the filter causes a pressure loss of air, requiring a large-capacity cooling fan. The use of a high-performance filter will result in high costs. As the filter is used over an extended period of time, the cooling air volume reduces due to filter clogging, increasing the possibility of a temperature rise in the drive unit. Consequently, the filter must be replaced by a new one, periodically or as required according to filter condition. This makes it difficult to design a drive unit which needs no maintenance for long time (for example, over 5 years).
However, similar adhesion of dust to disks and optical parts generally occurs even in the unit whose interior is naturally cooled through the vent without using a cooling fan.
In order to remove a cassette, which is held in the deck unit due to power failure or trouble in the eject mechanism, a manual eject mechanism such as a manual rotating means is installed to manually rotate an eject motor, as is disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application No. 63-40857.
However, in the conventional drive unit having a manual eject mechanism, the front panel is fixed to the deck-unit holding frame with screws or with pressure-sensitive, double coated adhesive tape. Consequently, in the case where the control section of the manual eject mechanism is located inside the front panel, it is hard and time-consuming to remove the front panel. Hence, it is impossible to unload a cassette immediately from the deck unit in case of power failure or trouble of the eject mechanism. The front panel may easily be broken during the removal of the cassette.
To solve these problems, an opening can be formed in the front panel, to operate the control section from the outside. This, however, jeopardizes the outer appearance of the product.
As described above, a slot is made in the front panel of the drive unit, to insert a cassette or a cartridge into the drive unit. In addition, a front cover is used to close the slot, thereby to prevent the entry of dust into the unit.
For example, in the information processor disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 63-259864 or Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 60-93665, the slot is opened and closed with one front cover. The front cover rotatably opens to the inside when a cartridge is inserted into the slot and when the cartridge is set in the unit, the front cover completely closes the slot. When the cartridge is ejected, the front cover rotatably opens to the inside, as the eject mechanism function.
However, to open and close the slot, the front cover needs to rotate, occupying a large space for the motion. Hence, a wasteful space must be left in the unit, increasing the size of the unit.
Therefore, in an attempt to minimize the space required to allow the front cover to rotate, in the unit disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 1-118283, two front covers of equal rotation radius are installed at the top and the bottom, respectively, of the slot, forming a folding door. The case of this folding door can reduce the space required to open and close the front cover.
However, since the two front covers have the same rotation radius, the tip ends of the front covers may bump into each other or overlap reversely to fail to achieve proper closing of the slot. Consequently, in the unit disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 1-118283, the rotating phases of two front covers are varied by varying the number of teeth of front cover driving gears.
However, it is strongly demanded that an information processor like an optical disk unit be made smaller.
In the device disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 1-118283, several gears are used to vary the rotating phases of two front covers as well as solenoids to drive these gears. This involves defects in that the configuration generally becomes complicated and the cost increases.
On the other hand, in the device disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 60-93665, the front cover is rotated by a cam connected to a loading plate which moves in the horizontal direction only, during cartridge transportation. In the device disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 63-259864, the front cover is rotated by a rotor which has a shaft extending parallel to the horizontal transportation direction. These front cover driving systems, are useless unless they have a specific transportation mechanism.

Drive unit for optical memory device with portion of drive means mounted outside a sealing means


A mechanical/hydraulic brake system has an operator input pedal to initiate braking and brake cooling. The brake return springs establish a reaction force to provide the operator with a "brake feel" or feed-back force. The hydraulic apply forces have a tendency to reduce the feed-back force. A plurality of balance pistons are pressurized simultaneously with the hydraulic apply forces to maintain the feed-back force felt by the operator undiminished.

In many track-laying vehicle brake systems, both mechanical and hydraulic brake apply mechanisms are utilized. Although there are such integrated systems which apply the mechanical and the hydraulic apply simultaneously, typically, integrated braking systems sequence the mechanical apply in advance of the hydraulic apply. The mechanical apply portion generally utilizes a cam mechanism to provide an increased mechanical advantage between the operator and the brake apply piston. When the hydraulic apply portion is brought into effect, the feed-back from the mechanical apply portion is generally reduced to a significant degree. In fact, the reduction is of sufficient magnitude that the operator will feel a change in the reaction force sensed by his foot on the brake pedal.
When faced with a severely reduced tactile feed-back, the tendency of the operator is to apply more pressure to the brake pedal. The application of more pressure to the foot pedal results in increased deceleration which may bring the vehicle to a halt sooner than desired by the operator. Experienced operators are familiar with the brake systems in the vehicles they are driving, and such foreknowledge of the disadvantages associated with a particular vehicle mentally prepares the operator to expect apparently inappropriate changes in the tactile feed-back force supplied by the foot pedal. However, even the most experienced operator can react inappropriately when subjected to stress.


