A searching method for a Security Policy Database (SPD) is proposed. The characteristic of peer gateway of the IPSec is applied to divide the original SPD into multiple smaller peer-based SPDs, and build a peer table corresponding to the peer-based SPDs. When it is required to search the policies in the database, the peer-based SPD according to the present invention can be directly used so as to save the time of data searching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), and particularly, to a searching method for a Security Policy Database (SPD).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) applies the technology of the Internet Protocol (IP) to build the encryption tunneling on the Internet so as to establish the enterprise network on the Internet. The network based on the Internet protocol has good expandability, and applies the standard IPSec to be the protection technology. The IP security (IPSec, RFC 2401) combines the security standards of encryption, authentication, key management, digital certification, and so on so as to provide the high protection ability.
When the IPSec is applied for executing the data transmission, the processing can be inbound processing or outbound processing according to the direction of the data transmission. The inbound processing means that via the peer gateway, the data is transmitted from the peer network to the local gateway, and finally, to the local network. The packet received in the inbound processing is called as the inbound packet. There are two kinds of inbound packets. One is the inbound IPSec packet processed by the IPSec, and the other is the general inbound IP packet. The outbound processing means that via the local gateway, the data is transmitted from the local network to the peer gateway, and finally, to the peer network. The packet received by the outbound processing is called as the outbound packet, which is an outbound IP packet.
The IPSec has two different modes, the transport mode and the tunnel mode. The transport mode is a host-to-host encapsulation mechanism, and the tunnel mode is a gateway-to-gateway or gateway-to-host encapsulation. In order words, a host supporting the IPSec has to support the transport mode and the tunnel mode, while the gateway only has to support the tunnel mode. However, the gateway can also support the transport mode so as to provide another selection to make the gateway directly communicate with the host.
The IPSec will determine which packets have to be processed according to the designated selectors, such as the network address, the protocol, and the port number in the SPD. The processing methods comprise applying the IPSec, by-passing the IPSec and discarding. The default processing method is directly discarding the packet. Also, in order to apply the IPSec, the user has to designate the mode of the IPSec, the protocol of the IPSec, the authentication algorithm, the encryption/decryption algorithm, and the key in the Security Association Database (SAD).
The SPD is an ordered list composed of different security policies. Each of the policies is selected according to different selectors. The selectors include the source address, the destination address, the protocol, the source port and the destination port. The range value of each of the selectors can be single, range or wildcard.
Because the selectors may be the same, the overlapping of the policies easily occurs. Namely, in the SPD, the selectors of more than two policies may equally match the searching requirement of one packet. Therefore, IPSec requires the searching of the SPD to be ordered. The searching has to start from the beginning policy and go on sequentially until the first policy matching with the requirement is found so as to obtain a consistent searching result.
FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a prior art SPD. If the linear search is directly applied to be the searching method for SPD, the time complexity is O(n), and n is the number of the policies. For the system having a greater number of policies, applying the linear search on the SPD will become the processing bottleneck of the IPSec. Nowadays, the number of the policies in the business product specification is below 100 for the families or small scale enterprises, about 1000 for the middle/large scale enterprises, and about 10000 for the very large scale enterprises.
In the prior art, in order to resolve the problem of searching the SPD, three methods are provided. The first one is the brute force parallel searching method. The second one is the flow-based searching method (disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,376, and the US patent publication number 2003/0023846 and 2003/0069973). Please refer to FIG. 2. The third one is the Patricia-based searching method (disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,376 and the U.S. patent publication No. 2003/0061507). Please refer to FIG. 3.
The brute force parallel searching method directly utilizes the capability of the hardware parallel processing. It divides the number of the policies of the system specification by the maximum number of the policies capable of being processed by a single SPD module so as to determine the number of the SPD modules to be duplicated. The policy manager will collectively manage the searching requirements of the inbound packet or the outbound packet, and then broadcast the requirement to the inbound SPD modules, or the outbound SPD modules for simultaneously searching, and then get the searching result back. If policies matching with the requirement are found out from more than two SPDs, the policy manager will choose the policy with highest priority and report it.
The drawback of this method is the high cost because multiple SPD modules have to be duplicated, and at most, only two searching requirements of the SPDs can be served at the same time. One is the search for the inbound packets, and the other is the search for the outbound packets.
The flow-based searching method will perform some specific processes on each of the packet flow. Take the transport control protocol (TCP) packet for example, the packets having the same source address, destination address, protocol, source port and destination port belong to a packet flow. For the first packet of each of the packet flows, the linear search has to be performed on the SPD so as to obtain the corresponding policy. However, this method will store the search result for being used by the remaining packets in the same packet flow. If the search result is stored in a hash table of which the space usage rate is less than one half, theoretically, the time complexity is O(1).
However, the drawback of this method is that a great amount of memory space is required to maintain the hash table. The space complexity is O(f), and f is the number of packet flows. Furthermore, in this method, the linear search still has to be performed on the SPD for the first packet. Therefore, this may cause a period of delaying before the network program in the application layer builds the network connection.
The Patricia-based searching method applies the Patricia tree to search the data. The Patricia tree is a binary searching tree algorithm. The worst case of the Patricia tree having the non-contiguous masks is O(w2), and w is the length of the key of the Patricia tree. In the method disclosed in the U.S. patent publication number 2003/0061507, w is 112. The drawback of the Patricia-based searching method is that the policies in the SPD cannot be overlapped. Otherwise another effective algorithm is required to transform the original SPD into a non-ordered SPD so that the search result can match the required order by the IPSec. However, in the prior art, the method for transforming the security policy database into the non-ordered security policy database is not provided.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart for processing a prior art outbound IPSec. As for the outbound IP packet (S10), the search is performed on the security policy database (S12). If the search result is "discard," then the packet is directly discarded (S11). If the search result is "by-pass," then go to the process for the Internet protocol (S13). If the search result is "apply," then search the security association database (S15). If not found, then discard the packet, and build the security association (S14). If found, encapsulate the outer header (S16), and then perform the encryption and authentication (S17). Thereafter, go to the process for the Internet protocol (S13).
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for processing a prior art inbound IPSec. As for the inbound IPSec packet (S20), the search is performed on the security association database (S23). If not found (S22), then discard the packet. If found, perform the decryption and the authentication (S24), and then decapsulate the outer header (S25). Thereafter, the search is performed on the security policy database (S26). As for the inbound IP packet (S21), then directly search the security policy database (S26). If a wrong policy is found, then directly discard the packet (S22). If the correct policy is searched, then perform the process for the Internet protocol (S27).

