An image can be smoothly generated without delaying the release of a host by dynamically changing the priority of a task for writing to a hard disk for the priority of another task. The dynamic varying of the priorities of the different types of tasks is dependent upon predetermined events or triggers, which thereby prevents the release delay of a host, so that successive images can be smoothly generated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, a printer control method and a record medium for recording a program. In more detail, the present invention relates to a printer provided with an auxiliary storage such as a hard disk (HD) separately from a buffer memory, a printer control method and a record medium for recording a program.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-63877, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional type printer stores print job data from a host computer in a receive buffer, sequentially interprets data stored in the receive buffer, generates image data for printing and output and prints it. As such a printer has only to sequentially interpret and print as described above, a so-called local printer has only to have a memory enough to temporarily store data for one band or one page for example according to the format of its print engine.
However, recently, as the coloring, enhancing the resolution and others of a printed document are promoted as a computer, image processing technology and others develop, the quantity of print job data increases. In the case of a network printing system that plural host computers share a printer via a network such as a local area network (LAN), print job data from plural host computers is required to be successively processed.
If a memory mounted in a printer has only capacity for one page, a host computer which desires a document for a few hundred pages to be printed is required to continue to send print job data for a long time. The other many host computers connected via the network are required to wait for a long time.
A printer provided with an auxiliary storage such as HD inside the printer so that received data is stored in the auxiliary storage so as to store enormous print job data promptly and release a host computer early is proposed recently. In this specification, the above auxiliary storage is not limited to HD, includes various recording devices using a record medium such as an optical record medium and a magneto-optic record medium and means a storage speed for writing and reading data to/from which is slower than a conventional type buffer memory, that is, RAM. At least, the reduction of speed caused by an access of a head to a record medium such as a disk is caused by the above auxiliary storage. For an example of the auxiliary storage, a case using HD will be described below.
As a large quantity of data can be stored in a printer utilizing the above auxiliary storage, a host computer can be released early. However, as data is read or written by moving a head to a predetermined position on a rotated storage medium in HD used for an auxiliary storage, speed for reading or writing data is slower than that in case a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) is accessed. For example, normally, even if speed for receiving data from a network is 1 to 2 MB/second and processing speed in an image data generation section is 1 MB/second, the data transfer rate of HD is approximately 500 kB/second and is slow.
Therefore, in the case of only the transfer of print job data via an auxiliary storage, it takes much time to write and read to/from the auxiliary storage, and thus, printing processing is greatly delayed. In this case, if a high speed interface, DMA and others are adopted, the data transfer rate of an auxiliary storage is enhance, however, the cost of a printer is increased.
In the meantime, if printing processing is preceded and processing for writing and reading to/from an auxiliary storage is left until later, speed for receiving from a network is greatly reduced and the release of a host computer is delayed.

Device for dynamically varying the priority of various processing in a printer


A method of making a microsurgical cutter from a flat planar substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface comprises the steps of (a) forming a photoresist mask layer on the top surface in the pattern of the microsurgical instrument, the mask layer having an edge portion formed in a predetermined pattern therein; and then (b) etching isotropically the top surface of the substrate through the top surface to the bottom surface so that the top surface and bottom surface meet at a cutting edge portion, with the cutting edge portion having a configuration corresponding to the edge portion of the mask layer. The substrates may be formed from semiconductor materials such as silicon, silicon carbide, sapphire and diamond.

In microsurgery such as ophthalmological surgery, small, precision, mechanical structures with ultra-sharp edges are needed. In addition, many shapes and cutting edge variations such as serrated knives and interocular saws are needed for specialized surgery in the region of the eye. Further, it is important that these instruments be made of a mechanically stable material that is both hard and durable.
Conventionally, these edged medical tools are either mass produced from metals such as tungsten, or hand ground from harder materials such as diamond, silicon and sapphire. The disposable metal knives are relatively blunt and wear quickly over time. The nondisposable diamond knives, on the other hand, are expensive and brittle. Further, current techniques of fabricating these harder knives are unable to produce certain cutting edge variations such as serrations that are needed in this type of surgery. Accordingly, there is a substantial need for both edged tools free from the above mentioned problems and ways to make edged tools in a less expensive manner.
Japanese Patent Kokai No. 63-92345 suggests an edged medical tool wherein the surface of the edge tool is provided with a carbonaceous coating layer of a diamond-like crystalline structure having a thickness of 1 to 20 nm which is deposited by the plasma-induced vapor-phase deposition in an atmosphere of a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and a hydrocarbon compound such as methane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,021 to Kitamura et al. suggests the step of etching the diamond-like coating layer formed in a process such as that of the foregoing Kokai with a plasma of hydrogen gas to such an extent that the surface of the edged tool has a roughness of 0.5 to 5 nm. Although this improves the incisiveness of the edged tool, the process starts with an existing base body that was already shaped and, therefore, does not enable the fabrication of knives with serrations and other cutting variations that are needed in opthalmological surgery.
Microelectronic fabrication techniques have been developed in the field of semiconductors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,002 to Carver discloses a microminiature tip assembly which is fabricated using photolithography and anisotropic etching. The crystalline form of silicon is taken advantage of by etching along the grain boundaries to form a pit in an silicon substrate. Tungsten is then deposited into the pit to form a sharp tip for use as a scanning tunneling microscope.
Another microfabrication technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,410 to Muller is a method of producing a micromechanical structure with two or more members measuring less than 1000 micrometers in any linear dimension. The patent technique provides sacrificial layers of material that are later etched away so that the mechanical members become movable relative to each other. Neither of the foregoing, however, addresses the above mentioned problems in the field of microsurgical instruments.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,192 to DiMillia et al. discloses the use of a silicon carbide body in a pinchuck formed with microcircuit lithography and U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,782 to Brown discloses a miniature biological chamber made with photolithography, but neither concern cutting instruments.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a relatively inexpensive way to mass produce microsurgical knives from a variety of different materials.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a means by which a variety of different microsurgical knives may be produced simultaneously as a single batch.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide microsurgical instruments having a scraper surface.
A further object of the present invention is to provide microsurgical knives in a variety of new and unique shapes, such as serrated knives and concavely shaped knives.

Method for making microstructural surgical instruments


Real-time video streaming is essential in many types of systems. A system for streaming real-time video provides a low-latency solution allows systems and humans to respond to real-time events as they occur. Client application platforms, such as HTML5, may be used for web development; however, support for real-time video is very limited. The system provides the ability to stream real-time video from an originating video source to an HTML5 web application with low latency. A real-time video server includes a relay service configured to receive a video stream from a video source, a fragmented video generator configured to convert the video stream into a file-based video compression format including a plurality of video fragments, and a streaming service configured to transmit the fragmented video file to a video client for real-time playback.

Playing a video stream across a network poses many challenges for real-time streaming applications. In one approach, a video is compressed using a video compression format (e.g., H.264, VP8), assembled into a bitstream (e.g., MP4, WebM), and delivered from a streaming server to a compatible client device using a real-time live video protocol such as the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) or Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTSP).
Some client devices and client software applications support video playback from files, and do not support real-time live video protocol. For example, the video element of the HTML5 specification supports video playback of compressed video files and does not support real-time live video protocols such as RTMP or RTSP. Certain adaptive streaming protocols (such as HLS & MPEG-DASH) have been developed to support live streaming into an HTML5 video element. However, these protocols do not maintain real-time video deliverance and typically introduce unwanted latencies.
There is therefore a need for improved systems and methods for video streaming to a client device that supports playback of a video file.

Real-time video streaming to client video element


This disclosure relates generally to methods and rare earth-containing additives for removing target materials in the form of hydroxides, carbonates, hydrates, or oxyhydroxyls from, a typically aqueous, liquid medium.

As fresh water resources grow increasingly scarce, water quality is rapidly becoming a major global concern. In addition to high levels of pollution from industrial and municipal sources and saltwater intrusion into fresh water acquifers, commonly used disinfectants in drinking water, particularly free chlorine (in the form of HOCl/OCl−) and monochloramine (NH2Cl), react with metals and metalloids to produce soluble products. Monochloramine, for example, is believed to react with lead to produce soluble Pb(II) products, leading to elevated Pb levels in drinking water.
Various technologies have been used to remove contaminants from municipal, industrial, and recreational waters. Examples of such techniques include adsorption on high surface area materials, such as alumina and activated carbon, ion exchange with anion exchange resins, co-precipitation and electrodialysis. However, most technologies for contaminant removal are hindered by the difficulty of removing problematic contaminants, more particularly the difficulty of removing metal and metalloid contaminant species.

Rare earth removal of hydrated and hydroxyl species


A case for multiple stamp pads is provided. One embodiment of the case includes a first housing portion for retaining a first stamp pad, a second housing portion for retaining a second stamp pad, a hinge connecting the first and second housing portions for movement between a closed configuration where the first and second stamp pads are facing each other and sealed within the first and second housing portions and an open configuration where the first and second stamp pads are exposed for use, and a divider separating the first and second stamp pads in the closed configuration and swingably covering one of the first and second stamp pads in the open configuration.

