An electrical receptacle installation kit includes a pair of brackets and an electrical receptacle having a face plate and a pair of outlets. A pair of screws extend through holes in the faceplate. Each screw includes a pivoting finger secured to a distal end of the screw behind the faceplate. A pair of brackets are provided, and bracket includes a rear plate, a horizontal support, and a front lip. In use, a user places the brackets in the hole provided for the receptacle, so that the rear plate is on the backside of the sheet rock, and the front lip is on the front side of the wall. The receptacle is positioned between the brackets, and the screws are turned so that the fingers rotate until they engage the rear plate, so that the receptacle is secured within the wall.

The present invention relates generally to electrical receptacles, and particularly electrical receptacles that are used in mobile homes, campers, and the like, where the receptacle is secured within a hole in sheetrock, paneling, or the like, but is not secured or affixed to a wall stud.
Over the years, many types of self-securing electrical outlets have been developed which allow a receptacle to be secured to a wall without the necessity of securing the receptacle to a wall stud. These types of electrical receptacles are typically used where thin walls are present, including places like mobile homes, campers, recreational vehicles, boats, and the like. The following documents show examples of such electrical receptacles and systems, and each of these documents are hereby incorporated by reference herein, in their entireties.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,874 Wiring Device with Removable Finger Portion
A wiring device is disclosed of the type having a dielectric housing portion into which the individual conductors of a multi-conductor cable are electrically connected. The housing portion is encircled by a mounting bracket suitable for stud or bracket mounting and convertible to wallboard mounting by, first removing a frangible finger portion of the bracket and then assembling the finger portion over a corner portion of the bracket by a threaded fastener. The wiring device is then inserted in a wallboard opening from the front side. The fastener is turned and the finger is pivoted on the fastener until it projects outwardly of the wiring device. Continued turning of the fastener advances the finger therealong into gripped engagement on the back side of the wallboard, mounting the wiring device securely to the wallboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,525 Electrical Outlet Box and Pawl Mounting Device
An electrical outlet box having wall areas recessed inwardly from the outermost periphery of the box wall structure, the recessed areas housing pawl mounting devices and electrical power cable entry ports. Each pawl mounting device includes a single stop flange on the outer surface of the box wall structure. The pawl arm includes a hub into which a threaded mounting screw is fastened and extends tangentially of the hub. The pawl arm terminates on one side of the hub in a right-angled stop flange and terminates on the opposite side of the hub in a small tab member. A guide channel adjacent the box stop flange slidably receives the pawl hub to guide the pawl in back and forth linear travel while the rear tab moves freely within a slotted channel formed between the box stop flange and the guide channel. The pawl arm and rear tab are alternatively urged against the box stop flange upon rotating the pawl in opposite directions causing the pawl to travel linearly in both a forward and backward direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,359 Electrical Box
A nonmetallic electrical box which has mounting surfaces or contacting points, a pair of bosses and a pair of securing arms. The bosses extend from the center of the top and bottom walls of the box for mounting a wiring device within the box, and the securing arms extend from the top and bottom walls for securing the box within the opening of a wall or ceiling. The contacting points are spaced apart along the top and bottom walls, are coplanar and extend outwardly from the top and bottom walls a distance at least equal to the distance the bosses and arms extend outwardly from the top and bottom walls, thereby preventing any side to side rocking motion when the box is mounted within a rectangular opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,890 Mounting Device
A mounting device for primarily for low voltage wall mounting in which can be mounted communication cable, television cable, fiber optics, or similar low voltage communication devices. The device has a frame, an integral reinforcing flange fitted into a rectangular hole on the wall, and two flags which are rotated front mounted screws for grabbing the rear surface of the will and serve to tighten the mounting device securely to the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,360 Faceplate Assembly with Self-Contained Mounting Brackets and Fastening Hardware
A faceplate has self-contained fastening devices for securing it in a wall opening, and also has rearwardly projecting flanges and legs that are received in the wall. The flanges locate the faceplate relative to the opening and the legs serve to cooperate with the swinging fastener mounted arms to limit their rotation as the fastener is rotated to bring the arms into contact with the backside of the sheetrock wall structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,685 Folding Electrical Outlet Box
A foldable, electrical box kit for on-site assembly and installation in wallboard, with at least two opposing panels each having a pair of spaced apart front face flanges and respective, laterally centered on the panel, center-bored, retaining screw and rotating retainer clip assemblies. The unfolded box is configured with living hinge lines to permit easy folding and snap assembly of adjacent sidewall edges to form a rigid enclosure. Retainer clips are retracted by their retaining screws into clip slots in the panels for clearance. The box is inserted through wallboard as far as the front face flanges permit, then the retaining screws are rotated, the first quarter turn of which rotates their respective retaining clips from the retracted position to an extended position behind the wallboard. Further clockwise rotation of each screw brings its retaining clip forward into a firm, three point grip with its respective pair of flanges on the wallboard. Retaining screws are center-bored and threaded, and spaced to accept attaching screws for standard size devices being installed in the box, thereby providing both structure support and a convenient point for electrical ground bonding.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,657 Mounting Device
The present invention uses a plastic mounting device having an open front plate extending around an opening in a building wall integral with a closed electrical box extending at right angles therefrom rearward of the front plate and extending into the building wall. The mounting device has two turning screws adapted to turn flags which are inserted into the opening in a "closed" position and grab the far or inside surface of the building wall when the screws are rotated causing the flags to obtain their "open" position. An alternative embodiment incorporates a second set of flags positioned behind the first set for installation in a wall too thick to permit engagement of the first set of flags.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,346,674 Mounting Device
The present invention uses a plastic mounting device having an open front surface extending around an opening in a building wall integral with a closed electrical box extending a right angles therefrom rearward of the front surface and extending into the building wall. The mounting device has two turning screws adapted to turn flags which are inserted into the opening in a "closed" position and grab the far or inside surface of the building wall when the screws are rotated causing the bags to obtain their "open" position. An alternative embodiment incorporates a second set of flags positioned behind the first set for installation in a wall too thick to permit engagement of the first set of flags.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,737,576 Electrical Box Assembly
An electrical box assembly including a box having a base wall perimetrically bounded by a sidewall extending therefrom forming a housing adapted to receive an electrical component. The sidewall having an upper portion and a flange extending outwardly in a transverse direction from the upper portion. An electrical component attachment point is disposed adjacent the sidewall upper portion and adapted for securing an electrical component to the box. The flange is perimetrically bounded by a collar extending outwardly therefrom. A securement device disposed on the box for securing the box to a support structure is provided. A frame is further provided which is in telescopic engagement with the collar and movable relative thereto. The frame has an abutment surface for abutting against a facing surface. An adjustment device is provided for moving the frame relative to the box and urges the abutment surface against the facing surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,932,628 Electrical Box with Pivoting Tabs
An electrical box is removeably anchored in an insulated foam building wall panel. The electrical box comprises a receptacle that is inserted into a recess cut in the foam panel. Assembled to the receptacle back wall are one or more tabs. The tabs are pivotable from a storage position inside the receptacle to a working position whereat they project through slots in the receptacle and embed in the foam panel. The tabs are assembled to the receptacle by pivoting members, each comprising a screw that is turnable from outside the receptacle. The pivoting member may produce a friction torque on the tab by gripping the tab between the screw head and a nut. Alternately, the tab may have a non-circular hole that matches and receives a section of the screw to produce a positive torque on the tab. A drag is also produced on each tab to prevent unintentional pivoting.
U.S. Pat. No. RE41661 Electrical Box Assembly
An electrical box assembly including a box having a base wall perimetrically bounded by a sidewall extending therefrom forming a housing adapted to receive an electrical component. The sidewall having an upper portion and a flange extending outwardly in a transverse direction from the upper portion. An electrical component attachment point is disposed adjacent the upper portion and adapted for securing an electrical component to the box. The flange is perimetrically bounded by a collar extending outwardly therefrom. A securement device disposed on the box for securing the box to a support structure is provided. A frame is further provided which is in telescopic engagement with the collar and movable relative thereto. The frame has an abutment surface for abutting against facing surface. An adjustment device is provided for moving the frame relative to the box and urges the abutment surface against the facing surface.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070120029 a Modular Wall Mounting Apparatus
The configurable wall mount presented herein has particular applicability to supporting electronic devices mounted in walls and ceilings. The configurability stems from modular components configured to be coupled together. Thus, the wall mount is configurable for mounting devices ranging from small communications connectors to large electronic control panels.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20070194180 Mounting Bracket for an Electrical Device
A mounting bracket is provided for mounting to an opening in a wall. The mounting bracket is for an electrical box or electrical device such as a switch, plug or fire alarm for mounting the electrical box or device to a wall without the need for an additional mounting structure. The mounting bracket includes a central opening for receiving the electrical device. At least two legs are integrally formed with a face plate of the bracket and bent perpendicular to the face plate to extend into an opening formed in the wall. A pivotal arm is mounted in each leg and coupled to a screw for limited pivotal movement to pivot the arms between a first retracted position and a second extended position to attach the mounting plate to the wall. The screw is rotated to draw the arm toward the face plate to contact the inner surface of the wall and draw the face plate into contact with the outer surface of the wall.
Canadian Patent No. CA2728996 Electrical Box for Installation in Insulated Concrete Form Construction
Various embodiments of an electrical box are provided for installation in insulated concrete forms ('ICFs") In at least one embodiment, the electrical box includes a container configured to receive an electrical device, and at least one anchoring member operably connected to the container In these embodiments, the anchoring member is mov-able between a storage position and an insert-ed position and the anchoring member is operable by a user without a tool Further, in these embodiments, the inserted position includes at least part of the anchoring member positioned outside the container such that the anchoring member is insertable into, for in-stance, a foam-based ICF Thus simple and efficient installation of electrical boxes in ICFs is provided.
One issue with all of the above-referenced designs is that none of them provide any reinforcement around the hole in the sheetrock, to prevent the various tabs or other securing devices from tearing through the sheetrock when force is applied while removing a plug from an outlet. Oftentimes, when removing a plug from an electrical receptacle that is not secured to a wall stud, people will pull on the cord to remove the plug from the outlet. If the plug is set tightly into the receptacle, occasionally the force applied by the person trying to remove the plug from the outlet results in the outlet breaking loose from the wall. When that happens, the result is often a jagged, enlarged hole in the wall where the receptacle was originally positioned, and many times the wiring comes loose from the receptacle, leaving hot wires still in the wall or hole, which becomes an immediate safety issue.
To fix this problem, an electrician often has to first repair the hole in the wall, and then rewire and reinstall the receptacle, which may be costly and time consuming, and does not usually address the underlying problem that pulling on a cord may again cause the receptacle to break away from the wall in the future.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an electrical outlet and a pair of brackets that provide reinforcement on the backside of the wall, so that the rotating or pivoting tabs are in contact with brackets, which prevents the tabs from pulling through the wall when pulling pressure is applied to an electrical cord that is plugged into the outlet. Further, it would be desirable to provide an electrical outlet and brackets that are inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install, and more permanently secured in a wall without the necessity of attaching the receptacle to a wall stud.


