A slot machine method, apparatus, and computer readable storage to implement a bonus round for a slot machine game that allows players to use manual dexterity in order to earn prizes in a bonus round. Moving elements can be selected (e.g., shot, touched, etc.) and if successfully selected, the player can earn a bonus award. Bonus awards can accumulate until the bonus round is over. The bonus round can end when either a predefined time is over or the player selects a termination element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present inventive concept relates to a system, method, and computer readable storage, for providing a bonus round to a slot machine game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slot machine games are a billion dollar industry. The current three or five reel machines have been around for a long time and some players may find current game play monotonous.
What is needed is a slot machine with an exciting bonus round that will generate more excitement for players and thus potentially more revenue for the casino/manufacturer as well.

Slot machine bonus game providing awards for manual dexterity


A wireless receiving device comprises a low-density parity check (LDPC) decoding circuit, comprising a circular shifter constructed and arranged to simultaneously process multiple code words of a parity check matrix configured for different wireless communication standards, including performing a cyclic shift operation of the multiple code words to align with one or more requisite check nodes of a decoder and a logic circuit at an output of the circular shifter constructed and arranged for a matrix larger than the parity check matrix and that includes components having excess hardware due to the construction and arrangement for the larger matrix to decode the multiple code words of the smaller parity check matrix for output to the one or more requisite check nodes.

Modern wireless devices typically include a combination of encoders and decoders that employ various error correcting coding techniques to address noise, interference, or the like associated with a communication channel formed between a transmitter and a receiver. For example, a receiver can apply a decoder to determine whether a received signal was corrupted after transmission and to correct any errors detected. Low density parity check ("LDPC") codes are one of a variety of error correcting codes. However, LDPC encoders and decoders often communicate according to a variety of different industry or technical standards, which requires different hardware for each standard that consumes valuable space on computer chips.
In addition, additional silicon area of a chip is required to accommodate the multiple decoders, in particular, the various processors such as check node updating (CNU) processors and variable node updating (VNU) processors, which operate in parallel to satisfy the ever-increasing system throughput requirements. In doing so, data dependency and RAM access collisions can restrict the number of parallel CNU and VNUs in an LDPC decoder. For example, a CNU processes the rows on the parity check matrix, the results of which are processed by a VNU. Here, a VNU cannot process a particular row and column until the CNU has completed its processing of the entire previous row.

Multi-standard low-density parity check decoder


A method useful in the analysis of glycosylated proteins, in which a mixture containing glycosylated proteins and unglycosylated proteins is contacted with a resin that includes a nucleophile bound to a solid support via a linker. The contacting is performed under conditions sufficient to result in removal of the glycosyl group from the glycosylated proteins and to concomitantly result in the deglycosylated proteins covalently bound to the solid support. The deglycosylated proteins bound to the solid support may be rinsed to remove proteins that are not covalently bound to the solid support. The deglycosylated proteins are released from the solid support and may be subjected to further purification and/or analysis.