Stamp pads, also commonly known as ink pads and inking pads, include an absorbent material, for example, sponge, fabric (e.g., felt, microfiber, etc.) or the like that is saturated with an ink for marking an object such as paper via a conveyance such as a rubber stamp. The ink may be of the indelible/permanent type, a water-based washable type, or other type of ink known in the art. The absorbent material is disposed in a formed or molded case that is generally made of metal or plastic. The case typically includes a base portion that retains the absorbent material and a lid or cover that is coupled with the base portion. The lid moves to expose the absorbent material for use and seal the absorbent material within the case during periods of non-use, thereby preventing the ink from evaporating out of the absorbent material and from accidentally transferring to an object. In some instances, the lid is attachable and removable from the base portion (e.g., via a friction fit), but more commonly the lid is hinge-connected with the base portion to prevent a user from misplacing or losing the lid.
Conventionally, only one ink pad is provided in a case. Typically, the ink pad has a single color ink, for example, black, red or blue for stamping a single-colored mark. In other instances, the ink pad is divided or separated into a plurality of small, adjacent, co-planar pads (e.g., a matrix), each of which has a different colored ink to use with small stamps for stamping a single-colored mark or for use with large stamps to stamp a multi-colored mark. Depending on the stamps and the ink colors desired or needed by an individual for a particular project (e.g., scrap-booking), the individual may need to have available several cases of stamp pads open simultaneously. One can appreciate that the use of such cases with hinge-connected lids is somewhat disadvantageous since the lid cannot be pivoted more than 180 degrees to be positioned underneath the base portion and therefore occupies space on the work surface that could be used otherwise.
In view of the foregoing, an improved case for multiple stamp pads would be welcomed.


In one aspect of the invention a drill bit comprises an axis of rotation a body and a working face. The body comprises a fluid passageway with a first seat and houses a jack element substantially coaxial with the axis. A stop element is disposed within the passageway and has a first near-sealing surface. The jack element has a shaft intermediate an indenting end and a valve portion. The valve portion has a second near-sealing surface disposed adjacent the first near-sealing surface and a second seat disposed adjacent the first seat. As a formation strongly resists the jack element, the distance between the sealing surfaces narrows. This causes an increase in fluid pressure within the passageway and forces the indenting end down into the formation. This movement of the jack element relieves the pressure build up such that the formation pushes the jack element back, thereby oscillating the jack element.

This invention relates to the field of percussive tools used in drilling. More particularly, the invention relates to the field of downhole hammers which are actuated by the pressure of the drilling fluid. Some of these tools are generally known in the petroleum drilling industry simply as "downhole mud hammers".
Typically, downhole hammers are used to affect periodic mechanical impacts upon a drill bit. Through this percussion, the drill string is able to more effectively apply drilling power to the formation, thus aiding penetration into the formation.
The prior art has addressed the operation of a downhole hammer actuated by drilling mud. Such issues have been addressed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,965 to Hall, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains. The '965 patent discloses improvements in downhole mud actuated hammers. According to its broadest aspect the invention is a downhole mud actuated hammer for use in a drill string, which includes a housing with an upper end having means for connecting to the drill string. A throat is located within the housing which throat includes a main flow passage to allow high pressure drilling mud to pass therethrough. A piston is provided which is adapted to move axially within the housing means to thereby reciprocate between an up position and a down position. The piston is moved between the up and down position by a minor portion of the high pressure mud which portion passes from the main flow passage into at least one piston actuating chamber. This minor portion of mud is exhausted from the piston actuating chamber to a low pressure region out of the housing without being returned to the main flow passage.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,565 to Hall, which is also herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a method of creating an electric signal that describes the motion of a downhole, fluid-driven percussive tool. The signal is obtained by attaching an electromagnetic transducer to the percussive tool, the member impacted by it, or the drill string. The rebound characteristics of the tool yield a measurement of the physical characteristics of the subterranean formation being penetrated. The tool's position over time is useful for diagnosing and regulating the operation of the tool. The transducer can also be configured to generate a signal large enough to be used as a power source.

Apparatus and method for vibrating a drill bit


The present disclosure provides an ultra-wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna, including a printed circuit board (PCB) and four mirror-symmetrical antenna components having a same structure and disposed on the PCB. The PCB includes a system ground and a circuit region, and an orthographic projection of the antenna components on the PCB falls within the system ground. The radiation portion is disposed parallel to and separately from the PCB. The connection portion includes a first grounding pin, a second grounding pin, and an antenna feed point pin respectively extending from the radiation portion toward the PCB and disposed separately from each other, the first grounding pin and the second grounding pin are connected to the system ground, and the antenna feed point pin is connected to an external power supply. The present disclosure further provides a terminal. The ultra-wideband MIMO antenna and the terminal have good antenna performance.

As the discussions on 5G standards proceed, 5G related bands have been basically determined. Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China has issued a notice on the use of bands of 3300 to 3600 MHz and 4800 to 5000 MHz in the 5G mobile communications systems. That is, the foregoing bands will be used as 5G sub 6 GHz bands in China.
5G ultra-dense networking is a main technical solution for satisfying the mobile data traffic requirements in 2020 and in the future. Typical application scenarios of ultra-dense networking include areas such as offices, stadiums, metros, and underground parking lots. 5G ultra-dense networking requires a significantly larger quantity of indoor small base stations. In addition, 5G communications systems have higher requirement on the data transmission rate. One way to increase the data transmission rate is to further increase the quantity of antennas included in a single base station at the base station side.
Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology is a core technology for 5G antennas. The difficulty in designing a MIMO antenna is how to integrate a plurality of antenna units in a limited space while obtaining a higher isolation. Currently existing ultra-wideband MIMO antennas mostly have a narrow bandwidth, a low isolation, and a relatively large size.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a novel ultra-wideband MIMO antenna to solve the foregoing problems.

Ultra-wideband MIMO antenna and terminal


An electrical power disconnect switch is disclosed which provides for mechanical or manual tripping operation, as well as electrical or automatic tripping operation. The switch includes a latch pin, a switch body including a handle member, and fixed and movable contacts. A biasing spring biases the contacts to an open position. The latch pin has an electrical trip coil surrounding it to cause the latch pin to releasably hold the switch body in a position such that the contacts are closed. The latch pin is retracted from the switch body by manual depression of a handle member, causing the contacts to open. Alternatively, the latch pin is released from the switch body to open the contacts when current ceases to flow through the electrical trip coil. The current flowing through the electrical trip coil is supplied from a protection circuit. In an automobile application, the protection circuit may be, for example, a hood open or crash detection circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of power disconnect switches. More particularly, the invention relates to an electrical power disconnect switch in which the trip operation of the switch is capable of being performed both manually and electrically.
2. Related Art
Disconnect switches are commonly found on a variety of electrically operated industrial equipment. Such switches are also employed in automobiles. The primary function of disconnect switches is to remove a machine or piece of equipment, or more generically speaking, a "load", from a power source. Representative disconnect switches and relays include those of U.S. Pat. No. 2,591,335, issued to Bordelon, U.S. Pat. No. 2,286,375 issued to Ray, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,213, issued to Hayden.
It is often desirable that the disconnect switch open automatically to remove the load from the power source. Automatic disconnection may be advisable when an alarm condition is present, such as when a malfunction in the load or other equipment occurs, or when the equipment is turned off. For example, in the disconnect switch for an automobile described in the Hayden patent referenced above, a coil becomes energized when the automobile ignition is turned on, and electro-magnetic forces are created which hold the electrical contacts together. When the ignition switch is turned off, the coil is deenergized and the contacts open.
Additionally, it is often desirable that the disconnect switch be manually operable, in order to provide a "panic button" feature. Manual disconnection of the load is also done when routine maintenance on the equipment is performed. The present invention provides new and advantageous techniques for providing a disconnect switch having both electrical (or automatic) and manual tripping characteristics.