Searching method for a security policy database

Industrial Technology Research Institute


The yarns of the invention include untwisted wrapped singles yarns having a core strand and a wrapper yarn. The wrapper yarn is a base synthetic fiber and a heat-activated binder fiber with a melting point substantially below that of the base synthetic fiber. The Saxony carpets of the invention are made from untwisted singles yarn tufts and are possessed of surface appearance, individual tip retention, pile density, resilient hand and wear resistance comparable or superior to conventional Saxony carpets made from multiple plied twist set yarns.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel yarns for the manufacture of Saxony carpets, upholstery and other applications, carpets manufactured therefrom and the method of their manufacture. The yarns of the invention comprise untwisted wrapped singles yarns having a core strand and a wrapper yarn. The wrapper yarn is comprised of a base synthetic fiber and a heat-activated binder fiber with a melting point substantially below that of the base synthetic fiber. The Saxony carpets of the invention are comprised of untwisted singles yarn tufts and are possessed of surface appearance, individual tip retention, pile density, resilient hand and wear resistance comparable or superior to conventional Saxony carpets made from multiple plied twist set yarns.
2. Description of the Related Art
A large portion of carpets used in residences in the United States are known as cut pile carpets. In their manufacture, pile yarn is inserted into a backing material as loops. The loops are cut to form vertical tufts and then usually sheared to an even length. There are two principal types of cut pile carpets: plush and Saxony. In plush carpets, the fibers from one tuft are indistinguishable from the fibers from surrounding tufts, giving a velvet-like appearance. In Saxony carpets, the individual pile yarn tufts are well defined giving a pointilist effect.
Cut-pile carpet is customarily produced from staple yarns or bulked continuous filament yarn. Staple fiber may be processed into yarn suitable for cut pile carpets by techniques known in the art. Generally, such techniques involve first combing crimped staple fiber in a carding machine to form a sliver which is a continuous strand of loosely assembled fibers without twist. The sliver is then drafted on a drafting machine to improve its thickness uniformity and subsequently spun and twisted on a spinning machine to form singles twisted yarn.
To produce plush carpets, the singles twisted yarn may be tufted directly into the backing material. However, to produce Saxony carpets, the torque in the singles twisted yarn must be neutralized. This is done by plying with other singles twisted yarn(s) to form a 2-ply or 3-ply yarn construction and twisting the plied yarns in the opposite sense from the twist in the singles yarn. The twisted yarn is then subjected to a heat-setting operation where the twist is heat-set utilizing one of several commercially available twist setting processes such as the Suessen or Superba processes, thus making the yarn suitable for tufting.
In a typical twist setting process, the yarn is passed through a heated chamber, while in a relaxed condition. The temperature of this process step is crucial to the proper twist setting of the base fiber to obtain desired properties of the final carpet product. For nylon-6 base fiber, the conditions for this step are typically 190-200° C. with a residence time of about 60 seconds for the Suessen process and about 130-140° C. with a residence time of about 60 seconds for the Superba process.
Similarly, bulked (texturized or crimped) continuous filament nylon yarn is produced according to various conventional methods. Twisting, entangling, or direct cabling may be utilized in various processes. For example, a 2-ply twisted yarn combining 2 ends of 1185 denier 70 filament yarn is prepared and subjected to conventional twist setting conditions, such as that for the staple yarn above or in an autoclave at 132° C. in saturated steam with a residence time of about 60 minutes. Multiple ends of the twist set yarns are tufted into cut pile carpet and conventionally finished to obtain the desired Saxony carpet product.
The perceived value of Saxony carpets is dependent upon several factors including carpet bulk and carpet "texture retention." By the term, "texture retention" as used herein, it is meant the ability of the carpet to retain its original tuft definition after being subjected to traffic. When Saxony carpets are new, they have a pleasing texture. The bulked yarns, which form the tufts, provide firmness and body to the carpet. The ply-twist in the individual tufts allows for good tuft definition, which gives the carpet a uniform and sharp appearance. Each tuft appears distinctly separate from neighboring tufts. However, when the carpet is subjected to a high degree of traffic, the tufts begin to untwist. This loss of twist causes the tuft tips to splay open. The individual filaments of one tuft tend to mingle with filaments of adjacent tufts giving the carpet a matted appearance and loss of texture. A need exists for yarns that improve texture retention in carpets.
It is known that carpet bulk can be improved by increasing the face weight of the carpet or by increasing the crimp imposed on the face fiber. However, carpet face weight is directly proportional to the carpet's total production cost. Furthermore, highly crimped staple fiber can create processing problems, especially during the carding operation. A need exists for Saxony carpet yarns that may be tufted into carpets to provide good carpet bulk in such a manner that the above problems are avoided.
It is known that conventional Saxony carpet yarns require two or three plies of twisted singles yarns re-twisted together in order to yield carpets having satisfactory bulk and texture retention. Thus far, it has not been possible to produce satisfactory Saxony carpets from singles yarns. However, the process of twisting, plying and re-twisting several singles yarns together is slow and costly. A need exists for a singles yarn construction, that when used without further plying, will yield Saxony carpet quality at least equal to that obtained from multiple plied twist set yarns, and which can be made by a simpler, more economic process.
There is a long history of prior art processes that have had the objectives of improving the properties of yarns for various purposes through use of a low melting binder material incorporated in the yarn. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,880,112; 3,494,819; 3,494,822; 3,828,542; 3,877,214; 4,552,6034; 4,644,741; 5,910,361; European Patent Nos. 444,637; 696,655; British Patent No. 2,205,116; South African Patent No. 72,0545 (equivalent to French Patent No. 72,02930); and Japanese Patents and Publications Nos. 61-10023; 61-100222; 61-245322. More pertinent to the current invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,252,999; 3,494,822; 4,668,552; 4,668,553; 4,871,604; 5,010,723; 5,141,780; 5,478,624; 5,567,256; PCT Publication Nos. WO 88/03969; WO 94/09196; WO 94/20657; European Patent 324,773, and Japanese Patents and Publications Nos. 52-18835; 60-224,831. Most pertinent, the current invention is an improvement of the co-pending application, Ser. No. 08/933,822 filed Sep. 19, 1997, and South African Patent 98/8628.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,624 and European Patent 324,773 describe carpet yarns comprising a blend of at least one base fiber selected from the group consisting of polyester, nylon 6 and nylon 66, and 1-12 weight percent of a heat activated binder fiber. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,624 is hereby specifically incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent herewith. U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,552 describes a wrapped yarn for upholstery fabrics comprising a body strand of untwisted staple fibers and a binder strand formed of about 3 to 10 wt. % of a thermoplastic polymer having heat shrinkable and fusible properties. Japanese Kokai 60-224,831 describes single ply twisted carpet face yarns for plush carpets. Co-pending application, Ser. No. 08/933,822 filed Sep. 19, 1997 and South African Patent 98/8628 broadly describe wrapped yarns comprising a binder material in the wrapper yarns.
Each of the yarn constructions in the patents and publications cited above represented improvements in the state of their respective arts. However, none described the specific constructions of the yarns of this invention and none satisfied all of the needs met by this invention.

Untwisted wrapped singles yarns and carpets manufactured therefrom


A resource management module of a management server for controlling a multi-root I/O manager connected to a PCI switch for connecting a plurality of I/O devices and a plurality of computers with each other includes: failure handling content information indicating, for each computer sharing a multi-root I/O device, a content of a failure handling at an occurrence of a failure in the multi-root I/O device; and failure handling availability status information indicating whether a hardware reset of the multi-root I/O device is possible and updates, upon reception of a notification of the occurrence of the failure in the multi-root I/O device, the failure handling availability status information, and instructs, based on the failure handling availability status information, the multi-root I/O manager to restrain or cancel the hardware reset of the multi-root I/O device.

This invention relates to a device control technology for a compound computer system in which a plurality of computers and a plurality of I/O devices are connected with each other via peripheral component interconnect (PCI) switches, and more particularly, to control for handing a failure which has occurred in an I/O device shared by a plurality of computers.
IT systems used for processing for task-related information in companies are configured by various servers including WEB servers for displaying information to users information on respective tasks, application (AP) servers for integrating and processing information, database (DB) servers for accumulating and storing information, and the like. Those servers use computers, each including a CPU, a memory, and I/O devices. The IT system is configured by a large number of servers as described above, and hence, in order to simplify management of the servers, blade servers in which a plurality of computers are installed in one apparatus have been employed (refer to JP 2002-32153 A).
The processing performance of a CPU used for a computer has been increased in recent years by means of a multi-core configuration in which the CPU includes a plurality of processor cores, and a virtual server technology has been employed for operating a plurality of virtual servers on one computer for efficient use of the CPU. Further, computers use I/O devices such as a network interface card (NIC), and a fiber channel-host bus adaptor (FC-HBA) for network communication with other computers and connection to storage systems.
While a plurality of serves operate on one computer, the number of I/O devices which are connectable to the one computer has not increased due to physical constraint, and the number of I/O devices per computer is relatively insufficient.
Technologies for making up for the insufficient number of I/O devices include a multi-root I/O switch technology which enables a plurality of computers and a plurality of I/O devices to connect with each other, and a multi-root IO virtualization (IOV) technology for enabling a plurality of computers to share one I/O device. The multi-root I/O switch technology enables to change, in a scalable manner, the number of I/O devices which are connectable to one computer (see "Advanced Switching Technology Tech Brief", issued in 2005, written by ASI-SIG, for example; hereinafter, referred to as Non-patent Document 1). The multi-root I/O virtualization technology enables to increase, by sharing one I/O device by a plurality of computers, the number of I/O devices in a virtual manner. By using those technologies, it is possible to solve the problem of the insufficient number of I/O devices when virtual servers are used (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,058,738).
The blade server which contains a plurality of computers in an enclosure is described in JP 2002-32153 A titled "CARTRIDGE TYPE SERVER UNIT AND A CABINET TO ACCOMMODATE A PLURALITY OF SAID SERVER UNITS". The multi-root I/O switch technology of this type is described in Non-patent Document 1.

Compound computer system and method for sharing PCI devices thereof


An electromagnetic valve arrangement with a valve element having least one part disposed in a valve chamber defined by a valve insert in the region of a valve seat. An end facing away from the valve chamber of the valve element is operatively connected to an armature and end face of the armature facing toward the valve insert and/or an end face of the valve insert facing toward the end face of the armature is embodied with a surface profile such that a flow cross section, defined by the opposed end faces varies at least regionally in the radial direction and/or in the circumferential direction of the armature.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved electromagnetically actuated valve arrangement of the type useful, for example, in brake systems for motor vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
From German Patent Disclosure DE 100 36 576 A1, an electromagnetically actuatable valve arrangement which is usable particularly in hydraulic brake systems of motor vehicles is known. The valve arrangement includes a valve insert embodied with a longitudinal bore and solidly connected to a valve dome. Disposed in the valve dome is an armature, longitudinally movable in the axial direction of the valve arrangement, that is operatively connected to a valve tappet guided longitudinally movably, likewise in the axial direction, in the valve insert. The operative connection between the armature and the valve tappet or the valve element is such that an armature motion in the closing direction of a valve seat is transmitted to the valve tappet embodied with a closing member, so that a seat valve is closed upon contact of the closing member with a valve seat.
The valve tappet is guided with slight radial play in the longitudinal bore of the valve insert and is provided on its jacket side with at least two conduits, separate from one another. A valve chamber containing the seat valve of the valve arrangement communicates fluidically through the conduits with voids inside the valve dome, so that residual air in the valve dome can be positively displaced via the conduits.
The valve arrangement, in the currentless state, is furthermore kept in the opened state by a spring assembly or a restoring spring; the spring assembly, embodied as a compression spring, is built into the valve chamber. This disposition of the spring assembly assures simple assembly of the valve arrangement.
By actuation of the valve arrangement which is open when without current, the armature is displaced with the valve element. Between the voids, which are defined on the end facing away from the valve element by the valve dome and the armature and in the contact region of the armature on the valve element by the armature, the valve element, the valve dome, and the valve insert, a volumetric and pressure compensation takes place, which in operation of the valve arrangement is associated with a flow of the operating fluid located in the interior of the valve arrangement.
The fluid flow, in unfavorable operating states of the valve arrangement, in the region of the end faces, facing toward one another, of the armature and of the valve insert, leads to an unwanted motion of the armature and thus also of the valve element in the direction of the valve seat, which is due to an effect of the hydrodynamic paradox that occurs between the end faces of the armature and of the valve insert.
This unwanted motion of the armature and of the valve element in the direction of the valve seat leads, in operation of the valve arrangement, to an uncontrollable change in location of the armature and also of the valve element, which under some circumstances leads to an unwanted change in the flow cross section of the valve arrangement in the region of the valve seat, and as a result an open-and closed-loop control characteristic of the valve arrangement can be verified or replicated only with difficulty.


