The vegetable oil based lubricant of the present invention is derived primarily from plants, a renewable resource. It is readily biodegradable via .alpha.- and .beta.-oxidation utilizing microbes naturally present in the environment and is non-toxic to flora and fauna. The vegetable based lubricant of the invention includes a mono-, di- and trigycerol base oil making up the majority of the composition, a vegetable oil additive containing hydroxy fatty acids and a liquid vegetable wax. Additional antioxidants derived from natural vegetable or petroleum sources may be used. The base oil is primarily derived from the families Cruciferae, Leguminosae or Compositae. The vegetable oil additive is principally derived from castor or lesquerella and the vegetable wax from jojoba or meadowfoam. The invention is suitable for use in internal combustion engines and in total loss applications. The invention is designed as a total composition for its applications and is not an additive to petroleum lubricants.

(1)Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of vegetable oils in environmentally sound applications as a total replacement for current petroleum and vegetable-based additives to petroleum. Its use in applications to internal combustion engines provides not only acceptable biodegradability but superior lubricity to petroleum lubricants. In total loss applications, such as rail oils and chain oils, it provides superior lubricity, heat transfer and rapid degradation after disposal desired by users.
(2)Description of the Related Art
The principal use of motor oils is to prevent metal-to-metal contact between moving engine parts with respect to heat and friction. In the absence of a lubricant, friction caused by the rubbing of the moving parts creates heat. Heat then acts to weld tiny imperfections in the moving parts together. The welds then tear and re-weld themselves. This process, referred to as "scuffing", if allowed to continue, will cause engine failure.
Motor oils prevent the metal-to-metal contact by forming a film between moving parts. In addition to reducing friction between moving parts, the lubricant also functions as a coolant for the parts, a corrosion preventative and as a sealant for engine rings.
Total loss applications are quite similar to motor oils. The difference being that total loss oils are used once, briefly, and then are discarded in the proximate environment. Examples of total loss applications include rail oils for trains, bar/chain oils for wood cutting and metal cutting oils. The immediate consumption of total loss oils is relatively insignificant but the cumulative effect is dramatic. A train alone may consume 5 gallons of oil per 1,000 miles as the oil is sprayed on the track to lubricate the wheels. This amounts to a total of 300,000 gallons annually being discarded along railings within the U.S. alone.
Traditionally, mineral oils, produced from petroleum, have been the primary source of engine lubricants, as well as total loss application. The petroleum oils are composed primarily of hydrocarbons in nature and therefore lack chemical functionality. These petroleum oils are structurally composed of naphthenic, parafinic or aromatic structures.
Naphthenic structures have common, general characteristics: they have low viscosity, good pour points and poor oxidative stability. Paraffinic structures also have common characteristics: they have higher viscosity, high pour points and good oxidative stability. Aromatic structures generally have very high viscosity, variable pour points and poor oxidative stability.
Lubricants are made by distilling and refining crude petroleum. A host of various chemicals are added to this petroleum base to improve their physical properties and performances. As an example, various polymeric substances are added to the base oil to improve viscosity and act as a dispersant. Micronized polytetraflouroethylene (PTFE) is added to provide lubricity and reduce engine wear. Various amines, metal phenates and zinc salts are added as antioxidants.
In some formulations, notably the "synthetic oil" or "blended synthetic oil" formulations, additional micronized nylons or modified vegetable oils are added for additional lubricity and thermal stability. Finally, alkaline-earth phenates are added to neutralize acids and reduce wear.
Petroleum based lubricants suffer from a number of drawbacks. The crude petroleum from which they are derived is a nonrenewable resource. The world oil reserves are, if current consumption levels continue, expected to be exhausted within 40 years. Additionally, petroleum based motor oils are highly toxic to the environment and are hazardous to both the flora and fauna. Recent studies indicate these oils are carcinogenic and they are classified as a hazardous waste. Finally, petroleum based oils, with their chemical additives are not readily degraded in the environment. As a result, they persist for long periods in an ecosystem. The ecological problems associated with the refining and disposal of petroleum products are well known.
A second group of available lubricants are the synthetic oils. Synthetic oils have been developed to obtain intrinsic qualities such as lubricity and thermal stability. They are frequently designed for use in extreme conditions such as extreme temperature, vacuum, radiation or chemical environments. The most common synthetic lubricants are silicones, polyglycols, phosphate esters, dibasic acid esters and silicate esters. Synthetic lubricants are relatively costly and also suffer from a multitude of drawbacks similar to those of petroleum. They are frequently toxic to the environment, hazardous to flora and fauna and are not readily biodegradable.
A third group are the fixed oils. Fixed oils are fatty substances derived from animals, plants and fish. They are called fixed oils since they will not volitilize without decomposing. Fixed oils are generally composed of fatty acids and alcohols, the radicals of which are joined to form fatty acid esters. These transesterified oils are frequently blended with petroleum to provide functionality to the petroleum and reduce cost since transesterification is an expensive process and a pure fixed oil product would not be commercially feasible. Although the fixed oils by themselves are biodegradable, once they are mixed with petroleum this is lost.
Consequently, there is a strong need for an effective motor oil which can lubricate moving metal parts in internal combustion engines, which is derived from a renewable resource, is non-toxic to the environment and is readily biodegradable, preferably by microbes naturally present in the environment. The oil should also be cost effective to produce and market. It should also be usable in total loss applications.
Prior teachings in applications of vegetable oils for lubrication have been focused on the use of these oils as additives to a petroleum base oil. Prior teachings have emphasized that vegetable oils are functional as additives in petroleum lubricants for engines and transmissions. Their enhanced lubricity has significantly improved the efficacy of petroleum but they are rarely used at percentages exceeding 20 percent of the composition by volume of the final lubricant. Other applications primarily use a transesterified vegetable oil, converting the glycerols to a free fatty acid form prior to use.

Vegetable oil lubricants for internal combustion engines and total loss lubrication