Electrical power disconnect switch with both manual and electrical trip operation


A MAC address-based communication restricting method is disclosed. In the MAC address-based communication restricting method, packet data is received upon request of communication through an Ethernet switch, a MAC destination address and a MAC source address of the received packet data are read, it is determined whether access vectors of the MAC addresses are present in an address entry table, and access is denied if the access vectors (security keys) of the MAC destination and source addresses are not matched.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication restricting method in an Ethernet switch, and in particular, to a communication restricting method in which access is controlled on a data link layer 2 by designating a particular terminal as a server and some nodes as communicable with the server terminal using MAC (Media Access Control) addresses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Worldwide communication is accomplished by an ISO standard referred to as OSI (Open System Interconnection) that defines a networking framework for implementing protocols in seven layers: Application Layer 7; Presentation Layer 6; Session Layer 5; Transport Layer 4; Network Layer 3; Data Link Layer 2; and Physical Layer 1. Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer 7 in one station, proceeding to the bottom layer over a communication path (channel) to a next station and back up the hierarchy.
Data link control (DLC) is performed by the second lowest layer, data link layer 2, in the hierarchy. Every network interface card (NIC) has a DLC address or DLC identifier (DLCI) that uniquely identifies a node on the network. Some network protocols, such as Ethernet, use the DLC addresses exclusively. The data link layer 2 comprises two sublayers, a logical link control (LLC) layer and media access control (MAC) layer.
A MAC address is a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network media. Consequently, each different type of network media requires a different MAC layer.
A common connection point for devices in a network is a hub, commonly used to connect segments of a LAN (Local Area Network). A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN see all packets. To improve performance and increase bandwidth, the hub has given way to switching hubs or port-switching hubs that forward packets to an appropriate port based on the packets address. Some newer switching hubs support both Ethernet (10 Mpbs) and Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) ports. The Ethernet is a LAN protocol.
An Ethernet switch can efficiently transfer a plurality of packets from an Ethernet segment to another segment, thereby decreasing traffic over a network. By connecting a plurality of terminals to a plurality of ports of an Ethernet switch, data communication is conducted without contention on a LAN (Local Area Network) and a host terminal is designated among the plurality of terminals to store important information.
A switched Ethernet is defined as an Ethernet LAN that uses switches to connect individual hosts or segments. In the case of individual hosts, the switch replaces a repeater and effectively gives the device full 10 Mbps bandwidth (or 100 Mbps for Fast Ethernet) to the rest of the network. This type of network is sometimes called a desktop switched Ethernet. In the case of segments, the hub is replaced with a switching hub. Traditional Ethernets, in which all hosts are connected to the same bus and compete with one another for the same bandwidth, are called shared Ethernets.
Switched Ethernets are becoming very popular because they are an effective and convenient way to extend the bandwidth of existing Ethernets. That is, a switched Ethernet has one or more direct, point-to-point connections between hosts or segments. Devices connected to the Ethernet switch do not compete with each other and therefore have dedicated bandwidth.
To protect server nodes connected to the Ethernet switch against hacking, a workstation is connected to the Ethernet switch, a firewall is provided to the workstation, IP (Internet Protocol) addresses are registered in the firewall, and the server terminal is connected to the workstation.
A firewall is a system implemented by hardware and/or software to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network, and are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users (hackers) from accessing private networks connected to the Internet, especially intranets.
When an external client terminal tries to access the server terminal, a path is connected between the external client terminal and the server terminal only when the IP address of the external terminal is registered.
There are several types of known firewall techniques, one of which uses packet filtering. Packet filtering controls access to a network by analyzing the incoming and outgoing packets and letting them pass or halting them based in the source and destination IP addresses. The security function of packet filtering as a firewall technique is susceptible to attacks by hackers using a hacking technique called IP spoofing, wherein, forged IP source addresses are used to circumvent a firewall. That is, an attacking node uses an IP source address of a "trusted" node to try to get past a firewall of a target server.
Thus, the packet appears to have come from inside the protected network and to be eligible for forwarding into the network. Consequently, access security to the information stored in the server terminal is not guaranteed.
Security for computers connected to a network is discussed in the following patents, incorporated-by-reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,257 to Jonathan Trostle entitled Network Workstation Intrusion Detection System; U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,053 to John S. Denker entitled Communications Protocol With Improved Security; U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,620 to James M. Holden et al. entitled Stand Alone Security Device For Computer Networks; U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,163 to Scott L. Wiegel entitled Network Gateway Mechanism Having A Protocol Stack Proxy; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,052 to Thomas G. McNeill et al. entitled Establishing connectivity In Networks.


Disclosed is a compound of the formula:

Kinases are essential cellular signaling molecules. Mutations in kinases can lead to diseases or conditions including immunodeficiencies, cancers, cardiovascular diseases and endocrine disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, metabolic diseases, tumorigenesis, Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes, neurodegeneration, inflammation, kidney disease, atherosclerosis and airway disease.
Cancers result from deregulated signaling pathways that mediate cell growth and programmed cell death (apoptosis). Protein kinases are a large family of proteins that play an important role in signaling pathways that regulate a number of different cellular functions, such as cell growth, differentiation, and death (e.g., Kumar et al., Expert Opin. Emerging Drugs (2001) 6(2) pp. 1-13; U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2003/0199511, WO 2004/030671, WO 2004/094386, WO 2004/096130, WO 2004/041162, WO 2004/022562, WO 2004/048343, and references cited therein). Protein kinases include those classified as tyrosine, serine/threonine (e.g., Akt or PKB), or dual specific, based on acceptor residue. Protein tyrosine kinases include intracellular domains of transmembrane growth factor receptors such as EGF receptor (EGFR), PDGF receptor (PDGFR), VEGF receptor (VEGFR), and FGF receptor (FGFR), and cytosolic kinases such as src, abl, and lck. Serine/threonine kinases include, for example, MAP kinase, MAPK kinase (MEK), Akt/PKB, Jun kinase (JNK), CDKs, protein kinase A (PKA) and protein kinase C (PKC).
Hyperactivity of protein kinases is implicated in a variety of human cancers. For example, the Akt2 kinase has been found to be over-expressed in ovarian tumors (J. Q. Cheung et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89: 9267-9271 (1992)) and pancreatic cancers (J. Q. Cheung et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 93: 3636-3641 (1996)), and the Akt3 kinase was found to be over-expressed in breast and prostate cancer cell lines (Nakatani et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274: 21528-21532 (1999)).