A watercraft control system is provided in which shift and thrust of outboard motors can be controlled through adjacent two operating levers in the watercraft having three or more outboard motors mounted in parallel on a transom plate. The control system can be provided with a control circuit for detecting lever positions of the operating levers and controlling the left unit according to the lever position of the left operating lever and the right unit according to the lever position of the right operating lever. The control circuit can be provided with a calculation circuit for calculating an imaginary lever position of the middle unit from the lever positions detected.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to a control system for watercraft propulsion units and particularly to a watercraft control system having three or more watercraft propulsion units disposed in parallel in a hull.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some watercraft can have three outboard motors mounted on a transom thereof, in a side-by-side arrangement. Conventionally, such watercraft incorporate three sets of shift and throttle levers, each of which corresponds to a respective outboard motor. However, it can be a burden for the operator to operate six shift and throttle levers in addition to operating a steering device.
Recently, an improved control device for a watercraft that can control the entire shift and throttle operations of three outboard motors with two levers disposed transversely next to each other has been suggested. For example, the i6000 series, shift/throttle lever for three outboard motors, available from the Teleflex Morse Co., Ltd. (USA) is such a device.
Using such a device, the operator can control operations of the outboard motor located on the right hand side (hereinafter called "starboard side outboard motor") using the lever positioned on the starboard side, while the operator controls operations of the outboard motor located on the left hand side (hereinafter called "port side outboard motor") using the lever positioned on the port side. The outboard motor centrally located between the starboard side outboard motor and the port side outboard motor is controlled in accordance with operational conditions of the starboard side outboard motor and the port side outboard motor. That is, if the starboard side outboard motor or the port side outboard motor is controlled to be in a forward mode and the other one of those motors is controlled to be in a reverse mode, the center outboard motor is controlled to be in a neutral mode. If both of the motors are controlled to be in the same mode, the center outboard motor is also controlled to be in the same mode and in the same throttle opening as those of the starboard side outboard motor or the port side outboard motor.
During operation, however, an operator may decide to turn either leftwardly or rightwardly while advancing (or reversing). In other situations, for example in tight spaces in a marina or when moving a watercraft alongside a wharf or dock, an operator may attempt to turn at slow speed, without moving forwardly or rearwardly, ("turning round on the spot"). In some cases, "turning round on the spot" is performed while a greater thrust is applied for the advancing or reversing, to cancel wind drift of the watercraft.
However, in such a case, since in the foregoing operating device, the central outboard motor is set in neutral or operates in the same way as either the left or the right outboard motor. Thus, the central outboard motor either interferes with the desired maneuver, or it is not used efficiently. For example, if either of the left and the right outboard motor is driven for advancing and the other for reversing to effect turning of the hull, the central outboard motor is set in neutral unconditionally, so that the central outboard motor cannot be used effectively in response to the conditions, for example, of turning round in advancing or reversing.
Also, if both of the left and right outboard motors have thrusts in the same direction but different in magnitude, since the central outboard motor is driven to be suited to one of the left and right outboard motors, an awkward feeling may be given or unnecessary thrust may be generated. In some cases, against the thrust on the side of the left unit (or the right unit) increased by the central outboard motor, the other outboard motor or the right unit (or the left unit) is required to generate a larger thrust, to counterbalance the turning moment which affects the moving direction of the watercraft

Control system for watercraft propulsion units


Illustrative embodiments provide a computer implemented method, a data processing system, and a computer program product for form attachment metadata generation. In one illustrative embodiment, the computer implemented method receives a request to attach an attachment to a document, and calls an attachment metadata generator to extract metadata from the attachment to form extracted data. The computer implemented method further generates an extensible markup language fragment from the extracted data, and inserts the extensible markup language fragment into the document.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and, more specifically, to a computer implemented method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for form attachment metadata generation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical use of forms in the workplace involves attachment of supporting documents, such as images and productivity documents, as enclosures. Digital signatures are often applied to the entire document, including any attachments, to provide a secure and tamper-proof transaction record.
Currently, there is no insight into the information about the attachments that are stored within a forms document. The lack of information regarding the attachments can be a significant issue when thousands or millions of forms are involved. Each of the stored forms may contain one or more attachments. The forms may be stored within data repositories such as a content manager or a data base manager product.
Currently, the only means to obtain information that describes each attachment, such as the information that may form attachment metadata, is to write custom code in the application tier to programmatically extract each attachment upon form submission. The custom coding in the application tier is required to capture the attachment information prior to document storage into the data repository. Another choice may be to write a custom application to crawl through the repository subsequent to form submission, sequentially extracting and processing the form attachments, creating and establishing links between the extracted information and the identifiers, and/or other data within the form. An additional challenge with the crawl approach is the need to separately store the information into the database or repository. This methodology does not conform to a document-centric architecture. As another option, a user may manually open and inspect each form. The user would sequentially extract and examine each attachment with the associated program using appropriate tools, such as an image viewer for image attachments, for example. Previously, valuable information has been locked away inside binary and proprietary attachments enclosed within the forms documents. Additionally, to be considered valid extensible markup language (XML), these attachments are maintained in a "gzip" and "base64encoded" format, adding additional layers of abstraction to the original data.
The software application, "gzip" is used for file compression and refers to the GNU zip program. The program is a free replacement for a previously used compress program in Unix-based operating systems. The encoding method "base64encoded" converts binary data into American Standard Code for Information Interchange ASCII text, and vice versa, and is one of the methods used by multipurpose Internet mail extensions (MIME). Base64 divides each three bytes of the original data into four 6-bit units, which it represents as four 7-bit ASCII characters. This typically increases the original file by about a third of the original size.

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for processing an audio signal has an overlap-add stage for overlapping and adding blocks of a corresponding one of a plurality of subband signals using an overlap-add-advance value being different from a block extraction advance value. The apparatus further has a transient detector for detecting a transient in the audio signal or a subband signal of the plurality of subband signals. The overlap-add stage is configured for reducing an influence of a detected transient or for not using the detected transients when adding. The apparatus further has a transient adder for adding a detected transient to a subband signal generated by the overlap/add stage. A related method for processing an audio signal has, inter alia, either reducing an influence or discarding a detected transient when overlapping and adding.