Disclosed herein are an electrostatic-type variable diffractive light modulator, which includes lower micromirrors that are provided on a glass substrate to be spaced apart from each other, and actuates upper micromirrors that are spaced apart from the substrate by an electrostatic actuating method, thus allowing the upper and lower micromirrors to diffract incident light entering a lower portion of the substrate, and a method of manufacturing the electrostatic-type variable diffractive light modulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a variable diffractive light modulator and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to an electrostatic-type variable diffractive light modulator, which includes lower micromirrors that are provided on a glass substrate to be spaced apart from each other, and actuates upper micromirrors that are spaced apart from the substrate by an electrostatic actuating method, thus allowing the upper and lower micromirrors to diffract incident light entering a lower portion of the substrate, and to a method of manufacturing the electrostatic-type variable diffractive light modulator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an optical signal processing technology has advantages in that a great amount of data is quickly processed in a parallel manner unlike a conventional digital information processing technology in which it is impossible to process a great amount of data in real time. Studies have been conducted on the design and production of a binary phase only filter, an optical logic gate, a light amplifier, an image processing technique, an optical device, and a light modulator using a spatial light modulation theory.
The spatial light modulator is applied to optical memory, optical display device, printer, optical interconnection, and hologram fields, and studies have been conducted to develop a display device employing it.
The spatial light modulator is embodied by a reflective deformable grating light modulator 10 as shown in FIG. 1.
The modulator 10 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,360 by Bloom et al.
The modulator 10 includes a plurality of reflective deformable ribbons 18, which have reflective surface parts, are suspended on an upper part of a silicon substrate 16, and are spaced apart from each other at regular intervals. An insulating layer 11 is deposited on the silicon substrate 16.
Subsequently, a sacrificial silicon dioxide film 12 and a low-stress silicon nitride film 14 are deposited. The nitride film 14 is patterned by the ribbons 18, and a portion of the silicon dioxide film 12 is etched, thereby maintaining the ribbons 18 on the oxide spacer layer 12 by a nitride frame 20.
In order to modulate light having a single wavelength of λo, the modulator is designed so that thicknesses of the ribbon 18 and oxide spacer 12 are each λo/4.
Limited by a vertical distance (d) between a reflective surface 22 of each ribbon 18 and a reflective surface of the substrate 16, a grating amplitude of the modulator 10 is controlled by applying a voltage between the ribbon 18 (the reflective surface 22 of the ribbon 18 acting as a first electrode) and the substrate 16 (a conductive layer 24 formed on a lower side of the substrate 16 to act as a second electrode).
In an undeformed state of the light modulator with no voltage application, the grating amplitude is λo/2 while a total round-trip path difference between light beams reflected from the ribbon and substrate is λo. Thus, a phase of reflected light is reinforced.
Accordingly, in the undeformed state, the modulator 10 acts as a plane mirror when it reflects incident light. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 20 denotes the incident light reflected by the modulator 10 in the undeformed state.
When a proper voltage is applied between the ribbon 18 and substrate 16, the electrostatic force enables the ribbon 18 to move downward toward the surface of the substrate 16. At this time, the grating amplitude is changed to λo/4.
The total round-trip path difference is a half of a wavelength, and light reflected from the deformed ribbon 18 and light reflected from the substrate 16 are subjected to destructive interference.
The modulator diffracts incident light 26 using the interference. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 28 and 30 denote light beams diffracted in +/− diffractive modes (D+1, D−1) in the deformed state, respectively.
It has been proven that sticking of the ribbon 18 to the substrate 16 is a common problem of the light modulator 10 during a wet process applied to form a space under the ribbon 18 and during operation of the modulator 10.
There are various methods of reducing the sticking: lyophilization, a dry etching of a photoresist-acetone sacrificial layer, an OTS single layer treatment, use of a hard ribbon and/or a tightened nitride film gained by shortening the ribbon, a method of roughing or wrinkling one or both surfaces of two facing surfaces, a method of forming a reverse rail on the lower part of the ribbon, and a method of changing the chemical properties of the surfaces.
In a solid-state sensor and actuator workshop held in June, 1994 at the Hilton Head Island in Scotland, prevention of sticking was reported, which is accomplished by reducing the contact area by forming a reverse rail on the lower part of a bridge and by employing a rough polysilicon layer as disclosed in "a process of finely treating the surface of a deformable grating light valve for high resolution display devices" suggested by Sandeyas, et al., and "a grating light valve for high resolution display devices", suggested by Apte et al.
Moreover, Apte et al. found that mechanical operation of the modulator 10 has a characteristic such that deformation of the ribbon 18 as a function of voltage forms hysteresis.
The hysteresis is theoretically based on the fact that an electrostatic attractive force between the ribbon 18 and substrate 16 is a nonlinear function of the deformation, whereas hardness of the ribbon 18 is a substantially linear function of a resilient force by tension.
FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating light output (which indirectly indicates the deformation of the ribbon 18) as a function of a voltage between the ribbon 18 and substrate 16, which shows an induced hysteretic characteristic.
Accordingly, when the ribbon 18 is deformed into a down position to come into contact with the substrate 16, they are latched and require a holding voltage smaller than the original applied voltage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,360 by Bloom et al. discloses a latching feature which gives a modulator 10 advantages of an active matrix design without the need for active components.
Additionally, Bloom et al. describes that this feature is valuable in low power applications where efficient use of available power is very important.
However, Bloom et al. discloses the addition of small ridges below ribbons 18 to reduce a contact area, thereby reducing the sticking problem.
However, since the substrate of the modulator 10 is used as an optical surface, a process of adding the small ridges to the surface is complicated in that a reflective element of the substrate 16 must be smooth so as to have high reflectance and must be positioned on a planar surface of the ribbon 18.
Typical display devices are formed in 2-D arrays of pixels. Discontinuous images formed by a plurality of pixels are integrated by user's eyes, thereby forming an aggregate image of pixels constituting a whole image.
Unfortunately, prices of such a display device are high because the pixels are overlapped to form a complete array, so the production cost of each pixel is duplicated.
The display device comprising pixels is exemplified by televisions or computer systems. Their pixels may be formed by an LCD device or a CRT device.
Accordingly, there is required a diffractive grating light valve capable of reducing or removing the sticking between the reflective element and the substrate without a complicated surface treatment adopted to reduce the sticking.
As well, a display device is required, which reduces the number of pixels to reduce production costs without reducing image quality while designing a system.
To satisfy the above requirements, a conventional improved technology is proposed in Korean Pat. Application No. 10-2000-7014798, entitled "method and device for modulating incident light beam to form 2-D image", by Silicon Light Machines Inc.
In the "method and device for modulating the incident light beam to form the 2-D image", the diffractive grating light valve includes a plurality of elongate elements each having a reflective surface.
The elongate elements are arranged on an upper side of a substrate so that they are parallel to each other, have support ends, and their reflective surfaces lie in array (GLV array).
The elongate elements form groups according to display elements. The groups alternately apply a voltage to the substrate, resulting in deformation of the elements.
The almost planar center portion of each deformed elongate element is parallel to and spaced from the center portion of the undeformed element by a predetermined distance.
The predetermined distance is set to ⅓–¼ of the distance between the undeformed reflective surface and the substrate. Thus, the deformed elongate elements are prevented from coming into contact with the surface of the substrate.
Sticking between the elongate elements and the substrate is prevented by preventing contact between the elements and substrate. Additionally, the predetermined distance between each deformed elongate element and the substrate is limited so as to prevent hysteresis causing deformation of the elongate elements.
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of an elongate element 100 of a GLV in an undeformed state according to a conventional improved technology.
In FIG. 5, the elongate element 100 is suspended above a surface of a substrate (including constitution layers) by ends thereof. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 102 denotes an air space.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a portion of the GLV including six elongate elements 100. The elongate elements 100 have the same width and are arranged parallel to each other.
The elongate elements 100 are spaced close to each other, so that the elongate elements 100 can be deformed independently from other elements.
The six elongate elements 100 as shown in FIG. 6 preferably form a single display element 200. Therefore, an array of 1920 elongate elements forms a GLV array having 320 display devices arranged therein.
FIG. 7 is a front view of a display element 200 having undeformed elongate elements 100. FIG. 7 is a view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line A—A′ of FIG. 5.
The undeformed state is selected by equalizing a bias on the elongate elements 100 to a conductive layer 106.
Since reflective surfaces of the elongate elements 100 are substantially co-planar, light incident on the elongate elements 100 is reflected.
FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a deformed elongate element 100 of the GLV. FIG. 8 shows that the deformed elongate element 100 is maintained in the suspended state thereof to be spaced from the surface of the substrate adjacent therebeneath. This is in contrast to the conventional modulator of FIGS. 1 to 3.
Contact between the elongate element 100 and the surface of the substrate is prevented, thereby avoiding the disadvantages of conventional modulators. However, the elongate element 100 is apt to sag in the deformed state.
The reason is that the elongate element 100 is uniformly subjected to an electrostatic attractive force acting toward the substrate in directions perpendicular to a longitudinal direction thereof, whereas tension of the elongate element 100 acts along the length of the elongate element 100. Therefore, the reflective surface of the elongate element is not planar but curvilinear.
However, the center part 102 of the elongate element 100 (FIG. 8) is almost planar, making the contrast ratio of diffracted light, gained by only the center part 102 of the elongate element 100, desirable.
The substantially planar center part 102 has a length that is ⅓ of a distance between post holes 110. Hence, when the distance between the post holes 110 is 75 μm, the almost planar center part 102 is about 25 μm long.
FIG. 9 is a front view of the display element 200 in which the deformed elongate elements 100 are alternately arranged.
FIG. 9 is a view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line B—B′ of FIG. 8. The elongate ribbons 100 which are not removed are maintained at desired positions by an applied bias voltage.
Deformation of the moving elongate ribbons 100 is achieved by alternate applications of operation voltages through the conductive layer 106 to the elongate elements 100.
A vertical distance (d1) is almost constant to the almost planar center part 102 (FIG. 8), thereby limiting the grating amplitude of the GLV.
The grating amplitude (d1) may be controlled by adjusting an operation voltage on the operated elongate elements 100. This results in precision tuning of the GLV in an optimum contrast ratio.
As for diffractive incident light having a single wavelength (λ1), it is preferable that the GLV has a grating width (d1) that is ¼ (λo/4) of the wavelength of incident light to assure a maximum contrast ratio in an image to be displayed.
However, the grating width (d1) requires only a round trip distance that is the same as the sum of a half of the wavelength (λ1) and the whole number of the wavelength λ1) (i.e. d1=λ1/4, 3λ1/4, 5λ1/4, . . . , Nλ1/2+λ1/4)
Referring to FIG. 9, the lower side of each elongate element 100 is spaced upward from the substrate by a distance of d2.
Accordingly, the elongate elements 100 do not come into contact with the substrate during operation of the GLV.
This results in avoidance of the sticking problems between the reflective ribbons and the substrate occurring in conventional modulators.
With reference to a hysteresis curve shown in FIG. 4, since the elongate elements 100 are moved by a distance that is ⅓–¼ of the distance between the elements and substrate to diffract incident light, hysteresis is prevented.
However, the conventional technology inevitably requires a gap between micromirrors to actuate the micromirrors with a ribbon shape. As the gap increases, a fill factor is reduced with respective to the same ribbon width. Hence, a maximum quantity of light which is diffracted to 0th or ±1st order becomes small, thus reducing a dynamic range of the light modulator.
According to the conventional technology, the light modulator has various pitches, according to adapted areas, including printing or displaying areas. The light modulator must minimize the gap between the micromirrors under a given pitch. In the case of a light modulator having a small pitch, a high fill factor is required to assure a sufficient modulation dynamic range, thereby a small gap is required. However, it is very difficult to form a small gap. Further, as the gap is reduced, the capacity of the device is deteriorated.
Further, the conventional technology is problematic in that the diffraction efficiency is lowered, and the uniformity of the output light of all pixels is thus lowered, when the actuating distance of three or four micromirrors provided in one pixel to be simultaneously actuated is not accurately regulated.
Furthermore, according to the conventional technology, the reflective micro ribbon is manufactured by placing a metal material on a dielectric material, such as silicon nitride. However, when a voltage is applied to the micro ribbon to supply an electrostatic force to the micro ribbon, the dielectric material is charged and thereby variation in an actuating displacement undesirably occurs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrostatic-type variable diffractive light modulator and manufacturing method thereof


An insulating plate unit comprises a first engaging end and a second engaging end. The first fin extends longitudinally from an upper edge of the first engaging end and along a length of the upper edge. A first wing extends longitudinally from a lower edge of the first engaging end and along a length of the lower edge. The first wing extends to a distance greater than that of the first fin. The first wing has an inward facing surface and an outward facing surface. A channel is defined by the first fin and the first wing. A recess is formed in the outward facing surface and extends along the length of the lower edge of the first engaging end. A ridge is formed on the inward facing surface and extends along the length of the lower edge of the first engaging end. A groove is correspondingly formed in the second engaging end for engaging with the ridge of another insulating plate unit. The second engaging end is complimentary to the first engaging end so that the insulating plate units can be interconnected.