Pieces of node equipment are each caused to store a management table which shows whether any resource in the system is inhibited from being switched by APS or permitted to be switched by APS. Each of the pieces of node equipment comprises not only an APS control section for realizing the APS function but also a switching inhibit control section for partially inhibiting the switching process by the APS control section on the basis of the management table, and a set request accepting section for accepting a set request message including the management table sent from network management equipment, interpreting the management table included in the message, and creating a management table to be stored in a memory unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a data transmission system, such as an optical submarine cable system, and node equipment and network management equipment used in the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information communication systems applied to a trunk network are required to be able to continue data transmission without the interruption of communication even when a failure has occurred. To meet the requirement, various methods for assuring the reliability of communication have been proposed. In large-scale networks, the configuration where a plurality of nodes are connected in a ring via a signal transmission line including a service line and a protection line has been widely used.
In this type of network, when no failure has occurred in the network, service traffic is held in the service line. When a failure has occurred in the service line, the transmission route of the service traffic is switched to the protection line. In this way, the service traffic is salvaged.
Furthermore, when there is no failure in the network, the protection line holds extra traffic or part-time traffic lower in priority than that of the service traffic. These traffics are cut off when a failure occurs.
Networks having such an architecture include systems complying with SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) and systems conforming to SONET (Synchronous Optical Network), an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard. The process related to the protection of service traffic is often realized by automatic distributed control using information exchange between pieces of node equipment. This type of function is called a self-healing function. The self-healing function in SDH is referred to as APS (Automatic Protection Switching). The details of APS have been written in, for example, ITU-T (Telecommunication Standardization Sector of ITU) Recommendation G. 841 distributed by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union).
With the recent rapid progress in IP (Internet Protocol) technology, a high-capacity, high-speed transmission of IP packets is becoming possible. In addition, the technique for detouring the transmission route of service traffic to an external network to salvage the service traffic is being realized. With this backdrop, the needs of communication operators have become diversified, which requires the network to have more flexibility in management than it has now.
As described above, with the recent advances in communication technology, the needs of communication operators have become diversified. This requires the network to have more flexibility in management than it has now.

Data transmission system, and node equipment and network management equipment used in the same


Disclosure herein is related to laptop computer having a rear cover with luminous full-color pattern. The look of laptop computer essentially includes a host body and a screen cover. The host body and the screen cover are pivotally connected. Within the host body of the laptop computer, an input unit, an output unit, power supply unit, and a mainboard are generally included. It is characterized in that the screen cover is constituted of a liquid crystal display panel, an active light source, and a rear cover printed with a pattern. The liquid crystal display panel and the active light source are respectively connected with the mainboard electrically. The active light source of the laptop computer allows generating various lighting modes no matter in booting the computer, in use, or in standby state. Furthermore, to cooperate with the pattern on the light-transmissive rear cover, a variety of esthetic visions are presented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a laptop computer having a rear cover with luminous full-color pattern; in particular, the disclosure is related to the computer's light-transmissive rear cover printed with a pattern and also with a changeable active light source.
2. Description of Related Art
With progressive development of the science technology, it is understood that the laptop computer shows substantial progress with advancement of technology. Not only the computer becomes more powerful to have faster capability of computation, but also becomes slimmer and easy to bring since the volume thereof is significantly reduced. It is noted that the laptop computer gradually takes place of the desktop computer in the recent years and is much acceptable to public when it provides competitive price.
The only thing is the development for the laptop computer just focuses on the above-mentioned points, and the researcher ignores the appearance development, at most to the texture or material of the top cover of the laptop computer. It is a pity that any change made to the laptop computer is slightly regarding to its texture or material.
A user may wish he owns the unique product when compared to others. Therefore, no matter to the mobile phone or tablet computer, the user may wish highlight his unique style and his own thing by filming a protective film, capping the product with a shell or hanging with adornment. It is understood that the user may not satisfy with the current products, and even show a lot of expectations for the any innovation and change to the notebook appearance.
In view of the computer manufacturers ignoring the significant changes to the present products, the applicant to the present application has granted a patent (Patent No. TWI374811) of TW Patent App. No. 098145823 tilted Plateless Transfer Printing Film, Appliance with Colorful Pattern and the Method of Manufacture thereof. One objective of this patent is to provide a method for manufacturing a plateless transfer sheet. In which, for uniformly transferring the sheet onto a surface, a roller fixture is incorporated to imprinting a plateless transfer film, and performing blowing pressure thereon. This method is to provide a solution when the conventional thermal transfer printing method fails to reach the uneven surface, or the surface with vertical angle, and also solve the drawback of blisters existed between the transfer film and the object resulting in uneven surface and easy to strip off in the conventional technologies.
The described patent still fails to allow the laptop computer to have various appearances since it merely provides simple flat illusion to the computer. Even if the prior arts provide some solutions, the users with higher demanding are still not content with those conventional technologies.

Laptop computer having a rear cover with luminous full-color pattern


The amide N-ethyl-N-(3-methylphenyl)propionamide has been found to have attractive fragrance characteristics of the woody, vetiver type and so is used for imparting useful fragrance properties to fragrance compositions and to fragranced products.

N-Ethyl-N-(3-methylphenyl)propionamide is a known chemical compound. Although it is not recorded in Chemical Abstracts nor is it in Beilsteins's Handbuch, it is included (under the alternative chemical name m-propiono-toluamide, N-ethyl) in a single line entry as one of many thousands of entries in the US Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Handbook No. 69 issued May 1954 entitled "Chemicals Evaluated as Insecticides and Repellents at Orlando, Fla." In this handbook, this amide is reported to have insect repellent properties. However, the compound has so far never been put to practical use a an insect repellent.
Some amides are known to have useful organoleptic properties. Thus, N-methyl-N-phenyl-2-ethylbutyramide is described in NL-A-7210523 as being useful as a fragrance and flavour material and having a grapefruit-like odour note.


Described is an apparatus which comprises: a first power supply node to provide a first power supply, a second power supply node, and a third power supply node; a first transistor which is operable to couple the first and second power supply nodes; and a charge pump circuit to provide a boosted voltage to the third power supply node in one mode, and to recover charge from the second power node in another mode. Described is a memory unit which comprises: a DRAM which is operable to be refreshed; a gated power supply node coupled to the DRAM to provide a gated power supply to the DRAM; and a charge recycling circuit to recover charge from the gated power supply node after the DRAM is refreshed.

Power-gating (e.g., Sleep-mode) is a popular technique to reduce power consumption of circuit blocks. During power-gating, inactive circuit blocks are disconnected from their power supply to minimize leakage currents. In conventional power-gating schemes, electric charge residing on the capacitive power distribution network is lost through leakage currents of the power-gated circuit blocks.


According to some embodiments, systems and apparatus for flexible thermal management coupling are provided. For example, an apparatus or system may includes a conduction component to conduct heat to a thermal management device, a flexible component defining a cavity, wherein the flexible component is to couple the conduction component to an electronic device, and a heat transfer component coupled to transfer heat, via the flexible component, from the electronic device to the conduction component.