The replay speed of audio signals can be changed while maintaining the pitch, for example with the help of a phase vocoder (see for example J. L. Flanagan and R. M. Golden, "The Bell System Technical Journal", November 1966, pages 1394 to 1509; U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,884 Laroche, J. & Dolson, M.: "Phase-vocoder pitch-shifting"; Jean Laroche and Mark Dolson, "New Phase-Vocoder Techniques for Pitch-Shifting, Harmonizing And Other Exotic Effects", Proc. 1999 IEEE Workshop on Applications of Signal Processing to Audio and Acoustics, New Paltz, N.Y., Oct. 17-20, 1999). In the same way, with such methods transposition of the signal can be performed while maintaining the original replay duration. The latter is obtained by replaying the stretched signal accelerated by the factor of time stretching. In time discrete signal representation, this corresponds to down-sampling the signal by the stretching factor while maintaining the sampling frequency. Conventionally, this time stretching takes place in the time domain. Alternatively, the same can also take place within a filter bank, such as a pseudo-quadrature mirror filterbank (pQMF). The pseudo-quadrature mirror filterbank (pQMF) is sometimes also called a QMF filterbank.
Specific challenges in stretching are transient events that are "blurred" in time during the processing step of time stretching. This occurs because methods, such as the phase vocoder, affect the so-called vertical coherence properties (with regard to a time frequency spectrogram representation) of the signal.
Some current methods stretch the time more around the transients, in order to not have to perform any or only little time stretching during the duration of the transient. This has been described, for example, in:                Laroche L., Dolson M.: Improved phase vocoder timescale modification of audio", IEEE Trans. Speech and Audio Processing, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 323-332        Emmanuel Ravelli, Mark Sandler and Juan P. Bello: Fast implementation for non-linear time-scaling of stereo audio; Proc. of the 8th Int. Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx'05), Madrid, Spain, Sep. 20-22, 2005        Duxbury, C., M. Davies, and M. Sandler (2001, December). Separation of transient information in musical audio using multi resolution analysis techniques. In Proceedings of the COST G-6 Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFX-01), Limerick, Ireland.
Another paper on the topic was written by Röbel, A.: A NEW APPROACH TO TRANSIENT PROCESSING IN THE PHASE VOCODER; Proc. of the 6th Int. Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-03), London, UK, Sep. 8-11, 2003.
In time stretching of audio signals by phase vocoders, transient signal portions are "blurred" by dispersions, since the so-called vertical coherency in spectrogram view of the signal is affected. Methods operating with so-called overlap-add methods can generate spurious pre echoes and post echoes of transient sound events. These problems can be handled by changing time stretching in the environment of transients, no stretching during the actual transients and stronger stretching in the surrounding. If, however, transposition is to take place, the transposition factor will no longer be constant in the environment of the transients, i.e. the pitch of superimposed (possibly tonal) signal portions changes in a spuriously audible manner. When time stretching takes place within a filter bank, such as the pQMF, similar problems occur.
The field of this application relates to a method for perceptually motivated handling of transient sound events within such a process. In particular, transient sound events may be removed during signal manipulation of time stretching. Subsequently, a precisely fitting addition may be performed of the unprocessed transient signal portion to the changed (stretched) signal under consideration of the stretching.

Apparatus and method for handling transient sound events in audio signals when changing the replay speed or pitch

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


Disclosed herein is a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal includes a wireless communication unit configured to perform a communication function with an external device, information acquisition means, and a controller configured to generate a call reception request message when a call transmission request is received, send the generated call reception request message to a called device, generate a preliminary message based on information obtained through the information acquisition means before a call is connected to the called device after receiving the call transmission request, and send the generated preliminary message to the called device.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and, more particularly, to a mobile terminal which is capable of generating a preliminary message using the voice or image of a user obtained before a call is connected and sending the generated preliminary message to a called terminal.
Discussion of the Related Art
As the functions of a terminal, such as a personal computer, a laptop computer, a mobile phone, or a smart phone, are diversified, the terminal has been implemented in the form of a multimedia player equipped with complex functions, such as the photographing of photos or moving images, the playback of music or video files, gaming, and the reception of broadcasting.
In order to support and increase the functions of the terminal, the improvement of the structural parts and/or software parts of the terminal may be taken into consideration. Recently, various terminals including a mobile terminal have complicated menu structures as they provide complex and various functions.
Such a mobile terminal is equipped with a wireless communication function, but a calling terminal is unable to perform data communication with a called device before a call is connected after the mobile terminal executes a phone application.

Mobile terminal and method of controlling the same


A variable gain amplifier includes an input transconductor having a transconductance that is variable in response to a first control signal, an output circuit having a transresistance that is variable in response to a second control signal and a gain controller responsive to a gain control signal x for providing the first and second control signals to the input transconductor and the output circuit. The amplifier has a voltage gain equal to the product of the transconductance and the transresistance. When the first control signal is a function (1+x) of the gain control signal and the second control signal is a function (1-x) of the gain control signal, the voltage gain of the amplifier is approximately an exponential function of the gain control signal.

Certain applications require a variable gain CMOS amplifier which has an exponential (linear in dB) gain control characteristic over a prescribed range. The amplifier should be able to handle reasonably large signals with reasonably low distortion and have very low input noise. An example of an application is a variable gain amplifier for preconditioning CCD signals in a camcorder, where the variable gain amplifier is used to maintain an acceptable signal level input to an analog-to-digital converter.
In one prior art approach, a standard differential pair with a variable tail current is used to drive a pair of diode-connected devices, also with variable bias current. If the bias is arranged so that the current in one pair increases as the current in the other pair decreases, the resulting voltage gain has the form: gain=sqrt ((1+x)/(1-x)). This technique is described by R. Harjani in, "A Low-Power CMOS VGA for 50 Mb/s Disk Drive Read Channels", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems-II: Analog and Digital Processing, Vol. 42, No. 6, June 1995, pp. 370-376. Over a limited range, this expression is a good approximation to an exponential. However, this design has drawbacks. Because current control of transconductance is used, the gain is limited by the square root nature of the device to a fairly small range. Also, the signal path linearity is not great unless large gate-to-source voltages are used.
As to linearity over a large signal range, a linear large signal MOS transconductor is described by Z. Wang et al in "A Voltage-Controllable Linear MOS Transconductor Using Bias Offset Technique", IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits, Vol. 25, No. 1, February 1990, pp. 315-317. An analog multiplier which utilizes a linear MOS transconductor is described by Z. Wang in "A CMOS Four-Quadrant Analog Multiplier with Single-Ended Voltage Output and Improved Temperature Performance", IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 26, No. 9, September 1991, pp. 1293-1301. The known prior art circuits do not satisfactionally meet the variable gain amplifier requirements outlined above.


