The present application concerns a device including a reservoir for a pressurized product, whereon there are mounted a first valve and a second valve, the second valve being orientated in the opposite direction to the first valve and substantially in alignment with the first valve. Actuating and dispensing elements are associated with at least one of the first and second valves. Each one of the valves include apparatus for selectively producing the opening/closing of the valves in response to a command, and an elastic restoring element for urging the opening/closing apparatus into the closed position in the absence of a command. In accordance with the invention, the first and second valves are mounted inside one and the same valve body communicating with the reservoir and are urged into the closed position by the same elastic restoring element.

1. Field of the Invention
The object of the invention is a new pressurized container having a small number of parts: two valves, namely a first valve for the dispensing of the product, and a second valve for the fling of the container, either for refilling the container when its contents have been used up, or for adding an additional active ingredient to the product initially contained in the container. The invention is particularly suitable for the dispensing of cosmetic or dermo-cosmetic products in the form of a liquid, a foam, a gel or a cream.
2. Discussion of the Background
Since the time that pressurized devices, for example of the aerosol type, have been in existence, the need for using a refillable system has made itself felt. The advantages of this type of packaging are manifold. One can in fact envisage having available a container with a relatively large volume containing the product, and a small container that can be easily carried and filled at will and can be taken along for a weekend, for a walk, to the office, to the beach, etc.
Moreover, such a small-sized device can be advantageously used for a precise dosing of the product during each use, and this above all in the pharmacological and dermo-cosmetic fields. However, in spite of this need, such a concept has not seen the light of day, mainly for reasons of cost.
One of the problems relates to the difficulty of making such a small-sized device at a competitive price. Indeed, in the case of products supplied in pressurized containers, while it is easy to prepare packages of small size which allow for the original formula, the economic criterion which the device has to meet is at present not complied with. In fact, a pressurized container, even of a small size, requires a certain number of indispensable elements for its operation, that is to say, a can made of tin or aluminium on whose walls there is deposited a varnish and on whose neck a valve is crimped by means of a valve-carrier cup, as well as a dispensing means connected to the valve.
Now the technology of manufacturing pressurized cans does not make it possible to manufacture cans that are sufficiently small to correspond to the volume of a trial dose, that is to say approximately 3.5 ml to 8 ml. Indeed, the task of metal crimping (crimping the valve-carrier cup onto the container body on the one hand, and around the valve on the other hand) which lies in forcing the metal to take on the desired configuration, in particular to come to grip the valve tightly, is an operation that can only be performed on components of a sufficiently large size. This manufacturing constraint hence governs the size of the valve-carrier cup, and consequently the volume of the can which is necessarily greater than a unit dose.
Moreover, these operations of manufacturing the can are expensive, just as is the incorporation of a valve into the can, which, nevertheless forms one of the indispensable elements for the functioning of the pressurized container.
This problem of cost is even more critical when one is concerned with making such a small-sized device with two valves, namely (i) a first for dispensing the product, and (ii) a second for filling the reservoir, either after its contents have been completely emptied, or with a view to mixing a first product contained in the reservoir with a second product contained in an auxiliary container.
There do certainly exist refillable devices of the aerosol type, formed by a "small" can which is surmounted by a first valve, and at whose bottom a second valve has been added for refilling the can. The aerosol is refillable by means of another aerosol device with a greater volume. The cost of this refillable aerosol is thus simply that of a conventional aerosol, to which there is added the cost of supplying and mounting the second valve, that is to say, a very high cost having regard to the small volume of the can.
In fields other than those of cosmetics there exist examples of this type of association between a small volume refillable device, and an aerosol of a greater volume, intended for the refilling of the small device. This is, in particular, the case with refillable lighters for smoking articles (such as cigarettes).
Nevertheless, such refillable devices are always constituted by a container with a first valve for the dispensing of the product, and by a filling system which is in fact neither more nor less than a second valve.
By way of example, there may be cited DE-B-1 166 225 which describes such a can fitted with two valves, each of the valves comprising a valve body and a separate spring for keeping the valves in the closed position in the absence of an actuation command.
FR-A-1 228 733 describes a refillable aerosol can, wherein the filling or refilling is effected by means of an auxiliary can through the same valve as that used for the dispensing of the product. However, this device requires the push button to be raised before operating the refilling, which can sometimes be difficult and after multiple refilling operations it can make the mounting of the push button on the refillable container fragile.
Similarly, FR-A-2 378 572 describes a method making it possible to draw up and store a predetermined dose of a product inside a detachable head. The two operations are effected simultaneously by (i) the compression of a spring while the head is screwed down onto a reservoir, and (ii) the compression of the dose stored at a sufficient pressure by slackening the head and releasing the same spring, so that after the separation of the head and of the reservoir the head has been made independent and can be used as an aerosol can.
Another problem lies in offering the user of cosmetic products, products blending two active ingredients in a single formula. By way of example, one may cite the whole range of "two in one" products that are available on the market, such as medicated shampoos, nourishing hair products, moisturising cleansing creams, etc. Such a packaging is only possible to the extent that the two active ingredients are compatible with each other and with the carrier. Now, in the present state of the art, it is impossible to formulate certain formulas since the two active ingredients are incompatible with each other. Hence "all in one" systems have been proposed which are most frequently complex and lie in packaging the two active ingredients separately until the time of use, when they will be mixed by the consumer in a more, or less, fast and easy way. This type of packaging is frequently found in the field of colouring oxidizing agents and perms.
The difficulty with such products relates to the fact that, since the active ingredients are not stable when they are mixed, they must be used quickly after mixing, and hence must be either single-dose products, or of a sufficiently small volume to be used in a space of time shorter than the time over which the mixture remains sufficiently active, so as to be used with good efficiency.
EP-A-063 759 and EP-A-217 582 describe systems for mixing two products extemporaneously by means of pressurized devices, the mixing being carried out in a device with two valves: namely one valve for the intake and one valve for the dispensing. Each one of the valves has a cup, a valve body, a valve stem, a joint and a spring. Such a design has the drawback of being expensive because of the number of components used. Moreover, it does not permit the manufacture of single-dose devices or multidose devices of a small volume. A similar system is described in FR-A-1 431 181.


An inflatable partition incorporating a three-dimensional inflatable component. The three-dimensional inflatable component may be attached to a sheet which has attachment apertures along its top edge for receiving a plurality of fasteners. Thus, the combination of inflatable component and sheet may be suspended from a support rod. Alternatively, the three-dimensional component may have a sealed border or other structure configured to enable the fasteners to attach directly to the inflatable component. Thus, the inflatable component, alone, may be suspended from a support rod. A plurality of retention devices for holding useful articles may be incorporated on at least one surface of the partition. The partition may incorporate attractive three-dimensional figures. The partition demonstrates increased stiffness when used as a shower curtain. The partition demonstrates an increased sound-deadening/weight ratio, increasing its usefulness as a shower curtain or room partition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inflatable partitions, such as room dividers or shower curtains.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art is aware of room dividers and shower curtains.
Room dividers may be suspended from tracks in ceilings. Conventional room dividers may be collapsed when an open area is desired and extended to close off a predetermined area. For rooms with high ceilings, conventional room dividers place a great deal of weight on the tracks. When the room dividers are in the collapsed condition, there is even more weight per given track space on the portion of the track suspending the entire partition. This may necessitate repair or replacement of the tracks. Also, the conventional room dividers are more effective in eliminating sight distractions between adjoining rooms than in eliminating sound distractions. The sound-deadening/weight ratio of such room dividers is very low. Thus there is a need for a room divider which will eliminate both sight and sound distractions between adjoining rooms while not imposing undue stress on the tracks. The sound-deadening/weight ratio of such a room divider must be high.
Conventional shower curtains are suspended from support rods by a plurality of fasteners. Usually these fasteners fit around the support rods and through apertures along the top edge of the curtains. Conventional shower curtains are made of light-weight materials such as plastic and are very flexible. As a result, the air currents created by flowing shower water may dislodge the curtains from their desired position and allow water to escape from the shower enclosure. For purposes of this description, shower enclosure is intended to include those areas which contain a shower head and a floor containing a drain and those areas which include a shower head and a bath tub. Some shower curtains are known which contain suction cups which are located between the shower curtain and the bath tub or shower stall. The disadvantages of these conventional suction cups are pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 2,840,160 to Tischenor. Improved suction cups are disclosed by this patent which are designed to overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art suction cups. The suction cups of Tischenor have disadvantages in that they require the user to reach down to the lower edge of the shower curtain, whether it be in a tub or stall. This is an undue hardship on individuals with certain physical handicaps. Further, suction cups are for use with thin, flexible curtains, and the resulting curtain does not deaden sound. Thus, those singing in the shower can still create an annoying distraction to others in the area.
Inflatable walls are known. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,606 to Daugherty teaches inflatable tents. U.S. Pat. No. 3,629,875 to Dow discloses self-supporting shower enclosures with or without partitions. Both of these patents are directed to self-supporting structures to be used by campers and the like and are not concerned with lightweight, suspended curtains to be used to divide large rooms or lightweight shower curtains to be suspended from support rods. Being intended for use in the outdoors, neither of these structures is concerned with the possibility of having decorative three-dimensional designs as part of the structure or permanent tracks supporting the partition.