Various protein kinase inhibitors have been shown to effectively treat certain cancers. For example, Gleevec™ (imantinib, Novartis), can be used to treat chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) (Kumar et al.), flavopiridol (Aventis) has been evaluated for treating mantle cell lymphoma and fludar refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and a Raf kinase inhibitor (BAY-43-9006) has been evaluated for treating solid tumors and myeloid leukemia (WO 2004/022562).
Thus, drugs targeted against protein kinases represent a new generation of chemotherapy agents directed toward specific molecular targets, and thus have the potential for greater efficacy in treating various cancers, with fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapeutic agents.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,175 B2, issued Dec. 14, 2004 discloses compounds useful for inhibiting protein kinases. This patent discloses (see for example Columns 1-3) compounds of the formula (I):
wherein, amongst other possibilities:
X is selected from the group consisting of C(R8) and N; wherein R8 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, amino, carboxy, cyano, halo, hydroxyl, and amido;
X′ is selected from the group consisting of C and N;
Y is selected from the group consisting of C and N;
Y′ is selected from the group consisting of C(R9) and N; wherein R9 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and -L2-L3(R3)(R6);
Z is selected from the group consisting of C and N;
provided that 0, 1, or 2 of X, X′, Y, Y′ and Z are N;
L1 is, amongst other possibilities, a bond or —C(R12)—;
L2 is, amongst other possibilities, a bond or —C(R12)—;
L3 is, amongst other possibilities, a bond, alkylidene or alkylene;
R1 is selected from the group consisting of aryl, heteroaryl, and heterocycle;
R2 and R4 are independently absent or selected from, amongst other possibilities, heteroaryl and heterocycle;
R3 is absent or selected from, amongst other possibilities, heteroaryl or heterocycle;
R6 is selected from, amongst other possibilities, heteroaryl or heterocycle; and
R7 is absent or selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, cyanoalkenyl, and -L2-L3(R3)(R6).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,175 B2 defines heteroaryl in Columns 17 to 18 and indazolyl is one of the exemplified heteroaryl groups (see line 3 in Column 18). U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,175 B2 defines heterocycle in the paragraph bridging Columns 18 to 19 and piperazinyl and piperidinyl are two of the exemplified heterocycle groups.
WO 2005/058876, published Jun. 30, 2005, discloses pyrazine derivatives as effective compounds against infectious diseases. The compounds disclosed are:
R3 can be, amongst other possibilities, a substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl. R4 and R5 amongst other possibilities, can be taken together to form a ring system (see page 3, for example). Indazolyl is one of the exemplified heteroaryl groups (see page 10, for example).
GB 2,400,101 A1 published Oct. 6, 2004, discloses compounds of the formula:
(see page 91, for example). R2 and R3, amongst other possibilities, may be joined to form the same ring system. R4, amongst other possibilities, can be heteroaryl. Examples of the —NR2R3 are disclosed in Box 3 on page 101. Examples of the R4 group are disclosed in Box 4 on page 101. Indazolyl is not amongst the exemplified R4 groups in Box 4.
WO 02/060492, published Aug. 8, 2002, discloses methods of inhibiting protein tyrosine kinases including members of the JAK family. The methods disclose the administration of di-substituted pyrazines or disubstituted pyridines (see page 6, for example). Also disclosed are methods using substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyrazines (see page 10, for example).
Various pharmaceutically active [1,2,4]triazines are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,687 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,701 provide 3,5-diamino-6-aryl-[1,2,4]triazines useful for treating CNS disorders; EP 0021121 provides 3-amino-6-aryl-[1,2,4]triazines useful for treating CNS disorders; U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,725 provides anti-inflammatory 5,6-diaryl-[1,2,4]triazines; U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,894 provides anti-inflammatory 3-amino-5,6-diaryl-[1,2,4]triazines; U.S. 2004/0102436 provides various 2-amino-5,6-diaryl-[1,2,4]triazine PGI2 receptor agonists; WO 00/66568 provides various 3-aryl-[1,2,4]triazine pesticides; WO 2004/074266 provides various 3-phenylamino- or 3-halo-[1,2,4]triazine HIV replication inhibitors; WO 97/20827 provides various 3,5-diamino-6-fluorophenyl-[1,2,4]triazine as inhibitors of glutamate release from the central nervous system; U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,139 provides 3,5-diamino-6-aryl-[1,2,4]triazines useful as cardiovascular agents; WO 2004/096129 provides 5,6-diaryl-[1,2,4]triazines useful for inhibiting Akt; U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,974 and WO 98/42686 provide 3-pyridyl-6-aryl-[1,2,4]triazine LDL receptor gene expression promoters; WO 03/077921 provides various 5-amino-[1,2,4]triazines useful as protein kinase inhibitors; EP 0088593 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,861 provide various 3-heterocyclo-5,6-diaryl-[1,2,4]triazines useful as activators of gamma-aminobutyric acid and benzodiazepine binding in the central nervous system; DD 248363 provides ampicillin derivatives having a 1,2,4-triazinyl moiety; GB 759014 describes improved methods of preparing 3,5-diamino-6-aryl-[1,2,4]triazines; Abdel-Rahman et al., Bollettino Chimico Farmaceutico (1999), 138(4), 176-185, describe the synthesis of (triazinyl)triazines; Dinakaran et al., Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin (2003), 26(9), 1278-1282, describe the synthesis of 3-quinazolinone-[1,2,4]triazines; Heinisch, Journal fuer Praktische Chemie (Leipzig) (1969), 311(3), 438-444 describe the synthesis of morpholine-[1,2,4]triazines; Yoneda et al., Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1978), 26(10), 3154-3160, describe the synthesis of 3-aryl-5,6-diamino-[1,2,4]triazines; Yondea et al., Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin (1973), 21(5), 926-930, describe the synthesis of [1,2,4]triazine-6-carbothioamides; Li et al., Huaxue Xuebao (1980), 38(6), 581-583 describe 3-substituted-5-hydroxy-6-methyl-[1,2,4]triazines; Neunhoeffer et al., Liebigs Annalen der Chemie (1990), (7), 631-640 describe 3-pyridyl-5-alkynyloxy-[1,2,4]triazines; Pochat, Tetrahedron Letters (1981), 22(37), 3595-3596 describes 3,6-diaryl-5-hydroxy-[1,2,4]triazines; Heinisch, Journal fuer Praktische Chemie (Leipzig) (1987), 329(2), 290-300 describes [1,2,4]triazine-6-carboxylic acids; Li, J. Org. Chem. (1993), 58, 516-519 describes pyrrolyl [1,2,4]triazines; Paudler et al., J. Org. Chem. (1966), 31, 1720-1722 describe the synthesis of various [1,2,4]triazines; Benson et al., J. Org. Chem., (1992), 57, 5285-5287 describe intramolecular cycloadditions of indole and [1,2,4]triazine; and Limanto et al., Organic Letters (2003), 5(13), 2271-2274 describe 5-substituted-3-amino-1,2,4,-triazines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,274 discloses compounds that have JNK inhibitory action, said compounds having the formula:
wherein:
R1 is a C6 to C14 aromatic cyclic hydrocarbon group which may be substituted or a 5 to 14 membered aromatic heterocyclic group which may be substituted;
R2, R4, and R5 each independently represent, a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group, a carboxyl group, a C1-C6 alkyl group which may be substituted, a C1-C6 alkoxy group which may be substituted, a C2-C7 acyl group which may be substituted, a C2-C7 acyl group which may be substituted, —CO—NR2aR2b, —NR2bCO—R2a or —NR2aR2b (wherein R2a and R2b each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a C1-C6 alkyl group which may be substituted);
L, amongst other possibilities, can be a single bond (see Column 8);
X, amongst other possibilities, can be a single bond (see Column 8);
Y, amongst other possibilities, can be a 5- to 14-membered aromatic heterocyclic group which may be substituted (see Column 8).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,982,274 defines the 5- to 14-membered aromatic heterocyclic group in the paragraph bridging Columns 16 and 17. The examples of the 5- to 14-membered aromatic heterocyclic group includes, amongst others, pyrazinyl.