A sound baffle retention clip for use in a combustion driven heating apparatus. The clip allows for positive retention of a sound baffle within the heat tube of a combustion driven heating apparatus without adversely affecting system operating performance. Further the clip allows for easy and efficient installation of the sound baffle without compromising the integrity of the heat tube.

This invention relates generally to a device for installing and retaining a sound baffle within a heat tube of a combustion driven heating apparatus.
More particularly the present invention is a retention clip for installing and retaining a sound attenuating insert which is the subject of commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/783,559 filed Oct. 28, 1996. The disclosure of that application is hereby incorporated by reference.
Resonant sound produced by combustion driven heating apparatus is an onerous problem that produces objectionable noise levels. In a conventional combustion driven heating apparatus a fuel is ignited within a burner to produce a flame and hot gases. The hot gases, products of the combustion process, are introduced into a heat exchanger, or heat tube, and then exhausted through a flue stack to the atmosphere. Fluid to be heated, typically referred to as conditioned air, is passed over the outside of the heat tube whereby heat is transferred from the gases inside the heat tube to the exterior of the heat tube and finally to the fluid. The energy imparted to the heat tube by the burner, given certain physical characteristics of the heat tube, sometimes causes the combustion system to oscillate in phase with the natural frequency of the heat tube. This oscillation produces a standing acoustic wave within the heat tube which in turn produces the resonant sounds which are objectionable to humans. It is therefor important to dissipate the energy associated with the standing acoustic wave and thereby reduce the resonance type noise emission of the heating system. The installation of an energy dissipative device, or baffle, in the heat tube is one advantageous approach of dissipating this type of energy.
It is advantageous for system performance that the heat tube remain free from restriction to allow the gases to easily pass through the tube and out the flue stack. Any design that seeks to eliminate or suppress the resonant tones generated in such a system must keep the restriction of the heat tube to a minimum. The build up of combustion byproducts in the form of soot will likewise cause restrictions in the heat tubes that lead to system performance losses. It is typical in the operation of a combustion driven heating system that the heat tubes are frequently cleaned to prevent soot from building up on the heat tubes.
In an effort to eliminate resonant tones in a combustion driven heating system it is also important to prevent leakage of the gases from the heat tubes to the conditioned air. Leakage from the heat tubes to the conditioned air could introduce unreasonably high levels of undesirable gases to areas occupied by living beings. Any attempt to introduce a sound suppression device should therefore be done without piercing the heat tube or otherwise sacrificing the integrity of the seal between the gases and the conditioned air.

Sound baffle installation and retention device


A CPU 411 splits selected image data GD into a plurality of areas (pixel data groups), analyzing the image data GD in terms of area units, and determining the color range of the areas of the image data GD. The CPU 411 determines color range areas by associating adjacent areas of the same color range when determining the color range for the areas of the image data GD. The CPU 411 acquires position data for the color range areas that have been determined. The CPU 411 acquires position conditions (main object conditions) from ROM/HDD 413, and narrows the main object candidates to “sky, green, or people.” The CPU 411 finally determines the main object by comparing the position data of the color range color areas and the position conditions corresponding to the narrowed main object.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a technique that determines the main object characterizing an image, as well as a technique that adjusts the picture quality of the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
The picture quality of digital image data produced by digital still cameras and the like can be adjusted as desired after photographs have been taken. Users can adjust picture quality using retouching software, for example. Meanwhile, because accurate adjustment of picture quality requires experience and familiarity, various techniques have been proposed for automatically adjusting picture quality using standard values without the need for user input.
However, in automatic picture quality adjusting techniques, picture quality is adjusted on the assumption that the main object characterizing the image has been correctly determined, and the erroneous determination of the main object can thus result in poor picture quality. It is therefore important to properly analyze the characteristics of the image data, such as determining what the main object characterizing the image is, in techniques for automatically adjusting picture quality of image data, and there is a need for a technique to accurately determine the main object.
Furthermore, in automatic picture quality adjusting techniques, such determinations are made across the board, without taking into consideration subtle differences in the main object characterizing the image, and a standardized picture quality adjusting process is carried out on the main object that has been determined. It is therefore inherently impossible to carry out a picture quality adjusting process that takes advantage of the subtle characteristics of the main object, and it is not always possible to output a more attractive main object. There is thus a need for a picture quality adjusting technique that is more responsive to variations in main objects.

Determination of main object on image and improvement of image quality according to main object


A MOS transistor includes a pair of impurity regions formed in a substrate as spaced apart from each other, and a gate electrode formed on a region of the substrate located between the pair of impurity regions. Each of the impurity regions is formed of a first epitaxial layer, a second epitaxial layer on the first epitaxial layer, and a third epitaxial layer on the second epitaxial layer. The first epitaxial layer is formed of at least one first sub-epitaxial layer and a respective second sub-epitaxial layer stacked on each first sub-epitaxial layer. An impurity concentration of the first sub-epitaxial layer is less than that of the second sub-epitaxial layer.