Electronic devices are often cooled by utilizing various forms of heat dispersion devices and/or heat removal techniques. Computers or computer servers may, for example, incorporate liquid cooling systems to maintain proper operating temperatures. In high-density electronic systems, such as server farms or blade centers, individual electronics devices (e.g., blade servers and/or other servers) may transfer heat to a centralized thermal management system or device. The centralized thermal management system may, for example, be a liquid cooling system designed or configured to remove heat from a plurality of electronics devices.
In such configurations, it may often be desirable to transfer heat from the electronics devices to the thermal management system without requiring fluid connections between the server and centralized cooling systems. Such coupling must often, however, be capable of compensating for various movements between the two cooling systems and/or devices. Typical methods of movement compensation often involve complex and/or expensive devices that may not be suitable and/or desirable.

Systems and apparatus for flexible thermal management coupling


A magnetic read/write apparatus comprises: a recording medium; and a head for writing/reading data to/from each sector on the recording medium; wherein the magnetic read/write apparatus further comprises: a write inhibit slice setting circuit for, when data is written to the recording medium, setting a write inhibit slice for each sector based on the recording state of each sector on the recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic read/write apparatus, and more particularly to a technique effective in reducing the occurrence of erasure of neighboring tracks and increasing the track density.
2. Description of Related Art
A magnetic read/write apparatus writes data onto a plurality of tracks as magnetized patterns. When a write operation is performed, a head seeks a track specified by servo information written in a servo sector, and after the head is positioned in place, data is written onto a surface of the medium.
At that time, whether the head has been positioned in place is determined based on the amount of displacement of the head from the center of the target track used as a reference. If the amount of displacement is within a predetermined threshold value, the write operation is carried out. If it is larger than the threshold value, the write operation is inhibited. This threshold value is referred to as a write inhibit slice.
The write inhibit slice must be set to an optimum value in terms of protection of the data on the neighboring tracks and the data transfer rate in the write operation. Conventionally, the write inhibit slice is generally set to a fixed value for each drive model; no more than one write inhibit slice value is used within a same drive.
However, the value of the write inhibit slice can be properly set and controlled so as to avoid fatal problems such as direct erasure of neighboring tracks while increasing the track density.
Conventionally, to accomplish the above object, the write inhibit slice may be set asymmetrical about the center of the track to prevent erasure of neighboring tracks due to the asymmetry of the shape of the erase band attributed to the skew angle of the head, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-173005. Further, the write inhibit slice may be set to different values depending on the recording radial position of each track on the disk to reduce variations in the frequency of write inhibit operations (frequency of occurrence of write faults) among the disk radial positions due to variations in the head alignment accuracy among the disk radial positions, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-92803. Still further, write position information on each sector may be stored such that when a read operation is performed, the read head can accurately trace the write positions (path) at which the data was written and thereby enhance the reliability of the read data, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-133802.
The methods described in the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications were devised to solve the problems caused by increased track density. To further increase the track density, however, it is necessary to address, in addition to the above problems, the problem that as the number of write operations performed on a same sector increases, the data in its neighboring sectors (tracks) are gradually erased (erasure of neighboring tracks).
This phenomenon may occur when a high magnetic field is produced even though a write head for a narrow track width is used in order to provide a write magnetic field higher than that conventionally employed. At that time, the magnetic field leaks in the track width direction of the write head. This significant problem must be solved in order to further increase the track density.
Since the methods described in the above Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications can hardly prevent occurrence of the above phenomenon, a new write control method must be devised to solve the problem.

Magnetic read/write apparatus having a write inhibit slice setting circuit

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Japan, Ltd.


A multiport planar antenna system with digital reconfigurability to adjust a beam-steering function of the system is described herein. A substrate is provided and a grid of parasitic elements is printed on a surface of the substrate. One or more driven, radiating elements such as monopole or dipole antennas are printed on the substrate proximate the parasitic elements. Switching elements between adjacent parasitic elements are then configured to steer the radiation direction in a particular direction in the azimuth plane. The small form factor of the planar antenna system can be used in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) application used by fifth generation (5G) devices such as mobile phones, internet of things (IoT) devices, and vehicles.

Wireless communication systems for transmitting and receiving radio wave signals over an air interface have been widely adopted in consumer electronics and other devices. Antenna performance can alter the quality of service of these devices significantly. Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology have emerged as a promising technology to enhance quality of service of these devices. In addition, beam-steering can also significantly enhance the signal to noise ratio (SNR) over a particular channel. However, the state of a wireless channel is always dynamic due to mobility of the device, multi-path propagation due to obstacles in the environment, and the like. Even when the device is fixed, the objects in the environment may move, thereby changing the state of the channel.
A new revision of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 wireless local area network (LAN) standard, 802.11ax, which may also be referred to as High Efficiency Wireless (HEW), improves the average throughput per user by a factor of at least 4 in dense user environments. Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) allows for simultaneous beam-steering for multiple clients in both the uplink and the downlink. Antennas can be designed to be reconfigurable to be able to enhance performance in terms of frequency, spatial, and polarization domains. However, the form-factor of various devices such as cell phones or wireless routers is typically a planar format, which may allow beam steering in the planar direction but not in both a planar direction as well as azimuth, to account for the three-dimensional nature of the natural environment.
Conventional beam-steerable MIMO devices may rely on phase shifting a plurality of radiator elements. For example, each of a plurality of dipole antennas may send the same signal at offset phases to form a plane wave that travels in a particular direction. At any position relative to the antenna array, the in-phase signals are amplified and the out-of-phase signals are canceled, thereby forming a strong beam in one direction while the signal in other directions is significantly weakened. However, phased antenna arrays like this have disadvantages such as limited scanning range (i.e., the beam-steering range may be limited to, e.g., 120 degrees in azimuth), a complex structure (e.g., each radiator element is connected to a separate delay element or phase shifter), and high power loss. Other methods for beam-steering can include mechanical mechanisms or use of a lens that are not suitable for planar structure applications. Thus, there is a need to develop multi-port, beam-steerable planar antennas that provide polarization diversity and beam-steering angles that cover 360 degrees in the azimuth plane.

Multi-port endfire beam-steerable planar antenna

THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Vehicle door latch, in which the catch comprises a casing made of sound-proofing material, the casing containing a buffer pocket, situated behind the primary position in clockwise direction and the buffer pocket being stretched around up to the area of the primary position, forming an overtravel stop cooperating with the pawl.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention refers to a vehicle door latch containing a locking mechanism comprising mainly a catch and pawl and a locking pin, moving into an inlet opening and interacting with the catch, with the inlet opening containing at least one soundproofing element for the locking pin.
2. Description of Related Art
A vehicle door latch of the type described above is disclosed in EP 0 336 034 A2 or WO 95/10679 A1. In the reference system of the vehicle door latch, the soundproofing element ensures that the locking pin, moving into the inlet opening and then held by the catch in its primary position, is fixed in this position with a minimum of noise. In general, a relative movement is carried out between the locking pin and the inlet opening, with the locking pin usually being fixed to the vehicle body, whilst on the other hand a vehicle door and with it the respective vehicle door latch are moved.
Apart from the described noise reduction of the soundproofing element, this component ensures that a respective vehicle door can be closed with excess stroke, so that the pawl engages correctly into the primary position of the catch. Such soundproofing elements have a proven record and are frequently used in practical applications.
We also refer to EP 1 136 640 A1, providing, however, no soundproofing element in the inlet opening for the locking pin, but instead three individual rubber buffers assigned to the catch.
A locking mechanism can, for instance, be electrically opened, by the pawl being lifted by a motor or another means, so that the catch is released and carries out a spring-driven rotation movement around its axis. In order to limit this rotation movement, separate stops can be provided inside the latch housing.


A generally cylindrical drill, particularly an insert drill having multiple cutting inserts, helical chip grooves to clear the chips from the hole, and a gripping shank opposite the cutting end of the drill, wherein the drill experiences an unbalanced resultant transverse force upon the cutting tip of the drill, and that resultant is oriented perpendicularly to an axial plane containing the neutral axis of the maximum resistive moment at the grooved section of maximum bending stress adjacent to its juncture with the gripping shank.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to drills for use in metal, and in particular to drills designed for high feed rates that place a premium upon resistance to bending.
2. Background and Description of Related Art
When operating at the very high metal removal rates desirable in high production drilling, the heaviest component of the reaction to the cutting force has been found to be axial in nature, amounting, in some instances, to ninety percent (90%) of the cutting force. In this kind of service, the maintenance of tolerances on hole size is largely dependent upon the resistance of the fluted drill body to both bending and buckling under the cutting load, which, even with the rarely achievable balanced distribution of the transverse cutting forces, is largely a question of the stiffness of the fluted drill body, as a beam and as a column, under the major load components resulting from high feed rates.
The problem of deflection of metal drills has largely been addressed in the prior art as one of balancing the transverse forces upon the cutting tip for the elimination, to the extent possible, of a transverse resultant. While some prior art drills have approached desirable stiffness by shortening the fluted drill body, the significant criteria for drill stiffness appear to have remained undiscovered by the prior art.