An electrical control system which controls an electrical device from two or more locations with independent control function, the system including a wall adapter having a first integrated circuit board, a first enclosure, and a second enclosure. The first enclosure includes a first push button, a first synchronizing push button, and a second IC board electrically connected to the wall adapter; and the second enclosure includes a second push button, a second synchronizing push button, and a third IC board. Each of the wall switch, the first synchronizing push button, and the second synchronizing push button is a system power control button and part of a synchronizing circuit that synchronizes the electrical control system to default system power controls upon being pressed by a user. Each of the first and second push buttons is a local button that controls a respective controlled receptable of a respective enclosure.

A need exists that allows a user to control an electrical device, for example, a lamp, from two or more locations in a room independent of the wall switch and regardless of the on or off position of the single-pole wall switch, giving the user a true three-way switch function from an existing single-pole switch controlling a wall receptacle.
For ease of installation and to limit expenses, it is desirable to have an electrical control device that can be used without requiring modifications to the existing wall switch, to the lamp, and without modifying the existing wall receptacle or any other parts of the existing wiring.
Any discussion of prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field.

Multiple location electrical control system with synchronizing buttons


A directional neutron detector has an ion chamber formed in a dielectric material; a signal electrode and a ground electrode formed in the ion chamber; a neutron absorbing material filling the ion chamber; readout circuitry which is electrically coupled to the signal and ground electrodes; and a signal processor electrically coupled to the readout circuitry. The ion chamber has a pair of substantially planar electrode surfaces. The chamber pressure of the neutron absorbing material is selected such that the reaction particle ion trail length for neutrons absorbed by the neutron absorbing material is equal to or less than the distance between the electrode surfaces. The signal processor is adapted to determine a path angle for each absorbed neutron based on the rise time of the corresponding pulse in a time-varying detector signal.

There are two underlying issue that motivated the disclosed inventions. The first was to improve capabilities for finding special nuclear materials (SNM). The second was to develop potential approaches to improve the capabilities for characterizing or assessing SNM. To get the most information from a radiation field for both of those goals, the ideal sensor would need to discriminate against all forms of background as well as measure energy spectra and image the location of the radiation. The present invention represents an attempt to develop this ideal sensor system and to meet these goals concurrently.
Cost is an issue however the need is great enough and value acceptable. The cost of this type of unique development is likely to be much less than that which has already gone into helium-3 replacement technologies to date and is currently is being spent on scintillator improvements. The technology also offers functionality not provided by current alternatives.
Current neutron detection technology is primarily focused on bulk thermal neutron detectors such as commercial helium-3 tubes or fast neutron detection utilizing liquid or plastic scintillators. Helium-3 detectors are less desirable because of the limited supply of helium-3. Additionally, current helium-3 detectors are bulky and, aside from gaseous electron multipliers (GEMs), the helium-3 proportional tubes do not routinely generate two dimensional information. Multiwire helium-3 proportional detectors have been investigated, but these use a lot of the helium-3 gas and can be difficult to field.
Liquid scintillators have disadvantages in that they are gamma sensitive, the liquids are often flammable and they require bulky photomultiplier tubes. They can discriminate between neutrons and gammas at up to 10 MHz in a laboratory environment, but in intense short-pulsed situations, such as that encountered in active detection, pulse shape discrimination may not be fast enough to acquire the data and resolve gamma background from neutron signals. Liquid scintillators (many of which do not provide pulse shape discrimination against gammas) can be made pixelated, but offer no capability for spectral or angular discrimination without the need for a heavy shield or aperture system.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention may improve gamma rejection and reduce the consumption of helium-3, as well as providing for increased resolution and directional discrimination. These and other advantages of the present invention may be understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description.

Compact ion chamber based neutron detector


A scanning apparatus for use in a scanning optical system comprises a laser transmitter to produce a transmitter beam. This transmitter beam is deviated by a beam scanner, e.g. a tiltable mirror, to produce a pattern of a scanning beam. There are bearings which define first and second axes of rotation perpendicular to each other and intersecting each other in an intersecting point for allowing the beam scanner to scan. In front of the beam scanner is a window of transparent material in the shape of a spherical cap so as to define a central axis and a central point. The central axis intersects the intersecting point of the two other axes, and this common intersecting point coincides preferably with the central point of the sphere of the window.

Laser scanners have been conceived for a vast field of applications, such as laser range finders, tracking systems, 3-D image producers and so on. As mentioned above, an exit (and also entry) window in the shape of a spherical cap have been used to enable a wide field of view. This is especially of importance in the case of tracking systems as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,039,246 and 4,024,392. Certainly, in the case of tracking systems, it is only of importance to know whether the object sought is in the field of view or not. Therefore, optical deviation or distortions are hardly important. This will well be understood, if considering that both U.S. Patents provided mirrors as the beam scannings, which in the first case was inclined to the axis of the spherical cap of the window (i.e. the symmetry axis which goes through the center of the cap) and, while rotating, gave a certain loop pattern in the object space, while the second one had a mirror which rolled over the curvature of bow of a gimbal, thus deviating the scanning beam very much.
Although a spherical window in the above sense has the advantage of providing a wide field of view, it has the disadvantage that the curved window acts, in some way, like a lens which, in cooperation with the beam scanner (mostly a mirror) might, however, introduce some optical distortions into the 2-D image gathered by mere scanning in a "horizontal" and "vertical" direction ("horizontal" and "vertical" understood in the sense of video-scanning in X- and Y-direction), while measuring the distance to the object provides data in the third spatial axis, i.e. the Z-direction. This, in some applications, is of course undesirable.


The present invention discloses lacrosse head having a throat for receiving a handle, a scoop distal from the throat, a pair of sidewalls extending from the throat to the scoop, and a ball stop adjacent the throat. A pair of floating ribs corresponding to each of the pair of sidewalls is provided. Each of the floating ribs has a first end and a second end separated by a middle portion wherein the first end is joined proximal the throat and the second end is joined proximal the side wall and a segment of the middle portion is not attached to the sidewall. The socket is provided with an inner perimeter and outer perimeter. The outer perimeter has a proximal end proximal a mouth for receiving the lacrosse handle and a distal end distal the proximal end, the distal end being larger than the proximal end. The outer perimeter is substantially smooth.

The present invention relates generally to an implement used for playing lacrosse and more particularly, to a lacrosse head.
It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that lacrosse is a fast growing sport. It will further be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that lacrosse heads are essential to playing the game. A head is a basket that attaches to the end of a handle. The lacrosse head is usually molded from duPont Xytel® brand nylon. The lacrosse head has an open or upper side for catching and discharging the ball and a lower side to which a net or pocket is attached for holding a ball. A lacrosse head has a throat section having a socket for receiving a handle and a ball stop. To the ball stop there is attached a pair of sidewalls. Ribs are provided on either in interior or exterior of the sidewalls for strength or to vary pocket size. However, these ribs are attached along the majority of their length to the head. The sidewalls are joined distal from the ball stop by a lip or scoop. A socket is provided to receive a handle. The socket has an inner perimeter that is multi-sided and of a shape to mate with a similarly-shaped handle. The prior art external perimeter of the socket tends to be inconsistent in that it is shaped like the internal perimeter or it melds into the structure of the very angular lacrosse head.


A combination pacer/defibrillator is tailored for bradycardia patients. In one example, its shock-delivery specificity exceeds its sensitivity to shockable ventricular tachyarrhythmias. In another example, its specificity exceeds 95%, or 99%, or even 99.5%. Sensitivity is programmed to a high desired sensitivity value, but only if it can be done without decreasing the specificity below the desired specificity threshold value. This can be conceptualized as “avoiding at all costs” delivering false shocks, even at the expense of failing to deliver a shock to a treatable ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Specificity enhancements include, among other things, inhibiting shock delivery when the patient is breathing or not supine, using multiple channels or a high rate VT/VF detection threshold. The present pacer/defibrillator device could potentially save the lives of bradyarrhythmia patients who are not presently clinically indicated for a defibrillator/pacer, but who have an increased risk of sudden cardiac death due to one or more risk factors.