Substituted indazoles of formula 1.0 that are kinase inhibitors

Abstract: Disclosed is a compound of the formula:

Abstract: and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. Also disclosed are methods of treating protein kinase mediated diseases using the compound of formula 1.0. Also disclosed are methods of treating cancer using a compound of formula 1.0. The disclosed methods also include combination therapies wherein the compound of formula 1.0 is administered in combination with at least one addition pharmaceutically active ingredient.


A system is disclosed that enables intelligent environments comprised of physical spaces that sense and respond to the people and events taking place in them to dynamically influence environmental factors that affect them, such as the lighting, temperature, dxc3xa9cor or background music. An intelligent environment in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention controls the selection of music played in a fitness center. Two different algorithms are utilized to arbitrate preferences in a shared environment: one seeks to maximize the average satisfaction of the inhabitants, the other seeks to maximize the equitable distribution of satisfaction among the inhabitants. The resultant system is an approach that affords effective environmental control.

The present invention relates to environmental factors affecting an environment at any given time, and more particularly to a group preference arbitration system that allows the members of a group environment to influence, but not directly control, the selection of these factors of a group environment in a harmonious manner.
When building an environmental control system, most systems focus on how an environment can sense and respond to a single individual. For example, Michael H. Coen. 1997. Building Brains for Rooms: Designing Distributed Software Agents. In Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI 97). 971-977. Menlo Park, Calif.: AAAI Press; Jeremy R. Cooperstock, Sidney S. Fels, William Buxton, and Kenneth K. Smith. 1997. Reactive Environments: Throwing Away Your Keyboard and Mouse. Communications of the ACM 40(9): 65-73; Lori Faith Craynor. 1996. Declared-Strategy Voting: An Instrument for Group Decision-Making. Ph.D. Dissertation. Washington University; Andrew Dahley, Craig Wisneski and Hiroshi Ishii. Water Lamp and Pinwheels: Ambient Projection of Digital Information into Architectural Space (short paper), in Summary of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ""98), (Los Angeles, April 1998), ACM Press, pp. 269-270; Scott Elrod, Gene Hall, Rick Costanza, Michael Dixon, and Jim Des Rivieres. 1993. Responsive Office Environments. Communications of the ACM 36(7): 84-85; Jorg Geibler. Shuffle, Throw or Take It!: Working Efficiently with an Interactive Wall. In ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ""98), Late-Breaking Results: xe2x80x9cThe Real and the Virtual: Integrating Architectural and Information Spaces (Suite)xe2x80x9d. Los Angeles, Calif., Apr. 18-23, 1998. CHI""98 Summary. Pp. 265-266; Andy Harter and Andy Hopper. 1994. A Distributed Location System for the Active Office. IEEE Network 8(1): 62-70; Andy Hopper, Andy Harter, and Tom Blackie. 1993. The Active Badge System. In Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (InterCHI 93); Joseph F. McCarthy and Theodore D. Anagnost. 1998. MusicFX: An Arbiter of Group Preferences for Computer Supported Collaborative Workouts. To appear in Proceedings of the ACM 1998 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW ""98); David W. Pearce (ed.), The MIT Dictionary of Modern Economics, 1992, MIT Presss, Cambridge, Mass.; Norbert A. Streitz, Jorg Geibler and Torsten Holmer. 1998. Roomware for Cooperative Buildings: Integrated Design of Architectural Spaces and Information Spaces. In N. Streitz, S. Konomi, H. Burkhardt (eds.), Cooperative Buildingsxe2x80x94Integrating Information, Organization, and Architecture. Proceedings of CoBuild ""98, Darmstadt, Germany. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 1370. Springer: Heidelberg, 1998, pp. 4-21; Roy Want, Bill N. Schilit, Norman I. Adams, Rich Gold, Karin Petersen, David Goldberg, John R. Ellis, and Mark Weiser. 1995. An Overview of the ParcTab Ubiquitous Computing Experiment. IEEE Personal Communications 2(6): 28-43; Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown. The Coming Age of Calm Technology. In Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing. Springer-Verlag, 1997, pp. 75-85; and Craig Wisneski, Hiroshi Ishii, Andrew Dahley, Matt Gorbet, Scott Brave, Brygg Ullmer and Paul Yarin. Ambient Displays: Turning Architectural Space into an Interface between People and Digital Information. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Cooperative Buildings (CoBuild ""98). Darmstadt, Germany, February 1998. Springer Press, pp. 22-32. These articles describe systems that have attempted to address the problem of tuning an environment.
Further related research is as follows:
(1) The Olivetti Active Badge(trademark) system [Hopper, et al., 1993; Harter and Hopper, 1994] provides a mechanism for locating and tracking individuals throughout a building using infrared badges and a network of transceivers. The system, as originally designed, did not include a representation of preferences, and was primarily focused on how artifacts (computers, doors, or telephones) might respond to an individual rather than a group. This technology could be quite useful in the present invention, since it would eliminate the need for a manual login or a preset timeout to trigger entrance and exit eventsxe2x80x94the system could simply poll periodically for the presence of active badges in the fitness center and locker rooms.
(2) The Xerox ParcTab system [Want, et al., 1995] also provides a mechanism for locating and tracking people who are carrying a handheld device. One application allows individual inhabitants of a room to vote on the quality or pace of a presentation using their ParcTab; the presenter can then respond to this feedback, but the environment itself does not respond to voting. A ParcTab could be used to control the lighting or temperature of a roomxe2x80x94similar to changing channels with a television remote control devicexe2x80x94but it does not appear that the designers were concerned with using this functionality in rooms with multiple inhabitants.
(3) The Responsive Environment Project at Xerox [Elrod, et al., 1993] explored how an environment might conserve energy by adjusting the lighting and temperature, based on an awareness of who was present (or scheduled to be present) in offices and common areas within a building. This work differs from the present invention in that it was basically a two-state systemxe2x80x94an office or common area was either empty or non-emptyxe2x80x94and the preferences of the inhabitants was not considered in its control strategy.
(4) The Intelligent Room at MIT [Coen, 1997] is able to track multiple inhabitants in the room, and supports a number of methods for inhabitants to give commands to the room. While it has some capability for noting individual preferences (e.g., not playing Mozart as someone is dozing), it has no explicit mechanism for arbitrating among preferences of a group of people.
(5) The Reactive Room [Cooperstock, 1997] is a shared telepresence environment which responds to its inhabitants, and has a mechanism for storing preferences for videoconference equipment usage. This work focuses on a very difficult problemxe2x80x94how a shared virtual environment might better adapt to its inhabitants, when the inhabitants are distributed across multiple physical sites. One way that the room reacts is to adjust a remote camera based on someone leaning left or right; however, it""s not clear how the room would react to different people leaning in different directions simultaneously.
(6) Cooperstock, et al. [1997], posit four important factors that affect any intelligent environment: the invisibility of the technology, the capability of manually overriding the system, a mechanism for providing feedback to users, and an ability to adapt to the preferences of users. The present invention meets all four of these criteria: other than requiring manual login, the system does not require conscious interaction on the part of the group environment members, e.g., requiring people to input their preferences each time (or voting on each song); the group environment staff can manually override the station selected by the system at any time; the primary feedback that the system provides is in the selection of music played, but the system also provides some feedback to each member with respect to how well the member""s preferences align with those of the current group; finally, the system""s primary purpose is to continually adapt to the preferences of a changing group of people working out in the group environment.
The present invention serves for allowing preferences of members of a group environment to influence the control of an element in the group environment. In the most simple of terms, the present invention includes a member detector, a storage medium and a controller. In use, the member detector provides an indication of which members are present in the group environment and the storage medium is adapted for storing the preferences of the members. Further, the controller serves for controlling the element of the group environment in a way that is dependent on the preferences of the members for the purpose of best meeting the preferences of the members.
It should be noted that the element may take on various modes that may be selected by the controller to meet the preferences of the members of the group environment. Ideally, the preferences each include a numerical indicator representative of a preference for each mode. These numerical indicators may be acquired from the members of the group environment by any type of survey or the like. In order to control the element within the environment, the controller first sums the preferences of each person for each station, yielding a group preference (GP) value for each station; then the system sorts the stations from most popular to least popular, marks the first M stations as candidates (where M is also known as the group preference filter (GPF) a parameter set by the staff), removes from consideration any stations for whom any single individual has a preference below the threshold established by the individual preference filter (IPF, another staff-settable parameter))xe2x80x94e.g., if this is set to xe2x88x921, any station for which any single individual has specified a preference of xe2x88x922 will be eliminated from considerationxe2x80x94and then randomly selects one of the remaining stations, where the probability of randomly selecting any particular station is governed by its GP valuexe2x80x94e.g., a station with a GP value of 50 is twice as likely as to be selected as a station with a GP value of 25.
To accommodate the situation wherein one or more of the members leaves or arrives, the controller changes the element of the group environment to best meet the preferences of the members that are present within the group environment. Detection of the departure or arrival of a new member may be afforded by any user interface such as a card reader connected to the system which allows the identification of any member who leaves or arrives within the group environment.
In one embodiment, the element within the group environment include audible signals in the form of music. In such embodiment, the controller may control the music by way of a juke box. The modes correspond to various genres of the music, i.e. alternative rod, hottest hits, new music, hot country, dance, world beat, traditional country, 50""s oldies, heavy metal, polka, etc.
According to a broad aspect of a preferred embodiment of the invention, environmental factors affecting shared spaces are typically designed to appeal to the broadest audiences they will serve while ignoring the preferences of the inhabitants found in the environment at any given time. Examples of such factors include the lighting, temperature and dxc3xa9cor in the common areas of an office building. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a group preference arbitration system is disclosed that facilitates members of a fitness center influencing, but not directly controlling, the selection of music in a group environment, such as a fitness center. The system has a database of members"" preferences for a wide range of musical genres, a mechanism for identifying who is present at any given time, and an algorithm for selecting a musical genre that will promote members"" listening pleasure in an optimal manner.

Member preference control of an environment


A system having several transmitters at fixed locations, such as in a supermarket, and a mobile receiver installed in each push-cart. Whenever a push-cart comes within the range of a transmitter, an exclusive link is set up therebetween for relaying to the receiver an audio message prerecorded in the transmitter for the push-cart user to hear. The receivers beam each "listening" control signals within a predetermined range, in response to which a transmitter within the range of one such receiver relays back a "sending" control signal and sends its prerecorded message which the receiver tunes into. The control signals are single-frequency signals modulating infrared carriers. The message signals are recorded preferably in analog solid-state memories and frequency-modulating radio or infrared carriers in different embodiments. Other uses include public galleries and museums, where one such receiver may be carried by the user instead of installing in a cart.

The present invention refers to a communications system for selectively sending prerecorded messages from a transmitter unit to mobile, passing-by receiver unit. In particular the invention is related to selectively sending voice messages from at least one but generally several fixed transmitters to randomly roaming receivers individually coming within range of a particular transmitter, wherein each message content is customized or dependant on the location of the transmitter sending it. More particularly, the present invention is directed to selectively beaming messages of interest to people of the general public passing by predetermined locations or stations.
The present invention may be put to different applications, such as educational, cultural or commercial. For instance, visitors to a museum may listen to prerecorded summaries of each object as they walk by or stop to look. Another application selectively beams publicity material to prospective buyers, such as to entice them to sale offers and the like.
One such application particularly targeted by the present invention is inside a supermarket wherein a plurality of transmitters are located in relation to particular products or brands and each push-cart, or at least a great number thereof, is provided with a stand-alone receiver unit. Each transmitter contains at least one customized voice message, such as a special discount offer for a particular product on a shelf nearby or advertising a brand in the midst, which it may transmit to a selected receiver once the latter has been detected within the range of the former and a communication link, such as radio or infrared, is set up therebetween. The cart-mounted receiver may contain a small loudspeaker for relaying the message to the supermarket customer. In other applications, such as in the museum referred to hereinabove, the receiver may be a portable unit to be carried by the visitor and she or he may be provided with earphones to avoid disturbing people nearby.
Hence the invention is directed mainly to relaying different messages to people according to their whereabouts at each moment. In cases such as in a supermarket, the invention affords an attractive improvement over the system sometimes used heretofore consisting in sequentially broadcasting a same message to everyone. Such a system is of limited use, cannot be focussed precisely on people in front of particular merchandise and its penetration is relatively superficial, particularly since it is generally repetitive.