The current invention presents an extensible and guidable apparatus and methods to evaluate tubular or cavitary structure. The apparatus has a power, control and display unit and a flexible tubular device having a proximal end and a distal end. A stretchable conduit and a plurality of extensible channels run longitudinally inside the flexible tubular device. The flexible tubular device comprises a non-extensible tubular shaft and a reversibly extensible tubular shaft, connected longitudinally in tandem. The reversibly extensible tubular shaft comprises a plurality of reversible extension segments and is controllably longitudinally extensible and bendable by changes in pressure and volume of a medium in said reversible extension segments. Said tubular device is directionally bendable at the distal end by selective negative changes in pressure in said distal end. Said tubular device obtains visual information of target area and material samples, and is capable of manipulation of the target area.

Evaluating a long, closed and inaccessible structure of machines or an internal hollow viscus of a living body without surgical methods has been greatly improved by development of flexible endoscopic apparatus that can be inserted into the closed structure of the machine or the hollow viscus under direct visual guidance. For evaluation of human body, it allows critical visual inspection of inner structure of the hollow viscus and guided procedures such as obtaining tissue samples and surgical procedures using insertable instruments. Endoscopic procedures now have become an essential component of evaluation and treatment of diverse pathologies of the hollow viscus of the body. For an example, inspection of colon by a colonoscope is universally required as a screening tool for early detection of colon cancer in the Western countries. Similarly, gastroduodenoscope is being used for screening stomach cancer in Asian countries.
Endoscopic apparatus in general comprises a distal end that is bendable by internal guide-wires, a proximal end that controls the distal end by the guide-wires and a tubular shaft that houses internal conduits and connects both ends. Image of a target area is acquiesced electronically by an image sensor that is attached to an optic lens complex of the distal end and is connected to the proximal end and a power and control unit via longitudinally linear electric cables. The optic lens complex at the distal end is cleansed by water for clear view of a target area. Gas such as air is insufflated to the target area for three dimensional expansion of the area and negative suction is applied to the target area to remove unwanted fluids and gas. Water, gas and negative suction are provided through longitudinally linear tubular conduits connected to the distal end. Instrumentation of devices such as biopsy forceps is done through a linear tubular channel that runs from a hub located at the proximal end to the distal end.
Bending of a tubular shaft of an endoscope usually is achieved by linear pull-strings that run longitudinally inside the tubular wall from control knobs of the proximal end to internal bending anchors of the distal end. There is no active bending action outside the bendable segment of the distal end. The tubular shaft between the bendable segment and the proximal end usually is flexible to a certain degree, allowing it to passively curve inside the tubular structure. Forward movement of the distal end of an endoscope usually is achieved by manually pushing the proximal end into the tubular structure.
The aforementioned endoscope accordingly has a structure of a hollow tube of a fixed length in which a number of hollow tubular conduits and channels of a similarly fixed length are longitudinally placed, between the two opposite ends. Main advantages of said endoscope include real-time maneuverability, its access to target tissues of the majority of the tubular structure of a living body and most importantly its capability to obtain biologic samples and to manipulate the target area under direct vision. Main disadvantages of said endoscope come from its inability to navigate in a meandering tubular structure such as a zigzagging small intestine and its fixed length beyond which no further evaluation could be achieved. Capsular endoscopic instruments are developed to circumvent the need to navigate in the zigzagging small intestine without length limitation. These devices can be swallowed and be let tumble down through the tortuous small intestine, while acquiescing digital visual information of said intestine. One most significant drawback of said capsular endoscopes, however, is the most critical, which is their inability to obtain a sufficient amount of biologic samples and to manipulate the target area. As a result, capsular endoscopes usually are used for screening purpose. If abnormalities are found in the deep part of said small intestine that cannot be reached by existing tubular endoscopes, further evaluation and therapy may only be achievable through direct surgery.
Difficulties in forward movement of a distal end of an endoscope in said zigzagging small intestine come from its dependence on passive forward push from the proximal end and presence of opposite directions of segments of the small intestine in contrast to a large intestine that can be considered as one continuous arc that can be reached by one direction of forward movement. Bending of a bendable part of the distal end alone may not allow passage of a tubular shaft of the endoscope through the zigzagging small intestine since the tubular shaft usually has a fixed directional flexibility that may not be changed simultaneously at points of opposite direction. These technical challenges may be offset by devices that control flexibility of the shaft while generating active forward movement at the site of changes in direction. Generating forward zigzagging movement of said shaft along a contour of the meandering small intestine could further enhance navigation of said tubular device toward a target area in an otherwise inaccessible location.
Controllable flexibility at a site of forward movement of a segment of a tubular shaft may be achievable if the segment of the shaft is made longitudinally extend or contract and made bend by pressure changes inside the segment. A medium such as gas or liquid including gaseous phase of liquid is delivered into the segments of the tubular shaft by a power and control unit. The medium occupies an inner space in the tubular shaft of the endoscope and/or can be localized in predefined longitudinal spaces along the tubular shaft. Volume and pressure of the medium can be changed by the power and control unit and said changes in the volume and pressure translate into changes in length of the segments and generate differences in outward radial tension on walls of the segments of the shaft.
One other technical challenge in a tubular shaft that controllably varies in length is that channels and conduits inside the tubular shaft should be made vary in length together with changes in length of the tubular shaft. Electric cables for the electronic image sensor and other components can be coiled telephone-cord-like inside the tubular shaft, which extends by longitudinal stretching. Internal conduits for water, gas and suction may also be made in a similar way, which may all be consolidated with the electric cables in one telephone-cord-like coil. The telephone-cord-like coil then connects the power and control unit to the distal end, with its pitches and diameter of the coil dependent on a ratio of straightened state to coiled state and on an internal diameter of the tubular shaft. Internal channel for instruments, however, requires longitudinally straight configuration from the proximal end to the distal end to allow passage of instruments without mechanical hindrance. Longitudinally linear bellows-shaped construction of the channel may accomplish the goal, which contracts and extends along the longitudinal axis of the channel.
Forward axial movement of the distal end may best be achieved by longitudinal extension of segments of a tubular shaft located proximal to the distal end. Ideally, segments of the shaft may be extended sequentially, starting from the most proximal segment to the most distal segment that is attached to the distal end. Sequential segmental extension may accommodate differences in linear length of an intestine in between of two opposite curves of the intestine, in radii of curves of the intestine and in direction of the curves.


Embodiments relate to a passivation layer for a semiconductor device that may be formed in a substrate having a plurality of semiconductor devices. The passivation layer may includes a first passivation layer, a second passivation layer, and a third passivation layer, and the passivation layer may have a laminated triple layer structure.

A manufacturing process of a semiconductor device may include manufacturing a series of semiconductor devices that make up a semiconductor apparatus. An assembly process may thereafter be performed.
Before such an assembly process is performed, a passivation layer may be formed, which may protect a semiconductor device from static electricity, moisture, impact, etc.
For example, such a passivation layer may play a role in protecting a semiconductor device from moisture, ultraviolet radiation from the sun, impact forces, pressure, and so forth.
A passivation layer may have a structure as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a passivation layer may have a dual layer structure that may include lower passivation layer 120, for example made from silicon oxide, that may be formed on metal wiring 110. A passivation layer may also include upper passivation layer 130, for example made from silicon nitride. Metal wiring 110 may interconnect semiconductor devices.
An annealing process may be performed after laminating a passivation layer. During an annealing process, fumes (e.g. gases) may occur from the lower layer of the passivation layer. In a dual layer passivation layer structure, a passivation layer may not be able to bear the pressure of the fume gas. In this situation, the silicon nitride layer (upper layer 130) may be partially removed from the silicon oxide layer (lower layer 120). Therefore, failure 180 may occur as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Hence, a general passivation layer having a dual layer structure may include a silicon oxide layer and a silicon nitride layer. In the passivation layer with the dual layer structure, upper layer 130 and lower layer 120 may have a large surface stress difference therebetween and may have poor adhesive strength therebetween. Therefore, upper passivation layer 130 may become partially removed from lower passivation layer 120, for example in a high temperature process such as an annealing process. Moreover, if upper passivation layer 130 is damaged, a semiconductor device may be damaged by chemical materials in a subsequent packaging process.
A failure of the passivation layer may cause a semiconductor device to be damaged by chemical materials used in a subsequent assembly process, and may cause other failures to occur, for example failures in a wire bonding process.

Passivation layer for semiconductor device and manufacturing method thereof


An internal combustion engine with an open-loop or closed-loop control device (2), wherein at least one combustion chamber (3) of the internal combustion engine (1) is designed to burn a fuel-air mixture using at least one combustion parameters that can be influenced by the open-loop or closed-loop control device (2), wherein the open-loop or closed-loop control device (2) has an emission control loop that is configured to actuate the at least one actuator that influences the at least one combustion parameter as a substitute parameter for NOx emissions by means of a functional relationship in such way that at last one combustion parameter can be set for each target or actual power rating of the internal combustion engine (1), wherein the functional relationship takes account of an influence of a change of the exhaust backpressure (p3′) affecting at least one combustion chamber (3).