Sequencing of the human genome, and the genomes of other species, has emphasized the fact that the expression and properties of a protein are often dependent on posttranslational modifications and, thus, cannot be predicted from the DNA sequence. This realization has spurred an interest in proteomics, the study of protein expression within a cell under defined conditions.
Traditionally, proteins from biological samples have been isolated and identified by separating the proteins using 2-D gel electrophoresis followed by identification of the protein using mass spectrometry. However, this method is time consuming and can only detect proteins that are highly abundant in the biological sample. Severe streaking causes deterioration in resolution of the electrophoretic separation when high loading is used in an attempt to visualize less abundant proteins.
Particular difficulties have been encountered in attempts to use 2-D gel electrophoresis/mass spectrometry to study glycosylated proteins, as they are often present in low abundance. Glycosylated proteins are of particular interest in proteomic studies, however, as such proteins often participate in signal transduction and other cellular processes.
Glycosylated proteins and peptides (also referred to herein as glycoproteins and glycopeptides, respectively) are normally isolated from mixtures using different lectin affinity columns. For example, a BS-II (Bandeiraia simplicifolia) column has a high specificity for peptides having O-linked N-acetyl glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) moieties. See Apffel et al. (1996) J. Chromatogr. A 732: 27-42. Geng et al. have reported using lectin affinity column chromatography to recover glycopeptides, followed by isotope tagging of the glycopeptides with generic N-terminal labels. See Geng et al. (2000) J. Chromatogr. A 870: 295-313.
Alternatively, the selective and sequential use of enzymes can cleave sugars, and the before and after results can be analysed, for example, by tandem mass spectrometry. See Geng et al. (2001) J. Chromatogr. B 752: 293-306. O-linked glycopeptides can be deglycosylated using O-glycosidase.
The mapping of O-GlcNAc sites after beta-elimination has been reported by Wells et al. See Wells et al. (2002) Molec. & Cell. Proteomics, 1.10, 791-804. After the beta-elimination reaction, Wells et al. used solution phase Michael-addition chemistry to label glycosylation sites of proteins with either dithiothreitol or biotin pentylamine and analyzed the products using mass spectrometry. The methods described by Wells et al. involved multiple purification and clean-up steps to provide the ultimate product.
While the above methods have greatly facilitated the study of glycoproteins, they have various disadvantages, such as requiring multiple purification or clean-up steps in isolating or labeling a target protein or collection of proteins. Thus, a method that does not suffer from the disadvantages of the above methods is desirable.