The present invention relates to an insulating plate unit and, more particularly, to an insulating plate unit with improved engaging effect.
Insulating plate units have been used to constitute a wall or floor by interconnecting the units via engaging ends thereof. The tongue and groove engagement of the insulating plate units, however, is not sound enough to resist external forces applied to the engaging points. Furthermore, the insulating plate units cannot provide soundproof effects. Moreover, the insulating plate units provide no room for pipes for electric wires, gas, or water.
Therefore, there has been a long and unfulfilled need for an improved insulating unit to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.


In a food taste reproduction system, a taste recognition device obtains the taste data obtained by quantifying the food taste. A first terminal converts the taste data into taste reproduction data on a component ratio of taste components for reproducing the food taste by combining a plurality of the taste components, the taste component containing a material providing at least one basic taste. The first terminal transmits the taste reproduction data to the server for storing. A second terminal receives the taste reproduction data via an Internet and outputs the taste reproduction data to a taste reproduction device. The taste reproduction device selects at least two taste components among a plurality of the taste components based on the taste reproduction data, and combines the selected taste components in accordance with the component ratio so as to obtain the taste reproduced material.

It has been developed a taste sensor that detects not ingredients of a food but tastes to be sensed by a human tongue and outputs as an electrical signal. Especially, a taste sensor configured to detect basic tastes of a saltiness, an acidity, a bitterness, a sweetness, and an umami taste has been developed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1 discloses a lipid membrane sensor electrode where a lipid membrane and an electrode are disposed on a base material, and a large number of the lipid membrane sensor electrodes using lipid membranes with different response characteristics are arranged in parallel to constitute a taste sensor array. Into a solution to be measured, a reference electrode as an electrode that generates an electric potential as a reference of the measurement is put with the taste sensor array. An electrical signal from the lipid membrane is amplified by an amplifier and applied to an A/D converter. An electrical signal from the reference electrode is also applied to the A/D converter, and an electric potential difference between the lipid membrane and the reference electrode is converted into a digital signal. This digital signal is appropriately processed by a microcomputer to be indicated on an X-Y recorder.
As an application of the taste sensor disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 1, there has been a proposal to apply to, for example, a taste test on a food and a medicinal product (for example, see Patent Document 2). Use of the taste sensor in the taste test has solved a problem that: in a sensory test on a food, for example, individual differences among panelists and a physical condition of a panelist causes a variation to prevent precisely obtaining a subtle difference in strength even on an identical taste, thus failing to perform a test with a high reproducibility: or in a case where a test target is a medicinal product, a usable amount for the test is limited for a health of the panelist, thus failing to perform an efficient test.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 2578370
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 4574828

Food taste reproduction system, food taste reproduction data conversion apparatus, and food taste reproduction method


This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plant named ‘BG-11.3209’. This new strawberry plant named ‘BG-11.3209’ is primarily adapted to the growing conditions of the central coast of California, and is primarily characterized by its red fruit color, large fruit size, and conical fruit shape; very good fruit flavor, with seeds typically held level with to above the surface; firm fruit, with calyx typically raised and sepal attitude generally outward to upward; medium plant size, upright in habit, with medium density and vigor; medium yellow green foliage color, and medium foliage size; and fruiting trusses typically visible above the foliage, with medium to weak pubescence and medium to strong anthocyanins.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct strawberry variety named 'BG-11.3209'. This new variety is a result of a controlled cross made in 2011 in an ongoing breeding program between strawberry variety designated 'BG-99.1975' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 17,725) as the seed (female) parent, and strawberry variety designated 'BG-4.370' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 27,441) as the pollen (male) parent. The variety is botanically known as Fragaria ananassa.
The seedling resulting from the aforementioned cross was selected from a controlled breeding plot in Ventura County, Calif. in the spring of 2013. After its selection, the new variety was asexually propagated by stolons in both Siskiyou County, Calif. and San Joaquin County, Calif. The new variety was extensively tested over the next several years in fruiting fields in Ventura County, Calif. This propagation has demonstrated that the combination of traits disclosed herein as characterizing the new variety are fixed and remain true-to-type through successive generations of asexual reproduction.


A method and apparatus are provided to allow co-verification of hardware and software elements asynchronously from a programmable logic device (PLD).

A large number of the digital systems being designed today are task-specific systems that consist of standard or custom hardware and standard or custom software.
Some systems have a predominately software element; in that most of the design effort is spent implementing the system in software. Typically, this software is implemented on standard or previously designed hardware.
Other systems are hardware dominant; in that most of the design effort is spent implementing the system in programmable logic devices (PLDs) or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
In either case where hardware or software dominates, there are a variety of tools that can be used by the designer to validate the system and ensure that it is operating correctly. In the case of a software dominant system, debugger and other related software tools could be used. In the case of a hardware dominant system, hardware emulation or simulation could be used.
The systems that are the most difficult to validate are those that are neither hardware nor software dominant, where both parts play an important role in the success of the system. Often, the hardware and software are initially developed separately with each part being tested independently of the other. The hardware is tested using a hardware simulator or emulator. The software is validated using an instruction set simulator on a computer. Typically, an instruction set simulator will run at speeds that are several orders of magnitude higher than in a hardware simulator.
Once both the hardware and software have been verified separately, the two are co-simulated. That is, a simulation is carried out where the software runs on a simulation of the prototype hardware.
Due to the much lower speed of hardware simulation, this co-simulation is considerably slower than instruction set simulation.


A network system of the present invention comprises a switch and a controller. The switch performs processes on a received packet in accordance with a flow entry in which are defined a rule and an action for uniformly controlling a packet as a flow. The controller sets the flow entry to a flow table of the switch. The switch notifies a vacancy status of a flow table of the switch itself to the controller. The controller performs a path calculation in consideration with the vacancy status of the flow table of the switch to improve a utilization of the flow table of the switch.