1. Technical Field
The inventive concept relates to semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors and methods of fabricating the same.
2. Description of Related Art
There is an ever increasing demand for more highly integrated and higher performance semiconductor devices. In this respect, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors constituting semiconductor devices are continuously being scaled down. For example, the thickness of gate insulation layers of MOS transistors and the channel length of the MOS transistors are being minimized in an attempt to maximize the density of integration and performance of semiconductor devices. In particular, reducing the thickness of the gate insulation layers of the MOS transistors and the channel length of the MOS transistors results in an increase in the mobility of carriers (e.g., electrons or holes) of the MOS transistors and thus, an increase in the operating speed of the semiconductor devices. However, small channel lengths of the MOS transistors sometimes give rise to a so-called short channel effect, and thin gate insulation layers may allow for excessive gate leakage current. To suppress such a short channel effect, the channel of a MOS transistor may be formed with a high concentration of impurities. However, in this case, the carrier mobility in the channel region is compromised by the impurities in the channel region because the greater the concentration of the impurities the lower the carrier mobility. Therefore, the switching speed of the MOS transistors is impeded even though the channel length is kept to a minimum.

Semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same


A level of use of a first radio resource is detected and a flag is set in system information if the level of use of the first radio resource is above a predetermined threshold. The system information is updated to the network.

Many high speed packet access (HSPA) evolution features have been introduced in 3GPP since 3GPP Release 7, which increase the sending signalling data rate as well as reducing the signalling delay. Enhanced CELL_FACH in Release 7 was introduced for the downlink to allow a mobile station or user equipment (UE) to support high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) in CELL_FACH state, and which enables the UE to receive common and dedicated channel data on the HS-DSCH in a non CELL_DCH state. Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH was introduced in 3GPP Release 8 for the uplink in order to allow the UE to support E-DCH in a CELL_FACH (and a CELL_PCH) state; i.e. the UE can send data over E-DCH instead of the RACH.
Nowadays, more mobile stations support Enhanced CELL_FACH and Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH features. If the Enhanced CELL_FACH/Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH features are enabled in a network and supported by mobile stations accessing the network, these mobile stations in IDLE mode or a non CELL_DCH state use Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH to access the network instead of legacy 3GPP Release 99 access (RACH), when a service is initiated.
However, overloading can occur if too many mobile stations use the Enhanced Uplink in CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH to access the network.

Detecting a level of use in a communications network


An apparatus for welding the interior surface of a tube includes a laser welding probe body configured for positioning within an interior surface of a tube. A centering mechanism relying upon fluid pressure is used to substantially center the laser welding probe body within an annular void defined between the laser welding probe body and the interior surface of the tube. In one embodiment, the centering mechanism is implemented with a set of seals. In another embodiment, the centering mechanism is implemented with a set of centering balls that respond to the fluid pressure and thereby operate to center the laser welding probe body within the annular void. The fluid pressure may be created with shielding gas used during the laser welding operation.