The invention relates to an elastic belt for furniture articles or vehicle seats, wherein a plurality of weft yarns are interconnected by bonding yarns each with two elastic warp threads, preferably not adjacent warp threads. The weft yarns show longitudinal double S configurations allowing the weft to lengthen and shorten following the elastic warp threads. The invention further relates to a textile machine having elastic warp threads, a device for controlling the bonding yarns and a weft yarn guide with a plurality of passages for the plurality of weft yarns, the guide being acted upon to shift the weft yarns in both directions into alignment with two alternated warp threads, and to form the weft yarns double S configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to elastic supports for supporting stuffing or upholstery of seat or furniture pieces such as beds, divans, armchairs, chairs, car seats and the like, and more particularly to an improved elastic support element or belt of the type referred to and to a textile machine for weaving such elastic support or belt.
The use of elastic belts for supporting the stuffing or upholstery in furniture pieces such as seats, backs, arm rests, backboards, motorvehicle seats and backs, and the like is well known. The elastic belts of this kind at present in use are affected by various disadvantages such as for example a lack of uniform spring suspension because each belt applied to the supporting frame has not the same tension as the other belts which are stretched and applied one at a time, and therefore the more stretched belt "works" more than the other belts and supports alone all the weight of the user, thereby fringing and breaking prematurely and causing also the other belts to fringe and break. These elastic belts have been improved by providing on the elastic threads a spirally wound covering formed of natural or synthetic yarns.
From the Italian Patent No. 955 134 a support of this kind is also known, which comprises an elastic net formed of a net or honeycomb fabric made of rubber threads or the like arranged in the longitudinal or warp direction, which rubber threads are covered with a plurality of spirally wound yarns and preferably crossed in the other or weft direction by non-elastic threads of nylon or cotton or other suitable textile fiber.
However, also this support is affected by drawbacks due to the fact that the plurality of spirally wound yarns, while partially overcoming the drawback of the not-uniform spring suspension, require expensive working operations and the use of a great amount of textile yarn, which makes the spiral winding very expensive.
In an attempt to overcome this drawback, use was made of a yarn spirally wound in one direction and a yarn spirally wound in the opposite direction, but this has not solved the problems that the spiral winding involves.
Therefore the elastic threads covered by a plurality of spirally wound yarns, in spite of the precautions taken, lead to tension differences of the covered elastic threads at the time of their manufacture, what gives effect of false twistings and undulations of the elastic support element obtained thereby.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,565 improves the above mentioned support element by covering the rubber warp threads by loops formed chain-stitches, mainly improving the resistance and stability of the net.
However, even this last improvement did not reveal itself a perfect solution, because its continuous use brought to a relative shifting between the warp elastic threads and the weft yarn in given points, with a permanent and increasing alteration of the size ratios of at least some of the components of the net formed by said warp threads and weft yarn. This involves an improper reaction of the support belt or element and a reduced life thereof. To try to overcome this drawback, the support elements or belts were impregnated with a latex, but this gives a bad appearance to the product, reduces its resilient features, hinders the passage of air therethrough and rapidly ages the materials contacting the same, in particular the seat foam.
2. OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new elastic support element or belt particularly for the uses as above specified, having new connections between its net components, so to allow an elastic elongation of the element or belt even in specific zones thereof, without permanently modifying the net size ratios and in any case always ensuring a return to the original net configuration.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new elastic support element or belt as above stated having a long use life without the need of being impregnated with latex and without any problem of ageing the materials in contact with the same.
Further objects of this invention are to provide a new elastic support element or belt, of the type referred to, having a particularly good "anatomic behavouir" and good characteristics of vibration and noise dampening, as well as so manufactured in such a way that it can be cut, sewn and so on, without risk to impair its properties or unravel its net as used herein, the term "anatomic behavior" means that the present elastic support element has a sufficient degree of flexibility to conform to the contours of the human body when a person sits on a seat including such support element.
Another object of the invention is to provide a textile machine so improved to be able to weave a support elastic element or belt of the type as above disclosed, and in which the width of the belt can be choosen at will, with the possibility of simultaneously weaving two or more belts, if the machine width allows it.

Elastic support element or belt for stuffing of furniture pieces or car seats


A method for transmitting data from a radio network subsystem to user equipment in a mobile telephone system, a radio network subsystem and user equipment. In the method, the radio network subsystem transmits a dedicated control channel to the user equipment and a dedicated traffic channel of variable data transmission rate to the user equipment. During transmission, the radio network subsystem spreads each channel with a spreading code, and the spreading code used to spread the traffic channel is changed according to the required data transmission rate. According to the invention, each control channel frame indicates the spreading code with which the corresponding traffic channel is spread when transmitted.

One of the biggest problems in mobile telephone systems is an efficient use of a limited radio capacity. In present systems, a certain amount of capacity is reserved for each user for a circuit-switched call during the entire radio link. When using packet-switched transmission, in which the data to be transmitted is typically generated in bursts, it is a waste of radio capacity to keep the radio capacity reserved all the time according to the greatest momentary data transmission need.
In systems using the code division multiple access (CDMA) method, in a downlink from a radio network subsystem to user equipment, different users use the same code tree in which the spreading codes used in the system are arranged mutually orthogonally. If a spreading code having a small spreading factor allowing a high transmission rate is reserved for one user, the code in question can reserve a large part of the capacity of the radio network subsystem in question, or its base transceiver station. In a code tree used by one base transceiver station, one sector of the base transceiver station can use sixteen mutually orthogonal sixteen-character-long spreading codes, for instance, in which case the entire capacity of the base transceiver station can at one moment be in use and a new user will not have access to any data transmission resources for a downlink.
On an uplink, this problem does not exist, since each user has access to the entire code tree of the base transceiver station. Various users are distinguished from each other with a scrambling code which is specific for each transmitter. For instance, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) using a direct-sequence wideband code division multiple access method (DS W-CDMA) can have 512 different scrambling codes and 256 different spreading codes on a downlink. On an uplink, the number of scrambling codes can be much higher, even millions of different codes. It is interesting to note that a base transceiver station normally uses only one scrambling code for each transmitter.
In present mobile telephone systems, the data transmission rates used for both speech and data have been relatively low, and it has been possible to keep the resource problem under control. In new mobile telephone systems, the data transmission rates used will be considerably higher than in the present systems due to the wireless remote use of various computer applications. The computer applications include various database applications, e-mail, WWW browser, etc.
For instance, the CDMA2000 system discloses a solution in which fundamental channels and supplementary channels are used. The fundamental channel transmits the signalling of the MAC (Medium Access Control) sub-layer of the data link layer, which indicates whether a supplementary channel with a higher transmission rate is used in addition to the fundamental channel. A problem with this solution is that it does not support fast changing of the channel transmission rate by changing the spreading code, since MAC sub-layer signalling is used to change the spreading code and it is a relatively slow process.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Data transmission method and mobile telephone system


There is provided a vehicle display system to be used with a vehicle control unit which is configured to control a vehicle in an automated driving mode. The vehicle display system includes a display unit which is provided around or inside a license plate of the vehicle, and a display control unit which is configured to turn on the display unit while the vehicle control unit executes the automated driving mode.

Recently, researches on automated driving techniques of automobiles have been actively conducted in various countries, and each country considers legislation to allow a vehicle to travel on public roads in an automated driving mode. Here, the automated driving mode refers to a mode in which the traveling of the vehicle is automatically controlled. On the other hand, a manual driving mode refers to a mode in which the traveling of the vehicle is controlled by the driver. In an automated driving vehicle, the traveling of the vehicle is automatically controlled by a computer.
JP-A-H9-277887 discloses an automatic following traveling system where a following vehicle automatically follows a preceding vehicle. In the automatic following traveling system, each of the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle includes a display device, and character information for preventing another vehicle from interrupting between the preceding vehicle and the following vehicle is displayed on the display device of the preceding vehicle, and character information indicating that the vehicle is in the automatic following traveling is displayed on the display device of the following vehicle.
In the meantime, in JP-A-H9-277887, a system is not considered which displays information indicating that each vehicle is traveling in an automated driving mode to the outside.


A magnetic recording medium is disclosed, comprising a magnetic layer mainly comprising a ferromagnetic powder and a binder resin formed on at least one side of a non-magnetic support, wherein said magnetic layer has a thickness of from 0.05 .mu.m to 0.8 .mu.m, said ferromagnetic powder has an average long axis length of from 0.05 .mu.m to 0.20 .mu.m, and said binder resin comprises a polyurethane having a radius of gyration from 5 to 25 nm in cyclohexanone.