System for selectively transmitting messages to passers-by


An apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor is disclosed. The apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor includes a bypass passage for connecting a compression pocket under intermediate pressure among compression pockets formed by a wrap of a fixed scroll and a wrap of a orbiting scroll and a suction side through which refrigerant is inhaled into the compression pocket to each other, an opening and closing device for opening and closing the bypass passage, and an elastic opening and closing device mounted in the bypass passage to open and close the bypass passage by the pressure of the compression pocket and the pressure and elasticity of the suction side according as the bypass passage is opened and closed by the opening and closing device. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the structure of varying the capacity of a compressor such that it is possible to reduce the size of the apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor and to thus reduce the number of parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll compressor, and more particularly, to an apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor in which a structure for varying the capacity of a compressor is simplified to reduce the size of the apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor and to reduce the number of parts.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a compressor converts electric energy into kinetic energy that compresses a refrigerant gas. The compressor is a core element that constitutes a freezing cycle system and is divided into various kinds such as a rotary compressor, a scroll compressor, and a reciprocal compressor in accordance with compression mechanism by which refrigerant is compressed. Compressors are used for refrigerators, air conditioners, and show cases.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating a compressing device of the scroll compressor. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating a wrap of a fixed scroll and a wrap of a orbiting scroll that constitutes the compressing device.
As illustrated in the drawings, the compressing device of the scroll compressor includes a fixed scroll 30 mounted in a sealed container 10 so as to be separated from an upper frame 20 mounted in the sealed container 10 by a predetermined distance, a orbiting scroll 40 positioned between the fixed scroll 30 and the upper frame 20 so as to be interlocked with the fixed scroll 30, an Oldham's ring 50 positioned between the orbiting scroll 40 and the upper frame 20 to preventing the rotation of the orbiting scroll 40, a high and low pressure dividing plate 11 combined with the fixed scroll 30 and the sealed container 10 to divide the inside of the sealed container 10 into a high pressure region and a low pressure region, and a discharge valve assembly 60 mounted on the top surface of the fixed scroll 30 to open and close a discharge hole 31 formed in the fixed scroll 30. The orbiting scroll 40 is connected to an eccentric portion 71 of a rotating shaft 70 inserted into the upper frame 20.
A suction pipe 12 into which a gas is inhaled is combined with one side of the sealed container 10 positioned in the low pressure region. A discharge pipe 13 through which a gas is discharged is combined with one side of the sealed container 10 positioned in the high pressure region.
Reference numeral 32 denotes the wrap of the fixed scroll 30 that protrudes in the form of an involute curve. Reference numeral 41 denotes the wrap of the orbiting scroll 40 that protrudes in the form of an involute curve. B denotes bushes. S denotes a sealing member.
The operation of the compressing device of the above-described scroll compressor is as follows.
First, when the rotary force of an electric motor is transmitted to rotate the rotating shaft 70, the orbiting scroll 40 combined with the eccentric portion 71 of the rotating shaft pivots based on the rotating shaft 70. The orbiting scroll 40 pivots in a state where the rotation of the orbiting scroll 40 is prevented by the Oldham's ring 50.
According as the orbiting scroll 40 pivots, the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 pivots while being engaged with the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 such that a plurality of compression pockets P formed by the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 and the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 move to the centers of the fixed scroll 30 and the orbiting scroll 40 and that volume changes at the same time. Therefore, a gas is inhaled and compressed and then, is discharged through the discharge hole 31 of the fixed scroll 30.
The high temperature and high pressure gas discharged through the discharge hole 31 of the fixed scroll 30 passes through the high pressure region and is discharged to the outside of the sealed container 10 through the discharge pipe 13.
On the other hand, the above-described scroll compressor commonly constitutes a freezing cycle system to be mainly mounted in air conditioners. In order to minimize power consumption during the operation of an air conditioner, it is necessary to vary the capacity of a scroll compressor that drives the freezing cycle system mounted in the air conditioner.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the compressing device of the scroll compressor that includes an example of the conventional apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor. The same members are denoted by the same reference numerals.
As illustrated in the drawing, the structure of the conventional apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor is as follows.
A bypass passage K for connecting intermediate pressure compression pockets P under intermediate pressure positioned in the middle of the fixed scroll 30 among the compression pockets P formed by the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll and the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll to a suction side through which refrigerant is inhaled into the compression pockets P is formed in the fixed scroll 30. The bypass passage K includes a horizontal hole 33 formed so as to be horizontal to the fixed scroll 30, a vertical hole 34 formed so as to be vertical to the fixed scroll 30 and connected to the horizontal hole 33, and a connection hole 35 formed so as to be connected to the top surface of the fixed scroll 30 in the portion where the horizontal hole 33 and the vertical hole 34 are connected to each other. A through hole in which the connection hole 35 and a high pressure chamber are connected to each other is formed in the high and low pressure dividing plate 11.
A first connection pipe 14 for connecting the suction pipe 12 and the discharge pipe 13 to each other is connected between the suction pipe 12 and the discharge pipe 13. A second connection pipe 15 for connecting the first connection pipe 14 and the bypass passage K to each other is connected between the first connection pipe 14 and the bypass passage K. One side of the second connection pipe 15 is combined with the side of the connection hole 35 of the bypass passage K.
A control valve 16 for controlling the direction of the flow of the refrigerant that flows through the first and second connection pipes 14 and 15 is provided in the portion where the first connection pipe 14 and the second connection pipe 15 are connected to each other. A bypass valve 17 for controlling the flow of the refrigerant is provided in the connection hole 35 of the bypass passage K.
The operation of the above-described apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor will be described as follows.
First, when the scroll compressor is operated at the capacity of 100%, the control valve 16 is positioned such that the second connection pipe 15 and the discharge pipe 13 are connected to each other. When the scroll compressor is operated in the above-described state, since the discharge pipe 13 and the second connection pipe 15 are connected to each other, the bypass valve 17 positioned in the connection hole 35 is pressed by the high pressure refrigerant discharged to the discharge pipe 13 such that the bypass valve 17 is positioned under the connection hole 35 to close the horizontal hole 33 and the vertical hole 34. Therefore, the bypass passage K for connecting the suction side through which the refrigerant is inhaled into the compression pockets P and the compression pockets P under intermediate pressure to each other is closed.
In such a state, the plurality of compression pockets P formed at the edge of the fixed scroll 30 by the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll and the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll due to the pivoting motion of the orbiting scroll 40 move toward the center of the fixed scroll 30 and, at the same time, volume is reduced such that the refrigerant is compressed. The compression pockets P are continuously formed.
When the scroll compressor is operated at variable capacity, the control valve 16 is moved to connect the second connection pipe 15 and the suction pipe 12 to each other. When the scroll compressor is operated in such a state, since the suction pipe 12 and the second connection pipe 15 are connected to each other, the bypass valve 17 moves to the upper side of the connection hole 35 due to the pressure of the compression pockets P under intermediate pressure applied to the bypass valve 17 such that the bypass passage K is opened. According as the bypass passage K is opened, the pressure of the suction side through which the refrigerant is inhaled into the compression pockets P is equal to the pressure of the compression pockets P in the middle of the fixed scroll 30. Therefore, the compression pockets P positioned in the middle of the fixed scroll 30 move to the center of the fixed scroll 30 and, at the same time volume is reduced such that refrigerant is compressed. Therefore, the pressure of the refrigerant discharged through the discharge hole 31 of the fixed scroll is relatively low.
However, according to the above-described conventional apparatus for varying the capacity of a scroll compressor, since the suction pipe 12 and the discharge pipe 13 are connected to each other by the first connection pipe 14 and the first connection pipe 14 is connected to the second connection pipe 15, the entire structure is complicated and the size of the scroll compressor increases. Therefore, the scroll compressor occupies a large space in an air conditioner and cannot be freely installed in the air conditioner.

Apparatus for varying capacity of scroll compressor


A novel industrial pallet for use in supporting and moving goods, engageable by conventional forklift trucks, comprises an upper platform, one or more lower planar reinforcements and cylindrical spacers therebetween, defining a space suitable for access of the forks of a forklift truck from all sides. Some or all of the components are made of thermoplastic-type materials, so that the structures can be economically and simply made by friction welding (e.g. spin/vibration welding). Alternatively, a thermoplastic material may be positioned between components, to act as a thermoplastic glue of respective parts on friction welding.

The common industrial pallet is made of wood. It is provided with similar top and bottom continuous or slatted surfaces, spaced apart by wooden blocks, elongated wooden spacers/reinforcements and side walls to provide a gap of appropriate size therebetween, to give access to the lifting forks of a forklift truck from two or four sides. Such pallets should be robust and rugged in construction, to withstand the weight of goods stacked on them and lifted on top of them, and to withstand the impacts of truck forks driven into them as a result of misalignment. They are commonly made in a variety of different shapes and sizes. They may be nailed, screwed or riveted together, using the particular design and choice of wood appropriate for their particular use and the loads they are intended to carry.
Such wooden pallets, in particular those made of softwood, are disposable, one-way items. They are sufficiently cheap in terms of raw materials and manufacturing costs, and also sufficiently heavy and bulky, that their return transportation when empty is not economic. However, they are prone to damage in use, and on exposure to weather. In addition, many manufacturing environments do not tolerate wood dust or loose splinters, nails, rivets etc. Since in addition such pallets pose significant disposal problems, there are legislative moves to reduce or eliminate their use.
Reusable, returnable industrial pallets are also known. These are normally made of thermoplastics or thermosetting materials, by processes of injection molding or compression molding. These processes of manufacture require relatively high investment in both tooling and machinery. Moreover, the high cost for the plastics raw materials contribute to the relatively high overall cost of such pallets.
Friction welding, e.g. spin welding, vibration welding etc., is a technique which has previously been used, in one industrial area, to form permanent connections between lengths of thermoplastic pipe, by rotating one or both ends of the pipes under pressure against each other. It has also been used, in another industrial area, to weld the thermoplastic reinforcement of an automobile bumper into the thermoplastic front fascia by vibrating both surfaces under pressure against each other. It relies upon the heat generated by friction in the relative movement of one surface relative to another, under conditions of pressure contact between the respective surfaces. As a result, the thermoplastic material of one or both of the surfaces melts, and on cooling, a union is formed with the thermoplastic material of the other surface, to form a thermoplastic weld on cooling.
It is an object of the present invention to provide novel returnable industrial pallets.
It is a further object to provide an economical process for producing such pallets and other similar industrial structures, so that the resulting products are relatively cheap but at the same time strong and durable.

Industrial pallets and methods of manufacture of panel structures


Bit level, rather than symbol level, diversity combining is employed within a wireless communications receiver. Channel estimates and bit metrics are separately computed for signals received by different antenna elements. Bit metrics are calculated by determining a least squares cumulative difference between all bits within the received symbol and corresponding bits within constellation symbols as modified by the channel estimate. The separately-determined bit metrics are then combined for decoding. Performance improvements over both single antenna systems and multiple antenna systems with symbol level diversity combining are achieved.