This invention relates to an internal combustion engine and a process for the closed-loop or open-loop control of an internal combustion engine.
A closed-loop control strategy for an internal combustion engine is known from EP 0259382 B1 where, as a function of a measured actual power rating for an internal combustion engine, a target value for charge pressure can be established. By means of a first control loop (charge pressure controller), and with a target-actual variance check, the actual value for charge pressure can be adjusted to match the target value for charge pressure. This target value for charge pressure is connected to a defined target value for NOx emissions. Since the NOx emission level is not known directly, the charge pressure is used as an auxiliary control parameter. The functional relationship takes the form of a set of curves in which each curve in relation to a given NOx value indicates the relationship between actual power and the target value for charge pressure. To this extent, the charge pressure controller is really an emission control loop in relation to the NOx emissions (NOx emission control loop).
The Lambda value is set in response to a gas dispensing unit. A change to the Lambda value would have an impact on the performance rating of the internal combustion engine, which then needs to be balanced out by a second control loop (power control loop). This balancing of the power control loop is performed by the actuators that directly influence the charge pressure (for example, by the throttle valve, a wastegate, a variable turbine geometry, a compressor bypass line, a variable valve drive or similar). Therefore, charge pressure is controlled directly by the combustion air ratio (Lambda value). This control strategy is known as LEANOX controller.
Accordingly, therefore the functional relationship between the charge pressure prevailing upstream of the engine intake valves that is relatively easy to measure and the engine power is used to control the NOx emission level.
In that respect, the charge pressure measuring output is connected to an actual input on the first control loop. In the first control loop on EP 0259382 B1 (charge pressure controller), a programmable unit is arranged for determining a power-dependent target value for the charge pressure from the power measuring signal output, which is delivered by the power measuring device.
In that respect, closed-loop control of the charge pressure takes place indirectly using the closed-loop control of the combustion air ratio (Lambda value) in the air-gas mixer in which, for example, making the mixture more lean (increasing the Lambda value) causes an increase in charge pressure upstream of the intake valves (when requesting constant engine power).
The above describes the cascaded form of the LEANOX controller. It is also possible to perform both closed-loop control interventions concurrently (see EP 2977596 B1 for details). This invention can be used for both forms of the LEANOX controller
An alternative involves using cylinder pressure instead of charge pressure as a closed-loop control parameter. By way of example, this is described in EP 2910755 B1. The invention can also be used on a closed-loop control system of this kind.
Further known embodiments from the state of the art are disclosed by the documents US 2018/135541 A1, US 2003/127079 A1, US 2006/288701 A1 or US 2014/174073 A1.
Difficulties are that the closed-loop control system for controlling emissions known from the prior art does not take account of the influence of exhaust backpressure, which can yield unfavorable emission characteristics.
If, for example, a bypass valve for an exhaust turbine of a turbocharger (also known as a wastegate) is closed in an exhaust pipe, exhaust backpressure rises in the combustion chamber, which causes an increase in NOx emissions.
The familiar closed-loop control strategies, therefore, do not recognise any change in NOx emissions caused by a change in exhaust backpressure. Consequently, NOx emissions increase, which has an adverse impact on the emission target values to be achieved, and, of course, on the long-term observation of the NOx emissions of an internal combustion engine.

Internal combustion engine and method for operating an internal combustion engine


In a communication system using a sheet light guide (10) which is formed to contain light-scattering particles in a sheet optical medium and propagates signal light incident from one end surface thereof to the other end surface side while scattering the signal light by the particles, a photodetector (55) which is coupled to the other end surface of the sheet light guide (10) and detects the signal light and a demultiplexer (84) which distributes an output of the photodetector (55) to a plurality of lines are provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication system using a light guide, and particularly to a sheet light guide which is formed to contain light-scattering particles in a sheet optical medium and propagates light incident from one end surface thereof to the other end surface side while scattering the light by the particles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,548,670 and 5,542,017, a light guide has been known, which is formed to contain light-scattering particles in an optical medium such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and propagates light incident from one end surface thereof to the other end surface side while scattering the light by the particles.
Such a light guide propagates the light while repeatedly scattering the light by the particles in the optical medium in addition to the action of total reflection at an interface between a side end surface of the light guide and a surrounding medium (air or cladding layer). Accordingly, in comparison with a light guide which propagates the light only by the action of the total reflection, the light guide thus described has an advantage in that light, the intensity thereof being made more uniform, can be taken out of an emitting end surface. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,475, it is conceivable that by utilizing this advantage, such a type of light guide applies to the purpose of constituting an optical data bus (sheet bus). The optical data bus is that which is formed by use of a sheet optical medium, and in which one input unit inputting an optical signal is coupled to one end surface thereof, and a plurality of output units are coupled to the other end surface, thus distributing the inputted optical signal as a common signal to the plurality of output units.
Moreover, for example, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11(1999)-31035, as such an optical data bus, one has been also known, in which light-scattering portions are provided on a light-incident-side end portion of the sheet optical medium so as to correspond to respective signal light incident portions, and signal light scattered and branched by the light-scattering portions is made to propagate toward a light-emitting-side end portion of the optical medium.
In a communication system using a sheet light guide formed to contain light-scattering particles in the sheet optical medium as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,475, a requirement exists that a received signal be distributed and outputted in parallel to many lines. In order to respond to such a requirement, it is satisfactory if the number of photodetectors coupled to the sheet light guide is increased. However, when the number of nodes is increased, a problem occurs that an S/N ratio of the signal is lowered according to the increase.

Communication system using sheet light guide


A display apparatus includes a plurality of pixels connected to a plurality of gate lines and a plurality of data lines and a timing controller, in which each pixel includes a first sub-pixel and a second sub-pixel. In such a display apparatus, the timing controller provides the first sub-pixel and the second sub-pixel with a first data signal and a second data signal corresponding to one of a high gray scale curve and a low gray scale curve, alternately every frame, when the image signal is a first type of image signal, and the timing controller provides the first sub-pixel with a first data signal corresponding to the high gray scale curve and the second sub-pixel with a second data signal corresponding to the low gray scale curve when the image signal is a first type of image signal.

1. Field
The invention described herein relate to a display apparatus and a driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of display apparatuses, a liquid crystal display apparatus has merits such as a slim design, low power consumption, high resolution, etc., and is widely applied to a notebook computer, a monitor, an advertising display, a television, etc.
The liquid crystal display device has such a disadvantage such that brightness and color are variable according to a direction from which a viewer observes a screen, that is, due to liquid crystal anisotropy. A liquid crystal display device having a wide viewing angle is required to improve a narrow viewing angle.

Display apparatus and driving method thereof


The disclosure relates to a lining arrangement for wear protection comprising: at least one lining element arranged to be fastened to a support structure; and at least one device, the device comprising: a first element adapted to be received in a through hole of said at least one lining element or a through hole created by adjacent lining elements, the first element having an axially arranged opening; a second element for engagement with the first element, such that the at least one lining element is attached to the support structure upon interconnection between the first element and the second element, and wherein an outer periphery of the second element comprises a plurality of grooves for engagement with a handling tool. The disclosure further relates to a method for fastening lining elements to a support structure.

Lining arrangements are used to protect surfaces and/or structures in machines which, during operation thereof, is exposed to a significant level of wear from material handled by the machines. Such machines typically handle materials such as sand, gravel, stone, ore etc. which, with or without water being added, cause significant wear on exposed surfaces over which the material moves. To prolong the service life of the exposed surfaces, these are coated with wear-resistant lining elements of wear resistant material. Typically, such wear resistant lining materials are an elastomeric material, some type of ceramic or a combination thereof. The lining elements provide wear protection to, among other things, chutes, drums, bins, feeders, feed hoppers, transshipment places and vehicle platforms, such as truck haul bodies, in the stone-working, mining, aggregates, and installation industry. Due to the large number of different applications where wear linings are used as wear protection, the wear linings are often manufactured to allow adjustment and cutting to suit a certain type and shape of surface. It is important that the wear lining be well fastened to the support surface so that it remains in place when subjected to vibrations, shocks and impacts. In many cases it is also desirable to be able to quickly exchange the wear lining as it starts to be worn out.
Conventional fastening methods typically rely on fastening the lining elements using fastening elements that are arranged to clamp the lining elements to the supporting structure by means of one or more conventional bolts, such as through bolts. A drawback of these systems is that securing and unsecuring the bolts may be time-consuming and awkward, hence increasing the down time of the machines. A further problem with fastening devices according to prior art is that they require a substantive amount of force and that the service personnel is exposed to high risk of injury when attaching the lining elements.

Lining arrangement, and a method for fastening lining elements to a support structure


A turbine vane of a gas turbine engine is provided with a hollow core in the leading edge of the outer platform thereof. The core is interconnected with the leading edge core of the airfoil whereby to create a cooling air stream having a dual purpose and cooling both the leading edge of the outer platform and of the airfoil and thereby reducing cooling air consumption. The cooling air enters the core of the outer platform through an inlet port and exits through cooling holes provided in the leading edge of the airfoil.