Magnetic recording media are widely used for recording tape, video tape, computer tape, disc, etc. The recording density of magnetic recording media have become higher and higher, and their recording wavelength has become shorter and shorter every year. As the recording system for such the magnetic recording media there have been studied analog system as well as digital system.
The so-called coating type magnetic recording medium which comprises a dispersion of a ferromagnetic powder in a binder coated on a support to meet the requirement for higher density has a low packing density of magnetic material and deteriorated electromagnetic characteristics than the thin metal film type magnetic recording medium. However, the coating type magnetic recording medium can exhibit almost the same properties as that of the thin metal film type magnetic recording medium because of the recent development of magnetic materials and rapid progress of the technique for coating an extremely thin layer. Further, the coating type magnetic recording medium is excellent from the standpoint of practical reliability such as productivity and corrosion resistance.
As such the coating type magnetic recording medium there has been widely used a magnetic recording medium comprising a magnetic layer having a ferromagnetic iron oxide, Co-modified ferromagnetic iron oxide, CrO.sub.2, ferromagnetic alloy powder or the like dispersed in a binder coated on a non-magnetic support.
The enhancement of the electromagnetic characteristics of the coating type magnetic recording medium may be accomplished, e.g., by improvement of the magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic powder, smoothening of the surface thereof, etc. Various approaches have been proposed but leave something to be desired for the demand for higher density. The recent trend is for shorter recording wavelength with higher density. A problem of self demagnetization loss during recording or thickness loss during reproduction causing output drop is generated if the magnetic layer is too thick. Thus, an extremely thin coating type magnetic recording medium has been proposed.
In recent years, a so-called ME (metal-evaporated) tape on which a thin metal has been vapor-deposited (vacuum-evaporated) has been put into practical use in the field of Hi-8 and digital VCR for consumers' use. Thus, a system which employs both an alloy powder tape, i.e., so-called MP (metal particulate) and such an ME tape has been put into practical use.
In order to render MP tape compatible with ME tape, MP tape must have a magnetic layer with a reduced thickness to provide a higher output as in ME tape. Further, MP tape must have the same relationship between recording current and reproduced output as that in ME tape. Heretofore, as the recording current increases, MP tape gives a lower reproduced output due to recording demagnetization. However, ME tape doesn't show this tendency. ME tape shows a tendency for saturation of reproduced output with increase of the recording current. Therefore, Hi-8 decks actually employ a system in which recording is performed with different currents between MP tape and ME tape. However, this system is disadvantageous in that it requires a complicated circuit. In order to eliminate this difficulty, it is necessary that the same recording current be used in the system in which MP tape and ME tape are compatible with each other. However, there arises a difficulty that when recording and reproduction are performed on MP tape with a recording current optimum for ME tape, the resulting output is lowered. Further, when recording and reproduction are performed on ME tape with a recording current optimum for MP tape, ME tape cannot make the best use of its capacity, lowering the resulting output. It has thus been desired to make the optimum recording current for MP tape almost equal to that for ME tape.
In digital VCR's for consumers' use, a signal having a recording wavelength of 22 .mu.m has been used as a synchronization signal, and a signal having a recording wavelength of 0.488 .mu.m has been used for data recording. Further, in order to reduce the weight of the apparatus, the erasing head has been omitted, and an overwriting erasion system has been employed. In order to employ the overwriting erasion system, it is necessary that the synchronization signal be erased by the data signal. It is said that the overwriting erasure is preferably not more than -20 dB. It is preferred that the overwriting erasure be as low as possible to meet the requirements for magnetic recording medium. The thinner the magnetic layer is, the better are the overwriting characteristics. However, if the thickness of the magnetic layer is simply reduced, the total magnetization amount is reduced, thereby lowering the reproduced output of a long wavelength signal such as synchronization signal. In order to enhance the output of long wavelength signal, a large magnetization amount is needed. To this end, a high magnetic flux density and a certain thickness must be assured. As mentioned above, the overwrite characteristics and the output of long wavelength signal conflict with each other. However, the enhancement of the overwriting erasure can be accomplished not only by reducing the thickness of the magnetic layer but also by recording a short wavelength signal such as data signal deep into the magnetic layer. To this end, it is effective to allow the passage of as much recording current as possible upon the recording of data signal. As previously mentioned, in order to make MP tape compatible with ME tape, it is desirable that the optimum recording current for MP tape be as much as that for ME tape. This is desirable also from the standpoint of overwrite characteristics.
Besides the above-mentioned factors for the enhancement of overwrite characteristics, it is desirable that the surface of the magnetic layer be as smooth as possible so far as the running durability permits. It has been found that the higher the squareness ratio of the magnetic layer is, or the lower SFD (viz., Switching Field Distribution) is, the better is the overwrite characteristics thereof.
In order to improve the running durability, it has been a common practice to properly select a binder resin to be incorporated in the magnetic layer.
By way of example, a polyurethane which can form a rigid film having a high glass transition temperature (Tg) has been desirable to impart good durability to the magnetic layer. However, a polyurethane which form a film having a relatively low Tg has been selected from the standpoint of calenderability (i.e., improvement of performance in treatment for smoothing the surface of magnetic layer in addition to increasing the density of the magnetic layer, which is obtained by passing the magnetic tape at least one time through nip of a pair (nip) roll in which one of the rolls is a metal roll so that the magnetic layer comes in contact with the metal roll).
On the other hand, a magnetic recording medium which comprises a thinner magnetic layer provided on a non-magnetic layer has been known. However, in order to attain a higher recording density, it is necessary that the magnetic layer be thinner and the ferromagnetic metal powder be finer. The use of a finer ferromagnetic metal powder causes a drop of dispersibility and thus deteriorates the surface properties of the magnetic layer, thereby deteriorating the electromagnetic characteristics of the magnetic recording medium. Further, if the thickness of the magnetic layer is reduced, it is made difficult to secure sufficient durability.
For magnetic recording medium for digital VCR, a thin film head or MR head (viz., magnetoresistive reproducing head) is considered to be desirable. However, such the tape, if it comprises a vinyl chloride resin which has been widely used as a binder for magnetic recording medium, undergoes dehydrochlorination to release hydrochloric acid corroding the magnetic head even in a slight amount to cause troubles. Accordingly, a binder resin free of vinyl chloride has been desired.
The applicants have proposed an extremely thin layer type magnetic recording medium which comprises a thinner magnetic layer as an upper layer provided on a non-magnetic layer as a lower layer. Examples of these inventions will be given below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,793 discloses a magnetic recording medium comprising a dispersion of a ferromagnetic powder having an average long axis length of less than 0.8 .mu.m and a crystallite size of less than 300 .ANG. coated on a non-magnetic layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,607 discloses a technique which comprises the definition of the thickness of the magnetic layer to less than 0.3 .mu.m and the standard deviation of the thickness of the magnetic layer to a predetermined range to obtain a magnetic recording medium having a good overwrite characteristics and a less strain during digital recording.
However, these conventional techniques generally employ a polyurethane and a vinyl chloride resin as binder resin and thus leave something to be desired in the enhancement of overwrite characteristics and the assurance of output at low frequencies. Further, these conventional techniques can hardly meet the requirements of both running durability and prevention of head corrosion. In other words, sufficient running durability cannot be assured without any vinyl chloride resin. On the contrary, if any vinyl chloride resin is used, head corrosion cannot be inhibited. In particular, the conventional techniques leave something to be desired in overwrite characteristics and compatibility with ME tape in 24-25 modulation employed for digital VCR for consumers' use and running durability and corrosion resistance. Further, no binder resin systems free of vinyl chloride resin which can solve the foregoing problems have been found.

Magnetic recording medium containing magnetic powder and a polyurethane binder having a specified radius of gyration


A system may include reception of an instruction to execute a business process from a client application, execution of the business process in a first software work process, and storage, during execution of the business process, of progress information associated with the business process within a memory. A system may further include reception, at a second software work process, of a request from the client application for progress information, retrieval, in the second software work process, of the progress information from the shared memory, reception, at the second software work process, of the progress information from the memory, and provision of the progress information to the client application from the second software work process.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of prior art system 100. System 100 includes client 110 and service-oriented architecture 120. Client 110 may comprise a Web browser to access services provided by service-oriented architecture 120 via HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) communication.
For example, a user may manipulate a user interface of client 110 to input an instruction (e.g., update inventory). Client 110, in response, may transmit a corresponding HTTP service request to service-oriented architecture 120 as illustrated. Service-oriented architecture 120 conducts any processing required by the request (e.g., updating a list of inventory) and, after completing the processing, provides a response to client 110.
Client 110 does not receive any indication from service-oriented architecture 120 during the above-mentioned processing. Accordingly, after inputting the instruction and before receiving the response, the user is left to wonder whether any processing is occurring as a result of the instruction, whether service-oriented architecture 120 is non-responsive, or whether a network error has occurred between client 110 and service-oriented architecture 120. Service requests which require lengthy processing exacerbate this dilemma.
Due to the request/response nature of HTTP, the foregoing cannot be addressed simply by programming service-oriented architecture 120 to send some sort of progress indicator to client 110. Accordingly, what is needed is a system to provide meaningful progress information to a client of a service-oriented architecture.