Enrichment and tagging of glycosylated proteins


An austenitic, substantially ferrite-free steel alloy and a process for producing components therefrom. This Abstract is not intended to define the invention disclosed in the specification, nor intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an austenitic, substantially ferrite-free steel alloy and the use thereof. The invention also relates to a method for producing austenitic, substantially ferrite-free components, in particular drill rods for oilfield technology.
2. Discussion of Background Information
When sinking drill holes, e.g., in oilfield technology, it is necessary to establish a drill hole path as exactly as possible. This is usually done by determining the position of the drill head with the aid of magnetic field probes in which the earth's magnetic field is utilized for measuring. Parts of drill rigs, in particular drill rods, are therefore made of non-magnetic alloys. In this connection, a relative magnetic permeability μr of less than 1.01 is required today, at least for those parts of drilling strings that are located in the direct vicinity of magnetic field probes.
Austenitic alloys can be substantially ferrite-free, i.e., with a relative magnetic permeability μr of less than about 1.01. Austenitic alloys can thus meet the above requirement and therefore be used in principle for drilling string components.
In order to be suitable for use in the form of drilling string components, in particular for deep-hole drillings, it is further necessary for an austenitic material to exhibit minimal values of certain mechanical properties, in particular of the 0.2% yield strength and the tensile strength, and to be able to withstand the dynamically varying stresses that occur during a drilling operation, in addition to having a high fatigue strength under reversed stresses. Otherwise, e.g., drill rods made of corresponding alloys cannot withstand the high tensile and pressure stresses and torsional stresses that occur during use or can withstand them only for a short time in use; undesirably rapid or premature material failure is the result.
As a rule, austenitic materials for drilling string components are highly alloyed with nitrogen in order to achieve high values of the yield strength and tensile strength of components such as drill rods. However, one requirement to be taken into consideration is a freedom from porosity of the material used, which freedom from porosity can be influenced by the alloy composition and production method.
In this regard, economically favorable alloys naturally are alloys which upon solidification under atmospheric pressure result in pore-free semi-finished products. However, in practice, such austenitic alloys are rather rare because of the high nitrogen content, and in order to achieve a freedom from porosity a solidification under increased pressure is consistently necessary. A melting and solidification under nitrogen pressure can also be necessary in order to incorporate sufficient nitrogen in the solidified material, if otherwise there is an insufficient nitrogen solubility.
Finally, austenitic alloys that are provided for use as components of drilling strings should have a good resistance to different types of corrosion. In particular a high resistance to pitting corrosion and stress corrosion cracking is desirable, above all in chloride-containing media.
According to the prior art, austenitic alloys are known which each meet some of these requirements, namely being substantial ferrite-free, having good mechanical properties, being free of pores and exhibiting a high corrosion resistance.
Articles made of a hot-worked and cold-worked austenitic material with (in % by weight) max. 0.12% of carbon, 0.20% to 1.00% of silicon, 17.5% to 20.0% of manganese, max. 0.05% of phosphorus, max. 0.015% of sulfur, 17.0% to 20.0% of chromium, max. 5% of molybdenum, max. 3.0% of nickel, 0.8% to 1.2% of nitrogen which material is subsequently aged at temperatures of above 300° C. are known from DE 39 40 438 C1. However, as noted by some of the same inventors in DE 196 07 828 A1, these articles have modest fatigue strength under reversed stresses of at best 375 MPa, which fatigue strength is much lower still in an aggressive environment, e.g., in saline solution.
Another austenitic alloy is known from DE 196 07 828 A1, mentioned above. According to this document, articles are proposed for the offshore industry which are made of an austenitic alloy with (in % by weight) 0.1% of carbon, 8% to 15% of manganese, 13% to 18% of chromium, 2.5% to 6% of molybdenum, 0% to 5% of nickel and 0.55% to 1.1% of nitrogen. Such articles are reported to have high mechanical characteristics and a higher fatigue strength under reversed stresses than articles according to DE 39 40 438 C1. However, one disadvantage thereof is a low nitrogen solubility that is attributable to the alloy composition, which is why melting and solidification have to be carried out under pressure, or still more burdensome powder metallurgical production methods have to be used.
An austenitic alloy which results in articles with low magnetic permeability and good mechanical properties with melting at atmospheric pressure is described in AT 407 882 B. Such an alloy has in particular a high 0.2% yield strength, a high tensile strength and a high fatigue strength under reversed stresses. Alloys according to AT 407 882 B are expediently hot worked and subjected to a second forming at temperatures of 350° C. to approx. 600° C. The alloys are suitable for the production of drill rods which also adequately take into account the high demands with respect to static and dynamic loading capacity over long operating periods within the scope of drill use in oilfield technology.
Nevertheless, as was ascertained, material failure can occur because during use drilling string components such as drill rods are subjected to highly corrosive media at high temperatures and additionally are subjected to high mechanical stresses. Consequently, stress corrosion cracking can occur. Since drill rods and other parts of drill installations may also be in contact with corrosive media during down time, pitting corrosion can likewise contribute substantially to material failure. In practice, both types of corrosion cause a shortening of the maximum theoretical working life or operational time of drill rods that one would expect based on the mechanical properties or characteristics.
The known alloys discussed above show that highly nitrogenous austenitic alloys which can be melted under atmospheric pressure to form at least substantially pore-free ingots do not meet the requirements of good mechanical properties and at the same time high resistance to corrosion during tensile and compressive stress and high resistance to pitting corrosion in a satisfactory manner.
It would be advantageous to have available an austenitic steel alloy which can be melted at atmospheric pressure and processed to form pore-free semi-finished products and which at the same time has a high resistance to stress-corrosion cracking and to pitting corrosion with good mechanical properties, in particular with a high 0.2% yield strength, a high tensile strength and a high fatigue strength under reversed stresses. It would also be advantageous to have available an austenitic, substantially ferrite-free alloy.

Component for use in oil field technology made of a material which comprises a corrosion-resistant austenitic steel alloy

Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Technology GmbH


A method for dying-finishing of textile fabrics which contain modified cellulose regenerated fiber capable of dyeing with cationic dyes which contains an insoluble polymer which is obtained by cross-linking a dihydroxydiphenylsulfone-sulfonate condensate with epoxy compounds having at least two epoxy groups in the molecule, and at least one kind of fiber selected from ordinary cellulose regenerated fiber, cotton and wool, the method comprising steps of. dying of the textile fabrics containing modified cellulose regenerated fiber with a dyeing solution containing cationic dyes alone or containing the cationic dyes and dyes other than cationic dyes by one-bath dying method, concentration of the cationic dyes being decided for the modified cellulose regenerated fiber weight and concentration of the dyes other than cationic dyes being decided for the whole weight of the textile fabric, PA1 treating the dyed textile fabric sequentially with an aqueous solution of tannic acid for applying tannic acid 1.5-7% of the weight of the modified cellulose regenerated fiber, and after that PA1 treating it with an aqueous solution of tartar emetic for applying tartar emetic 0.5-2.5% of the weight of the modified cellulose regenerated fiber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for pattern dyeing of the textile fabrics containing specific modified cellulose regenerated fiber to obtain the sprinkly pattern, dungaree pattern, chambray pattern, check pattern, or stripy pattern having a good tone, without causing soiling to the undyed part, deformation, uneven dyeing, and blurring. This method is adequately applied to clothes.
2. Related Art Statement
Cellulose fiber generally exhibits good dyeability for direct dyes and reactive dyes but exhibits little dyeability for cationic dyes. There has long been a strong desire for the application of cationic dyes to cellulose fiber because of their bright color development. Attempts have been made to introduce acidic groups into cellulose fiber to make it dyeable with cationic dyes.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 19207/1982 discloses the introduction of aromatic acyl groups or aromatic sulfonic groups into the surface of cellulose fiber by the aid of aromatic carboxylic acid or aromatic sulfonic acid. The thus modified cellulose fiber is dyeable with cationic dyes in the presence of an anionic surface active agent having a sulfate ester group or a sulfonic acid group. This method, however, needs complicated steps for the direct chemical modification of cellulose molecules of cellulose fiber. In addition, the resulting modified cellulose fiber loses the hand and moisture absorption inherent in cellulose fiber. Futhermore, in the case of dark color dyeing, the introduction of aromatic acyl groups or aromatic sulfonic groups on the surface of cellulose fiber poses a problem with color fastness, especially to light and washing.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 4474/1993 discloses the modification of cellulose regenerated fiber. This modification is accomplished by treating cellulose regenerated fiber or textile fabric which contains 0.1-20 wt % of polystyrene sulfonate having a molecular weight of 1,000-2,000,000, with an aqueous solution of tannic acid before or after dyeing with cationic dyes. The disadvantage of this method is that the dyed product is practically poor in color fastness because tannic acid is simply attached to the surface of fiber.
There has been a strong demand for piece dyeing capable of dyeing textile fabrics in a desired color pattern by one-bath dyeing because the current dyeing method does not meet requirement for a large variety of products in small lots and for quick delivery. At present, shirts and pants having the sprinkly pattern, dungaree pattern, chambray pattern, check pattern, or stripy pattern are produced by weaving or knitting previously dyed yarns and bleached yarns of cotton or ordinary cellulose regenerated fiber.
It is known that textile fabrics of cotton or ordinary cellulose regenerated fiber are superior in hand and moisture absorption to those of synthetic fiber but suffer the disadvantage of being liable to wrinkling and shrinking upon washing.
It has been disclosed (in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 158263/1996) that an insoluble polymer which is obtained by cross-linking a dihydroxy-diphenylsulfone-sulfonate condensate with epoxy compounds having at least two epoxy groups in the molecule, is incorporated into cellulose viscose immediately before spinning. It is possible to obtain modified cellulose regenerated fiber which has a practically sufficient strength without any loss of hand and moisture absorption inherent in cellulose regenerated fiber and which exhibits good dyeability for cationic dyes and good color fastness.
However, this finding did not lead to the one-bath dyeing method for imparting the sprinkly pattern, dungaree pattern, chambray pattern, check pattern, or stripy pattern to textile fabrics containing modified cellulose regenerated fiber, nor did it lead to the pattern dyeing method for producing textile fabrics having good color fastness for cationic dyes, having good wash-and-wear properties, having resistance to shrinkage with washing and resistance to deterioration of strength, and having good hand.