Currently available commercial wireless communications devices generally all utilize a single antenna for reception. Currently proposed wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11a and European Tele-communications Standards Institute (ETSI) High Performance European Radio Local Area Network version 2 (HiperLAN2) standards, suggest antenna switching and diversity combining techniques to overcome typical channel fading problems in wireless systems. The antenna switching techniques normally select a signal from among various antenna based on the criteria of signal amplitude, while diversity combining utilizes the signals from each antenna by applying different weights. At least in theory, diversity combining produces better results than switching systems.
However, all currently published proposals for diversity combining or beamforming for coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (COFDM) systems employ algorithms operating at the symbol level, which fails to take maximum advantage of the one of the most important benefits of COFDM signaling: that equalization is embedded in the decoding process.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for bit-level diversity combining for coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing receivers.

Bit level diversity combining for COFDM system


An attachment for agricultural harvesting machines for cutting, picking up and further conveying of stalk-like goods that flow into an intake gap of an intake housing of the harvesting machine for further processing, having in each case at least two cutting and conveying elements, which are spaced apart on both sides of a vertical longitudinal center plane and are driven rotationally about vertical axes, wherein the rotational direction of at least one cutting and conveying element can be changed independently of the other cutting and conveying elements of the attachment.

These attachments are also known, in particular, under the name of corn picker heads. These are known to a person skilled in the art in various designs. The object of these attachments for field choppers consists in cutting the standing corn plants during forward travel and transporting the cut plants further in such a way that they pass into the intake region or into the intake gap of the intake housing of the field chopper. Attachments are known having a plurality of rotationally driven cutting and conveying drums which lie next to one another transversely with respect to the travel and working direction and have disk-shaped intake elements which lie on top of one another, are equipped with conveying pockets and are additionally assigned transverse conveying and deflection elements in the rear region.
The cutting and conveying drums or cutting and conveying elements are driven by the internal combustion engine of the carrier vehicle, in a manner which starts via a mechanically driven drive train, a drive train which extends transversely with respect to the travel direction and on which the required drive moments for the cutting and conveying elements are tapped off by means of angular gear mechanisms being mounted ahead of the cutting and conveying elements. A drive of this type is known, for example, from DE19544182. If blockages occur during the continuous cutting and harvesting process, the harvesting process has to be interrupted by stopping the travel movement of the carrier vehicle and the blockage has to be eliminated by reversing the drive. DE 19653367 has disclosed a reversing drive of this type. Here, the drive of the intake rollers of the intake housing of the chopper and that of the attachment has its rotational direction reversed and is decoupled from the drive of the chopping drum in the process. It is disadvantageous here that all the cutting and conveying elements are also driven during reversing and the entire harvested goods which are situated in the attachment and in the intake housing and therefore still in front of the chopping drum are conveyed back and remain on the field as debris. Here, the greater the working width, the greater the debris which remains behind.

Attachment for harvesting stalk-like goods where each cutting and conveying element is controlled individually


A device for turning long members includes two spaced bases each including two spaced vertical plates mounted on a top side thereof. A number of wheels are rotatably, mounted between the plates and located on a common circumference. Each wheel includes an annular groove defined therein. Two receiving discs are respectively, rotatably held by the wheels on the associated bases. Each receiving disc includes a first half disc and a second half disc which are releasably assembled together. The first half disc includes a peripheral edge received in the grooves of the associated wheels. Each of the first half disc and the second half disc includes a cutout for receiving a long member.

The present invention relates to a device for turning long members for proceeding with processing, e.g., soldering on the long members.
Processing on long, bulky members are difficult as sometimes rotation of the members are required during processing. The present invention is intended to provide a device to solve this problem.

44-6, Chiang-Tzy-Ke, Heh-Ping Village, Chu-Chi Hsiang


An illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus comprises a spatial light modulator which is arranged between a light source and a pupil plane. The spatial light modulator includes an array of micromirrors or other light deflecting elements each being capable of individually deflecting impinging projection into various directions. An irradiance distribution on the mirror array or its envelope has, along a direction X an increasing slope and a decreasing slope. The control unit controls the mirrors in such a way that a first mirror, which is located at the increasing slope, and a second mirror, which is located at the decreasing slope, deflect impinging projection light so that it at least partly overlaps in the pupil plane. This ensures that the angular irradiance distribution at mask level is substantially independent from beam pointing fluctuations.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to an illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus, and in particular to such an illumination system comprising an array of micromirrors or other light deflecting elements that can be individually controlled for variably illuminating a pupil plane of the illumination system.
2. Description of Related Art
Microlithography (also referred to as photolithography or simply lithography) is a technology for the fabrication of integrated circuits, liquid crystal displays and other microstructured devices. The process of microlithography, in conjunction with the process of etching, is used to pattern features in thin film stacks that have been formed on a substrate, for example a silicon wafer. At each layer of the fabrication, the wafer is first coated with a photoresist which is a material that is sensitive to light of a certain wavelength. Next, the wafer with the photoresist on top is exposed to projection light through a mask in a projection exposure apparatus. The mask contains a circuit pattern to be imaged onto the photoresist. After exposure the photoresist is developed to produce an image that corresponds to the circuit pattern contained in the mask. Then an etch process transfers the circuit pattern into the thin film stacks on the wafer. Finally, the photoresist is removed. Repetition of this process with different masks results in a multi-layered microstructured component.
A projection exposure apparatus typically includes an illumination system that illuminates a field on the mask that may have the shape of a rectangular or curved slit, for example. The apparatus further comprises a mask stage for aligning the mask, a projection objective (sometimes also referred to as 'the lens') that images the illuminated field on the mask onto the photoresist, and a wafer alignment stage for aligning the wafer coated with the photoresist.
One of the essential aims in the development of projection exposure apparatus is to be able to lithographically define structures with smaller and smaller dimensions on the wafer. Small structures lead to a high integration density, which generally has a favorable effect on the performance of the microstructured components produced with the aid of such apparatus. Furthermore, with high integration densities more components can be produced on a single wafer, which has a positive effect on the throughput of the apparatus.
Various approaches have been pursued in the past to achieve this aim. One approach is to improve the illumination of the mask. Ideally, the illumination system of a projection exposure apparatus illuminates each point of the field illuminated on the mask with projection light having a well defined total energy and angular irradiance distribution. The term angular irradiance distribution describes how the total light energy of a light bundle, which converges towards a particular point on the mask, is distributed among the various directions of the rays that constitute the light bundle.
The angular irradiance distribution of the projection light impinging on the mask is usually adapted to the kind of pattern to be imaged onto the photoresist. For example, relatively large sized features may require a different angular irradiance distribution than small sized features. The most commonly used angular irradiance distributions are referred to as conventional, annular, dipole and quadrupole illumination settings. These terms refer to the irradiance distribution in a pupil plane of the illumination system. With an annular illumination setting, for example, only an annular region is illuminated in the pupil plane. Thus there is only a small range of angles present in the angular irradiance distribution of the projection light, and all light rays impinge obliquely with similar angles onto the mask.
Different approaches are known in the art to modify the angular irradiance distribution of the projection light in the mask plane so as to achieve the desired illumination setting. For achieving maximum flexibility in producing different angular irradiance distribution in the mask plane, it has been proposed to use a spatial light modulator comprising a mirror array that produces the desired irradiance distribution in the pupil plane.
In EP 1 262 836 A1 the mirror array is realized as a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) comprising more than 1000 microscopic mirrors. Each mirror can be tilted about two orthogonal tilt axes so that incident projection light is reflected along a direction which is determined by the tilt angles of the respective mirror. A condenser lens arranged between the mirror array and a pupil plane translates the reflection angles produced by the mirrors into locations in the pupil plane. There, or on an optical integrator which is arranged in or in close vicinity to the pupil plane, each mirror produces a light spot whose position can be varied by tilting the mirror. Each light spot is freely movable across the pupil plane or a light entrance surface of the optical integrator by tilting the respective mirror.
Similar illumination systems using mirror arrays as spatial light modulators are known from US 2006/0087634 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,061,582 B2 and WO 2005/026843 A2.
In excimer lasers, which are usually used as light sources in the illumination system of VUV projection exposure apparatus, beam pointing fluctuations occur. This means that the direction of the light beam emitted from the laser varies to some extent in the long and/or short term. Since the light source is often arranged several meters away from the mirror array, even minute changes of the light beam direction result in significant displacements of the irradiance distribution which is produced by the projection light on the mirror array. This may ultimately lead to changes of the angular irradiance distribution in the mask plane that cannot be tolerated.
WO 2009/080279 A1 proposes to arrange an optical integrator comprising a plurality of microlenses between the light source and the mirror array. Adverse effects of beam pointing fluctuations on the stability of the angular irradiance distribution at mask level are thus avoided. However, the provision of an optical integrator significantly contributes to the costs of the illumination system and increases its complexity.