Progress information in a service-oriented architecture


Optical probes and methods for continuously measuring the temperature of molten metals in vessels are described. The optical probe may include a fiber surrounded by a protective structure that is mounted in a wall of a vessel. The protective structure may include a porous body for flowing gas through the optical probe assembly. A portion of the optical probe may be sacrificial and erode or break away during temperature measurements. Calibrations may be used to correct temperature measurements based on an amount of erosion or removal of the optical fiber.

The manufacturing of metals can involve several stages of handling molten metal. Metal compositions may be melted in a first vessel and transferred to one or more vessels during a metal manufacturing process. For example, a metal composition may be first heated in a furnace, and transferred to a ladle and then to a caster or tundish where it is poured into moulds or a final product. At each stage of a metal manufacturing process, the temperature of the melt may be held at a target temperature for a period of time. Appreciable temperature deviations from a target temperature may adversely affect the quality of the final metal product. Accordingly, it is desirable to monitor, as accurately as possible, a temperature of the molten metal through the metal manufacturing process.
Several types of temperature measurement techniques have been developed for measuring high temperatures of molten metals. One approach is to use thermoelectric devices, e.g., thermocouples. Measurements with thermocouples may involve fixing the thermocouple at the end of a long lance, and dipping the thermocouple into the molten metal to measure the temperature of the melt. This is conventionally done in an intermittent fashion. Disadvantages with intermittent measurement of temperature is that the manufacturing process may be interrupted for the measurement, and there may be substantial time intervals between the measurements so that close process control may not be possible.
Optical-pyrometry-based techniques have been developed for measuring the temperature of liquid metals. Such techniques can provide faster measurements of temperatures, although the techniques used also provide intermittent measurements. Conventional optical measurements comprise piercing an optical probe, mounted on a lance, through a layer of slag covering the metal. The slag and measurement technique can lead to high wear and a short lifetime of the probe.
The use of thermocouples for temperature measurements of molten metal compositions may have additional disadvantages. For example, thermocouples are not entirely immune to electromagnetic radiation, and typically have slow response times. In addition, they are not adaptable to repeated continuous measurement applications, since they undergo degradation with time at high temperature. Thermocouples cannot be brought into direct contact with the molten metal and require some protective covering material, such as refractory sheathing, to protect the thermocouple from the high-temperature melt and to prevent the thermocouple signals from being short circuited and dissipated into the molten metal. A protective refractory covering should be both thick enough, so that the thermocouple is not exposed to the melt, and thin enough, so that temperature of the melt can be accurately measured by the thermocouple. Accordingly, there are conflicting requirements on the thickness of the thermocouple's protective covering.
The protective material covering a thermocouple can be worn off by the molten metal with repeated use, which can introduce measurement errors over time. In addition, the erosion rate may depend upon the type of metal being processed, the temperature of the molten metal, and the vessel or environment in which the measurement is made. For example, in the case of molten steel, the rate of erosion is low in the tundish while it can be high in a ladle and the furnace. Erosion through the protective material can render the thermocouple inoperable. Therefore, different thicknesses of protective covering may be required for different metals and environments, making manufacture of a thermocouple temperature probe difficult.

Apparatus and methods for continuous temperature measurement of molten metals


A game ball has two different game indicia associated therewith. One or more of such game balls may be part of a set of game balls, such as a set of balls used to play a bingo, keno or lottery game where the game indicia may comprise numbers used to play lottery or keno, or combinations of letters and numbers for play of a bingo game. Compared to game balls bearing a single game indicia, selection of a game ball bearing multiple game indicia presents a player with an increased or bonus matching opportunity. The game balls may be physical elements or be electronic representations, such as displayed images, thereof.

Bingo and similar "matching" games, such as keno and lottery games, are very popular. The game of bingo is played with a set of game indicia. The game indicia may comprise letters, numbers, or a combination thereof. Players are issued cards having a plurality of spaces which are marked with game indicia or other indicators (such as a "free" space). The total number of spaces of the game card, and thus the number of game indicia associated with the card, is less than the entire set of game indicia. Players attempt to match the game indicia associated with the spaces of their card(s) with game indicia associated with game balls. In particular, a set of game balls is provided, each game ball configured to display a single game indicia. In this manner, the entire set of game balls is equal to the number of game indicia.
In the play of the game, physical balls (or electronic representations thereof) are selected. The player attempts to match the single game indicia indicated on each selected game ball to the game indicia displayed on their card. The player's goal is to achieve matches on their card in predetermined patterns or combinations in order to receive a winning outcome.
As indicated, however, in a bingo game, each bingo ball is marked with a single one of the game indicia. The balls are called or selected, generally one at a time (in some cases, a first group of balls may be selected to start the game, where after balls are selected one at a time until a winner is achieved). As each ball is selected or generated, each player determines if the single game indicia associated with that game ball matches any of the game indicia associated with their card. One problem with the game of bingo played in this manner is that it is generally very slow. In addition, there are few winners of the game because the game is typically terminated as soon as a ball is selected or generated which causes a player or players to receive a game-ending pattern.

Game balls bearing multiple game indicia and games played therewith


A method is provided for forming electrodes of a trench capacitor for an integrated circuit in which the number of mask levels is reduced. The method is compatible with CMOS and Bipolar CMOS processes. After defining a trench in a substrate by a conventional photoengraving step and anisotropic etching, successive conformal layers of a first dielectric layer, a first conductive layer, and subsequent conformal dielectric layers and conformal conductive layers are deposited to fill the trench. The resulting structure is planarized, preferably by chemical-mechanical polishing to provide fully planarized topography. Each of the conductive layers form an electrode. Coplanar areas of each of the conductive layers are exposed within the trench for formation of contacts to the electrodes. Advantageously, the trench has a wide portion and a narrow portion of smaller lateral dimension. The narrow portion of the trench is filled by the first conductive layer and after planarization provides an area of sufficiently large dimension for forming a contact to the first electrode. Contact to the second electrode is made in the first portion of the trench. Thus multiple electrodes for a trench capacitor are defined by a maskless process.

Trench capacitors with one or more polysilicon electrodes for silicon integrated circuits may be fabricated using known methods, and have applications in Structures such as DRAMs (Dynamic Random Access Memories) and analog circuits. Typically, the number of masking steps required depends on the number of polysilicon electrodes. For example, in forming a simple trench capacitor having one polysilicon electrode, in which the silicon substrate acts as the other electrode, a conventional known method includes steps of:
1. patterning and etching a trench in a silicon substrate; PA1 2. formation of a capacitor dielectric on trench walls and bottom, typically silicon dioxide; PA1 3. filling of the trench with polysilicon by a known method of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) to provide the polysilicon electrode; and PA1 4. planarization by removal of the surface substantially back to the level of the substrate surface. PA1 1. patterning and etching a trench in a silicon substrate; PA1 2. forming an insulating dielectric layer on sidewalls and a bottom of the trench; PA1 3. deposition and planarization of a first layer of polysilicon within the trench by a known method of CVD; PA1 4. patterning and etching a second trench within the first polysilicon layer to form sidewalls of the first polysilicon layer in the trench to serve as one of the capacitor electrodes; PA1 5. forming a layer of a capacitor dielectric on the etched first polysilicon layer; PA1 6. filling the resulting dielectric lined trench inside the first polysilicon layer with a second polysilicon layer by a known method of CVD; and PA1 7. planarization of the second polysilicon level with the substrate and first polysilicon surfaces.
The width of the trench polysilicon must be of such a dimension to allow a contact to be made by a method known in the industry. The resulting capacitor is formed between a deposited top polysilicon electrode and the silicon substrate. One masking step is required for patterning and etching the trench. Depending on the method of contact formation, another masking step may be required for defining a contact area to the substrate.
A known method for providing a capacitor having two polysilicon electrodes includes the steps of:
Thus, a first masking step is required for defining the trench in the substrate (step 1) and a second masking step is required (step 4) for defining a second trench within the first polysilicon layer. The width of the second polysilicon within the second trench must be such as to allow a contact to be made by methods known in the industry. Depending on the method of contact formation, another masking step may be required for formation of a contact to the second polysilicon layer. Hence a minimum of two masking steps are required for formation of a trench linear capacitor with two polysilicon electrodes, one each for the trench and at least one polysilicon electrode.

Method of forming electrodes for trench capacitors


An opto-electronic apparatus comprises a substrate for supporting a plurality of components forming an opto-electronic assembly and an optical component attached to the substrate with an adhesive material, such as a solder or epoxy. The optical component is formed to include a plurality of bond slots disposed in parallel across at least a portion of the bottom surface of the optical component, the plurality of bond slots providing a path for a liquid adhesive material and improving the ability to displace the liquid adhesive material as the component is pressed into the surface of the substrate during the attachment process.