Method for pattern dyeing of textile fabrics containing blends of cellulose regenerated fiber


A storage rack system with tapered storage rack arms and a protective device for covering the exposed outer ends of the storage rack arms. The tapered storage rack arms have tapered lower sides and may have upwardly inclined upper sides. The tapered lower sides allow material to be loaded onto subjacent storage rack arms without scraping or colliding with the lower sides or exposed outer ends of the tapered storage rack arms located above. The protective device utilizes an arcuately shaped member attached to a support member. The support member of the protective device is attached to the exposed outer end of the storage rack arm of the storage rack unit. The protective device prevents collision with the exposed outer ends of the storage rack arms by personnel, customers, equipment and material.

In modern warehouses and the now familiar warehouse style shopping centers, such as do-it-yourself home improvement stores, a variety of open rack material storage systems are used to store such items as lumber, steel, and a variety of palletized goods. In a typical setting, a warehouse may have a network of open rack storage units which often includes rows of storage rack arms which extend outwardly from upright support structures in a cantilever configuration. Typically a number of rows are provided which allow material to be stored vertically to maximize use of warehouse space. Such storage rack units are typically disposed in spaced apart relation to provide aisles there between through which personnel may travel with material handling devices, such as forklifts, and through which customers may travel for viewing and selecting goods.
An operator typically will load material across two or more adjacent storage rack arms by hand or by using a variety of material handling storage devices, such as a forklift. In order to maximize the capacity of a given row of storage rack arms, the operator typically attempts to load a sufficient amount of material onto a row of storage rack arms to fill the space between that row of storage rack arms and the next row of storage rack arms immediately above the row of storage rack arms being loaded.
Loading material onto such storage rack arms requires skill by the operator to avoid striking the outer edges of the outwardly extending storage rack arms disposed in the row of storage rack arm:; immediately above the row of storage rack arms onto which material is being loaded. Likewise, care must be taken to avoid striking storage rack arms when unloading material. Striking the storage rack arms may not only damage the storage rack arms themselves, but may damage the material being loaded or the material handling device, or may cause personal injury to the operator.
Care also must be exercised to avoid personal injury caused by collision by personnel and customers with the outer edges of the outwardly-extending storage rack arms during loading and unloading operations and during shopping activities by customers. Moreover, with the advent of warehouse shopping centers, the exposed outer edges of the storage rack arms diminish the aesthetic appearance of the goods being displayed thereon.
It is known in the art to provide a protector assembly for mounting beneath the outwardly extending storage rack arms and which extends forwardly of the outer edges of the storage rack arms for preventing injury to personnel and equipment resulting from striking the ends of the outwardly extending storage rack arms. However, such systems reduce storage capacity, significantly increase the weight and cost of the storage rack unit and are unsightly to customers. Also, such systems do not reduce the level of precision required by operators in placing a load of material immediately beneath such protector assemblies.

Storage rack system with tapered storage rack arm and storage rack arm protective device


A bracket holds a rigid or flexible tube during the pouring of a concrete slab. The bracket has a base and a housing connected to the base. The tube curves around a first tube support on the housing before passing through an opening in the bottom of the housing. The tube and any members inside the tube are cut off so they end inside the housing and are then covered by a housing cap. The base is fastened to a form for the concrete slab. The height of the housing relative to the base is adjusted to place the cap at the planned surface of the concrete slab. After the concrete slab is formed the cap is removed and the cut members inside the housing are connected to other members or devices.