Implantable medical devices include, among other things, cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices such as pacers, cardioverters, defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices, as well as combination devices that provide more than one of these therapy modalities to a subject. For example, an implantable defibrillator/pacer is typically configured as an implantable defibrillator with backup pacing capability. Such devices are intended to serve patients having a history of previous ventricular or atrial tachyarrhythmia episodes. Ventricular arrhythmias include ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VT) and dangerous and life-threatening ventricular fibrillation (VF), referred to collectively herein as VT/VF. VT/VF is typically treated with antitachyarrhythmia pacing (ATP) therapy or a defibrillation countershock.
A cardiac rhythm management device's detection scheme for a particular cardiac arrhythmias is typically characterized by its "sensitivity" and "specificity." Sensitivity generally refers to the ability of the detection scheme to effectively detect an abnormal heart rhythm (e.g., VT/VF) that the physician desires the cardiac rhythm management device to treat. The sensitivity can be expressed as follows:Sensitivity=True Positives/(True Positives+False Negatives)  (Eq. 1)Specificity generally refers to the ability of the detection scheme to avoid improperly treating rhythms (e.g., sinus tachycardia) that the physician determines that the device should not treat. The specificity can be expressed as follows:Specificity=True Negatives/(True Negatives+False Positives)  (Eq. 2)
For example, if the rhythm to be detected is VT/VF, then a true positive would occur when a particular rhythm is VT/VF and the detection algorithm correctly declares it as VT/VF. A false negative would occur when the rhythm is VT/VF and the detection algorithm erroneously declares it as not VT/VF. A false positive would occur when the rhythm is anything but VT/VF (e.g., normal sinus rhythm (NSR), sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, electrical noise, e.g., due to mypotentials, electromagnetic interference (EMI), a loose set screw for a leadwire, a broken leadwire, etc.) and the detection algorithm erroneously declares it as VT/VF. A true negative would occur when the rhythm is anything but VT/VF (e.g., normal sinus rhythm (NSR), sinus tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, electrical noise, e.g., due to mypotentials, electromagnetic interference (EMI), a loose set screw for a leadwire, a broken leadwire, etc.) and the detection algorithm correctly declares it as not VT/VF.
Ideally, a cardiac rhythm management device would have both 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. However, it is well known in the art that for practical cardiac rhythm management devices, there exists a tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity, such that no practical detection scheme can obtain the ideal. As discussed above, existing implantable defibrillator/pacers are typically targeted toward patients with a history or high risk of life-threatening VT/VF episodes. Because of the severe (indeed life-threatening) consequences of failing to treat a VF episode, for example, existing defibrillator/pacers are typically configured to maximize sensitivity to VT/VF. To accomplish this, such devices typically sacrifice specificity. That is, they will generally tolerate the delivery of inappropriate countershocks (i.e., a lower specificity) if needed to maintain the desired high sensitivity. This ensures that virtually no VF episode will go untreated. It is true that many such defibrillator/pacers go through great lengths to improve the specificity to avoid inappropriately delivering a painful countershock to the patient. Still, such specificity enhancements typically are a secondary consideration—specificity cannot be increased if doing so would cause an appreciable number of VF episodes to go untreated—the potential consequences are too severe, particularly for a tachyarrhythmia patient population.
Bradycardia patients, on the other hand, typically receive a pacer without defibrillation capability, as presently called for by standard clinical, health insurance, and government reimbursement guidelines. However, a significant number of pacemaker patients die from VF and polymorphic VT—even if no such previous episodes have been diagnosed. Such patients are ineligible for a defibrillator/pacer device, however, they could benefit from defibrillation therapy. As discussed above, however, existing defibrillator/pacer devices, however, are typically designed as defibrillators with backup pacing capability—they are not intended for bradycardia patients and, moreover, because of the needs of the tachycardia patient population for which they are designed, they are not well suited for bradycardia patients.
In sum, the present inventors have recognized a need in the art for improved cardiac rhythm management devices having both pacing and defibrillation therapies.

Pacer with combined defibrillator tailored for bradycardia patients


A golf car suspension system includes a coil-over-shock strut assembly having a shock absorber cylinder and an offset bracket including a semicircular member and bracket legs extending from the semicircular member angularly offset from the semicircular member. The semicircular member engages the shock absorber cylinder. A spacer bracket has a semicircular portion engaging the shock absorber cylinder and opposed sleeve legs received between the bracket legs. A U-shaped knuckle bracket has a web and opposed flanges extending transversely from the web. The bracket legs and the sleeve legs are fixed to the web of the knuckle bracket. A steering knuckle connects to the knuckle bracket flanges. A wheel hub connects to the steering knuckle. A wheel connected to the wheel hub has a side-to-side tread face remaining in contact with a ground surface over a total travel distance of the strut assembly of up to 8.4 cm.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Golf cars commonly have rigid or single axle suspension systems for both the front steerable wheels and the rear driving wheels. A solid axle provides a stiffer ride feel for the occupants and can also result in reduced control of the golf car over rough terrain and when turning at higher speeds. Some golf car designs have therefore used an independent suspension system at least for the front steerable wheels which eliminates the solid axle and separately suspends each front steerable wheel from the frame or structure of the golf car.
Drawbacks of existing independent suspension designs for golf cars include a loss of control as the golf car corners rapidly, which tends to lift one or more of the wheels at an angle with respect to a ground surface, reducing wheel contact and therefore steering control. Further drawbacks include limiting the vehicle design to a single wheel size. An improved suspension design is therefore desirable for independent suspensions for golf cars as well as other utility vehicles.


Panoramic imaging systems including rotatable mirrors are provided. A panoramic imaging system includes a rotatable platform, an imaging device mounted to the rotatable platform, and a mirror rotatably mounted to the rotatable platform. The mirror is positioned in an optical path of the imaging device. The mirror and the imaging device are oriented such that the mirror and imaging device are in the same plane, an optical axis of the imaging device is substantially perpendicular to an axis of rotation of the rotatable platform, and an axis of rotation of the mirror is substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the rotatable platform when the mirror is in an initial position.

In order to provide surveillance and/or situational awareness associated with a stationary or moving object (e.g., in a ground, nautical, or aerial surveillance situation), an imaging system that captures a 360° panoramic view of an area surrounding the object may be desired. An image sensing device (e.g. a CCD image sensor, a CMOS image sensor, a FPA image sensor, etc.) typically has a field of view less than 360°. One way of capturing a 360° panoramic view of a surrounding area is to utilize multiple image sensing devices, positioned so that each image sensing device has a field of view that captures a portion of the 360° panoramic view and that the collective fields of view captured by the image sensing devices encompasses the entire 360° view. Such a system may be costly and complicated.
Another way of capturing a 360° panoramic view of a surrounding area is to utilize a single image sensing device that is rotated about an axis so that the image sensing device captures the entire 360° field of view as it rotates. As the image sensing device rotates, the image it gathers may be blurred because the pixels of the image sensing device may not be exposed to a particular field of view for long enough to generate a stable image.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative panoramic imaging systems that mitigate image blurring as an image sensing device is rotated about an axis to capture a 360° panoramic view.

Panoramic imaging systems comprising rotatable mirrors for image stabilization

L-3 Communications Cincinnati Electronics Corporation


A digital microfluidic device including an active matrix of propulsion electrodes controlled by thin-film-transistors. The device includes at least two areas of different propulsion electrode densities. One area may be driven by directly-driving the propulsion electrodes from a power supply or function generator. In the first, higher density region; a first dielectric layer covers the propulsion electrodes. The first dielectric layer has a first dielectric constant and a first thickness. In the second, lower density region, a second dielectric layer has a second dielectric constant and a second thickness covering the propulsion electrodes.