Conventional network devices are black boxes and cannot be performed from outside controls highly flexible such as load balancing or load offset. Thus, if a size of the network increases, understanding and improving a behavior of the system becomes difficult and an enormous cost involving a modification of configuration or design was problematic.
As a technique for resolving such subject, a method has been considered of separating packet transferring function of a network device and path controlling function. By charging a controlling device outside the network device of the controlling function, the control becomes easier and a highly flexible network becomes able to be constructed.
[Explanation About C/U Separation Type Network]
A C/U (Control plane/User plane) separation type network, which controls a node device (user plane) from an outside controlling device (control plane), is proposed as a network system with separated functions.
As an example of a C/U separation type network, an OpenFlow network using OpenFlow technology, which performs network path control by controlling switches from a controller, can be given. Details of the OpenFlow technology are described in Non-Patent Literature 1. It should be noted that the OpenFlow network is merely an example.
[Explanation About OpenFlow Network]
In an OpenFlow network, a controlling device such as an OpenFlow controller (OFC) operates a flow table related to path control of node devices such as an OpenFlow switches (OFS) to control behavior of the node devices.
Hereinafter, for a simplification of description, an OpenFlow controller (OFC) will be denoted by "controller (OFC)" and an OpenFlow switch (OFS) will be denoted by "switch (OFS)".
Between a controller (OFC) and a switch (OFS) is connected a "secure channel" which is a private line or a communication path protected by SSL (Secure Socket Layer). The controller (OFC) and the switch (OFS) transmit and receive OpenFlow messages which conform to (are compliant with) OpenFlow protocol, via the secure channel.
Switches (OFS) in an OpenFlow network are edge switches and core switches which constitute the OpenFlow network and are under control of the controller (OFC). A series of flow in an OpenFlow network from a reception of packet by an input side edge switch (Ingress) to a transmission by an output side edge switch (Egress) is called a Flow.
A packet can be read as a frame. The difference between the packet and the frame is merely the Protocol Data Unit (PDU). The packet is the PDU of "TCP/IP" (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). On the other hand, the frame is the PDU of Ethernet (registered trademark).
A flow table is a table in which is registered a flow entry in which is defined a specified operation (action) to be performed to a packet (communication data) which matches with a specified matching condition (rule).
A rule of a flow entry is defined and distinguishable by various combinations using any ones or all of a destination address, a source address, a destination port and a source port which are included in a header area (field) of each protocol layer of a packet. It should be noted that the above addresses include a MAC (Media Access Control) address and an IP (Internet Protocol) address. In addition to the above, information of entering port (Ingress Port) can be used as a rule of a flow entry. In addition, as a rule of a flow entry, a portion (or the whole) of a value of the header area of the packet showing a flow can be set by a regular expression or an expression with a wild card such as "*".
An action of a flow entry shows an operation such as "output to a specified port", "drop" or "rewrite a header". For example, the switch (OFS), if identification information of an output port (such as an output port number) is shown in the action of the flow entry, outputs the packet to the corresponding port and if identification information of an output port is not shown, drops the packet. Alternatively, the switch (OFS), if header information is shown in the action of the flow entry, rewrites the header of the packet on a basis of the corresponding header information.
A switch (OFS) in an OpenFlow network performs the action of the flow entry to a group of packets (packet sequence) matching with the rule of the flow entry.
[Problem in Existing OpenFlow Network]
In an OpenFlow network, if the number of flow entries held by a switch (OFS) exceeds a maximal value showing how many the flow entries can be set, no more flow entry can be set. Consequently, a situation occurs in which an appropriate packet process cannot be performed and it occurs a packet missing or a delay due to all the packets pass through the controller (OFC).
As described above, an OpenFlow network treats packets as a flow expressed by a combination of each field of the header (L1 to L4). Each field can be summarized by use of wild cards. The management of the flow is performed by use of a flow table provided in the switch (OFS). The flow table is a set of flow entries. A flow entry is shown as a group of matching information (rule), summary information (statistic information) and instruction information (action). A sufficient capacity is ensured for the flow table, on the assumption of summarizing packets; however, in applications such as load balancing for a web service, packets need to be separated in accordance with source IP address or destination port number; and consequently, managed flow may dissipate and the flow table may overflow.
It should be noted that, in an OpenFlow network, a switch (OFS) deletes a flow entry in accordance with a combination of two time-out periods associated to the flow entry of the switch itself. One period is for a time-out of deleting a flow entry when a specified time has elapsed. The other one period is for a time-out of deleting a flow table if there is no packet matching during a specified time. Thus, if there is no more free space in the flow table, no new flow entry is added until a space is freed at any time-out; in the meantime, a packet without a flow table matching with the flow table will be dropped or ask for instruction from the controller (OFC), in accordance with a rule specified in advance.
A technique for resolving such subject in a router, which is an existing network device utilizable as a switch (OFS), is disclosed in Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Patent Publication 2001-244964). In Patent Literature 1, a network managing apparatus, which manages a plurality of routers, calculates a path for avoiding routers with high memory load or the like and set a path table of each router. However, the path table of a router is constituted of IP addresses of source and destination, that is, L3 corresponding information and thus a packet control with a granularity as high as in an OpenFlow network cannot realized.

Network system and method of improving resource utilization


A handle assembly for wheeled luggage comprises a handle grip with a push button, a pair of identical outer tubes, a pair of identical inner tubes slidingly engaged with the outer tubes, and a pair of locking mechanisms each having a locking pin connected to an end of an inner tube wherein the disengagement of locking pins from the corresponding slots in a stowed-away position, partially extended position, or fully extended position is carried out by pressing the push button to cause a flexible steel cable in either inner tube connected between the locking pin and the push button to move the locking pin completely within the corresponding slot.

The present invention relates to a handle assembly for wheeled luggage and more particularly to a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage.
Wheeled luggage has been widely used in recent years by travelers in various forms of transportation. A typical design is to mount a retractable handle assembly to a side of luggage being fastened to frame of luggage by an attachment means. This design is convenient for user to access handle such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,012. But such designs are unsatisfactory because the center of gravity of luggage may tilt which in turn causes the lower portion including wheels to interfere with user""s body when luggage is carried. Further, in order to carry or lift the luggage, a separate handle assembly is provided on luggage case in addition to the pull-handle system as described in the above patent. But this design is disadvantageous because it protrudes from the surface of luggage case permanently and cannot be retracted into a recess. Additionally, it is neither aesthetic nor cost effective.
More recently, the airline industry has strictly enforced the restriction on the dimensions of carry-on luggage that may be brought onboard of an airplane. A protruded carry handle used on a wheeled luggage for carrying purpose further adds to the dimensions and may disqualify a luggage to be carried onboard an airplane.
The need for a handle system that can be completely stowed away in a recess built into the luggage case, can be used to both pull luggage on wheels or to carry luggage when needed has been long existing but unfulfilled.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage that does not have the drawbacks of conventional retractable handle assembly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage that can be used for both pulling luggage on wheels or carrying wheel without interfering when needed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage wherein the center line of handle assembly about coincides with the center of gravity of luggage for facilitating user to carry luggage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage that can be locked in two operating positions for pulling and carrying luggage.
It is still further object of the present invention to provide a retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging positions for wheeled luggage having the advantages of simple structure, easy assembly, and lower manufacturing cost.
It is still further object of the present invention to provide a handle assembly comprising a handle grip with a push button, a pair of identical outer tubes, a pair of identical inner tubes slidingly engaged, with the outer tubes, and a pair of locking mechanisms each having a locking pin connected to an end of an inner tube wherein the disengagement of locking pins from the corresponding slots in a stowed-away position, partially extended position, or fully extended position is carried out by pressing the push button to cause a flexible steel cable in either inner tube connected between the locking pin and the push button to move the locking pin completely within the corresponding slot.

Retractable handle assembly with multiple engaging position for wheeled luggage


A fixing structure and a backlight module using the same are provided. The fixing structure is used for fixing a circuit board. The circuit board with several openings has an upper surface and a lower surface. The fixing structure includes a back plate and several hooks. The back plate has a contact surface. These hooks are disposed on the contact surface. The hooks go through the openings so that the contact surface contacts the lower surface. The hooks move toward the walls of the openings and press against the upper surface so as to fix the circuit board onto the back plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a fixing structure, and more particularly to a fixing structure applied to a backlight module.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a common backlight module of the liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or a light emitting diode (LED) is used as a back light source. In the liquid crystal display device with a light emitting diode as the back light source, the light emitting diode is usually soldered to a printed circuit board (PCB), and the printed circuit board is fixed onto a back plate of the backlight module by screws.
In order to transmit the heat generated by the light emitting diode to the back plate, the printed circuit board has to be attached to the back plate closely as a smooth flat, so that the light emitting diode could be prevented from damaging by the heat. However, the printed circuit board is usually fixed to the back plate via several screws conventionally. While inserting the screws into the printed circuit board, it is very likely to pass over some of the screws accidentally. Even if only a minor number of screws are not inserted into the printed circuit board, the printed circuit board cannot be fixed to the back plate as a smooth flat. Furthermore, when the screws are all inserted into the printed circuit board, it is still very difficult to ensure that every screw applies the same force to the printed circuit board. Therefore, the method of screwing the printed circuit board leads to some drawbacks, such as increasing the manufacturing cost and the assembling time, and lowering the yield rate and the quality of product.
Therefore, there exists a major issue that needs to be solved to closely and efficiently fix the printed circuit board onto the back plate in a backlight module.

Fixing structure and backlight module using the same


In one embodiment, accurate packet metrics are recorded despite delayed resolution of one or more traffic monitors that maintain the metrics for the packet flow. One or more metrics related to an initial plurality of packets of a packet flow are stored in a temporary metrics data structure. One or more monitors are subsequently resolved based on information included in packets of at least the initial plurality of packets. For example, an application or Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) segment that is to be monitored may not be identified until after numerous packets have passed. The monitor(s) are updated with metrics related to the packet flow based on said one or more metrics related to the initial plurality of packets from the metrics data structure and packets of the packet stream subsequent to the first one or more packets.

The communications industry is rapidly changing to adjust to emerging technologies and ever increasing customer demand. This customer demand for new applications and increased performance of existing applications is driving communications network and system providers to employ networks and systems having greater speed and capacity (e.g., greater bandwidth). In trying to achieve these goals, a common approach taken by many communications providers is to use packet switching technology. In order to evaluate a switching network's performance, testing and packet forwarding characteristics are collected.