In nuclear power plants utilizing the pressurized water reactor cycle, heat is released in the reactor from the fission of nuclear fuel. The heat is removed from the reactor by continuously circulating a fluid called reactor coolant. After being heated in the reactor, the coolant flows to a heat exchanger, commonly referred to as the steam generator, where it gives up heat and then returns to the reactor for further heating. In the steam generator, the nuclear reactor coolant heats a secondary water which is then used to drive a steam turbine. After exiting the steam turbine, the steam is condensed and returned to the steam generator for further heating by the reactor coolant. The reactor-steam generator coolant loop is normally referred to as the primary loop and the steam generator-turbine loop is usually referred to as the secondary loop.
The steam generator is typically a shell and tube type heat exchanger with the primary coolant passing through the inside of the heat exchanger tubes and the secondary water passing over the outside surface of the tubes and contained by the shell of the heat exchanger. Heat transfer from the reactor coolant to the secondary water occurs over most of the length of the tubes. To effect a seal at the end of the tubes, and thus prevent mixing of the reactor coolant and the secondary water, the ends of the tubes are connected to a tube sheet comprising a flat plate with apertures therethrough for receiving the ends of the tubes. The ends of the tubes are either seal welded to the tube sheet or expanded in the apertures to effect a sealed joint. The peripheral edges of the tube sheet are sealed to the shell of the steam generator and to a reactor coolant water box.
Steam generators are usually oriented such that the tubes generally run in a vertical direction and can be of the straight through or return flow type. In the straight through type steam generator, the tubes are straight and connected to tube sheets at both ends. The reactor coolant enters a water box at the top of the steam generator, flows through the tubes and is collected in a water box at the bottom of the steam generator. More common is the return flow type steam generator in which the tubes are an inverted "U" shape having both ends connected to the same tube sheet at the bottom of the steam generator. The water box below the tube sheet contains a division plate oriented to effectively seal that portion of the tube sheet containing tube inlets from that portion containing outlets. In this manner, reactor coolant flows into the inlet portion of the water box, through the inverted "U" tubes and into the outlet portion of the water box. In either the straight through or return type steam generator, the tubes are very long and require support along their length. This is accomplished by positioning support plates within the shell of the heat exchanger at various positions along the length of the tubes. The support plates contain apertures through which the tubes pass and have their peripheral edges connected to the shell of the steam generator.
To facilitate installation of the tubes and to allow for differential thermal expansion between the tubes and the shell, the apertures in the support plates are oversized to allow sliding of the tube relative to the support plate. However, the apertures in the plate must be small enough to provide adequate horizontal support for the tubes and to prevent excessive tube vibration during operation. Thus, crevices are formed between the support plates and the tubes. These crevices collect debris and corrosion products during operation of the steam generator, thereby promoting crevice corrosion. In addition, the joints between the tubes and the tube sheet previously described contain crevices which lead to crevice corrosion.
Steam generator tubes are susceptible to several types of corrosion mechanisms that can ultimately lead to leakage or significant wall thinning. These include primary water stress corrosion cracking, secondary side intergranular attack, secondary intergranular stress corrosion cracking and secondary side wastage. Primary side degradation typically occurs at locations of high tensile residual stress such as expansion transition areas, inner row U-bends, and tube support locations. Secondary side degradation occurs at locations where impurities can concentrate, providing corrosion sites, such as tube-to-tube sheet crevices, tube support plate-to-tube interfaces, anti-vibration bars interfaces, and sludge pile regions. Current mitigation techniques for these corrosion-induced problems include: steam generator replacement, plugging degraded tubes, electroplating tube interior surfaces, and sleeving degraded tubes.
Steam generator replacement is a drastic solution involving substantial capital investment and months or years of plant down time with the attendant loss of revenue accompanying extended plant outages. Plugging of the degraded tubes takes the tube out of service, reducing the steam generator efficiency. The ability to plug tubes is based on the "plugging margin" that is calculated based on operating experience for each steam generator. Once the "plugging margin" has been expended, further plugging of tubes reduces the capacity of the steam generator and the entire plant must be de-rated--operated at a reduced capacity.
Electroplating the steam generator tubes with nickel allows the tube to remain in service. Furthermore, nickel plating will seal small leaks and prevent further degradation, but does not restore the structural integrity of the tube. Therefore, a major limitation of electroplating is that it is effective only on small cracks that are detected early so that repair can be accomplished before the strength of the tube is seriously degraded.
Sleeving is a more expensive mitigation technique, but allows the tube to remain in service. Sleeving is accomplished by inserting in the damaged portion of the steam generator tube a short, tubular sleeve having an external diameter slightly less than the internal diameter of the steam generator tube and welding the sleeve to the tube. The sleeve is generally made of the same material as the tube and, in effect, replaces the damaged section of tubing. Therefore, the structural integrity of the tube is restored by this method of repair. Sleeving is generally performed when the steam generator "plugging margin" is approached.
One approach to sleeving is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,846 issued Nov. 19, 1991 to William E. Pirl and incorporated by reference herein. In that patent, the sleeve is welded to the tube using a laser beam welding head positioned inside the tube. Laser energy from a laser source is directed through a fiber optic cable to the welding head where a canted mirror reflects the beam onto the interior surface of the sleeve. The weld head rotates in one axial position along the tube near one end of the sleeve and the laser beam delivers sufficient heat to fuse the sleeve to the tube in a narrow, circumferential band around the sleeve/tube interface. The weld accomplished by this method is what is commonly referred to in the art as an autogenous weld in that the base metal of the sleeve and tube are melted and fused and no additional filler metal is added during the welding process. The weld head is then repositioned at the other end of the sleeve and another autogenous weld is accomplished.
Although sleeving in this manner can restore the structural integrity of the tube, it has a number of disadvantages. First, the sleeve necessarily decreases the internal diameter of the tube passage, adding increased pressure drop to the flow of coolant through the tube when the steam generator is placed in service. Also, if the repair is located in the lower portion of a tube, such as at the tube sheet, subsequent repair of tube degradation above the location of the first sleeve is prevented because another sleeve cannot be inserted past the already installed sleeve. In addition, the autogenous welds at both ends of the sleeve are usually recessed from the end of the tube because it is very difficult to accomplish a quality fillet weld on the end of the sleeve without adding filler metal. Because these welds are recessed from the ends of the sleeves, a crevice remains between the sleeve and the tube in the region between the end of the sleeve and the weld. Also because the welds themselves are narrow, circumferential bands, the external area of the sleeve between the bands forms a crevice with the tube. The damage to the tube which necessitated the repair, such as a crack or a pin hole, allows entrance of water into this crevice. These crevice areas are again susceptible to many forms of corrosion when the steam generator is placed back in service.
Attempts have been made to use a continuous, autogenous weld inside the tube, without the use of a sleeve, in order to repair damaged tubes. These efforts have failed because the corrosion which led to the damage leaves oxidized surfaces which result in flaws and voids when autogenous welding is used. If filler material is used in the welding process, the filler material can contain deoxidizing and viscosity control agents which prevent the flaws and voids associated with autogenous welding. Furthermore, the use of a filler material permits the ability to build-up the tube wall, thus providing full structural replacement of the damaged tube wall with the new weld deposit.
Thus, it is apparent that improved mitigation techniques are needed to meet the future demands of PWR power plants. Once the tube plugging margin has been used and a large quantity of sleeves (i.e. >10% of the tubes) have been installed to permit continued operation, tube degradation eventually leads to a decision to replace the steam generator, de-rate the plant, or decommission the facility. Therefore, alternative repair technology is needed that can provide extended tube service to the end of plant life, at an economical cost.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,430,270 and 5,514,849 describe technologies that economically extend tube service in PWR power plants. U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,270, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a technique for clad welding the interior surface of a heat exchanger tube. U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,849, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes an improved technique for clad welding the interior surface of a heat exchanger tube through reliance upon a synchronously rotating apparatus. A laser welding probe is positioned within the synchronously rotating apparatus. In order to execute precision welding operations, it is necessary to maintain the laser welding probe at a predetermined position, typically a centered position. This goal is inherently difficult to achieve, and is even more difficult to achieve if a single laser welding probe is to be used with different sized tubes. A different sized tube is not necessarily limited to a different heat exchanger tube, rather the same heat exchanger tube may have different interior circumferences, as in the case of a tube with sleeve repairs.
Spring-loaded pads, wheels, or levers are used in the prior art to positionally center devices within structures. If applied to the synchronously rotating apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,849, such techniques would create rotational resistance or drag, thus affecting the rotational speed and stability of the laser welding probe system.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved technique for centering a laser welding probe within a tube. The technique should provide a low drag centering method that allows smooth rotation of the weld head, while maintaining its radial position within the tube. In addition, the technique should allow a single laser welding probe to be used with a tube or tubes having different interior circumferences.

Apparatus and method for centering a laser welding probe within a tube using gas pressure


An aggregate for qualitatively or quantitatively determining bindable substances. Said aggregate comprises an ultra small colloidal particle and a specific binding agent characterized in that the mean diameter of the colloidal particle is below 2 nm. Preferably the size of the metal particle is selected so that the aggregate is capable of penetrating in standard biological specimens. The invention further provides a universally applicable detection system for determining bindable substances in particular in living material. Further there is provided a process for preparing said aggregate.