Digital microfluidic (DMF) devices use independent electrodes to propel, split, and join droplets in a confined environment, thereby providing a "lab-on-a-chip." Digital microfluidic devices are alternatively referred to as electrowetting on dielectric, or "EWoD," to further differentiate the method from competing microfluidic systems that rely on electrophoretic flow and/or micropumps. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical EWoD device including both propulsion and sensing on the same active matrix. A 2012 review of the electrowetting technology was provided by Wheeler in "Digital Microfluidics," Annu. Rev. Anal. Chem. 2012, 5:413-40. The technique allows sample preparation, assays, and synthetic chemistry to be performed with tiny quantities of both samples and reagents. In recent years, controlled droplet manipulation in microfluidic cells using electrowetting has become commercially viable, and there are now products available from large life science companies, such as Oxford Nanopore.
Typically, EWoD devices include a stack of a conductor, an insulator dielectric layer, and a hydrophobic layer. A droplet is placed on the hydrophobic layer, and the stack, once actuated, can cause the droplet to deform and wet or de-wet from the surface depending on the applied voltage. Most of the literature reports on EWoD involve so-called "passive matrix" devices (a.k.a. "segmented" devices), whereby ten to twenty electrodes are directly driven with a controller. While segmented devices are easy to fabricate, the number of electrodes is limited by space and driving constraints. Accordingly, it is not possible to perform massive parallel assays, reactions, etc. in passive matrix devices. In comparison, "active matrix" devices (a.k.a. active matrix EWoD, a.k.a. AM-EWoD) devices can have many thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of addressable electrodes. The electrodes are typically switched by thin-film transistors (TFTs) and droplet motion is programmable so that AM-EWoD arrays can be used as general purpose devices that allow great freedom for controlling multiple droplets and executing simultaneous analytical processes.
The electrodes are typically switched by thin-film transistors (TFTs) and droplet motion is programmable so that AM-EWoD arrays can be used as general purpose devices that allow great freedom for controlling multiple droplets and executing simultaneous analytical processes. TFT arrays are highly desirable for this application, due to having thousands of addressable pixels, thus allowing mass parallelization of droplet procedures. In some instances, the pixel electrodes of the array may be differently sized, e.g., an area of high-density small pixel electrodes neighboring an area of low-density large pixel electrodes. Areas of differential pixel size facilitate rapid droplet dispensing from the reservoirs and subsequent droplet partitioning.
Traditionally, a single dielectric layer is used across the whole EWoD active surface, including regions that have different functions, or areas having different pixel densities. Because the maximum operating voltage of an electrode is largely dictated by the properties of its dielectric, a single dielectric layer results in a relatively uniform maximum operating voltage all over the device. However, in most analytical applications, different areas of the EWoD array have different uses, thus requiring some areas to undergo much greater electrical strain, which can cause voltage leakage and eventual breakdown of the substrate. These failure modes are especially acute in the reservoir regions, which perform repeated high-voltage processes, such as droplet partitioning, and there is no flexibility to cycle a different spatial region for these processes because the reservoirs are not movable with respect to the array.

Spatially variable dielectric layers for digital microfluidics


An alignment mark definer is configured to provide a geometrical definition for an actual alignment structure to be formed at a temporary surface of a substrate based on a desired appearance of the alignment mark and on an expected alteration of an appearance of the actual alignment structure caused by a deposition material deposited on the temporary surface and the actual alignment structure.

The fabrication of semiconductor devices typically comprises a sequence of photolithography steps. During each photolithography step, the structure of a specific layer of the semiconductor device is transferred onto the (temporary) surface of the semiconductor device, for example, by exposing selected areas of a photo resist to ultraviolet light. The selective exposure of the photoresist can be done using a photo mask or by scanning the photo resist with an ultraviolet laser. The semiconductor device thus prepared then undergoes further processing steps, such as etching, ion implantation, or deposition of a material on the temporary surface of the semi-finished semiconductor device. In order to make useful devices the patterns for different lithography steps that belong to a single structure must be aligned to one another. To this end, a particular pattern may include a set of alignment marks. The alignment marks may be regarded as high precision features that are used as a reference when positioning subsequent patterns to the preceding pattern. This makes it possible to position a subsequent photo mask sufficiently precisely with respect to a preceding photo mask and to the structure that has been created in the meantime using the preceding photo mask.
Some semiconductor devices comprise one or more specially tuned layers of epitactically grown semiconductor material (EPI). The epitactically grown material is typically silicon, but may be another material, as well. Among others, power semiconductor devices or power integrated circuits (power ICs) which may be used as, e.g., a switch or rectifier in power electronics, are one example of using epitactically grown silicon. These power semiconductor devices or power ICs may be built using a vertical structure. One option for providing such a vertical structure of the semiconductor device is to use an epitaxy step during the fabrication of the semiconductor device.


In an information processing method a first operation is received by a user; in response to the first operation, a first application is started and the first application is displayed in a windowlet of an electronic device; a second operation is received by the user in the windowlet; the second operation is parsed, an object corresponding to the second operation is determined, a second application corresponding to the object is determined, whether the second application meets a predetermined condition is judged to generate a judgment result, and the second application is started in a windowlet when the judgment result indicates that the second application meets the predetermined condition. In some embodiments, when a user starts and displays an application in a small window or windowlet, and the windowlet receives his or her operation to start a new application, the started new application will be also displayed in a windowlet.

Portable electronic devices having various functions are more and more popular with users and provide diversified user experiences. Such portable electronic device used in people's daily lives is generally designed to have a small screen so that it is easy to carry. Taking a mobile phone as example of the portable electronic device, the screen is usually designed to have a size of 3.5 inches so that the mobile phone is easy for users to carry around.
The inventors of the present application found at least the following problems with the related technology in the process of implementing solutions according to embodiments of the present application.
For the electronic device, such as mobile phone, the traditional information processing method is, when a plurality of applications are running in the mobile phone, the operating system allows only one of the applications to run in foreground, and only one application can be displayed in a single window. That is, the operating system (e.g., Android) of the mobile phone is just capable of providing a single-window function. As smart phones emerge, there is a trend that the screen of a mobile phone will become larger, and thus it is possible to support multi-window display. The term "window" here refers to a window in which an application running in the mobile phone is located. Details thereof will be omitted.
With the support for multi-window display, a user's demand may be, when he or she starts and displays an application in a small window or windowlet, and the windowlet receives the user's operation to start a new application, the started new application will be also displayed in a windowlet. There has not been any solution in the related art to meet the user's demand.

Information processing methods and electronic devices


A protection circuit includes a protection module and a fan electrically connected to the protection module. The protection module includes a control chip, an inverter, and an electronic switch. An input terminal of the inverter is electrically connected to a voltage output terminal and the fan, and further electrically connected to a clear pin of the control chip. An output terminal of the inverter is electrically connected to a preparation pin of the control chip. A first terminal of the electronic switch is electrically connected to an output pin of the control chip. The first and second terminals of the electronic switch are electrically connected to a power source terminal. A third terminal of the electronic switch is electrically connected to the voltage output terminal. When the fan short-circuits, the power source terminal stops supplying power to the fan through the voltage output terminal.

Fans are usually applied in electronic devices, such as servers, to dissipate heat produced in operation of the electronic devices. During operating of the electronic device, if a fan in the electronic device is short circuits, a motherboard of the electronic device could be damaged, thus affecting operation of other electronic components on the motherboard.
Therefore, there is need for improvement in the art.

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


A direction/distance mark is displayed on a map, wherein the direction/distance mark shows a direction line indicating a direction, with a reference point of a map screen being located in a center, a plurality of equidistant circles with the reference point being located in the center, and a distance from the reference point indicated by each equidistant circle. An instructed point on the screen that is touched by a user is detected as a point indicating a direction on the direction/distance mark and a distance from the reference point, and a map including the point is displayed. Accordingly, with one-touch, the currently displayed map can be scrolled to a desired map. Using the same direction/distance mark, it is also possible to display an equidistant range specifying map, a configured range specifying map, and a POI display map.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a map display apparatus using a direction/distance mark, which easily displays a desired map using the mark indicating a direction from a reference point and a distance from the reference point which is displayed on a screen when various kinds of maps are displayed.
2. Description of Related Art
A map has been widely used and displayed not only by a vehicle navigation apparatus but also by a cellular phone, a portable information terminal, a personal computer, and the like. When such maps are used, a person may want to cause, for example, a navigation apparatus to display another desired map from a currently displayed map, in order to, e.g., confirm a destination to which the person is going to visit.
In such a case, for example, when an address of a location to be displayed is known, a map around the address can be immediately displayed by directly inputting that address. However, when the address is not known, or the address is unclear, a desired map cannot be displayed. In addition, it is troublesome to input the address, and in particular, when the map is displayed with the vehicle navigation apparatus, a person who uses the map is mainly a driver, and therefore, it is dangerous for the driver to do many troublesome steps to display the map, which is not preferable.
When a person wants to display another map from a currently displayed map, a desired map may also be displayed by scrolling the map. This method is less troublesome than inputting the address as described above, and another map can be displayed easily. Not only the navigation apparatus as described above but also other apparatuses widely use this method to display maps.
In order to scroll a map, for example, a direction in which a map is moved may be instructed with a joy stick, and a moving speed may be adjusted according to the amount of inclination of the joy stick. But this method requires an operation device, i.e., the joy stick, and when the vehicle navigation apparatus has the joy stick provided on a remote controller thereof, it is dangerous for the driver to manipulate the remote controller during driving. On the other hand, attaching the joy stick to the vehicle or the navigation apparatus itself means that a projecting object exists at the front of the vehicle, which is not preferable.
Therefore, in recent years, a touch panel is pasted to the vehicle navigation apparatus or the screen of various kinds of portable devices, and the user can perform a predetermined function by touching various kinds of operation portions displayed on the screen with a finger and the like. By using this function, a direction is detected in which the finger and the like touch and trace the screen while a map is displayed, the displayed map is scrolled and displayed as if the displayed map is moved.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. H9-81032 discloses a technique for displaying a scroll menu having marks with 45 degrees intervals, instructing one of them with a mouse cursor, and having a scroll speed according to a distance between an instructed point and a mark start point. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-90962 discloses a technique for detecting a length for which a finger comes into contact with and moves on a touch panel display and scrolling a map by detecting a moving direction.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2002-116004 discloses a technique for, in each direction at the top, bottom, right, and left of the screen with respect to a display point displayed on a current screen, searching any number of points such as adjacent cities, towns, villages, regions, and adjacent prefectures, displaying them in portions located in the respective directions of the screen in order, wherein a user performs scroll operation for the amount of operation defined in advance in accordance with the degree of distance from the current point in a direction in which the user, who sees this, considers a desired point exists, and the map is jumped to that region by detecting this, and this is displayed with a predetermined scale.
As described above, for map-displaying process of the vehicle navigation apparatus and various kinds of portable devices, it is effective to paste the touch panel to the surface of the screen displaying the map and scroll the map when the user traces the surface of the screen. When the screen is moved by simply detecting the direction in which the screen is traced, it takes much time to display a distant map. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 10A, for example, when it is desired to display a distant map by performing scroll operation while a detailed map with a small scale is currently displayed, an extremely large amount of operation and much time are required if the screen is scrolled by simply tracing the screen with the finger and the like as it is.
For this reason, in such a case, the scale of the map is temporarily enlarged as illustrated in FIG. 10B, and the screen is traced while a large region map is displayed, so that the distant map can be displayed in a relatively short time from the detailed map display-state of FIG. 10A. In this method, however, how much degree the scale of the map is changed relies on user's intuition.
In addition, in many cases, the following complicated operation has to be performed: after the map is roughly scrolled to an approximate region, the scale is changed to the detailed map side, and when the desired point is out of the display range in that case, scroll operation is performed on the screen, whereby a desired, detailed map is gradually displayed with the desired point being substantially located in the center of the screen.
Further, a method for displaying a distant map at a relatively high speed without changing the scale to the wide region side as described above even when a detailed map is displayed includes a method in which the direction of scrolling is the direction of tracing with the finger, and the scroll speed is gradually increased as the screen is touched with the finger for a longer period of time in that state.
In this method, however, the distant map is displayed at a high speed while the detailed map is still used, and accordingly, the farther the map is, the more difficult it is to understand how much distance the map is scrolled at the present moment and what kind of region is scrolled and displayed at the present moment. When the screen is scrolled by tracing the screen with the finger and the like as described above, it is necessary to keep on touching the screen until a desired map is displayed, and in particular, it is dangerous for a driver to continue this kind of operation for a long period of time with the vehicle navigation apparatus.