Resolving a monitor based on information in a plurality of packets


Provided is an LED module for lighting, which includes a printed circuit board (PCB); at least one or more LED elements mounted on the PCB; and a waterproof agent surrounding terminals between the PCB and the LED elements, which are exposed on mounting surface of the LED elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode (LED) module for lighting, in which a waterproof agent is applied on terminals exposed between a printed circuit board (PCB) and LED elements on the PCB, thereby preventing erosion of the terminals caused by the permeation of water.
2. Description of the Related Art
LED elements are referred to elements which generate minority carriers (electrons and holes) injected by using a p-n junction structure of semiconductor and then recombine them to emit light. As for the LED elements, there are provided red LED elements formed of GaAsP or the like, green LED elements formed of GaP or the like, and blue LED elements using InGaN/AlGaN double hetero structure.
The LED elements have low power consumption and a long lifespan. Further, the LED elements can be installed in a narrow place and have a strong characteristic against vibration. Such LED elements are used as display elements and backlights. Recently, studies are being actively conducted to apply the LED elements to the use of general lighting.
The LED elements for lighting can be installed in outdoor places or in a pond or river so as to provide a beautiful view to people in the night. Further, the LED elements can provide light in the water such that divers can easily do their jobs under the water.
However, when LED lightings are installed in outdoor places, they should satisfy such a condition as to operate in various environments (weather conditions). When the LED elements are operated in accordance with a weather condition after being mounted on a PCB, the LED elements can endure a change in temperature, but may be damaged by the cut-off or short-circuit of circuits caused by the permeation of water during the rainy season.
Further, when the LED lightings are applied to lightings under the water, an electric shock may occur due to an electric leakage, and they may be easily discharged. Therefore, a structure for preventing water from permeating is separately manufactured, which can house the LED lightings, and is then completely filled with a waterproof agent such as epoxy or silicone, thereby preventing water or moisture from permeating into the structure. Further, since the entire inner portion of the structure should be molded and the structure should be separately manufactured, the volume of the LED module increases, and a manufacturing cost increases.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional LED lighting to which a waterproofing structure is applied.
As shown in FIG. 1, the LED lighting 10 which can be used under the water includes a plurality of LED elements 11 mounted on a PCB 13 and a waterproofing structure 15 which houses the LED elements 11.
Inside the waterproofing structure 15, a waterproof agent 17 which is formed of epoxy or silicone and transmits light is filled. The waterproof agent 17 prevents water from permeating into the waterproofing structure 15 from outside, thereby protecting the PCB 13 and the LED elements from the water which causes erosion and electric leakage.
As described above, the LED lighting 10 has an advantage of preventing water from permeating by using the waterproofing structure 15 and the waterproof agent 17. However, since the waterproofing structure and the waterproof agent are used, the volume of the LED lighting 10 increases, and a manufacturing cost increases.
Further, since the waterproof agent 11 is filled on the entire top surfaces of the LED elements 11, some of lights generated from the LED elements 11 are absorbed while passing through the waterproof agent 17. Further, since the propagation direction of the lights is bent, the range of light emission is narrowed, and luminance efficiency decreases.
Further, since the waterproof agent 17 is applied on the entire surfaces of the PCB 13 and the LED elements 11, heat generated from the LED elements 11 is not smoothly radiated because of the waterproof agent 17. Therefore, the lifespan of the LED elements is reduced.

Light emitting diode module for lighting


A roller skate assembly includes a sole portion having longitudinally aligned front and rear rollers mounted thereon and a center roller which is mounted on the sole portion between the front and rear rollers. The center roller is alternatively positionable in a longitudinally aligned position relative to the front and rear rollers or a transversely offset position relative thereto.

The instant invention relates to roller skates and more particularly to an in-line roller skate assembly which is adapted for use by a small child.
Roller skates have generally been found to be capable of providing significant levels of amusement for persons of various ages, and as a result, they have been found to have relatively high levels of appeal. Recently, however, in-line roller skates which comprise a single row of longitudinally aligned rollers have been found to have even greater levels of appeal. In this regard, it has been found that the skating motions required to propel skaters on in-line roller skates are generally very similar to the motions required to propel skaters on hockey style ice skates, and that as a result, in-line roller skates can be utilized as an effective training device for ice skaters who normally use hockey style skates. It has also been found that in-line roller skates ar capable of providing significant levels of amusement and exercise for skaters who do not have regular access to ice rinks and the like. Even still further, it has been found that in-line roller skates provide a unique and enjoyable form of amusement and exercise which is readily available to persons of various ages.
While the concept of utilizing in-line roller skates, rather than roller skates which have pairs of rollers adjacent the front and rear ends thereof, has been found to be appealing to persons of various ages, it has been found that young children frequently experience difficulty in mastering the techniques required for using in-line roller skates. This is partially because young children frequently do not have prior experience with either roller skates or ice skates of any kind. It is also partially because young children inherently have reduced levels of strength, coordination and motor skills, and hence, it is frequently more difficult for them to become proficient at activities, such as, roller skating.

In line roller skate assembly having training wheels


Apparatus for abrading a small sample of epidermis for bio-analytical processing and method of using same. The apparatus removes small samples of epidermal tissue with efficiency, minimal discomfort, and no excess tissue removal. The apparatus and method may be provided as part of a home-use kit for individualized analysis.

Demonstrating efficacy of technology on human subjects is an essential part of successful achievement of commercialization of such technology. Human trials aimed at identifying benefits of a technology, such as a skin benefit technology, often require three to six months duration to visualize measurable effect. For example, retinoids are a particularly potent anti-aging technology in skin care, however, even retinoids require this lengthy period to elicit a visual change. Shorter term, e.g. 1 week, human studies may be developed. These shorter term studies are especially useful for screening or ranking a number of potential actives. Short term human studies rely on the collection of skin tissue samples which are typically undertaken by physicians taking relatively invasive biopsies of the skin, either full thickness (dermis and epidermis) or shave biopsies. These invasive skin sampling methods generally provide more tissue than is actually required for many assays for biomarkers which may indicate long term clinical efficacy after short term treatment.
Currently used sampling techniques include the following: full thickness punch biopsies, "nick" (small shave) biopsies and blister biopsies. Full thickness punch biopsies entail use of a razor-edged circular punch and a scalpel to remove a piece of tissue that can extend further than the dermis. "Nick" or small shave biopsies involve the use of a scalpel to remove a pinched up portion of the skin surface and the third requires the use of a vacuum applied to the skin surface to produce a blister, which is removed by scalpel. The full thickness punch biopsy and the small shave biopsy techniques present the subject with considerable discomfort, require anesthesia (administered by a physician), and pose potential harm. Methods of this type, involving gross removal of skin tissue in a procedure that is essentially surgical include: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,857, 5,394,886, 5,380,337 and 5,570,700. Blister biopsies require the use of a vacuum applied to the skin surface to produce a blister, which is removed by scalpel. Suction blister epidermal sampling provides the desired epidermal samples, however, this method requires a blistering period of about two hours, during which time changes can occur to the biochemistry of the epidermal skin cells, such as the degradation of RNA.
Dermabrasion tools and techniques used in treating pitted and disfigured skin involve what are essentially power tools and involve no harvesting and processing of sampled tissue material. U.S. Pat. No. 6,423,078 relates to surgical abrasion using diamond grit and U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,446 relates to an abrasive tip, however, both of these devices remove considerably more tissue than they are able to harvest.
There is a need for a sampling apparatus and technique that does not require the presence of a physician, is minimally invasive, does not remove excess tissue, can be done with minimal discomfort and that provides a sample large enough for biochemical analysis.

Unilever Home & Personal Care USA, division of Conopco, Inc.


A stretchable knit appliqué is described. The appliqué is configured by a woven textile material adhered to an elastomeric film by a first adhesive continuously distributed over elastomeric film. Moreover, the appliqué is configured to stretch with the elastomeric film. The appliqué can have a first and second woven materials, with a printed design in registration with the first and second textile materials. The printed design can be a sublimation printed design.

Today's apparel for sports, fashion and many other markets are often constructed with stretchable and/or elastic materials to enhance values such as comfort, performance and aesthetics. The stretchable and/or elastic materials may comprise yarns containing elastomeric additives and knit or woven textiles constructed to provide a mechanical elasticity.
It is often desirable to embellish apparel having stretchable and/or elastic properties with a textile appliqué, such as a woven or non-woven appliqué. In providing a functional equilibrium, the textile appliqué should have a similar degree of stretchable and/or elastic properties compared to the apparel (article to be decorated) textile. Manufacturers have not been able to embellish elastic apparel with textile appliqués due to an inability to manufacture an appliqué that is elastic.
Producing stretchable and elastic textile appliqués has had limited success since the adhesive layer binding the textile applique to the elastic article to be decorated material tends to split and/or crack when stressed, such as when stretching and/or bending the article to be decorated material and/or textile applique. One region, in which the splits and cracks form, is the adhesive layer binding the appliqué to the stretchable article to be decorated. Not only do the splits and cracks detract from the artist quality of design, the splits and cracks degrade both the aesthetic and functional qualities of the design. The splits and cracks may result in a detachment of the textile appliqué from the adhesive layer and/or the stretchable article to be decorated. Furthermore, the stressing of the adhesive layer may cause the adhesive layer to fail to return to its original shape and/or size ("recover") after the stress causing force is removed. The failure of the adhesive layer to return to its original shape and/or size may not only distort the textile appliqué, it may also distort the article to be decorated to which the textile design is attached. The lack of recovery and/or cracks and splits may cause the textile appliqué to separate and/or detach from the article to be decorated material the textile appliqué is adhered to.