Many types of opto-electronic modules comprise a number of separate optical and electrical components that require precise placement relative to one another. A silicon (or glass) carrier substrate (sometimes referred to as an interposer) is generally used as a support structure for these components and may, at times, also provide the desired electrical or optical signal paths between selected components. In other arrangements, the optical and electrical components may be directly placed on and within a silicon surface layer of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI)-based optical platform. Regardless of the structure of the support arrangement, optical alignment between various optical components is required to ensure that the integrity of the optical signal path is maintained.
As the size of opto-electronic components continues to shrink, the need to place them on an interposer (or other supporting substrate member) with improved alignment accuracy increases. This is particularly true in optics where components such as lenses and fiber/waveguide connectors form part of an optical signal path and inter-component alignment is necessary to maintain the integrity of the signal path. For example, in a silicon photonic assembly, components such as microlenses and optical fibers may need to be aligned to one another with sub-100 nm positional accuracy as they are attached to a common substrate, such as an interposer or silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate.
While the ability to accurately position these components on a substrate is a necessary requirement of the fabrication process, the maintenance of these positions over the lifetime of the assembly is also important. It is quite possible that a given assembly will be subjected to variations in temperature, humidity and the like over its lifetime, where these environmental changes may degrade the quality of the adhesive bond and cause one component to shift relative to another. One way to address the lifetime issue is to utilize as thin a bond line as possible in the original attachment process (a "bond line" being defined as the thickness of the adhesive between the two surfaces being bonded). It has been found that bond lines on the order of tens of microns will increase the lifetime stability of micro-component assemblies. However, this relatively thin bond line has presented problems in terms of the friction-based restriction of the flow of the adhesive (i.e., molecular flow regime), associated with the relatively large surface areas to be joined relative to the total volume (relatively small) of the adhesive. This frictional problem associated with the small amount of adhesive material then also limits the amount of post-placement adjustment of the micro-component that may be performed, eliminating the possibility of performing active or quasi-active alignment in many optical or opto-electronic systems. Indeed, as the bond line reduces to a size of less than five microns, it becomes increasingly difficult to displace the liquid material between the lens and substrate (i.e., hydrostatic compression).

Optical components including bonding slots for adhesion stability


A method for controlling a multi-phase switching converter with a plurality of switching circuits, including: sensing the output current of the switching circuit and generating a current sensing signal; generating a digital phase current signal based on the current sensing signal; subtracting the digital phase current signal from a current reference signal and generating a current error signal; proportionally integrating the current error signal and generating a first bias signal; conducting a sigma-delta modulation of the first bias signal and generating a second bias signal, wherein the first bias signal is a P-bit digital signal, the second bias signal is a Q-bit digital signal, and P is larger than Q; and adjusting a control signal controlling the switching circuit based on the second bias signal.

In power solutions of high performance CPU, switching converters with lower output voltage and higher output current are required. Multi-phase switching converters are widely used in these applications because of its good performance. For multi-phase switching converters, how to balance the output current of the plurality of switching circuits is a critical issue. Generally, the average output current of the switching circuits are compared with a reference value. Then the control signals of the switching circuits are adjusted based on the comparison result, so as to realize the current balance.
For prior digital controlled multi-phase switching converters, since the current resolution (minimum change of the average output current caused by the controlled parameter) is limited by the system clock frequency and the sampling rate of the analog digital converter, the current balance performance is not that good. FIG. 1 illustrates the current waveforms of the prior digital controlled multi-phase switching converters, wherein lave is the average output current of the switching circuit, Iref is the reference current, and Tad is the analog-digital sampling period of the average output current. As shown in FIG. 1, the average output current of the switching circuit is periodically changed around the reference current Iref. A high frequency ripple is formed and the current balance performance is poor.

Digital controllers and digital control methods of multi-phase switching converters

Chengdu Monolithic Power Systems Co., Ltd.


In order to provide a resonator element having high production efficiency and low impedance in a small size, the resonator element includes a base portion, and a driving arm which extends from the base portion and includes a through hole, in which the driving arm vibrates along an in-plane direction, and includes a plurality of broad portions of which a width in the in-plane direction is broad and a plurality of narrow portions of which a width in the in-plane direction is narrow which alternate with each other, and the through hole is disposed in the broad portion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a resonator element, a gyro sensor element, an electronic device, an electronic apparatus, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
In the related art, a resonator element or a gyro sensor element is used for an electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone or a digital camera, and a moving object such as an automobile. According to a demand for a high performance of the electronic apparatus or the moving object, low impedance or an improvement in detection sensitivity is required for the resonator element or the gyro sensor element. For example, in JP-A-2002-261576, a resonator piece is disclosed in which a rigidity reinforcement portion reinforcing a through groove and the through groove are disposed in a driving arm portion. In addition, in JP-A-2006-208261, an inertial sensor is disclosed in which a plurality of through holes is arranged in a driving arm portion for excitation. A resonator piece and an inertial sensor are known in which rigidity of the driving arm increases due to such a configuration, and impedance (a CI value, and series equivalent resistance) is able to be decreased by forming an electrode for excitation in a side surface of the driving arm, and a side surface of the through groove or the through hole facing the side surface of the driving arm.
However, recently, downsizing of the resonator element or the gyro sensor element has progressed, and a width of the driving arm has been remarkably narrowed. The through hole disposed for decreasing the impedance of the element is also narrowed, and thus it is difficult to dispose the through hole having a large opening area. In contrast, broadening a width dimension of the driving arm and enlarging the through hole may be considered. However, when the width of the driving arm is W, and a length of the driving arm is L, a vibrational frequency f of the driving arm has to satisfy the following relationship.f∝W/L2  Expression 1
For this reason, the length of the driving arm has to be elongated as the width of the driving arm becomes broader, and thus external dimensions of the driving arm increase. That is, it is difficult to provide a resonator element and a gyro sensor element having low impedance in a small size.

Resonator element, gyro sensor element, electronic device, electronic apparatus, and moving object


The present invention relates to non-naturally occurring plants that display enhanced agronomic characteristics due to elevated levels of nitrogen utilization proteins in the root of the plants. In particular, the present invention relates to non-naturally occurring plants with elevated levels of nitrogen utilization proteins specifically localized to the root epidermis of the plant. In addition, the present invention includes a preferred method of generating such non-naturally occurring plants by introducing into the plant a transgene encoding a nitrogen utilization protein operably linked to a root-epidermis-specific promoter.

In the last 50 years, the "green revolution" has contributed to higher yields, greater stability of harvests and, as a result, higher farm income. This "green revolution" (Borlaug, 2000) resulted in part from conventional plant breeding yielding superior plant varieties, but also from (1) expansion of land mass for cultivation; (2) improved agricultural practices through fertilizer application and crop rotation and (3) pesticide and herbicide use which decrease the loss in productivity arising from plant pathogens and insect pests. However, the limits of these strategies are currently being realized. One approach, which will aid in addressing these limitations, is the development of crop species that have increased nitrogen use efficiency, thus increasing productivity on land of both marginal and good quality.
Nitrogen is an essential, limiting nutrient required for plant growth (Vance, 1997). To increase plant productivity, high levels of N-fertilizer are normally applied to crops. Global usage of fertilizer has increased from 32 to 87 million MT (1970 to 2000) and is projected to increase to 240 million MT by 2050 (Tilman, 1999). In Canada and the US alone 25 million tons of N, P, and K fertilizer are applied annually at a cost of $10 B (US) (Tisdale et al., 1985). To sustain high crop yields, up to 200 kg per hectare of fertilizer is often applied to many agricultural species. For example canola shows a positive correlation for seed yield, with fertilizer applications of up to 135 kg per hectare, after which there is a slight decrease in yield (Porter 1993). In addition to the economic costs of fertilizer application, there are environmental effects including the deterioration of soil quality, pollution and health hazards. The extensive use of NH4+, urea or nitrate as fertilizers all have negative impact on the environment. Heavy use of urea and ammonium based fertilizers causes acidification of soils, which results in decreases in both yield and the quality of crops (Goulding et al., 1998). Nitrate based fertilizers are problematic in that they do not remain in the soil, with up to 50% being lost through leaching (Carpenter et al., 1995). The release of gaseous nitrogen compounds from fertilizers also exacerbates acid rain (Matson et al., 1998) and the greenhouse effect (Tilman, 1999). Thus there is a need for plants that are capable of utilizing nitrogen more efficiently so that less nitrogen is required for the same yield or higher yields may be obtained with current levels of nitrogen use.

Plants with enhanced levels of nitrogen utilization proteins in their root epidermis and uses thereof

The Governors of the University of Alberta


A coffee machine for preparing hot, milk-containing beverages and having a milk supply (15) and a discharge means (8). In order to achieve improved handling, the milk supply (15) is configured for accommodating concentrated milk, and a mixing device (17) is provided for mixing the concentrated milk with water.