Map display apparatus using direction/distance mark


A method of manufacturing a microelectronic device including imprinting a layer on a substrate with an imprinted pattern, the imprinted pattern defining a first anchor impression within the layer that includes a first base region positioned adjacent the layer and a first distal region positioned opposite the first base region, the first distal region defining a cross sectional area greater than a cross sectional area of the first base region, and the imprinted pattern defining a second anchor impression within the layer that includes a second base region positioned adjacent the layer and a second distal region positioned opposite the second base region, the second distal region defining a cross sectional area greater than a cross sectional area of the second base region and greater than a cross sectional area of the first distal region.

Imaging devices, such as charged ink pixel containing display devices, may be fabricated by forming a microelectronic device including plating first and second electrical conductors on a substrate and then removing the substrate to expose the conductors. Fabrication of the microelectronic device may be time consuming due to the precise alignment of crossover metal connectors to one of the first or second electrical conductors. There is a need, therefore, to increase the reliability of alignment of the crossover metal connectors to one of the first or second electrical conductors. There is also a need to decrease damage to the conductors during removal of the substrate from the device.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a touch sensing method, a touch chip, an electronic device and a touch system. The touch sensing method includes: acquiring a recorded strength threshold of a touch detection signal, and determining a strength of a touch detection signal transmitted between a stylus and a touch screen at a current time; and determining whether the strength of the touch detection signal at the current time is greater than or equal to the acquired strength threshold, and concluding that the stylus is in contact with the touch screen at the current time if the strength of the touch detection signal at the current time is greater than or equal to the strength threshold.

Touch inputs are replacing conventional keyboard or keypad inputs, and provide more convenient and quick inputs for users during use of electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablet computers.
In the related art, in addition to touch operations on the touch screens by hands directly, styluses may also be employed to perform touch operations on the touch screens to further improve user experience. The styluses may be categorized into passive styluses and active styluses by determining whether the styluses are equipped with a power source. The passive stylus simulates a human finger by simply using a conductive article (a conductor or a conductive rubber or the like), and a capacitor is formed between a conductive pin and a drive conductive strip of the touch screen, to affect a detection result of the touch screen. The active stylus, as the name implies, is equipped with a power source. The active styluses may be categorized into electromagnetic resonance (EMR) styluses and capacitive styluses. In the EMR stylus, an inductance sensor layer needs to be arranged on the touch screen, and the write function may be implemented by additional hardware. The capacitive stylus does not need the additional inductor sensor. The capacitive stylus available in the market may be directly used, and a signal generation module is configured in the stylus. The signal generation module may generate a plurality of sinusoidal signals or square wave signals having different frequencies. The signals are coupled to a drive channel and a sensing channel of the touch screen, such that a touch chip detects the positions thereof.
However, in the related art, during use of the capacitive stylus, a specific force needs to be applied to perform an operation on the touch screen. For example, to write on the touch screen, the capacitive stylus may write fluently only after a specific force is applied thereto. As a result, a real writing experience fails to be achieved, and user experience is degraded.

Touch sensing method, touch chip, electronic device and touch system


A window shade lift cord apparatus includes a seat, a control switch and a cord assembly. The seat has an aperture on the bottom and axles in the interior. The control switch includes an anchor member and a depressing member that are movably coupled together and interposed by an elastic element. The anchor member and the depressing member have respectively two through holes and two openings. The cord assembly has cords treading through the aperture of the seat, through holes and openings of the anchor member and depressing members such that the lower ends of the cords are gathered beneath the seat. Retracting of the window shade can be accomplished rapidly and simply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a window shade lift cord apparatus and particularly to a lift cord apparatus for retracting a window shade.
2. Brief Discussion of the Related Art
Conventional window coverings such as shade, blinds, and the like mainly aim to block external light from entering indoors, and serve ornamental purpose. Refer to FIG. 1 for the structure of a window covering 10 proposed by the Applicant in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,207. It mainly includes an upper track 11, a lower track 12, a foldable pleat 13, two cords 14 and 15, and two adjustment switches 16 and 17. The pleat 13 is located between the upper track 11 and the lower track 12. The two cords 14 and 15 oppose each other and tread through the pleat 13. The two adjustment switches 16 and 17 are located beneath the lower track 12 to control the movement of the two cords 14 and 15.
When in use to retract the pleat 13 of the window covering 10, a user has first to control the adjustment switches 16 and 17 to make the cords 14 and 15 in a movable condition. Then pull the cords 14 and 15 downwards to lift the pleat 13 upwards for retraction. To lower the pleat 13, also control the two adjustment switches 16 and 17 to make the cords 14 and 15 in a movable condition, then the pleat 13 drops automatically because of gravity force for extension. Thereby the window covering 10 can be retracted and extended as desired.
However, during retracting operation of the window covering 10, the two adjustment switches 16 and 17 have to be controlled, and the two cords 14 and 15 have to be pulled downwards. Hence the user has to use one hand to control the adjustment switch 16 on one side and another hand to pull the cord 14 to retract one side of the window covering 10 upwards to a selected elevation, then to control another adjustment switch 17 with one hand on another side and pull another cord 15 with another hand to retract another side of the window covering 10 to the selected elevation. In other words, the operations have to be done repeatedly and alternately on two sides to lift the pleat 13 and retract the window covering 10 to the desired elevation. It is a tedious process.


The invention relates to a cash box comprising a receiving area for receiving a value note stack and a bottom unit delimiting the receiving area towards a box bottom. Further, a retaining element is provided which, in a retaining position, retains the notes of value received in the receiving area in said receiving area. Between the retaining element and the bottom unit a gap is formed. The cash box has at least one blocking element which, at least when the closing unit is closed, closes the gap at least so far that no note of value can slip into the gap.