Heat applied appliqué or transfer with enhanced elastomeric functionality


A data management method which causes equipment such as a camera integral-type recording and reproducing apparatus to manage an external reference type container file and an audiovisual stream file by setting an attribution of all the external reference type container files recorded in a disk to an invisible state. Therefore, reproduction of the container file can be performed in the main body of the equipment, and only the audiovisual stream file can be reproduced when the disk is reproduced in, e.g. a personal computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of managing data stored on a recording medium such as an optical disk.
2. Related Background Art
Currently the storage capacity of a data recording medium, such as a semiconductor memory card used in a digital still camera and a magneto-optical disk used in a digital disk recorder, has dramatically increased. Therefore, users can record a wide variety of data contents, such as a moving image, a sound, and a still image on the above data recording media.
FIG. 9 shows a configuration of a camera integrated-type disk recording and reproducing apparatus 900 as an example of product forms employing such a data recording medium.
For the disk recording and reproducing apparatus 900, the recording operation will be described first. The reference numeral 901 denotes a video input device which outputs a video signal obtained by photographing an object. The reference numeral 902 denotes an audio input device which outputs an audio signal collected usually by using a microphone. The reference numeral 903 denotes a video encoder which encodes the input video signal. The reference numeral 905 denotes an audio encoder which encodes the input audio signal. The reference numeral 907 denotes a multiplexer which multiplexes the encoded video data and the encoded audio data and performs synchronous control of the encoded video and audio data.
The reference numeral 909 denotes a disk controller which performs reading of and writing on a disk medium 912. The reference numeral 910 denotes a control unit which performs the control of the overall disk recording and reproducing apparatus 900. The reference numeral 912 denotes the disk medium (DISK) which stores the multiplexed and encoded video and audio data. The reference numeral 913 denotes a display device which displays a status of the apparatus, various kinds of setting screens, and a display image concerning the input video signal and the reproduced video signal. The reference numeral 914 denotes a speaker device which outputs the input audio signal and the reproduces audio signal. The recording operation is performed by the above-described configuration.
The reproducing operation will now be described. The reference numeral 911 denotes a shock-proof memory, and the shock-proof memory 911 is one which is used to temporarily store the data read out from the disk medium 912 and read out the data to supply the read out data continuously during a period when the disk medium 912 is not accessible due to vibration or shock. Further, in the recording, sometimes the shock-proof memory 911 is also used as a buffer when writing can not be performed onto the disk medium 912 due to the vibration.
The reference numeral 908 denotes a demultiplexer which performs demultiplexing and reproduction synchronous control of the reproduced and encoded video and audio data. The reference numeral 904 denotes a video decoder which decodes the encoded video data. The reference numeral 906 denotes an audio decoder which decodes the encoded audio data. The decoded video signal is subjected to reproduction display on the display device 913, and the decoded audio signal is subjected to reproduction output by the speaker device 914. In the reproduction, similarly to the case in the recording, the control unit 910 also performs the control of the overall disk recording and reproducing apparatus 900 and response to various kinds of functional requests from the user. The reproducing operation is performed by the above-described configuration. For example, the above-described disk recording and reproducing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-314916.
The encoding/decoding processing of the video data and the encoding/decoding processing of the audio data are often attained with a common unit in the disk recording and reproducing apparatus. In FIG. 9, the video encoder 903 and the video decoder 904 are expressed in the form of a video codec 915 which is of the common unit, and the audio encoder 905 and the audio decoder 906 are expressed in the form of an audio codec 916 which is of the common unit. Further, the multiplexer 907 and the demultiplexer 908 are also expressed as a common unit (MUX/DMUX) 917.
In the usual apparatus which can record and reproduce the moving image, an encoding format of an international standard specification which is prescribed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) is often used as the method of encoding the video and audio data. The encoding format specifically includes MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and the like.
The encoding formats such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 only define a compression method and syntax of each medium. Without modification, in some cases, it is difficult that such the encoding format is handled as an individual application. Therefore, a container format which is easier to handle is usually used for the application of the personal computer and the like.
Specifically, the container format includes QuickTime (trademark), MP4, AVI format, and the like. The container format usually supports the plurality of audio and video encoding methods which is not limited to the MPEG. The reproducing application is characterized in that decoding processing is performed in such a manner that a built-in decoder is changed for each file by detecting an identifier expressing the encoding method set in the file.
As shown in FIG. 7, there are a built-in type and an external reference type as types of container formats. The built-in type has the configuration in which all media data (audiovisual stream) and attribution data are built in as one container file 701. The external reference type is one which externally refers to the media data (audiovisual stream file). The external reference type has a configuration in which the media data independently exists as a different file 702 and only attribution data of the media data and information designating a target reference of an external file are included as a container file 703.
The built-in type has in the container file 701a storage area 701a for the audiovisual stream and a storage area 701b for information designating an attribution of the audiovisual stream. In the external reference type, the audiovisual stream is filed and arranged in the external file 702, and the container file 703 has a reference designation area 703a for the external file 702 and an attribution designation area 703b.
Specifically, a file pass of the external file 702 in which the audiovisual stream exists is described in the reference designation area 703a of the external file 702. Sometimes a serial number (volume ID) of the recording medium is added to the file pass.
While the information designating the attribution of the external file 702 is stored in the attribution designation area 703b, in addition to environmental data such as recording data, file offset data is also often stored in the attribution designation area 703b to more efficiently perform random access reproduction of the data stream in the audiovisual reproduction. The file offset data is one which shows a relationship between the number of frames or time and a position of a file pointer.
UDF (Universal Disk Format) defined by OSTA (Optical Storage Trading Association) is already widely adopted as a file system in the disk medium such as a CD (Compact Disc) and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc). Conformity to the file system such as UDF allows disk access independently of the apparatus and the operating system. In UDF, a function called a descriptor is used for defining a volume attribution or a file attribution of the disk medium.
The descriptor comes in many varieties, and FIG. 8 shows an example of descriptors. In the example shown in FIG. 8, a descriptor 800 is a definition of a file entry, and creation/change data, a recording format, and a file protection attribution can be written as the attribution.
However, the above-described method has the following problems.
The disk medium complying with UDF is not dependent on the apparatus and the operating system, and the disk medium can be directly mounted on various systems. However, in the case where the data stored in the disk medium is of an audiovisual standard which is not supported by the specific operating system or application, sometimes the data can not be reproduced, while the disk medium can be mounted.
In the case where the container format is used, there is a restriction in the video codec and the audio codec supported by the container format. Therefore, even if the audio visual data can be reproduced on the disk recording and reproducing apparatus, sometimes the audio visual data can not be reproduced when copied in a hard disk drive or the like in the external personal computer (PC).
Further, when the external reference type container format is used, the file pass of the target reference becomes different after the file is copied or moved, and sometimes the audiovisual data can not be normally reproduced.

Method of managing data on recording medium


A system to vent a moist gas stream is disclosed. The system includes an enclosure and an electrochemical cell disposed within the enclosure, the electrochemical cell productive of the moist gas stream. A first vent is in fluid communication with the electrochemical cell for venting the moist gas stream to an exterior of the enclosure, and a second vent is in fluid communication with an interior of the enclosure and in thermal communication with the first vent for discharging heated air to the exterior of the enclosure. At least a portion of the discharging heated air is for preventing freezing of the moist gas stream within the first vent.

The present disclosure relates generally to electrochemical cells, and particularly to venting gasses that result from operation of electrochemical cells.
Electrochemical cells are energy conversion devices, usually classified as either electrolysis cells or fuel cells. A proton exchange membrane electrolysis cell can function as a hydrogen generator by electrolytically decomposing water to produce hydrogen and oxygen gas, and can function as a fuel cell by electrochemically reacting hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity. Referring to FIG. 1, which is a partial section of a typical anode feed electrolysis cell 100, process water 102 is fed into cell 100 on the side of an oxygen electrode (anode) 116 to form oxygen gas 104, electrons, and hydrogen ions (protons) 106. The reaction is facilitated by the positive terminal of a power source 120 electrically connected to anode 116 and the negative terminal of power source 120 connected to a hydrogen electrode (cathode) 114. The oxygen gas 104 and a portion of the process water 108 exits the cell 100, while protons 106 and water 110 migrate across a proton exchange membrane 118 to cathode 114 where hydrogen gas 112 is produced.
Another typical water electrolysis cell using the same configuration as is shown in FIG. 1 is a cathode feed cell, wherein process water is fed on the side of the hydrogen electrode. A portion of the water migrates from the cathode across the membrane to the anode where hydrogen ions and oxygen gas are formed due to the reaction facilitated by connection with a power source across the anode and cathode. A portion of the process water exits the cell at the cathode side without passing through the membrane.
A typical fuel cell uses the same general configuration as is shown in FIG. 1. Hydrogen, from hydrogen gas, methanol, or other hydrogen source, is introduced to the hydrogen electrode (the anode in fuel cells), while oxygen, or an oxygen-containing gas such as air, is introduced to the oxygen electrode (the cathode in fuel cells). Water can also be introduced with the feed gas. Hydrogen electrochemically reacts at the anode to produce protons and electrons, wherein the electrons flow from the anode through an electrically connected external load, and the protons migrate through the membrane to the cathode. At the cathode, the protons and electrons react with oxygen to form water, which additionally includes any feed water that is dragged through the membrane to the cathode. The electrical potential across the anode and the cathode can be exploited to power an external load.
In other embodiments, one or more electrochemical cells can be used within a system to both electrolyze water to produce hydrogen and oxygen, and to produce electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen back into water as needed. Such systems are commonly referred to as regenerative fuel cell systems.
Electrochemical cell systems typically include a number of individual cells arranged in a stack, with the working fluids directed through the cells via input and output conduits or ports formed within the stack structure. The cells within the stack are sequentially arranged, each including a cathode, a proton exchange membrane, and an anode. The cathode and anode may be separate layers or may be integrally arranged with the membrane. Each cathode/membrane/anode assembly (hereinafter "membrane-electrode-assembly", or "MEA") typically has a first flow field in fluid communication with the cathode and a second flow field in fluid communication with the anode. The MEA may furthermore be supported on both sides by screen packs or bipolar plates that are disposed within, or that alternatively define, the flow fields. Screen packs or bipolar plates may facilitate fluid movement to and from the MEA, membrane hydration, and may also provide mechanical support for the MEA.
In order to maintain intimate contact between cell components under a variety of operational conditions and over long time periods, uniform compression may be applied to the cell components. Pressure pads or other compression means are often employed to provide even compressive force from within the electrochemical cell.
As a result of normal operation of the cell 100, at least one of the hydrogen gas 112 and the oxygen gas 104 will include moisture or water vapor 110, 108. A gas dryer is often used to remove the moisture 110, 108 from at least one of the hydrogen gas 112 and the oxygen gas 104. Use of the gas dryer will produce two gas streams: one dried gas stream that is provided as the desired end product and one moist gas stream that is vented to transport the moisture removed from the dried gas stream.
Electrochemical cell systems adapted for outdoor use, where temperatures may fall below the freezing point of water, can incorporate a number of arrangements to prevent freezing of a vent stack used to transport the moist gas stream. Examples of such arrangements include electrical heating tapes disposed surrounding the vent stack of the moist gas, and/or additional dried carrier gases injected into the vent stack to increase a flow rate and thereby effect a volumetric dilution of the moisture. Electrical heating tapes represent additional components of the cell system that may require maintenance and service, and therefore reduce an overall reliability of the electrochemical cell system. When used in a potential presence of hydrogen, electrical heating tapes must be rated for an explosive environment, which adds to a cost and complexity of the system. Furthermore, electricity consumed by electrical heating tapes lowers an overall net efficiency of the electrochemical cell. Dried carrier gases require additional components, such as valves and solenoids for example, to be incorporated into the electrochemical cell system and can result in a similar reduction in overall system reliability. Further, dried carrier gases represent an additional operating cost of the cell system as a consumable material. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved gas venting arrangement that overcomes these drawbacks.