Coffee machines dispensing not only brewed beverages but also milk are known in large numbers, e.g. from DE-A-44 45 436. The known coffee machine comprises a foaming unit with which liquid fresh milk taken e.g. from a separate milk container or from a retail pack, such as the known milk cartons, is heated and foamed with the aid of air and steam introduced in the milk. The milk foam is then used for preparing cappuccino. Fresh liquid milk is, however, perishable and necessitates a cold chain which, for hygienic reasons, should not be interrupted as far as possible. Since the percentage of milk-containing beverages, such as cappuccino, white coffee, latte macchiato, etc., increases constantly, the proportion by volume of milk of the hot beverages dispensed already amounts to more than 60% in many enterprises, such as restaurants, cafes or the like. The large amount of milk to be provided creates problems as regards logistics-transport, stockkeeping, cooling and provision of the milk for the coffee machine as well as additional handling through constant replacement of the milk carton and replenishment. Moreover, additional large-volume cooling facilities are required in the counter area.
However, the known coffee machine also offers the possibility of foaming cold milk or of simply heating the milk making use of the steam so that hot milk can be dispensed. The foaming of cold milk requires a high energy input within the shortest possible time, the heating speed being, however, restricted by physical limits. Providing these large amounts of energy in the form of steam is very costly and necessitates the use of a powerful steam generator or steam boiler, since, at least in some countries, the customers' preference tends towards an increasingly higher percentage of milk or milk foam in comparison with the volume of the rest of the beverage. This has the effect that the time required for preparing hot milk or hot milk foam becomes more and more dominant in comparison with the time required for preparing the beverage so that there will be a substantial increase in the time which is necessary for preparing the whole beverage, and this may cause problems, especially in periods of peak activity in restaurants or the like.

WMF WÜRTTEMBERGISCHE METALL WARENFABRIK AG


A barbecue grill has a grill body, two hinge plates, a rear cover, a front cover and holding pins. The hinge plates are mounted on the grill body and respectively have a mounting foot and a mounting and adjustment panel. Each mounting and adjustment panel has a pivot hole and adjusting holes. The rear cover is connected pivotally to the hinge plates and has a curved panel, two side panels and two pivot pins. Each side panel has positioning holes. The pivot pins protrude out from the side panels and extend through the pivot holes. The front cover is mounted around the rear cover and has a curved panel, two side panels and two pivot collars. Each side panel has positioning holes. The pivot collars are protruded out the side panels and mounted around the pivot pins. The holding pins are extended through the adjusting holes and the positioning holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a barbecue grill, and more particularly to a barbecue grill with two covers and can operate conveniently.
2. Description of Related Art
With reference to FIG. 5, a conventional barbecue grill (70) generally comprises a grill body (71), a frame (72), a spit (73) and a cover (74).
The grill body (71) has a top, a front, a rear, a burner (711), a grill (712) and a control panel (713). The burner (711) is mounted in the top of the grill body (71). The grill (712) is mounted on the top of the grill body (71) near the burner (711). The control panel (713) is mounted on the front of the grill body (71) near the top and controls the burner (711).
The frame (72) is mounted securely on the top of the grill body (71) around the burner (711) and has two through holes. The through holes are formed in the frame (72) and face each other. The spit (73) is mounted in the though holes in the frame (72) over the burner (711).
The cover (74) is pivotally mounted over the spit (73) and the burner (711), selectively covers the burner (711) and has a front, two sides, two elongated holes and a handle (741). The elongated holes are formed respectively in the sides of the cover (74), align with the through holes in the frame (72) and are mounted around the spit (73). The handle (741) is mounted on the front of the cover(74).
However, the barbecue grill (70) only has a cover (74), so users must stand in front of the grill body (71) to roast or grill food and cannot operate the barbecue grill (70) from the rear near the frame (72).
To overcome the shortcoming, the present invention provides a barbecue grill with two covers to obviate or mitigate the aforementioned problems.


A method and apparatus for controlling a sound input path in an electronic device. The method includes detecting a connection of an earphone device to an earphone interface; detecting a sound input through an earphone microphone, when detecting the connection of the earphone device. The earphone microphone is selected as a sound input device, when detecting the sound input through the earphone microphone. A built-in microphone of the electronic device is selected when the sound input through the earphone microphone is not detected.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a sound input path and an apparatus supporting the same. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a sound input path for an electronic device and an apparatus supporting the same.
2. Background
A portable terminal is extremely popular due to its various communication functions and a size which is typically small enough to carry. In response to consumer demand, the size of touch screens is projected to increase, and a development of associated hardware and software that may provide various contents, the portable terminal is undergoing a dramatic growth and is becoming more popular than ever.
Meanwhile, an earphone device is provided as an accessory device for the portable terminal. The user of a portable terminal may listen to an audio signal by connecting the earphone device to the portable terminal through the earphone device for private listening, and user sound or an external sound may be input to the portable terminal through a microphone equipped in the earphone.
When mounting a 3.5. mm earphone that is currently used as a standard for the current smart phone, the smart phone uses a logic circuitry that detects a type of the earphone connected thereto in order to determine the sound input device in a state in which the earphone is mounted. In other words, when the earphone is connected to the smart phone, the smart phone detects a type of the earphone by dividing whether the earphone is a microphone-type (4-pole) or non-microphone-type (3-pole), and determines the sound input device as the earphone microphone when the earphone is detected as a microphone type. In addition, with regard to the non-microphone-type earphone, the smartphone may determine the sound input device as being a microphone that is built-in to the smart phone when the earphone is detected as a non-microphone-type.
Likewise, the method for distinguishing the earphone-type utilizes an electrical signal of a microphone terminal (M) section among the section divided by a left side output terminal (L), a right side output terminal (R), a ground terminal (G) of a 3.5 pie earphone, and an earphone microphone terminal (M). When a signal range of the microphone-type earphone is previously fixed at a certain range, and a corresponding electrical signal exists within the fixed signal range, the smartphone determines that the earphone of the microphone-type is mounted, and the earphone-microphone terminal (M) is determined as the sound input device.
In this case, even when the earphone microphone does not operate normally due to a malfunction, there is a problem in that a user-made sound or an external sound cannot be input because the earphone-microphone terminal (M) is activated as the sound input device.
In addition, when a deviation occurs in the electrical signal which is read in the earphone-microphone terminal (M) according to the earphone manufacturer and a circuit design of the smart phone, there is a problem of not being able to distinguish the type of the earphone accurately, and of tuning the signal range for detecting the microphone type according to each model when releasing the smart phone.

Method and apparatus for controlling a sound input path


An ultrasonic endoscope has a bending portion, an ultrasonic probe, and a flexible circuit board. The bending portion, connected to the point of a flexible tube, bends by remote control. The ultrasonic probe has a plurality of ultrasonic wave vibrators, which are arranged circumferentially, and send ultrasonic waves radially and receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves. The flexible circuit board, which transmits signals associated with the ultrasonic waves and the echoes, is constructed of a plurality of flexible circuit board strips in the bending portion so as to allow a bending motion. The plurality of ultrasonic wave coaxial lines, which are provided in the flexible tube to form an ultrasonic wave coaxial cable and are connected to the plurality of flexible circuit board strips, are loose and flexible in a given range.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope, which uses ultrasonic waves for the diagnosis of a diseased tissue. Especially, the present invention relates to a construction of the portion of the point in the endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the ultrasonic endoscope, an ultrasonic probe having ultrasonic wave vibrators is provided at the distal end of the endoscope. The ultrasonic probe sends ultrasonic waves and receives echoes of the sent ultrasonic waves.
For the scanning method, a radial scanning or a linear scanning is used. For example, when diagnosing an organ (body-cavity), into which the ultrasonic endoscope cannot be inserted, the radial scanning is performed. The endoscope is inserted toward an organ adjacent to the observed organ, ultrasonic waves are sent radially from the ultrasonic probe. Conventionally, a mechanical-type radial scanning is applied, where a series of ultrasonic wave vibrators is aligned along an axis of the probe and revolves on the axis to send the ultrasonic waves radially.
However, in the case of the mechanical type radial scanning, a color-image, partially colored by Red (R), G (Green), B(Blue), which is effective for diagnosis of the diseased areas, cannot be displayed on the monitor.
Further, while manipulating the bending portion, various forces act on signal transmitting members for transmitting signals associated with the ultrasonic waves and the echoes. Therefore, a greater durability for the bending motion is required for the signal transmitting members provided in the distal end of the endoscope.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic endoscope that is capable of obtaining an observed-image for diagnosis, and further that is durable in its bending motion.
An ultrasonic endoscope according to the present invention is an endoscope for performing electronic radial scanning. A bending portion formed in a tube is connected to the point of a flexible tube, which is inserted in a body, or organ. The flexible tube is normally connected to a manipulator portion of the endoscope, and an operator, such as a doctor, bends the bending portion by manipulating a manipulating knob, which is operatively connected to the bending portion. Namely, the bending portion bends by remote control.
An ultrasonic probe for the electronic radial scanning is operatively connected to the bending portion. For example, a solid point-base portion is connected to the bending portion and the ultrasonic endoscope is attached to the point-base portion.
The ultrasonic probe has a plurality of ultrasonic wave vibrators, which are arranged circumferentially to perform the electronic radial scanning. The plurality of ultrasonic wave vibrators send ultrasonic waves radially around a center axis of the ultrasonic probe and receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves.
According to the present invention, a flexible circuit board is provided in the endoscope. The flexible circuit board transmits signals associated with ultrasonic waves and echoes, so that an ultrasonic-image, representing a section-image in the body, is obtained at the ultrasonic wave diagnosis apparatus. As electronic scanning (not mechanical scanning) is performed, an ultrasonic color-image is obtained as required by simultaneously sending multiple ultrasonic waves, each frequency of which is different, or an ultrasonic pulse-width image is obtained by coloring in accordance with contrast of the echoes. These images cannot be obtained by mechanical radial scanning.
In the bending portion, the flexible circuit board is constructed of a plurality of flexible circuit board strips so as to allow a bending motion, namely, to be capable of withstanding the bending motion. The plurality of flexible circuit board strips extends along a central axis of the bending portion (herein, represented by xe2x80x9ca first central axisxe2x80x9d). The signal-transmitting member in the bending portion is composed of a plurality of flexible circuit board strips, which prevent snapping while the bending portion is manipulated. The plurality of flexible circuit board strips enables the circumferential arrangement of the ultrasonic wave vibrators, namely, the electronic radial scanning. Note that, the width of each flexible circuit board strips is defined in accordance with a radius of the bending portion.
An ultrasonic wave coaxial cable, which is provided in the flexible tube and which transmits the signals associated with the ultrasonic waves and echoes, is formed by bundling a plurality of ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines. Part of the ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines are separate and extend from the ultrasonic wave coaxial cable along a central axis of the flexible tube (herein, represented by xe2x80x9ca second central axisxe2x80x9d). The plurality of ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines are connected to the plurality of flexible circuit board strips so that the signals associated with the ultrasonic wave and the echoes are transmitted between the ultrasonic wave diagnosis apparatus and the ultrasonic probe.
The plurality of ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines are flexible and loose in a given range so as to xe2x80x9cacceptxe2x80x9d, or absorb the compressing and extending forces. Note that, the forces operate along the first and second central axes, against the plurality of flexible circuit board strips, the plurality of ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines, and the ultrasonic wave coaxial cable. While the bending portion is manipulated, the loose coaxial signal lines are flexed and pulled more compared to the flexible circuit board strips when the compressing and expanding forces occur along the first and second central axes. Namely, the unbundled coaxial lines absorb the compressing and extending forces by flexure and extending. Thus, excessive flex and extension do not occur in the circuit board strips while bending the bending portion so that snapping of the printed wiring on the circuit board strips does not occur.
To provide sufficient flexibility for the ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines, preferably, the length of the given range along the second axis is equal to or more than the length of the plurality of flexible circuit board strips along the first central axis.
As for the total construction of the flexible circuit board, the flexible circuit board strips may be composed of the flexible circuit board strips (pieces), which are connected to the ultrasonic wave vibrators separately. However, to make the flexible circuit board strips stronger than the ultrasonic wave coaxial signal lines with respect to the compressing and expanding forces, preferably, the flexible circuit board is formed by partially cutting a single rectangular flexible circuit board such that the plurality of flexible circuit board strips are formed and then rounding said cut rectangular flexible circuit board so as to form a cylindrical shape.