High performance gas turbine engines operate at very high temperatures, requiring elaborate cooling systems to protect the exposed turbine parts, including the turbine vane airfoils and platforms. However, since flowing coolant through the turbine diminishes overall engine performance, it is typically desirable to minimize the cooling flow consumption without degrading the turbine vane durability. Heretofore, the proposed solutions still generally demand higher than required cooling consumption which therefore limits engine performance.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a new turbine vane cooling arrangement which addresses these and other limitations of the prior art.

Dual-use of cooling air for turbine vane and method


A method for restoring exhaust purifying capability of a sulfur contaminated catalytic converter of an internal combustion engine. Catalytic converter efficiency is measured with a first exhaust gas oxygen sensor positioned upstream of the catalytic converter and a second exhaust gas oxygen sensor positioned downstream of the catalytic converter. When catalytic converter efficiency falls below a desired level, catalytic converter temperature is elevated and the engine is operated to produce a rich exhaust gas mixture to reduce the sulfur contamination. Then, to further reduce the sulfur contamination, the engine is operated to produce a lean exhaust mixture.

To meet current emission regulations, automotive vehicles must have on-board diagnostic systems to detect the malfunction of any component of the emission system, including a catalytic converter. At the same time, the exhaust system must purify the exhaust gas to reduce the concentration of certain regulated compounds. To meet the increasingly low level of exhaust emissions required, new catalytic converter formulations have been found that are more effective at accomplishing this goal. However, one drawback is that the new catalytic converter formulations are increasingly susceptible to sulfur contamination. While sulfur content in fuel is limited to 80 ppm in some states, fuel in other states can contain as much as 1000 ppm of sulfur.
Catalytic converter monitoring systems are known in which an upstream and a downstream exhaust gas oxygen sensor are compared to give an indication of catalytic degradation. If sulfur contamination occurs, these systems will diagnose the contamination and illuminate a malfunction indicator. As a result, a new catalytic converter will be required. An example of such an approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,751.
The inventors herein have recognized numerous problems with the above approaches. For example, because sulfur contamination may not be permanent, a sulfur contaminated catalytic converter would be replaced and discarded when it may be possible to decontaminate the catalytic converter and restore the exhaust purifying capability.

Catalytic converter decontamination method


A fluid driven drilling motor and system includes a flex shaft between the rotor and a cylindrical flow collar. The end of the flow collar opposite from the flex shaft has a bore in fluid communication with a drill bit. Ramped apertures are formed in the side wall of the flow collar. The ramped apertures are in fluid communication with the bore. Drilling fluid flowing under pressure down past the flex shaft is directed and drawn into the ramped apertures along a fluid flow path which spirals downwardly and radially inwardly of the flow collar so as to then flow into the bore. The pressure loss associated with drawing the drilling fluid down to the drill bit is thereby minimized.

Conventional rotary drilling operations rotate the drill bit by turning the entire drill string at the surface with a rotary table and kelly. However, a down-hole motor, such as a down-hole mud motor, utilizes the circulation system and the hydraulic power of a drilling fluid to rotate the drill bit without rotating the entire drill string within the well bore. A down-hole mud motor system may include drill collars which are larger diameter pipes attached to the drill pipe at a lower end of the drill string above the drill bit wherein the drill collar helps to add weight to the drill string to ensure there is sufficient downward pressure to enable the drill bit to drill through the formation. The drill bit, located at the bottom end of the drill string is responsible for breaking up and dislodging the rock formation as small rock particles suspended in the fluid as it is pumped back to the surface from the drill bit. There are different types of drill bits, such as diamond bits, steel tooth bits, and carbide insert bits to handle different drilling conditions, such as the type of underground formation, the type of drilling, and the temperature of the Earth.
A mud motor is typically used in directional drilling operations, especially in oil and gas and mining operations. Mud motors are usually used to rotate a drill bit for bore hole drilling and coring in the earth. The rotor of the motor rotates the drill bit with respect to a stator which is connected to a drill string. The weight of the drill bit and drill string in conjunction with the rotary speeds generated by the mud motor enables the rotating drill bit to efficiently cut away the formation the drill bit is pushed against. Drilling fluid, such as so-called "mud", supplies the hydraulic power to operate the motor. More particularly, the mud motor operates by converting the hydraulic energy of the drilling fluid into mechanical torque and applying the torque to drive the drill bit into the formation.
The additional main functions of the drilling fluid include cooling and lubricating the drill bit, stabilizing the wall of the well bore, controlling well pressure, and removing debris and cuttings. The composition of the mud drilling fluid used for any particular drilling operation depends on the drilling conditions. The mud must be of light enough consistency such that it may circulate through the drill bit to cool and lubricate the parts, but the mud must also be sufficiently viscous to carry the rock particulate debris away from the drill bit when the drill cuttings are circulated back up the well through the annular space. Typically, the circulating system pumps the mud drilling fluid down through the hollow drill string. The mud supplies the hydraulic power to operate the mud motor and cools and lubricates the drill bit as it flows through apertures in the drill bit. The mud may be a water-based, synthetic-based or diesel fuel-based product. Once the mud is circulated back up to the surface through the annular space, the cuttings are removed from the mud, for example, by way of a mesh before the mud is returned to the mud pits to be used again.
As the drilling fluid is pumped down the drill string and through the mud motor, pressure loss due to friction reduces the amount of pressure supplied to the motor, causing a decrease in motor torque and slower boring. Further pressure loss at the motor due to narrow flow passages also reduces the efficiency of drilling. By minimizing the pressure loss, the overall torque and hydraulic horsepower available to the motor may be increased. As such, there exists a need to provide a fluid driven drilling motor and system wherein pressure loss as the drilling fluid circulates through the drilling motor and system may be minimized to increase the drilling efficiency of the down-hole drilling motor.
Applicant is aware of several apparatus and methods in the art that purport to improve the efficiency of a down-hole motor. However, none of the prior art apparatus and methods minimize the pressure loss of the drilling fluid in the manner of the present invention. For example, applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,290 to Blair et al. for a down-hole mud motor which has an improved bearing mandrel and a bearing stop to transfer a larger percentage of the weight of the drill string to the bit. Improved sealing systems for the transmission section and bearing section prevent drilling mud from entering critical components. A piston stop is provided to prevent the piston from damaging any parts as the piston moves under pressure. A compensating pressure disk is placed in the lower housing to prevent pressure from building up in the bearing section. A grooved ball seat is provided in the transmission to allow for greater flow of lubricant around the ball bearings.
Applicant is also aware of Canadian Patent No. 2,197,964 which issued to Sallwasser et al. on Dec. 3, 2002 for a Method and Apparatus for Drilling with a Flexible Shaft While Using Hydraulic Assistance. The apparatus and method disclosed includes applying thrust weight to a drill bit when drilling with a flexible drilling shaft while creating perforations in a cased well. The thrust is applied directly to the drill bit instead of applying it to the drill bit through the flexible drilling shaft. A support bracket is also in contact with a piston and is in slidable contact with the tool housing. A portion of the piston is positioned inside a chamber in the housing and is slidably attached to the chamber walls. As hydraulic fluid flows into the chamber opposite the piston, the piston is forced toward the drill bit. As the piston moves toward the drill bit, force is exerted on the support bracket which causes the bracket to move toward the drill bit. This force is transferred to the drill bit during the drilling process, thereby supplying the force needed by the drill bit to effectively drill through a desired material.
Applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,859 which issued to Tschirky et al. on Sep. 28, 1976 wherein the operation of hydraulic motors may be improved by employing stable flow restrictors which are resistant to corrosion and maintains a stable bypass volume of fluid used to lubricate the bearing package.


An interior door trim component for an automotive vehicle. The door trim component includes a main body having an exterior surface for facing the interior of the vehicle and a door pull configured to allow for pulling thereon and closing of the door of the vehicle. The door pull is spaced apart from the main body by a distance that allows the fingers of a vehicle occupant's hand to extend into the area between the door pull and the main body. A light emitting assembly is mounted adjacent to the door pull and is oriented to emitt light in a direction away from the door pull and toward the exterior surface of the main body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to automotive lighting. More specifically, the invention relates to ambient lighting within the passenger compartment of an automotive vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Most automotive vehicles are provided with various sources of light in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. Generally, interior vehicle lighting is one of three types: general lighting, task lighting, and ambient lighting.
General lighting is typically provided by mounting a light assembly to the roof or headliner of the vehicle. When mounted in this fashion, light is directed from the light assembly downwardly, generally bathing the interior of the vehicle with light. Sometime this arrangement includes lenses that direct the emitted light at a specific location or in a specific direction. For example, the light might be directed to facilitate the reading of a document, such as a map, by an occupant of the vehicle. This type of lighting is referred to as task lighting. Task lighting may be incorporated in a lamp assembly that also includes general lighting or may be provided by way of an independent lamp assembly.
The third type of lighting mentioned above is the ambient lighting. This type of lighting dimly lights the interior, or a portion of the interior, of the vehicle. The ambient lighting can come in many forms. One typical form is to provide a light assembly incorporated into the feature of the vehicle. For example, light assemblies are sometimes provided on the trim panel of a door so as to direct light so that the foot-well area for the front seat of the vehicle is dimly lit.
For each of these types of lighting techniques, it is well known to use a variety of different types of lights sources. The light sources themselves may be incandescent bulbs, light emitting diodes (LEDs) or other types of sources.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