The invention relates to a cash box comprising a receiving area for receiving a value note stack. The cash box has an opening for automatically feeding and/or removing notes of value which is closable by a closing unit as well as a bottom unit which delimits the receiving area towards a box bottom and on which the notes of value stand in particular on their edges. In the area of the opening, a retaining element is provided which, in a retaining position, retains the notes of value received in the receiving area in said receiving area and which, in a feeding position, enables a feeding and/or removing of the notes of value through the opening. Between the retaining element and the bottom unit, a gap is formed.
In known cash boxes, the retaining element can be pivoted between the retaining position and the feeding position so that, after the feeding of notes of value through the opening, by moving the retaining element into the retaining position the notes of value received in the receiving area are held therein and cannot slip out of the receiving area. Conditioned by construction, a gap has to be formed between the bottom unit on which the notes of value received in the receiving area stand on their edges and the retaining element since otherwise the deposit and withdrawal of the notes of value through the opening would not be possible. In particular, this gap is necessary to achieve sufficient room to manoeuvre with respect to the retaining element.
In addition to the opening for the automatic feeding and/or removing of notes of value, known cash boxes have another opening which is closable by a cover and through which notes of value can be manually fed and/or removed. During this manual feeding of notes of value it may happen that, in particular when the notes of value have a bad quality, notes of value slip into the gap existing between the retaining element arranged in the retaining position and the bottom unit. In a subsequent automatic feeding or removing of notes of value through the corresponding opening, these notes of value may cause problems.
Such a cash box is, for example, known from document DE 10 2009 058 519 A1.
It is the object of the invention to specify a cash box by means of which a safe, reliable automatic feeding and/or removing of notes of value respectively to and from a receiving area of the cash box is possible.
According to an aspect of the invention, the cash box has at least one blocking element which, at least when the closing unit is closed, closes the gap between the bottom unit and the retaining element so far that no note of value can slip into this gap. Thus, by means of the blocking element it is prevented that notes of value can slip into the gap and thus that problems may arise during the feeding and/or removal of notes of value through the opening. When the closing unit is closed, i.e. when the closing unit closes the opening for the automatic feeding and/or removal of notes of value, the retaining element is in particular arranged in the retaining position so that it retains the notes of value received in the receiving area therein. The blocking element then closes the gap existing between the retaining element arranged in the retaining position and the bottom unit at least in part so that no note of value can slip therein since the dimensions of the cash box are adapted such that almost the entire width of the gap is required so that a note of value can slip into this gap.
The bottom unit in particular comprises several drivable belts on which the notes of value which are received in the receiving area stand on their edges.
The closing unit is in particular designed such that, when it is open, it is received in a gap between the bottom unit and a box bottom. The box bottom is in particular formed by a housing of the cash box.
In a preferred embodiment at least one further blocking element is provided which, at least when the closing unit is closed, closes the gap between the retaining element and the bottom unit at least so far that no note of value can slip into the gap. Alternatively, also more than two blocking elements, for example, three blocking elements can be provided.
The more blocking elements are provided, the safer the slipping of notes of value into the gap is prevented since the still remaining gap becomes smaller. In particular, the distance between the blocking element and the side walls of the cash box is thus reduced so that even in the case of jammed or transversely arranged notes of value these cannot slip into the gap.
Further, it is advantageous when the two blocking elements are identically formed so that only one component type has to be produced, as a result whereof the production costs are reduced. In addition, mix-ups during assembly are prevented.
Further, it is advantageous when the two blocking elements are arranged mirror-symmetrically with respect to the center plane of the cash box so that the gap is uniformly closed.
The following features described for the blocking element can be used analogously—additionally or alternatively—also for further or the further blocking elements.
It is particularly advantageous when a first end of the blocking element is mounted to the closing unit. In a particularly preferred embodiment, both the first end and a second end opposite to the first end are each mounted to the closing unit, preferably in an articulated manner. By articulated mounting it is meant that the ends are each mounted to the closing unit rotatably relative thereto.
By mounting the blocking element to the closing unit it is achieved that the blocking element is moved automatically with the closing unit so that, when the closing unit is opened, the blocking element is moved together therewith out of the area of the opening so that it does not impede a feeding and/or removing of notes of value through the opening.
The first end and/or the second end of the blocking element are mounted to the closing unit in particular via an elastic element, preferably a spring. In this way, it is achieved that the blocking element does not impede the movement of the closing unit, in particular since the closing unit is designed like a roller shutter and comprises several partial areas articulated to one another, the rotation of which relative to each other would be impeded or completely prevented without the elastic element.
The blocking element is in particular movable between a first position in which it enables a feeding of notes of value through the opening into the receiving area and a second position, wherein the blocking element is arranged in the second position such that it closes the gap and would impede a feeding and/or removing of notes of value through the opening. Thus, it is achieved that it safely and reliably closes the gap in the second position and does not affect the function of the cash box in the first position.
The blocking element is in particular mounted to the closing unit such that it is moved between the first and second position when the closing unit is opened and closed. Thus, it is achieved that no own drive unit for moving the blocking element is required but this blocking element is automatically moved when the closing unit is opened and closed. Thus, no further constructive modifications to the cash box are required.
Further, it is advantageous when the closing unit closes the opening in a closed position and does not close the opening in an open position, and when the blocking element is arranged in the first position when the closing unit is arranged in the open position, and is arranged in the second position when the closing unit is arranged in the closed position. Thus, the existing kinematics of the cash box can be used so that the function can be realized cost-efficiently.
Further, it is advantageous when the cash box has a further opening for manually feeding notes of value which is closable by a cover. Through this opening, notes of value can be removed and/or fed manually in a cash center. During this manual feeding and/or removal of notes of value the closing unit is arranged in the closed position and the retaining element is moved into the retaining position. Accordingly, the blocking element is arranged in the second position so that it prevents a slipping of notes of value into the gap between the retaining element and the bottom unit of the cash box.
The blocking element is preferably designed in a bar-shaped manner, in particular in a rod-shaped manner, so that a particularly simple and nevertheless stable form results.
In the open position, the closing unit is received at least in part, preferably completely, in a gap formed between the bottom unit and the box bottom. By mounting the blocking element to the closing unit, the blocking element is likewise moved into the gap so that it does not represent any obstacle when the closing unit is open.

Cash box with a blocking element for closing the gap between bottom container and retaining element


Provided are a novel titania fine-particle composite which has high transparency, high stability, and high ultraviolet-absorbing power and excellent redispersibility, and skin-care external preparations which contain the titania fine-particle composite and exert high ultraviolet protective effect. The titania fine-particle composite can be produced by adding one or more selected from among carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid derivatives represented by general formula (1), and polymers containing the carboxylic acids or carboxylic acid derivatives as a constituent monomer to an aqueous acid dispersion of titania fine particles, and neutralizing the resulting dispersion with an alkali to form a titania fine-particle composite composed of titania fine particles functioning as cores and the carboxylic monomer or polymer deposited on the surface of the cores. In the titania fine-particle composite, titania fine particles functioning as cores have a high degree of crystallization and the intermolecular interaction between titania fine particles and the carboxylic monomer or polymer is strong. Therefore, the titania fine-particle composite can be uniformly dispersed in a dispersion medium to attain high transparency and high stability. Further, skin-care external preparations which exert high ultraviolet protective effect can be produced by adding the titania fine-particle composite.

It is known that ultraviolet A (UVA) in a wavelength region of 320 to 400 nm and ultraviolet B (UVB) in a wavelength region of 290 to 320 nm reach down to the ground without being sufficiently absorbed and scattered by the ozone layer, and cause various negative effects on skin. For example, it is known that UVB induces inflammation and accelerates skin aging and that UVA accelerates melanin production and causes blotches, freckles, and so on.
Cosmetics for preventing such negative effects on skin have been developed and examined in various ways. For example, there has been made an attempt to prevent skin from excessively getting exposed to ultraviolet rays through the use of a compound having an aromatic ring such as a benzene ring, i.e., the so-called UV absorbing agent (see Patent Document 1 and 2, for example).
However, as many of the UV absorbing agents used in these documents are oils, the agents have low solubility in water, and thus their forms as cosmetics are sometimes limited. When these UV absorbing agents are used as cosmetics, a refreshing tactile sensation is hardly obtained. Because of this, there has been a limit to use these UV absorbing agents as ultraviolet protection cosmetics frequently used in summer.
Meanwhile, there has been made a report on an attempt to prevent skin from excessively getting exposed to ultraviolet rays by using inorganic fine particles such as zinc oxide fine particles or titanium oxide fine particles (see Patent Documents 3 and 4, for example). It is known that zinc oxide, titanium oxide, and the like have great UV protective effects. In particular, it is known that titanium oxide has a high level of UVB shielding ability and zinc oxide has a high level of UVA shielding ability.
However, making titanium oxide fine particles or zinc oxide fine particles into an uniform dispersion in an aqueous solution tends to be hindered because of their surface activities. Accordingly, adding titanium oxide or zinc oxide to a cosmetic base leads to nonuniform dispersion. As a result, the cosmetic that has become a cloudy solution is applied to a face or a body, which causes problems including the face or the body turns whitish and the UV protective effect of the cosmetic is diminished. Further, there has been a problem in that titanium oxide or zinc oxide affects other compounding ingredients, such as a thickening agent, in a cosmetic and the function of the cosmetic deteriorates, for example.
In order to disperse uniformly titanium oxide or zinc oxide in an aqueous solution, a method of making titanium oxide or zinc oxide into a superfine particles and a method of adding a surface active agent to the aqueous solution have been worked out. An example of the method of adding of a surface active agent includes a method of preparing a neutral titania sol by compounding a water-soluble high-molecular compound (polyvinyl alcohol or the like) as a dispersion stabilizing agent into an aqueous acid solution containing titania fine particles and then compounding an alkaline solution as a neutralizing agent into the resultant solution (Patent Document 5); however, when a cosmetic additive agent was added, maintaining the stability of the neutral titania sol was difficult.
Moreover, to uniformly disperse titanium oxide or zinc oxide in a solution, there has also been made a report of treating the surfaces of the inorganic fine particles with a silicone-based copolymer, a particular phosphate ester, or the like (see Patent Documents 6 and 7, for example); however, the treatment is insufficient in effect.
The inventors of the present invention have produced metal oxide fine-particle composites by dissolving a particular short-chain fatty acid or polymer and so on and a metal salt in a water-soluble organic solvent or a mixed solution of water and a water-soluble organic solvent and then neutralizing the metal salt or reducing the metals in the metal salt (Patent Document 8). Among such metal oxide fine particle composites, zinc oxide fine particles can be dispersed uniformly in the aqueous solution and have both transparency and ultraviolet absorbency. On the other hand, in the case of the titanium oxide fine-particle composite, the dispersibility in an aqueous solution is not enough so that both transparency and ultraviolet absorbency could have not been sufficiently attained. Further, there are also problems that the titanium oxide fine particles cannot be redispersed when once the particles aggregate because of the instability in the composite state and the dispersion of the composite has high viscosity.
In view of such circumstances, it is desired that a titania fine-particle composite, which is excellent in transparency and ultraviolet-absorbing effect and is stable in a composite state, be developed because the composite has broad utility.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Titania fine-particle composite and compositions containing the titania fine-particle composite