Illumination system of a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus


Apparatus for filling valve sacks includes at least one filling pipe in fluid communication with a feed unit and receiving a valved sack. The filling pipe is provided with least one axial slot-like recess which is engageable by a clamping lever after a valve sack is placed over the outlet port of the filling pipe so as to apply a tension force onto the valve of the sack. In this manner, the valve of the sack is pushed into the recess and drawn against the outer surface of the filling pipe to attain a sealing action which is maintained even when pressure causes a widening of the valve because the clamping lever is then further lowered.

The present invention refers to an apparatus for filling valved sacks, and in particular to a filling machine of the type having at least one filling pipe which is in fluid communication with a feed unit.
Filling machines for valved sacks come in various configurations e.g. as so-called rotary filling machines and stationary machines. In general, one end of the filling pipe constitutes the outlet port through which the material is discharged and introduced into the valved sack while the other end of the filling pipe is provided with a connection flange for attachment to the feed unit and for allowing a simple exchangeability thereof. In rotary filling machines, the filling pipes run either horizontal or vertical or are inclined relative to the horizontal by a small acute angle. Stationary filling machines can be designed in like manner if configured in form of a serial packaging machine.
Feed units for filling machines include e.g. rotatable feed turbines or pneumatically operated feed pots, called air packers. German patent DE-PS 3,607,508 describes a rotary filling machine for valved sacks which is equipped with an air packer and a feed turbine and can be combined with different types of filling pipes. In many cases, the use of double-walled filling pipes is preferred in order to enable a ventilation of the sacks during a filling operation. An exemplified double-walled filling pipe is disclosed e.g. in German patent DE-PS 3,834,810 which discloses also the arrangement of a reciprocating plunger for securing a valved sack being placed onto to filling pipe.
Common to these conventional filling machines for valved sacks is the drawback that air exiting from the sack carries with it material to be filled in the valved sack. This is true in particular when powdered materials are concerned. The escape of powdered particles or dust is annoying to the operator and results in an increased loss of material and thus in higher costs.
Several attempts were undertaken to avoid these drawbacks, none of which was able to satisfactorily solve the problem. One such attempt proposed a conical or double-cone configuration of the filing pipe. Even though such design improved the filling operation of valved sacks, the manufacture of valved sacks becomes more complicated and results in increased costs as the valve of the valved sack necessitates a complementary conical configuration.
In general, the attachment of a valved sack to the filling pipe should be possible in an easy manner without requiring any particular force or effort. For that reason, a play exists between the inner contour of the valve and the filling pipe. Since the presence of such a play actually promotes the escape of material, the conical design of the filling pipe was proposed in order to effectively act as a sealing element in the area of the valve. The conical configuration of the filling pipe allows a reduction in the amount of escaping material; however, a complete sealing is not ensured since the valve of the sack expands during the filling operation by the pressure of the material flowing into the valved sack. With the double-cone design of the filling pipe, the amount of escaping material could further be reduced, however, the increasing need for a dust-free and clean filling operation could still not be met. Moreover, it is unavoidable in the production of valved sacks that the generally tubular valves lie outside admissable tolerances. This further complicates the possibility of reaching a dust-free and clean filling operation.
Other solutions for reducing an escape of dust particles encompass filling pipes with expandable packing, or split filling pipes which open up in a jaw-like or beak-like manner. In the latter case, passages are however created after opening of both parts of the filling pipes through which material can escape. Moreover, outgoing air cannot be guided in a closed system.
It was further proposed to design the filling pipe at least in the central area thereof as an expandable tube. Apart from the fact that such an expandable tube constitutes a wearing part, the attachment of valved sacks is complicated because the slidability of the tube relative to the normal filling pipes is disadvantageous.
In accordance with another proposal, the valve of the valved sacks is designed in form of a filter valve made of air-permeable material through which outgoing air is aspirated. Also this solution does not satisfactorily solve the problem of widening of the valve during filling operation.
German patent DE-PS 580,335 discloses a feed nozzle which is flattened at the upper side either over the entire length of the nozzle or over the forward area thereof. Instead of being flattened, the feed nozzle may also be provided in the central area with a transverse indentation. Cooperating with the feed nozzle is a sack holder which is swingably mounted to press the sack against the feed nozzle during filling operation. In order to increase the friction, the flattened area of the filling pipe is roughened, with the complimentary side of the sack holder being roughened as well. Instead of roughening, the filling pipe may also be provided at a central area thereof with a step or an indentation so that the sack becomes deformed by the sack holder. This publication is silent in regard with an escape of material and with the structure of a filling machine to allow filling material to pass through the feed nozzle into the sack. Moreover, the provision of a transverse step or indentation is insufficient to attain a sufficient sealing; rather, passages are created through which material can escape.


The present invention provides fluoropolymer laminates having isotropic properties. For example, an embodiment in which multiple fluoropolymer sheets having an liquid crystalline polymer oriented in the fibrous state in the melt processible fluoropolymer are laminated, despite having the fibrous LCP oriented in one direction in each single extruded sheet, makes it possible to laminate in such a way as to compensate for their orientation directions, the laminate thereby becoming isotropic as regards physical properties. The laminates also have low linear coefficient of expansion and low thermal shrinkage as well as elevated tensile modulus and low-dielectric constant.

With trends toward miniaturization of devices, higher performance, and greater circuit density in electrical and electronic parts fields, there is a need for materials with excellent heat resistance, dimensional stability, low moisture absorption, and low dissipation at high frequencies, which is associated with dielectric constant. In particular, as advancements are made in information technology, circuit boards increasingly need to have good performance high frequency.
Circuit boards are commonly made from copper cladding on such reinforcing substrates as follows: glass cloth impregnated with epoxy resin, fluoropolymer film, substrates obtained by impregnation of glass cloth with a liquid in which a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles are dispersed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai 2001-171038, and laminates obtained by laminating polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) film to a fibrous product mainly comprised of PTFE as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3139515.
However, these films and laminates are deficient in the following aspects: Copper-clad laminates obtained by impregnation of glass cloth with an epoxy resin are inferior in high frequency characteristics and moisture absorption characteristics, and they often warp, which is attributable to the differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the substrate and the copper foil. Furthermore, they sometimes suffer from an inability to accept plating (copper cladding) when the glass is exposed in the through holes. Through-holes are holes made though the circuit board, the inside of the holes being metal-plated to provide an electrically conductive connection between layers in the board. Copper-clad fluoropolymer laminates also tend to suffer from thermal stress due to the differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the copper foil and the fluoropolymer substrate, resulting in problems such as the delamination of the copper foil. Fluorinated film substrates are not easily adhered to: they have difficulty accepting paste and plating during the printing for a circuit formation, lamination of metal foils, or through-hole fabrication. Laminates from PTFE fibrous product and PPS film, while showing low thermal shrinkage, are inferior in high frequency characteristics due to the use of the PPS film, which has a dielectric constant higher than that of the fluoropolymer.
Liquid crystalline polymers (LCP) would be expected to find applications in electronic parts areas because of their high strength, high heat resistance, low coefficient of thermal expansion, and good insulation characteristics. It has been disclosed that blending a melt processible fluoropolymer with an LCP and causing the LCP to be in a fibrous state in the melt processible fluoropolymer matrix can improve the tensile modulus of the melt processible fluoropolymer and its coefficient of linear expansion (EP 1 086 987 A1). It has also been disclosed that introduction of a fluoropolymer having a specific functional group (hereafter called a compatibilizing agent) brings about uniformity in the size of the LCP dispersed phase and dispersion state in the melt mixing stage of the fluoropolymer and the LCP and improves the interfacial adhesion between the fluoropolymer and the fibrous LCP U.S. Patent Application Publication 2001/0006727). However, these fluoropolymer-liquid crystal polymer blends have failed to provide reliable electronic materials and products because during melt extrusion, the LCP molecules extensively orient in the direction of extrusion (machine direction). As a result, the resulting films are highly anisotropic, exhibiting differences in tensile strength and coefficient of linear expansion between the machine direction (MD, the direction in which the LCP fibers are oriented) and the transverse direction (TD, the direction perpendicular to the direction in which the LCP fibers are oriented. In extruded film or sheet, TD is the width of the extrudate).
These shortcomings have prompted a proposal for a process comprising laminating porous fluoropolymer films to both sides of a previously-extruded LCP film, stretching the laminate biaxially under temperature conditions where the porous fluoropolymer is not melted, but where the LCP is melted, thereby reducing or eliminating the anisotropy so as to be able to use the LCP as a circuit substrate material (Kokai H10-34742). This approach is alleged to cause the LCP molecules to be randomly orientated in the plane of the laminate, thereby reducing or eliminating anisotropy in the physical properties. However, unlike conventional thermoplastic polymers, LCPs have rigid molecular chains which tend to slip past one another with essentially no entanglement between individual molecular chains, making it comparatively difficult to stretch them at temperatures below their melting points. At temperatures at or above their melting points, the viscosities of LCPs drop precipitously; and they flow like liquid thereby losing all fibrillar orientation. Therefore, fibrous LCP is very difficult to orient completely randomly, even when the LCP is laminated between porous fluoropolymer films and biaxially stretched.
There is a need for circuit board material that is free from prior art defects.

Fluoropolymer laminates and a process for manufacture thereof