A crystalline form of Mod. I of Formula I:

EOC315 has a formula shown below:

EOC315 is a potent inhibitor of the VEGFR-2 (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-2) tyrosine kinase, with an IC50 value of 6 nM, it also inhibits the activity of the PDGFR (Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor) tyrosine kinase, with an IC50 value of 15 nM, and EOC315 is a highly selective VEGFR inhibitor.
A method for synthesizing EOC315 and analogues thereof, a pharmaceutical composition comprising EOC315, and pharmaceutical use thereof were disclosed in CN00816369 and CN200510127109. A preparation method of EOC315 for industrial production was disclosed in ZL200510140054. However, no crystalline form of EOC315 has been reported yet.

Compound of EOC315 Mod.I crystal form and preparation method thereof

Abstract: And, a process for the preparation of the crystalline form and a pharmaceutical use of the crystalline form.


Provided is a signal cancellation method for a wireless communication system, including: splitting a transmitted signal to obtain a main channel signal transmitted on a main channel and an auxiliary channel signal transmitted on an auxiliary channel; performing digital domain channel characteristic matching processing on the main channel signal and the auxiliary channel signal respectively to obtain a main channel characteristic matched signal and an auxiliary channel characteristic matched signal; and combining the main channel characteristic matched signal and the auxiliary channel characteristic matched signal which are coupled to a receiving channel in order for signal cancellation. A signal cancellation device for a wireless communication system is also provided. Through the technical solution of the disclosure, the signal cancellation problem of a bandwidth can be solved better.

In a wireless communication system, in order to prevent each part of the system from interfering with one another and ensure the internal electromagnetic compatibility of the system and the normal operation of each part, such passive means as shielding, filtering and wave absorption are usually adopted to enhance isolation and the like, and ensure that the mutual influence can be ignored. Whereas, when passive shielding, passive filtering and wave absorption and other means are adopted, a device has a large volume and weight and a relatively high cost.
With the development of the communication technology, operators have an increasingly high demand on the miniaturization and light weight of a wireless communication device. And the miniaturization of the wireless communication device also meets the trend of greenness and low carbon. The traditional isolation means cannot meet the demand of miniaturization of the device easily.
For the analog domain interference cancellation technology in the conventional art, the matching of channel characteristics is carried out in an analog domain, and amplitude, phase, delay and other characteristics cannot be controlled very finely and are controlled integrally according to a channel granularity, so that the influence of fluctuation of in-band characteristics on a cancellation result cannot be solved, and accordingly, a bandwidth cannot be widened, and the analog domain interference cancellation technology is only suitable for narrow-band cancellation.

Signal cancellation method and device for wireless communication system


A transistor includes a substrate and a device isolation layer that is formed on the substrate to define an active region. A gate pattern crosses over the active region. A gate insulation layer is interposed between the gate pattern and the active region. Source and drain regions are formed in the active region adjacent to respective sides of the gate pattern. A channel region is disposed in the active region between the source and drain regions. The channel region includes a recessed portion.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit devices and fabrication methods therefor, and, more particularly, to transistors having a suppressed short channel effect and fabrication methods therefor.
With the recent trend toward finer semiconductor devices, the 2-dimensonal size of transistors has become generally smaller. Reduction in channel length and width of a transistor, however, may be problematic. Moreover, these problems may be more severe in nano-scale transistors.
If the channel length is reduced, the threshold voltage may be reduced, which may increase the response speed of the device. Unfortunately, punchthrough may occur, leakage current may increase due to the surface punchthrough and the lower threshold voltage, and a sub-threshold swing may deteriorate. That is, the short channel effect may degrade a switching characteristic of the transistor.
If the channel width is reduced, the driving current may decrease, which may reduce the operation speed of the transistor. Further, narrow-width effects may be intensified. Due to the above problems, it may be difficult to reduce the width of transistors so as to improve the operation speed of a device in a high performance SRAM. Moreover, it may be difficult to increase the integration density in such devices.

Transistors having a recessed channel region


The present invention is a communication system. Further, the present invention relates to a database communication system that allows for communication between disparate databases.