During the last years, small size metal particles, in particular colloidal gold particles, have increasingly been used for the detection and/or quantitative determination of specific binding agents and/or their corresponding bindable substances. Usually, such bindable substances are of biological origin and their determination by means of metal labelling has proven useful in various areas of biochemistry, pharmacology, cytology and histology. The concerned techniques have found widespread use and are particularly attractive for diagnostic purposes.
In principle, the use of colloidal metal particles as markers is based on the fact that the specific binding agent or any substance bindable thereby, when brought into contact with the colloidal metal particles under appropriate conditions, do strongly absorb thereon without loosing their affinity for their binding or bindable counterpart. Mostly, the relationship between a specific binding agent and its corresponding bindable substance(s) will be of the type, antigen-antibody, antibody-antigen, protein-protein, protein-ligand, receptor-ligand or nucleic acid-complementary nucleic acid. Hence, the thus labelled specific binding agents or bindable substance, when allowed to interact with their counterparts will attach their label to the complex formed during the interaction and consequently the detection thereof can easily be performed making use of the properties of the colloidal metal particles.
Depending on the circumstances, colloidal metal particles can be detected, e.g., by direct visual examination, by microscopic or spectrofotometric techniques. A description of "the immunogold staining (IGS) technique", "the sol particle immuno assay (SPIA) technique" of specific applications and improvements thereof can be found in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,313,734, 4,446,238, 4,420,558, 4,775,636, and 4,752,567, and in IBRO handbook series, Wiley, N.Y., 1983, pages 347 to 372.
So far colloidal metal markers with a wide variation in particle sizes have been prepared. Typical examples are described in Techniques in Immunochemistry Vol. 2 (1983) and in the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry 35, 1191-1198 (1987) and the references described therein. Usually they are applied in a size range between 5 and 20 nm, however some small size colloidal metal markers of about 2.6 nm have been described in Histochemistry (1985) 83: 409-411. Detection systems based on small colloidal metal markers have a number of advantages over specific binding agents marked with larger metal particles. More particularly they give a higher labelling density and offer an increase in resolution for Electron Microscopy. However, detection systems based on these small colloidal metal particles have hardly been studied due to their instability and lack of reproducibility. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide reproducible detection systems based on stable and bio-compatible ultra small metal particles.

Universally applicable detection system based on ultra small colloidal metal particles

Van de Plas; Petrus Franciscus Elisabeth Maria


The present invention relates generally to a printing system, and more specifically to an ordering of color-forming layers in a direct thermal printing medium. The present invention provides a direct thermal print medium with an ordering of the color layers that improves the perceived image sharpness and color uniformity of prints.

Direct thermal color printing medium have been known in the art for almost 50 years. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,488,705; 3,745,009. Prior art direct thermal imaging systems have used several different chemical mechanisms to produce a change in color. Some have employed compounds that are intrinsically unstable, and which decompose to form a visible color when heated. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,488,705; 3,745,009; 3,832,212; 4,380,629; 4,720,449; 4,243,052; 4,602,263; and 5,350,870. Other prior art thermal imaging media depend upon melting to trigger image formation. Typically, two or more chemical compounds that react together to produce a color change are coated onto a substrate in such a way that they are segregated from one another, for example, as dispersions of small crystals. Melting, either of the compounds themselves or of an additional fusible vehicle, brings them into contact with one another and causes a visible image to be formed. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,417,897; 4,636,819. Such thermal imaging materials and various combinations thereof are now well known, and various methods of preparing heat-sensitive recording elements employing these materials also are well known and have been described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,539,375, 4,401,717 and 4,415,633.
Over the past two decades, there have been several efforts to improve the direct thermal color printing medium in the art. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,801,233; 7,008,759; 7,166,558; 7,176,161; 7,220,868; 7,279,264; 7,282,317; 7,504,360; 7,635,660; 7,704,667; 7,807,607; 8,372,782; 8,377,844; 8,502,848; 8,722,574.
As the state of the art in imaging systems advances and efforts are made to provide new imaging systems that can meet new performance requirements, and to reduce or eliminate some of the undesirable characteristics of the known systems, it would be advantageous to have new direct thermal print medium systems with an ordering of the color layers that improves the perceived image sharpness and color uniformity of prints.

Ordering of color-forming layers in a direct thermal printing medium


The present invention provides food compositions and methods for companion animals that are effective in preventing or treating obesity.

Generally, companion animals such as canines and felines weighing more than 15% of their ideal body weight are considered overweight or obese. Overweight animals generally have an excess of body adipose tissue. The most common cause of an animal being overweight is an over consumption of food that results in an excess intake of calories. However, there are other factors that can increase an animal's chances for being overweight, e.g., lifestyle, health, eating habits, breed, spaying, and neutering. Also, the incidence of animals becoming overweight generally increases with age due to a general decrease in metabolic rate and in physical activity. Surveys estimate that 25% of canines in the United States that visit veterinary clinics are fat to the point of being obese. Studies have shown that fat animals are significantly more at risk for diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and pancreatitis.
Losing weight or maintaining weight, particularly for a companion animal, is difficult. It is necessary to modulate the caloric intake of the animal. Modulating the amount of adipose tissue on a companion animal, including preventing an animal from becoming overweight or treating a fat animal to reduce the amount of adipose tissue on the animal, is also difficult. An effective way to prevent an animal from becoming fat or to reduce the amount of fat on an animal is with dietary restriction and exercise. However, it is often difficult to ensure compliance with diet and exercise programs.
Given the problems with current methods for dealing with the prevention or treatment of obesity in companion animals such as canines and felines, there is a continuing need for new methods and compositions useful for treating and preventing weight conditions such as obesity and, in particular, for food compositions effective in preventing and treating these conditions.