An integrated circuit including ESD circuitry that is shared among more than one terminal segment of the integrated circuit to discharge current from an ESD event on any of the terminal segments. The shared ESD circuitry includes a clamp circuit that is coupled to power buses of each segment to discharge current from ESD events on each segment. The shared ESD circuitry includes a trigger circuit that is coupled to nodes coupled to terminals of each segment to detect an ESD event on each segment.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to electrostatic discharge protection circuitry for integrated circuits.
Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits are sensitive to Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) events. An ESD event may occur from the unwanted quick discharge of a charged object or person and produce a high charge current for a short period of time through structures of the integrated circuit. For example, a person carrying a relatively small amount of charge may inadvertently touch the electrical terminals of the integrated circuit where charge from the person is transferred to the integrated circuit. In some instances, the amount of current from an ESD event is high enough to damage the circuitry of the integrated circuit.
To protect against ESD events, an integrated circuit may include ESD circuitry that allows for the relatively safe discharge of current from an ESD event to system ground. For examples, an integrated circuit may include trigger circuits that detect an ESD event at a terminal and camp circuits that, when activated by the trigger circuits, become conductive to provide a path for the current to flow from the terminal to ground.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates identical items unless otherwise noted. The Figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.


Color-containing alkanolamines or alkyleneamines, having color numbers of up to 100 PtCo or higher, can be treated with inorganic solid acidic catalysts. Inorganic support materials having bonded inorganic acid functionalities may be used as the inorganic solid acidic catalysts. In the presence of water, these inorganic solid acidic catalysts produce decolorized alkanolamines or alkyleneamines having color numbers of 20 PtCo or less. The process of decolorization can be carried out in batch or continuous mode processes thus providing low cost, high quality and high purity end products.

The present invention relates to processes for decolorizing alkanolamines and alkyleneamines, and more particularly, to both batch and continuous processes for producing alkanolamines and alkyleneamines having improved color characteristics by treatment with solid acidic catalyst.
Price and purity are important characteristics of a chemical's marketability to a potential customer. During industrial processes used to produce various chemicals, impurities often enter the processes and manifest themselves in the form of color contamination. The sources of this color contamination may be metals and metal compounds from the catalysts or equipment used in the processes, or conjugated organic compounds which are formed during the processes. Since the mechanism by which these color contaminants are formed varies from process to process, the decolorization process normally acts by a mechanism which depends on the color source.
It is well known that alkyleneamines, particularly the higher polyamines, become discolored during their preparation which generally reduces their commercial value. Various procedures have been used commercially or suggested for decolorizing or otherwise improving the color of these compounds including, for example, treating with hydrogen chloride or amine hydrochlorides as disclosed in JA-119902, UK Pat. No. 1,351,050; treatment with activated carbon, acid treated clays or acidic zeolites at elevated temperatures (about 200.degree. C.) as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,723,529 and 4,737,243; and treatment with a sulfonic acid ion exchange resin as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,165. In each of these procedures, distillation is generally a final step needed to achieve the desired color, and neutralization of residues, handling and disposal of acids, or reactivation of the treatment medium require special apparatus which complicate the processes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,019 discloses a process which may be run continuously for producing polyalkylene polyamines having improved color characteristics which comprises treating discolored polyethylene polyamines with polyethylene polyamine hydrochloride in the presence of water at elevated temperatures, thus eliminating extra handling steps described in the processes above.
However, as is known in the art, methods used for decolorization of higher polyethylene polyamines are generally not transferable to compounds such as alkanolamines which are prepared by different processes and which use different reactants.
For example, alkanolamines may be conventionally prepared by reacting an alkylene oxide with ammonia or an amine, or, more particularly, alkanolamines such as aminoethylethanolamine may typically be prepared by the reductive amination of monoethanolamine.
Alkanolamines produced by these conventional processes can vary in color from nearly colorless water-white liquids to pale yellow. Alkanolamines, particularly ethanolamines, are susceptible to color formation in the presence of oxygen (e.g. from air leaks during manufacture and/or storage), excessive temperature and soluble metals such as iron or nickel. Also, impurities in raw materials may contribute to the initial and continuing formation of color bodies.
Various attempts to overcome the problems associated with color and color instability of alkanolamines have proven to be cost intensive and environmentally unacceptable. Such attempts have included purification by fractional distillation, concentration of color forming bodies or their precursors by fractional distillation, carbon treatment, the use of adsorbent materials, various hydrogenation techniques, and the use of reducing agents such as sodium borohydride and hydrazine.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,938 describes a process for the treatment of color-sensitive organic compounds which have become discolored through oxidation or upon aging. The patent specifically describes the method of removal of color bodies from alkylphenols with a catalyst-free solid adsorbent in the presence of hydrogen maintained at super atmospheric pressure. The thus treated alkylphenol is then separated from the solid adsorbent material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,790 describes a process for improving the color of alkanolamines that develop undesirable color on aging by adding a sufficient amount of a borohydride of an alkali metal. The borohydrides have appreciable solubility in the alkanolamines and after dissolution, may remain in the solution or the alkanolamines may be distilled under reduced pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,183 describes a method of removing aldehyde impurities from ethanolamines by forming a mixture of the ethanolamines with either powdered silicas, powdered silicates, liquid silicates or powdered aluminas, followed by separation of the ethanolamines by vacuum distillation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,710 describes a process for improving color and color stability of ethanolamines by hydrogenation using selected catalysts and selected catalysts conditions. Useful catalysts for the process include Raney nickel, platinum, palladium or ruthenium.
EP 0477593 describes purification and decolorization of off-color crude N-dialkyl dialkanolamines by vacuum distilling in the presence of water and a water-soluble metal borohydride.
The above patents confirm the need for methods of improving the color characteristics of both alkanolamines and alkyleneamines. While some of the processes such as the use of solid adsorbents results in improved color, such processes are not entirely suitable for large scale decolorization and require labor intensive steps for recovery of the desired product adding expense to the process in terms of time of treatment, equipment costs, and disposal of byproducts.
Other methods, such as hydrogenation of color impurities requires expensive Raney nickel which must be replaced on a regular schedule. Hydrogenation systems also require special equipment for hydrogen supply, mixing and, after reduction, filtration to remove the Raney nickel, since distillation in the presence of Raney nickel tends to generate color and deactivate the catalyst.
The need exists for an inexpensive easily operated process of producing alkanolamines or alkyleneamines having reduced color.

Method for decolorization of alkanolamines and alkyleneamines

Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Technology Corporation


Various embodiments concern a gimbaled flexure having a dual stage actuation structure. The flexure comprises a gimbal on which a motor is mounted. The motor comprises a first terminal, one or more layers of piezoelectric material, and a metal stiffener disposed directly on the first terminal. The stiffener comprises a layer of metal defining a majority of a top side of the motor. The first terminal can be gold sputtered on the piezoelectric material while the stiffener can be nickel plated on the gold. The stiffener can cause the motor, and the flexure on which it is mounted, to curl upon electrical activation of the motor.

Dual stage actuation (DSA) disk drive head suspensions and disk drives incorporating DSA suspensions are generally known and commercially available. For example, DSA suspensions having an actuation structure on the baseplate or other mounting portion of the suspension, i.e., proximal to the spring or hinge region of the suspension, are described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0067151 to Okawara, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0002329 to Shum, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0242708 to Fuchino, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,444 to Imamura. DSA suspensions having actuation structures located on the loadbeam or gimbal portions of the suspension, i.e., distal to the spring or hinge region, are also known and disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,188 to Jurgenson, U.S. Pat. No. 7,256,968 to Krinke, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0144225 to Yao. Co-located gimbal-based DSA suspensions are disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 8,681,456 to Miller, U.S. Pat. No. 8,891,206 to Miller, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2014/0098440 to Miller. Each of the above-identified patents and patent applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
There remains a continuing need for improved performance of DSA suspensions.

Piezoelectric disk drive suspension motors having plated stiffeners