There are several existing communication systems or methods for exchanging or transferring data for electronic commercial transactions. Such communication technologies are typically used for exchange of information between existing application systems for the purpose of completing electronic commercial transactions.
Generally, the goal of such systems is the exchange of information in the following exemplary fashion. When a business transaction is completed at a first application system, it may be desirous for some reason to communicate the information related to the transaction to a second application system. For example, if a person in a bank in Europe wants to deposit funds in the European bank for the purpose of transferring the funds to a U.S. bank, it would be necessary to communicate the transaction that occurs at the European bank to the U.S. bank. When the second application system receives the communication, the system performs the action required as a result of the communication (the "required action"). Further, once the required action has been taken, it may be desirable for the second application system to communicate the results of the action back to the first application system. For example, the person in the European bank will want confirmation from the U.S. bank regarding receipt of the funds at the U.S. bank. This is the typical method for achieving the goal of information exchange as it relates to electronic transactions.
One example of an existing communication system is a messaging system. An information exchange as summarized above takes place in the following manner for an existing messaging system as depicted in FIG. 1. When a business transaction is completed at a first database 18, a first application system 10 associated with the database 18 first must determine the destination of a message relating to the business transaction. Based on the destination, the appropriate standard message format for the second or receiving application system 34 must be selected by the first application system 10. As will be explained further below, a typical messaging system typically uses only one or two standard message formats, because of the complexity and time involved in making each application system in a messaging network compatible with a new format. The first application 12 then converts the transaction information into the selected message format 14. The system 10 then places the message, in the proper format, into a message queue 20 that communicates with the messaging system 22. The messaging system 22 routinely searches the queue 20 for messages and pulls any appropriate message from the queue 20 and sends the message to the appropriate communication device 24 within the system. The communication device 24 identifies the target address of the message and transmits the message over a network 26 to the appropriate communication device 28 that is in communication with the target system 34. In some networks, the receiving communication device 28 will send a confirmation message back to the sending communication device 24, indicating receipt of the message. The receiving communication device 28 delivers the message to the appropriate message queue 32 at the appropriate second or receiving application system 34, where the message is stored until the appropriate second application system 34 retrieves the message from the queue 32. Subsequently, the second application 36 reads the message from the message queue 32 and performs the required action, which includes both completing the action and writing a completion status back to the second system's existing application database 42. At this point, if a confirmation at the first application system 10 is desirable, the second application system 34 must affirmatively create and send a separate message in the proper format back to the first application system 10 over the messaging system in a reverse of the process described above.
Examples of this technology include Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Extended Markup Language (XML). Further examples include standardized industry networks for sending and receiving EDI and XML messages such as proprietary financial transaction networks like SWIFT, FedWire, and RTGS.
A similar application-to-application communication technology relates to web service or .net design systems. These systems are similar to the messaging systems in that they are separate, independent, one-way, one-time, application-to-application message systems. The information exchange takes place in the following manner for an existing web service, which is depicted in FIG. 2. The existing web service technology provides an independent, separate communication facilitator accessible over the Internet or any network. More specifically, the web service is dedicated to facilitate communication between a specific application at an application system and other application systems. Thus, each application system must establish its own web service application on the network for each application that it wants to make accessible for communication over the network.
Upon completion of the business transaction at the first database 52, the first or sending application system 50 must determine the appropriate receiving or second application system 76, then locate the web service application 68 for the appropriate receiving application system 76. Once the first application system 50 has identified the appropriate web service application 68, the system 50 formats its transaction information into the appropriate data format to be compatible with the appropriate receiving web service application 68. The web service call application 62 of the sending system 50 then electronically "invokes" the appropriate receiving web service application 68. When the connection is established, the receiving web service application 68 must perform with its security application 70 an authentication to ensure that the web service call application 62 is authorized to invoke the receiving application 68. Then, the web service call application 62 of the first application system 50 transmits the formatted message to the receiving web service application 68. The web service application 68 receives the message and validates the format of the transaction information. Then, the receiving web service application 68 invokes the appropriate previously established business logic at the business logic application 72 and communicates the transaction to the database 78 at the receiving application system 68. Alternatively, the receiving web service application 68 may invoke the appropriate application in the receiving application system 76 and the appropriate application invokes the appropriate business logic and communicates the transaction to the database 78 at the receiving application system 76. In some two-way web service networks, the receiving web service application 68 can communicate back to the sending web service call application 62 the status or completion of the business transaction.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a communication system that provides compatibility between disparate databases and allows for two-way exchange of information with automatic confirmation of successful exchange. Further, there is a need for a communication system that allows for direct communication between databases without the need for application-to-application communication to drive the information exchange. In addition, there is a need for a communication system that provides sufficient flexibility to add or adjust compatibilities quickly and easily to allow for communication with new database systems or database systems that have changed the format of their communications.

Network-based database communication system


A wafer keeping apparatus includes a closed wafer keeping space, and an arrangement for circulating an inert gas through a filter and then through the wafer keeping space. In one embodiment, several wafer keeping shelves are each provided within the space, and the inert gas is supplied through a respective filter to flow across each shelf. In another embodiment, a plurality of wafer keeping spaces are each accessible through a respective door which forms an airtight seal when it is closed, and respective filters are provided on opposite sides of the space, the inert gas being supplied to the space through one filter and exiting the space through the other filter. In a further embodiment, several of the wafer keeping spaces are provided at angularly and vertically spaced locations in a rotatable stocker body provided within a casing, and several vertically spaced doors are provided on the casing to provide access to respective wafer keeping spaces in the stocker body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer airtight keeping unit and a facility thereof for keeping temporarily a wafer cassette in a clean room for handling a semiconductor wafer.
2. Prior Art
A conventional article keeping facility in a clean room is disclosed in Japanese Publication Patent No. 1-41561. The article keeping facility comprises article keeping shelves having a plurality of partitioned accommodating spaces arranged vertically and laterally and a loading apparatus provided with an article taking-in-and-out mechanism which is movable vertically and laterally along a given route which is laid out on a central passage arranged between the article keeping shelves.
The article keeping facility of this type is provided with an air supply device, which is disposed under the article keeping shelves, and the air supplied from the air supply device is cleaned through a filter and blown from the rear side of the article keeping shelves toward the loading apparatus so that dust is prevented from floating or staying at the side of the article keeping shelves.
Since the loading apparatus mounts a lifting guide device and a lifting driving device for guiding the article taking-in-and-out mechanism on its self-propelled carriage, dust is generated due to abrasion and spreads toward the article keeping shelves and attached to the semiconductor wafers etc. without drawing the dust under the floor side and removed therefrom. Accordingly, it is necessary to entirely cover both the lifting guide device and the lifting driving device while an air suction device is mounted at the lower side of the self-propelled carriage, whereby the dust generated within the cover is drawn downward and removed by the air suction device through the floor of the carriage.
As mentioned above, the floating dust is prevented from attaching to the articles (semiconductor wafers accommodated in wafer cassettes) on the article keeping shelves by forming a clean air current from the rear portion of the article keeping shelves toward the central passage.
As is evident from the conventional article keeping facility, a measure to prevent the dust is taken since the semiconductor wafer is apt to be easily damaged by the dust. However, it is also necessary to take into consideration formation of an oxide film caused by a spontaneous oxidation of a semiconductor IC involved in high integration of the semiconductor IC.
FIGS. 14 and 15 are graphs disclosed in the "Super LSI ultra clean technology symposium" (Nov. 19, 1990) which FIG. 14 shows a relation between an oxide thickness and time involved in forming of the oxide film on the surface of a silicon semiconductor wafer caused by spontaneous oxidation and FIG. 15 shows a relation between resistivity and time involved in forming oxide film. FIG. 14 shows that growth rate of the oxide film is increased after the lapse of 100 to 200 minutes while FIG. 15 shows that resistivity is abruptly increased in the situation of non-cleaning of the IC after the lapse of about 50 minutes.
There is such a problem that high integrated IC is difficult to be manufactured because the oxide film is generated thereon by the spontaneous oxidation since the semiconductor wafer is normally kept for several hours to several days.
As the semiconductor integrated circuit is further advanced to high integration, it is necessary to convey and move the wafer in the atmosphere of inert gas such as N.sub.2 gas for restricting the oxide film caused by the spontaneous oxidation from growing. At present, the N.sub.2 gas atmosphere is required to have a concentration of at least 10 ppm of O.sub.2 and 100 ppm of H.sub.2 O.
To meet the demand of this atmosphere, the process of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which is conventionally carried out in a specific design clean room, has come to employ a mechanical interface device which is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Publication Patent No. 60-143623 in which the semiconductor device is manufactured under the N.sub.2 gas atmosphere.
Accordingly, it is necessary to keep temporarily therein the keeping unit (stocker), which keeps the semiconductor wafer always under the N.sub.2 gas atmosphere during the process of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
However, the conventional stocker provided with a door is not airtight enough against a surrounding atmosphere so that an entire stocker per se communicates with the surrounding atmosphere every time the door is open, therefore, a large amount of N.sub.2 gas had to be introduced into the stocker every time the stocker communicates with the surrounding atmosphere. Accordingly, there was a problem that a turbulence is generated in the stocker every time the large amount of N.sub.2 gas is introduced into the stocker, which permits the dust in the stocker to float in the air, permits a concentration of the N.sub.2 gas in each cassette housing room nonuniform and make the arrangement of the stocker complex and large sized.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a wafer keeping facility which is capable of restraining the growth of the oxide film caused by the spontaneous oxidation during the keeping of the ICs.
It is a second of the present invention to provide a wafer airtight keeping unit which is capable of airtightly sealing the unit except a cassette housing room against an external atmosphere when a wafer cassette is taken in and out from the unit, and is capable of restricting the N.sub.2 gas concentration from varying and the dust from floating in the other portions of wafer airtight keeping unit when the cassette is taken in and out from the unit, for thereby increasing the manufacturing yield of the semiconductor device compared with the conventional unit.

Wafer airtight keeping unit and keeping facility thereof


A golf training device which clamps onto the shaft of a standard golf club. The device has a holding block which holds a laser pointing in a downward direction. A hinged mirror at the light emitting end of the laser causes the laser light to be reflected at roughly a ninety degree angle and thereby run parallel to the ground. An alignment strip and separate target helps the user calibrate the training device so that the laser beam is perpendicular to the flat head striking area of the golf club. The alignment strip can then be removed allowing the user to move the target to any reasonable distance. In this way a golfer can learn the proper alignment of club head to hole thereby improving his or her ability to accurately putt a golf ball towards and into the hole. The hinged mirror on the training device of the present invention can also be swung down so that the laser light is pointing straight down. In this orientation a user can swing a golf club in a practice room and observe the swing path of the club as the laser light forms a line as it strikes the floor, wall and ceiling. The training device of the present invention is easily attached and removed and is compact enough to be carried in ones pocket.

The present invention relates to golf training devices and more specifically to a golf-training device, which removably attaches to a golf club and helps teach proper club alignment and resulting swing.
Many golf training devices are available in the market today. Golfers are always interested in improving their score. Since more than forty percent of the strokes in a typical round of golf are made with the putter, it behooves the golfer to improve alignment and accuracy when putting the ball towards the hole. The present device provides a unique way to do just that.