Pet food compositions and methods for weight loss and maintenance


Disclosed are various embodiments depicting a feed unit that comprises: a first pair of motor-driven lower rollers for moving first tubes forward along a first feed axis; a second pair of motor-driven lower rollers for moving second tubes forward along a second feed axis parallel to the first one; a first pair of upper rollers for urging the first tubes against the first pair of lower rollers; a second pair of upper rollers for urging the second tubes against the second pair of lower rollers; a plurality of first side rollers for retaining laterally the first tubes; and a plurality of second side rollers for retaining laterally the second tubes.

The present invention relates in general to an automatic saw cutting machine for cutting tubes in double-tube cutting mode, and more specifically to a roller feed unit for such a machine.
In the description and claims which follow, the term "tube" is used to designate any elongated body having a uniform cross-section along its longitudinal axis, the cross-section being either open or closed. Moreover, the terms "longitudinal" and "transverse" are used to designate the forward direction (or feed direction) of the tubes and any direction lying in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, respectively.
As is known, a machine of the above-identified type basically comprises a loading unit for loading the tubes to be cut, a roller feed unit for feeding the tubes to the cutting area, a chuck for clamping the tubes during the cutting operation and a cutting head provided with a circular saw for cutting the tubes. The machines currently available on the market can be classified in two main categories: 1) machines arranged to carry out the cutting process in the so called single-tube cutting mode, i.e. to cut one tube at a time; and 2) machines arranged to carry out the cutting process in the so called double-tube cutting mode, i.e. to cut two tubes at a time. The configuration and the operation of the loading unit and of the feed unit of a machine vary in particular depending on the cutting mode that is used in that machine.
The loading unit typically comprises a tube collecting area, a conveying device and a selecting device. The tubes to be cut are collected in the collecting area, with their longitudinal axes parallel to each other, and are moved laterally from that area by means of the conveying device, which comprises for example a set of chains, to the selecting device, in which the tubes are selected two by two.
The feed unit receives the two tubes from the loading unit and feed them to the cutting area, where the two tubes are clamped by the chuck and then cut to size by the circular saw of the cutting head. In the saw cutting machines with roller feed unit, like that of the present invention, the cut length of the two tubes is defined by a respective abutment member against which the tube to be cut is urged until abutment.
FIGS. 1 and 2 of the attached drawings schematically show a transverse section view (i.e. a section view through a section plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tubes to be cut) and a side view, respectively, of a known example of a roller feed unit for a saw cutting machine for cutting tubes in double-tube cutting mode. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the feed unit is generally indicated 10 and comprises first of all a first pair of lower rollers 12a, 12b, that is to say, an upstream lower roller and a downstream lower roller (wherein the terms "upstream" and "downstream" are referred to the forward direction of the tubes, indicated by arrow F), respectively, that are associated to a first tube feed line (left-hand line, with respect to the point of view of a person looking at FIG. 1), the axis of which is indicated x1, and a second pair of lower rollers 14a, 14b, that is to say, an upstream lower roller and a downstream lower roller, respectively, that are associated to a second tube feed line (right-hand line, with respect to the point of view of a person looking at FIG. 1), the axis of which is indicated x2. The upstream lower rollers 12a, 14a are rotatably mounted about the same transverse axis of rotation ya, in particular a horizontal axis of rotation. Likewise, the downstream lower rollers 12b, 14b are rotatably mounted about the same transverse axis of rotation yb, in particular a horizontal axis of rotation, hence parallel to the axis of rotation ya of the upstream lower rollers. The lower rollers 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b are all motor-driven rollers and therefore will also be referred to hereinafter as driving rollers.
The feed unit 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2 further comprises a first pair of upper rollers 16a, 16b, that is to say, an upstream upper roller and a downstream upper roller, respectively, that are associated to the first tube feed line (axis x1), and a second pair of upper rollers 18a, 18b, that is to say, an upstream upper roller and a downstream upper roller, respectively, that are associated to the second tube feed line (axis x2). Like the lower rollers, the upstream upper rollers 16a, 18a are rotatably mounted about the same transverse axis of rotation y′a, in particular a horizontal axis of rotation, and the downstream upper rollers 16b, 18b are also rotatably mounted about the same transverse axis of rotation y′b, in particular a horizontal axis of rotation, which is therefore parallel to the axis of rotation y′a of the upstream upper rollers. The upper rollers 16a, 16b, 18a, 18b may either be idly mounted about the respective axes of rotation or be motor-driven. Moreover, the upper rollers 16a, 16b, 18a, 18b are vertically movable, for example by means of a rocking support 20, to be urged each towards a respective lower roller 12a, 12b, 14a, 14b with a given preload (that can be adjusted for each upper roller independently of the other rollers), in order to ensure that each tube (indicated T1 for the first feed line and T2 for the second feed line) is clamped with a given clamping force between a lower roller and an upper roller. Therefore, the upper rollers will also be referred to hereinafter as pressing rollers.
The feed unit 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2 further comprises side retaining rollers, that are idly mounted about respective vertical axes of rotation, namely a series of first side rollers 22 (only shown in FIG. 1) adapted to retain laterally the tube(s) along the first feed line (axis x1), a series of second side rollers 24 (only shown in FIG. 1) adapted to retain laterally the tube(s) along the second feed line (axis x2) and a series of intermediate rollers 26 that are interposed between the two lines of tubes T1 and T2 that are fed to the cutting area.
In a known feed unit for an automatic saw cutting machine for cutting tubes in double-tube cutting mode, like the one described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the two feed lines are plainly distinct from each other, since the tubes on the two feed lines are always kept at a distance from each other by means of the intermediate rollers.

Feed unit for an automatic saw cutting machine for cutting tubes in double-tube cutting mode