Light emitting LEDs devices comprised of LED chips that emit light at a first wavelength, and a tinted thin film layer over the LED chip that changes the color of the emitted light. For example, a blue-light emitting LED chip can be used to produce white light. The tinted thin film layer beneficially consists of ZnSe, CeO2, Al2O3, or Y2O3:Ce that is deposited using a chemical vapor deposition process, such as metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), atomic layer chemical vapor deposition (ALD), plasma enhanced MOCVD, plasma enhanced ALD, and/or photo enhanced CVD. Suitable CVD precursors include Alkoxide, β-dikeonate, Metalloscene, Alkys, DMZn, DEZe, H2Se, DMSe, TbuSe, and DESe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light emitting diodes (LEDs). More particularly, this invention relates to light emitting LEDs having active layers that produce light at one wavelength, but that emit light at another wavelength.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Light emitting diodes ("LEDs") are well-known semiconductor devices that convert electrical current into light. An LED produces light by exciting electrons across the band gap between a conduction band and a valence band of a semiconductive active (light-emitting) layer. That electron transition generates light at a wavelength (color) that depends on the band gap. Thus, the color of the light (wavelength) emitted by an LED depends on the semiconductor material(s) of the active layer.
LEDs are widely available in a range of colors, for example, red, green, blue, yellow, and orange. However, conventional LEDs are relatively monochromatic light sources. Unfortunately, some applications require white light, which includes all primary colors. For example, laptop computers often require white-light backlights. Usually, white light is supplied either by incandescent bulbs or by fluorescent lamps. Although inexpensive, incandescent bulbs have fairly short lifetimes and low luminous efficiency. While more efficient, fluorescent lamps also tend to have limited lifetimes. Furthermore, fluorescent lamps require relatively large, heavy and expensive support devices, such as voltage stabilizers.
A white-light LED source could be made by fabricating closely spaced (or otherwise light-mixed) red, green, and blue LEDs that emit light in proper proportions. However, blue LEDs have been relatively difficult to fabricate, primarily because of difficulties in fabricating high quality crystals having a suitable band gap. Despite these difficulties, blue GaN-based LEDs have recently become commercially available. This has enabled white-light LEDs to actually be fabricated by mixing green, red and blue light together.
While successful in producing white light, three-component (green, red and blue) LEDs have problems. For example, three-component LEDs will use significantly more power than a single component LED. Additionally, three-component LEDs require careful balancing of optical outputs to achieve high quality white light, a balance that is difficult to maintained over time and temperature and that requires careful and expensive fabrication. The necessity of optical balancing combined with a relatively complicated drive circuitry means that three-component LEDs are, in practice, difficult and expensive to fabricate.
Because of the forgoing problems with three-component LEDs it is would be advantageous to produce white light using only a single-element LED. Such single element white-light emitting LEDs are known. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art single-element, white-light LED 12. That LED incorporates a yttrium-aluminum garnet (YAG) phosphor. Essentially, the phosphor layer produces white light from blue light. As shown, the single element white-light LED 12 is comprised of a blue-light emitting LED chip 14 that is located on a base 15, which is inside an organic YAG phosphor 16. The YAG phosphor 16 is embedded in a dome-shaped package 17 having a hemispherical top 18. The package 17 protects the resulting LED from damage caused by static electricity, moisture, and other environmental influences. Extending from the package 17 are two leads 20 and 22. Bonding wires 24 and 26 connect the anode and cathode of the LED chip 14 to the leads 20 and 22.
Still referring to FIG. 1, when electric power is applied to the LED chip 14 via the leads 20 and 22 and the bonding wires 24 and 26, the LED chip 14 emits blue-light into the YAG phosphor 16. In response, white light is emitted from the package 17.
Thus, a key to making white-light LEDs using the method illustrated in FIG. 1 is to fabricate suitable blue-light emitting LEDs. A beneficial approach to fabricating blue-light emitting LEDs is to incorporate active layers comprised of Gallium-Nitride (GaN) and Indium to produce InGaN/GaN semiconductor layers. In fact, the energy efficiency of GaN-based white light emitting LEDs has surpassed that of incandescent lamps, and is now comparable with that of fluorescent lamps.
Despite their numerous advantages, white-light emitting LEDs similar to the one shown in FIG. 1 have problems. One set of problems relates to degradation of the bonding wires 24 and 26, the LED chip 14, and the leads 20 and 22 due to direct contact and subsequent chemical reaction with the YAG phosphor 16. Additionally, the YAG phosphor 16 can be degraded by such chemical reactions.
Another problem with white-light emitting LEDs similar to the one shown in FIG. 1 is that the hemispherical top 18 of the package 17 results in a "ring pattern" in the emitted light. Thus, the emitted light has poor luminance uniformity. The hemispherical top 18 also makes it difficult to reliably coat phosphors inside the package if such coating is required.
Another serious problem with white-light emitting LEDs similar to the one shown in FIG. 1 is that the actual production of white light does not come from the light-producing LED chip 14, which emits only blue light, but from phosphor 16 within the package 17. Thus, the package not only provides protection, it is a functional requirement. This makes it difficult to form surface mounted devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,536, by inventors Matsubara et al., which issued on Jan. 8, 2002, and which is entitled, "White color light emitting diode and neutral color light emitting diode," discloses a white-light emitting source that uses an n-type ZnSe single crystal substrate. That substrate is doped with I, Cl, Br, Al, Ga, or In emission centers, and includes an epitaxial film active layer structure of ZnSe, ZnCdSe or ZnSeTe. The active layer emits blue or blue-green light. The emission centers convert the blue or blue-green light to yellow or orange. The blue or blue-green light and the yellow or orange light synthesize white light or a neutral color light between red and blue.
While the techniques taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,536 are generally successful, they have problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,536 teaches a thick substrate. Therefore, the light intensity is heavily dependent on the thickness of the substrate. Furthermore, the materials used in U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,536 may not be optimal in specific applications.
Therefore, a new single-element, white-light LED would be beneficial. Particularly beneficial would be a single-element, white-light LED that reduces or eliminates bonding wire, LED chip, connector lead, and phosphor degradation. Also beneficial would be a single-element, white-light LED that does not produce a ring pattern and that improves the uniformity of emitted light. Such a single-element, white-light LED would beneficially be fabricated as an on-chip, single-element, white-light LED that does not require a package for white light emissions. A method of fabricating white-light emitting diodes without coating phosphor inside packages would be useful. Also beneficial would be a single-element, white-light LED with a light output that does not depend on the thickness of a substrate. More generally, a method of fabricating light emitting diodes using tinted thin film coatings would be beneficial.


A packaging container for dry granular products includes a rectangular container body, and a rectangular cover defining a sleeve surrounding the container body in sliding engagement, both of folded sheet material. The container body having a first pair of opposed width defining sides, a second pair of opposed height defining sides, and a third pair of opposed length defining sides perpendicular to the width and height defined by the first and second pairs of opposed sides. The container body has at least one product discharge opening in second pairs of opposite sides. The cover is slidable over the first and second pairs of opposed sides of the container body between a closed position in which the cover overlies at least one product discharge opening and an open position in which at least one product discharge opening is partially exposed by the cover.

Containers for powder in the market are generally made as a small pouch, or formed from aluminum foil (sachet), but these containers do not have adequate open and close mechanisms. Container material, besides aluminium foil sachets, powder or granular containers are also commonly made of plastic or glass. Product content leaks easily out of these sachet containers, or they are difficult to carry when in the form of glass or plastic bottles or jars. A better design is needed for individuals who have high mobility, which requires a practical small powder container that can be opened and closed without leakage.
Container shape and container size should preferably be made relatively small to facilitate easy delivery, especially for "on line" business, but still easy, safe and convenient to carry.

Reclosable packaging container for powder or granular materials


The invention is directed to an electric power driven toothbrush having a four-bar linkage (8) disposed in the handle section, the input end thereof being driven by an electric motor (2) through a train of spur gears, while the output end thereof drives in an oscillatory manner an output shaft (15) within an angular range of .+-.35.degree., approximately. The output shaft (15) is suitable for coupling engagement with a toothbrush section through a bevel gear train, and the axis of rotation of the toothbrush section forms an approximately right angle with the axis of the output shaft (15).