One technique of the present application includes: evaluating a patient having a previously implanted spinal construct and corresponding spinal fusion from an earlier procedure and determining a spinal segment adjacent to the spinal fusion is degenerating after completion of the earlier procedure. After this determination, the previously implanted spinal construct is augmented by attaching a flexible polymer elongated member to the spinal segment adjacent to the spinal fusion with a bone fastener and by coupling the flexible polymer elongated member to one or more elements of the previously implanted spinal construct. In one form, the elongated member is at least partially comprised of polyetheretherketone.

The present invention relates to prosthetic device implantation, and more particularly, but not exclusively, relates to techniques to augment a prior spinal fusion and implant construct.
The use of prosthetic implants to address orthopedic injuries and ailments has become commonplace. Nonetheless, there is an ever-present challenge to enable less invasive surgical techniques, shorten the time required to surgically implant prosthetic devices, decrease surgery recovery time, and/or provide other improvements. On occasion, there is also a need to augment prior spinal surgical procedures and/or implants. Thus, additional contributions in this area of technology remain welcome.

System, devices and method for augmenting existing fusion constructs


Various embodiments of the present application are directed towards systems and methods for hybrid blockchain control. According to some embodiments a method for hybrid blockchain control, an update to a distributed blockchain is received from a blockchain system. The blockchain system includes multiple nodes individually storing copies of the distributed blockchain and individually updating the copies by a consensus process. A determination is made as to whether the distributed blockchain has been fraudulently modified based on the received update. In response to determining the distributed blockchain has been fraudulently modified: 1) a corrective block is disseminated to the blockchain system to trigger the consensus process on the nodes; and 2) a predefined override in the consensus process is invoked to update the copies of the distributed blockchain in a manner that bypasses an illegitimate block. Further, the predefined override is invoked while the consensus process processes the corrective block.

A distributed ledger is a consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data spread amongst multiple nodes, which are typically geographically spread across multiple sites, countries, or institutions. In contrast with typical ledgers, there is no central administrator or centralized data storage. One type of distributed ledger is a blockchain. A blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked using cryptography and are resistant to modification using cryptography.

Systems and methods for hybrid blockchain control


A novel technique for increasing bond pad density is described whereby non-square bond pads are shaped, sized and oriented such that each bond pad closely conforms to the shape of the contact footprint made therewith and are aligns to the approach angle of the conductive line to which it is connected. A variation on the inventive technique provides for alternating, interleaved, complementary wedge-shaped bond pads which provide for high bond pad density while accommodating a wide range of approach angles.

Today's semiconductor technology has been advancing in a direction that requires ever increasing numbers of interconnections with integrated circuits. Typically a large number of integrated circuits are formed on a silicon wafer, then are sliced into individual integrated circuit dies (or chips). Each die is then packaged and used.
Electrical connections to the dies are made in one of a few ways. In one type of package, a die-receiving area (or die receiving cavity) is provided in the package to receive an integrated circuit die. A number of conductive lines (traces or leads) whose outer ends are electrically connected to pins or leads on the package extend inward towards the die receiving area, usually in a radial pattern, stopping just short of the periphery of the die. The die has a number of "bond pads" for the purpose of making electrical connections therewith, and is mounted such that the bond pads are exposed. The inner ends of these conductive traces or leads are disposed such that they form an array of connection points surrounding the die. Very thin "bond wires" (usually gold) are then used to connect the connections points on a one-for-one basis with the bond pads on the integrated circuit die. Each bond wire has an "approach angle" to the die. After mounting, the area or cavity containing the die and the bond wires is usually sealed with a cover or an encapsulant to protect them from moisture or other physical damage.
In another type of package, commonly referred to as "TAB" (Tape Automated Bonding) packaging, a lead frame is provided in a tape format. Each lead frame has a die-receiving area, where the semiconductor die is mounted. The leads (conductive leads) in the lead frame typically approach the die-receiving area in a radial pattern, with their inner ends forming contact points to which the die will be connected. The die has a matching pattern of "bond pads". The die is mounted such that the bond pads align with and make electrical contact with the contact points of the lead frame.
Often, an integrated circuit die may be used in one of several different packages. For example, the same die may be packaged in a plastic or ceramic DIP package (dual inline package), a leadless chip carrier (LCC), a plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC), etc.. While these packages have a die-receiving area and conductive traces in common, the arrangement of conductive traces in the die-receiving area may be slightly different from one package to another. As a result, the approach angle of a bond wire running to any given bond pad on the die from a corresponding conductive trace may vary somewhat from package to package.
As mentioned before, "conductive traces" are generally printed traces on a ceramic substrate or on a printed circuit board. "Conductive leads" are usually conductors in a lead-frame, such as in a TAB package. For the purposes of this specification, the term "conductive lines" will be used hereinafter to refer collectively to conductive leads, conductive traces, and bond wires.
FIG. 1 show a portion of a typical semiconductor device package 100 of the prior art. A die 106 is mounted in a die-receiving area 104. Around the periphery of the die-receiving area 104 is a raised surface 102 with a number of conductive traces 110. These traces are shown along one side only for illustrative clarity, but are usually disposed along all sides of the die-receiving area 104. A series of square bond pads 108 is arranged along the edges of the die. Again, FIG. 1 shows bond pads along only one edge of the die for illustrative clarity, but bond pads are usually provided along all edges of the die. Bond wires, e.g., 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d, and 112e, connect conductive traces 110 to bond pads 108 on a one-to-one basis. Note that the conductive traces approach the die 106 in a generally radial pattern (fanned-out or fanned pattern), such that the approach angles of conductive traces and bond wires closest to an end of die edge 118 (e.g., 110d, 112d, 110e, and 112e) are the furthest off-perpendicular, while the approach angles of conductive traces and bond wires nearest the center of edge 118 (e.g. 110a and 112a) are substantially perpendicular to the edge 118, with the off-perpendicular component of approach angles generally increasing with increasing distance from the center of the edge. A centrally located conductive trace 110a and bond wire 108a approach the die such that their approach angle (as shown by dashed line 114) is substantially perpendicular to the edge of die 106. Another conductive trace 110b and bond wire 112b, located three traces (and bond wires) away from the centrally located conductive trace 110a (and bond wire 112a), approaches the die 106 at an off-perpendicular angle .theta..sub.3. Yet another conductive trace 110c and bond wire 112c, located nine traces (and bond wires) away from the centrally located conductive trace 110a (and bond wire 112a), approach the die at an off-perpendicular angle .theta..sub.9 (greater than .theta..sub.3).
FIG. 2 shows a cutaway of die 106. A typical bond wire 112 is shown attached to a typical square bond pad 108. An inter-pad spacing of "d" is shown, between bond pads. The bond wire 112 comes in at an approach angle .theta.. The contact area 220 formed by the bond wire 112 with the bond pad 108 is generally elliptical. This is typical of contact footprints between bond wires and bond pads which usually have an elongated shape, with the "elongated dimension" (or "major axis" of the shape, defined hereinbelow) substantially aligned with the approach angle.
Typical prior art bond pads are square, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and are capable of receiving bond wires over a wide range of approach angles, since a bond pad is typically much larger than the contact footprint formed between it and a bond wire (or conductive lead in a TAB package). Usually, there is a required minimum inter-pad spacing "d" to minimize the possibility of shorting or coupling between adjacent bond pads or bond wires.
As stated previously, however, there is a great deal of pressure in modern integrated circuit technology to provide greater numbers of interconnections (i.e., bond pads) to integrated circuit dies. Unfortunately, there is a limited amount of space along the edges of an integrated circuit die for bond pads. One possible solution is to provide multiple rows of bond pads along the edges of the die, but this would require bond wires to cross over one another, creating a serious risk of a short circuit, even if the rows of bond pads are staggered. This problem is especially serious if there is a wide range of approach angles to bond pads possible for different packages.

Technique of increasing bond pad density on a semiconductor die


A power system with a fuel cell array is integrated with power, conversion and control circuitry forming an assembly on a single chip. The power system may include mounted discrete components or flip chips. The power transistors may be built with contacts on both top and bottom of the chip, where the large area on the bottom allows for high power dissipation and current densities. Electrical connections are made between the components by etched runs or integrated layers, as is typically found in integrated circuits. The control functions include controlling the gas flowing in the fuel cell channels in response to the power supplied. Temperature and pressure may be measured and used to optimize the power system operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fuel cell power systems and more particularly to MEMS (microelectronic mechanical systems) based fuel cell structures on the chip with integrated functional power conditioning circuitry for converting, conditioning and regulating the output power.
2. Background Information
As personal portable computer electronics become smaller and smaller, there is a need to power the electronics with batteries or battery equivalents (i.e. fuel cells) which provide higher power densities.
Fuel cells and their control have been developed for many years. One such example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,556 that describes a fuel cell power system including a controller that monitors and controls the fuel cell operation. This patent is incorporated herein by reference.
Microelectronic mechanical systems (MEMS) have progressed to forming chanels and membranes for implementing fuel cells at the chip level. An example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,312,846, by Marsh. This patent discloses fuel cell structures formed on the same wafer (the large substrate upon which many individual integrated circuit chips are formed). Typically the individual chips are cut out from to wafer and packaged individually. However, Marsh shows different functional circuits formed on different chips where the different chips remain on the same wafer. Interconnections then may be made by discrete wiring or deposition between the chips. These chips provide functions that include power conversion, conditioning and regulation. Power conversion, conditioning and regulation are used redundantly herein and in the art where the terms "conditioning," "conversion," and "regulation" may each include or exclude the other two depending on context.
One limitation of the Marsh technology is that practical implementations will be large since large sections of the wafer must be used, and wafers may be four, eight, or more inches in diameter. These large sections include spacing between the different chips where interconnections must run to make electrical connections. These interconnections require additional steps and associated costs.
The prior art as evidenced by the above referenced U.S. patents describe how to fabricate fuel cell structures as described at the chip level. It is well known to use separate electronics packages to provide the conversion, regulating and conditioning functions, where the separate packages are electrically interconnected using cables or soldered wires.
However, there is a continuing need to reduce the size, while providing higher power densities, of power systems for use in portable and the ever smaller computers and recreational and business electronics. Consistent with these needs, an objective of the present invention is to utilize a variety of electronic devices including switched mode or linear power supply circuitry for providing practical fuel cell power supplies in small packages with high power capabilities.

Integrated fuel cell power conditioning with added functional control


A method of making a photonic crystal includes obtaining single spheres for use in making a self assembled opal structure. Spherical particles are placed centrifuge and separated from doublets using a relative difference in sedimentation velocity in response to centrifugal force. A method includes drawing a substrate through a meniscus at a declination to uniformly deposit spheres on the substrate. Three-dimensional photonic crystals including buried waveguides are also provided.

The present invention relates to photonic crystals and methods of making photonic crystals. More specifically, the present invention relates to self assembled photonic crystals having opal structures.
Photonic crystals with a photonic bandgap are expected to be used in the variety of applications including optical filters, sharp bending light guides, and very low threshold lasers, and have been investigated widely. Of special interest are three-dimensional photonic crystals, which may have lower loss than two-dimensional photonic crystals of the slab type (see S. Noda, K. Tomoda, N. Yamanoto, A. Chutinan, "Full three-dimensional photonic bandgap crystals at near-infrared wavelengths", Science, vol. 289, pp. 604–606, July, 2000). In general, the fabrication processes of photonic crystals require the use of complicated and expensive semiconductor nanofabrication techniques. An alternative fabrication method for photonic crystals takes the form of self assembled crystalline structures using colloidal spheres (see, Y. A. Vlasov, X.-Z. Bo, J. C. Sturm, D. J. Norris, "On-chip natural assembly of silicon photonic bandgap crystals", Nature, vol. 414, pp. 289–293, November, 2001). The crystalline structure opal has a hexagonal closed-packed or face centered cubic lattice. The opal is removed after infiltration with high refractive index material to obtain the inverse opal, which has a complete three-dimensional photonic bandgap. Inverse opals with a defect can be expected to produce highly efficient filters and low threshold lasers. Therefore, high quality crystalline opals are required to make the inverse opals. For high quality crystalline opals, first, silica spheres should have a required diameter with narrow size distribution, which determines the wavelength of the photonic bandgap (or the maximum reflectance peak on the optical spectrum). Second, during the formation process, aggregation and adhesions between spheres, which results in "doublets" must be avoided. Such formations result in structural defects and dislocations in the final crystal.

Self assembled three-dimensional photonic crystal


An information input device includes a detection portion, a processor, and a memory. The detection portion is configured to detect a position of a writing portion being in contact with or close to the detection portion. The memory is configured to store computer-readable instructions. The computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the information input device to perform processes that include acquiring position information at a predetermined time interval, setting, as first position information, information indicating one of positions indicated by the acquired position information, determining whether a distance between a position indicated by the set first position information and a position indicated by second position information is less than a threshold value, and storing, as information configuring trajectory information, the second position information in a storage portion in response to determining that the distance is not less than the threshold value.

The present disclosure relates to an information input device that can acquire information input on a booklet-like recording medium in which a plurality of paper sheets are bound, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions.
An information input device is known that can digitize written content by reading a trajectory of a writing tool using a digitizer in a pad, when a character, a graphic, etc. are written on a paper medium on the pad using the writing tool. The digitizer detects a position of the writing tool that is in contact with or is close to a detection surface of the digitizer. The digitizer converts the detected position into coordinate data, taking the detection surface as an X-Y plane, and outputs the coordinate data to the information input device. The information input device samples the coordinate data output by the digitizer at a certain speed, and can acquire, as trajectory information, an aggregate of the coordinate data that can reproduce the trajectory of the writing tool. See, e.g., JP H5-67236A

Information input device and non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions


A method for loopback detection includes: receiving a loopback detection frame by a port; detecting and determining whether the loopback detection frame is transmitted via the port; analyzing the loopback detection frame and determining whether a loopback has occurred in a network device when the loopback detection frame is transmitted via the port; when the loopback has occurred, determining the loopback has occurred in which of one or more virtual local area networks (VLANs) that the port joins in; blocking the VLAN(s) that the port transmitting the loopback detection frame joins in and in which the loopback occurred, for the port being unable to transmit any packet in the blocked VLAN(s); and when the loopback has not occurred, dropping the loopback detection frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a loopback detection method and a network device utilizing the same, and more particularly to a non-STP (Spanning Tree Protocol) loopback detection method for detecting and solving the loopback problem and a network device utilizing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ethernet network is a common local area network (LAN) technology. In a large-scale local area network, a loop may be formed between two or more bridges, such as switches. A packet may be transmitted repeatedly or flooded within the loop, not only occupying the bandwidth of the network and consuming the resources of the network device, such as memory resources, but also deteriorating the efficiency of the network and the operation efficiency of the device.
FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B respectively show two kinds of loops formed in the LAN. In FIG. 1A, the packet 14 transmitted from a port 101 of a device 10 may be sent back by a device 12 via a switch (not shown in FIG. 1), hence forming a loop. In FIG. 1B, the packet 14 transmitted from a port 101 of a device 10 may be sent to another port 102 by a device 12 via a switch (not shown in FIG. 1), hence forming a loop. Since in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, the packets 14 are all sent back to the device 10, for the device 10, a loopback is formed.
Currently, the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is used primarily to resolve problems caused by the loop according to IEEE 802.1. Once a loop occurs, some links on the loop will be cut off by disabling port(s) of the switch, so as to break the loop. However, it is costlier to support the spanning tree protocol with hardware. If the spanning tree protocol is supported by software, then the computing unit of the device or the switch demands higher program computing capability. However, some devices or switches merely configure an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) which has no program computing capability to handle the packet, so the Spanning Tree Protocol is incomplete for all kinds of devices or switches.

Method for loopback detection and network device utilizing the same