This invention relates to an electric power driven toothbrush with an electric motor disposed in a handle section and driving, through a driving mechanism and a translating device driven thereby, in an oscillatory manner a rotary toothbrush section, in which the driving mechanism is configured as a four-bar linkage including a crank adapted to be driven by means of the electric motor, the crank driving in an oscillatory manner at least indirectly a drive shaft of the toothbrush section by a means of a link and through a rocker.
A toothbrush of this type is already known from CH 384539 A. For one thing, however, the special configuration of the crank mechanism disclosed therein involves a large size which is undesirable in particular for toothbrushes. The crank is of the overhung type, that is, supported at only one end, involving an additional increase in size. For another thing, the crank bearing is subjected to major wear during operation of the toothbrush. Moreover, in this configuration of crank mechanism which is encapsulated in the housing to protect it from external influence, the problem exists of supplying the bearings with sufficient lubricating agents.
A further electric power driven toothbrush is known from EP 0 054 043 B1. Through an output shaft and a planetary gear train, the electric motor drives a toothbrush section drive shaft arranged in a sleeve-type shank. For this purpose, the drive shaft has at its output end an eccentrically disposed pin which is rotated by the drive shaft and is guided in a slotted guide of a drive member for the toothbrush section, the axis of which intersects angularly the axis of the drive shaft. The revolving motion of the pin causes rotation in alternating direction or oscillation of the drive member for the toothbrush section. Such a conversion of the rotary motion of the electric motor into an oscillating motion of the brush section allows, however, only a very small angle of rotation, because the slotted guide should be at a correspondingly large distance from the axis of the rotation of the toothbrush section for reducing the frictional resistances. The more closely the slotted guide approaches the axis of rotation of the toothbrush section, the higher become the frictional resistances, thus also increasing the noise developing in the operation of the toothbrush. The relatively large frictional resistance of the pin guided in the slotted guide also produces significant wear, resulting in a relatively short service life of the driving elements.


A network relay apparatus receives sub data different from main data by data transmission/reception processing units of a working system and a spare system, and when communication paths of the working system and the spare system are both working normally, makes the sub data flow through the communication path of the spare system. When a failure occurs in the communication path of the working system, the network relay apparatus switches the communication path for the main data to the spare system, and accordingly notifies it to a data relay unit, which is a relay destination of the main data. In the data relay unit, based on a notified content, corresponding relationships of ports in the unit are changed so that the received main data is output from the same output port as before.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a network relay apparatus that has a redundant structure with a primary system and a secondary system (i.e., working system and a spare system), and relays data between different networks in a composite network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A technology related to redundancy that provides a spare system in addition to a working system in a network, in case a failure occurs in a node or in a dedicated line that connects nodes has been developed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-55285 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-517869).
In recent years, a composite network is configured with Ethernet (registered trademark, hereinafter omitted) networks connected to a synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) network. In such a composite network, it is also important to handle the similar failures.
The composite network includes an optical transmission apparatus (hereinafter, "network relay apparatus"), which is a node that links the Ethernet network and the SONET/SDH network.
Conventionally, the network relay apparatus in general is configured as described in FIG. 9 to secure redundancy in the node and thereby to prepare for the failure.
The redundancy in the network relay apparatus will now be explained in detail below with reference to FIG. 9. A network relay apparatus 10 includes a switch fabric 20 that performs transmission/reception processing of data with respect to the SONET/SDH network, and an Ethernet interface unit 40 that performs the transmission/reception processing of data with respect to the Ethernet network. The network relay apparatus 10 also includes a switch fabric 30 and an Ethernet interface unit 50, as the respective spare systems for the switch fabric 20 and the Ethernet interface unit 40.
A data relay unit 60 that transmits and receives data to/from the network relay apparatus 10 at a side of the Ethernet network includes a port 70a, a port 70b, a port 80a, and a port 80b. The port 70a and the port 80a are respectively connected to the Ethernet interface unit 40 and the Ethernet interface unit 50. In the data relay unit 60, a communication path for data is established between the port 70a and the port 70b, and between the port 80a and the port 80b.
Referring back to the network relay apparatus 10, the switch fabrics 20 and 30 replicate the received data and output it to the Ethernet interface unit 40 and the Ethernet interface unit 50.
The Ethernet interface units 40 and 50 include switches 41 and 51, respectively, and selectively receive data from the switch fabric 20 or the switch fabric 30. The network relay apparatus 10 breaks the link between the Ethernet interface unit 50 and the port 80a of the spare system, so as not to receive data twice from the data relay unit 60.
In this manner, a communication path for data as shown by a solid line in FIG. 9 is established. If a failure occurs in the switch fabric 20 while main data is actually relayed as shown by solid line arrows (at this time, the switch fabric 30 is also receiving the same data as shown by dotted line arrows), for example, the network relay apparatus 10 handles the failure by switching the switch 41 and relaying the received data by the switch fabric 30.
Similarly, if a failure occurs in the Ethernet interface unit 40 while the main data is actually relayed as shown by the solid line arrows, the network relay apparatus 10 handles the failure by connecting the link between the port 80a and the Ethernet interface unit 50 and relaying the received data by the switch fabric 30. Further to the link connection, the network relay apparatus 10 can handle the failure by switching the switch 51 to relay the data received by the switch fabric 20, if there is no failure in the switch fabric 20.
To obtain redundancy in the node with the configuration of the network relay apparatus 10 as described above, it is also necessary to install the port 80a and the port 80b of the spare system in the data relay unit 60, corresponding to the communication path of the Ethernet interface unit 50 of the spare system in the network relay apparatus 10.
The network relay apparatus 10 breaks the link between the Ethernet interface unit 50 and the port 80a, and prepares for a failure in the network relay apparatus 10, until a failure occurs in the Ethernet interface unit 40 of a working system.
The ports 80a and 80b of the date relay unit 60 well serve the purpose of preparing for the failure in the network relay apparatus 10. However, if the failure does not occur, the ports 80a and 80b will not be used, and may be considered as only being installed. Accordingly, it is preferable that the ports 80a and 80b are used for the other purposes and should be used efficiently.
In other words, the network relay apparatus 10 cannot effectively use the ports 80a and 80b that are installed in the data relay unit 60 to achieve the communication path of the spare system.


A method of power factor correction without using current sensing or a multiplier is disclosed. A generated predictive pulse is used to charge and discharge a power factor correction (PFC) inductor so that the current in the PFC inductor has a similar phase angle as the input AC voltage. Each ON portion of the pulse is used for charging while each OFF portion is used for discharging. As the input voltage increases in phase, the predictive pulse gradually increases in ON time duty and the PFC inductor is charged in increasing amount and discharged in decreasing amount per pulse. When peak is reached the duty ratio is reduced each pulse and the PFC inductor current is reduced along with the input AC voltage source until phase angle reaches 180 degrees and the ON time becomes zero.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply. More specifically, the present invention discloses a method of power factor correction without using current sensing or a multiplier by using a generated predictive pulse to charge and discharge the power factor correction (PFC) inductor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional power factor correction PFC technique is to have the power supply input resemble a resistor. This is achieved by programming the input current in response to the input voltage. With an in phase relationship between the voltage and the current the input will be resistive. This provides a power factor equal to one.
However, distortion or phase displacement in the input can occur if the ratio is not constant. Distortion or phase displacement will negatively affect the power quality.
The conventional method of power factor correction increases the power factor to ensure that the phase angle between the current and the voltage approaches zero. Unfortunately, this technique is not always achievable in practice.
As shown in FIG. 1A, in an alternating current circuit, the current signal 120 will follow the voltage signal 110 if the load is simply resistive. This means that when the maximum voltage is across the load the maximum current flows. When the voltage reverses so, does the current.
However, as shown in FIG. 1B, complex alternating current loads are not always this simplistic. In actuality the current signal 120 does not precisely follow the voltage signal 110 because the load is inductive, capacitive, or a combination which varies over time. As the complexity of the load increases, the phase displacement between the current and the voltage increases. As a result, the power factor is reduced and the power supply is less effective.
Most conventional methods of PFC use a reference to generate a current that is power factor corrected. This reference is usually obtained by multiplying a scaled replica of the rectified line voltage vg times the output of the voltage error amplifier, which sets the current reference amplitude. In this way, the reference signal is naturally synchronized and proportional to the line voltage, which is the condition needed in order to obtain unity power factor.
One conventional PFC method is peak current control. In this method the switch is turned on via a constant clock signal and is turned off when the sum of the positive ramp of the inductor current and an external ramp or compensating ramp reaches the sinusoidal current reference.
Peak current control methods typically operate in continuous current mode CCM for reduced input filter requirement. The diodes used in the diode bridge can also be slow switching diodes because the bridge diodes only need to block at line frequency. However, the freewheel diode in the boost converter needs to be fast switching.
Refer to FIG. 1C, which is a diagram illustrating a current waveform of a conventional average current control method.
Another conventional PFC method is average current control. This method provides a better current waveform as the control is based on the average rather than the peak. The inductor current is sensed and filtered by a current error amplifier whose output drives a pulse width modulation PWM modulator. The inner current loop tends to minimize the error between the average input current and the reference. However, average current control operates on a constant switching frequency and has the same requirements for diodes as the peak current control method.
Refer to FIG. 1D, which is a diagram illustrating a current waveform of a conventional discontinuous current PWM control method.
A third type of conventional PFC is discontinuous current PWM control. In this method the switch is operated at constant on-time and frequency without an inner current loop. With the converter working in discontinuous conduction mode DCM, this control technique allows unity power factor when used with converter topologies like flyback. However, because of the discontinuous current, this method can cause harmonic distortion in the line current.
Therefore, there is need for a reliable and efficient method of power factor correction that is utilized in a power supply or power source system.