Various tube forms such as pipes, wires or conduits are embedded in concrete floors during construction. The tubes may be either flexible or rigid, and may themselves contain other elongated members such as wires or pipes. The embedded tubes are typically held by brackets that curve or bend the tubes from a generally horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation, or if rigid, sustain them in position, so the end of the tube extends several inches above the surface of the concrete that is poured over the bracket and tube. Unfortunately, after the concrete hardens, the tube or its contents extending out of the concrete surface are often damaged. The damage can arise during finishing of the concrete, especially by troweling machines, or when workers step on the tube, when wheels roll over the tube or when construction equipment or supplies hit or are placed on the tube. The tube is often a conduit containing various tubes, wires or other elongated members (i.e., conduit contents) that are also damaged along with the conduit by the above actions.
The damaged tube or tube contents inhibit connection to other members above the concrete surface for their intended use. For example, a first embedded tube may itself contain a second tube for carrying water which is typically joined to a tubular coupling or connector by mechanically spreading the coupling or connector diameter and inserting an end of the second tube, and where the coupling or connector is subsequently used to form a suitable connection to join it to an adjacent tubular member. Because of damage to the first or second tubes, however, establishing a proper connection with the adjacent tubular member may require removing part of the concrete surface around the first and second tubes to access undamaged portions of the tubes that were formerly embedded within the removed concrete. The cost and disruption of jack-hammering away enough concrete to establish a good connection is undesirable and may crack or otherwise weaken the poured floor—especially if too much concrete is removed either intentionally or accidentally. There is thus a need for a method and apparatus to help avoid or reduce damage to the ends of a tube and its contents that are embedded in a concrete slab and to make it easier and more reliable to connect to the tube or its contents that pass through such concrete slabs.
One prior support for tubes in pipes s described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/895,958 filed Feb. 13, 2018, the complete contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. This application describes a base fastened to a concrete form, with a housing and cap enclosing the end of the tube and any electrical wires extending through into the housing. The housing is connected to a post that mates with the base so the housing and post are separable from the base and can be positioned vertically relative to the base to adjust for the height of the concrete. But the connection using the post may allow movement of the housing and the strength of the connection before being embedded in hardened concrete depends greatly on the strength of the post and its connection to the base. As the supports may be stepped on during construction or pouring of concrete, damage of the support and misalignment of the support and its housing can occur in some environments. There is thus a need for an improved method and device to cure the deficiencies of the prior art, and to support a tube, wire, cable or conduit in a curved configuration during construction, during concrete pouring and thereafter. There is a further need to adjust the position of an enclosure of the tube, wires, cables etc., relative to the top surface of a concrete surface.
Further, some of the prior art supports use curved supports that allow the tubes held by the curved supports to slip out of the connection to the support and become at least partially unsupported. That makes it difficult to securely connect the tubes to the support and to accurately and/or reliably connect the tubes to the support. There is thus a need for a support that allows an easy and fast connection of such tubes to a support, while also securely and reliably connecting the tube to the support.

Bracket for positioning and protecting pipes in concrete


An input buffer circuit includes a plurality of paths having a different threshold voltage, respectively, a comparator for comparing an output value of the paths, a switch for determining operation of the input buffer circuit based on an output value of the comparator, and a latch coupled to the switch. The input buffer circuit and method for using same maintains a previous output value to improve a noise margin of the input buffer circuit and to improve the stability of input buffer circuit operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input buffer circuit, and more particularly, to an input buffer circuit that improves a noise margin.
2. Background of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, in a related art input buffer circuit there are serially connected a plurality of inverters 1, 2 between an input terminal IN and an output terminal OUT. The input buffer circuit compares a logic threshold voltage Vth and an input voltage and outputs the resultant value. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, when the input voltage IN is lower than that of the logic threshold voltage Vth, the inverter 1 recognizes the input value as a low level and outputs a high level signal. Accordingly, the output signal OUT becomes low level because of the inverter 2 as shown in FIG. 2B.
To the contrary, as shown in FIG. 2A, when the input voltage IN is higher than that of the logic threshold voltage Vth, the inverter 1 recognizes the input value as a high level and outputs a low level signal. Accordingly, the output signal OUT becomes a high level because of the inverter 2 as shown in FIG. 2B.
However, in the related art input buffer circuit, when an input voltage is converted around a logic threshold voltage, the input circuit does not exactly recognize the input voltage as an appropriate high or low level. In this case, the operation of the input circuit becomes unstable and accordingly incurs noise.


A rotary position sensor assembly (10) for detecting the angular position of the rotor (104) of a motor. The assembly (10) includes at least one sensor (12) and a sensor target (14) which is moveable relative to the sensor (12). The sensor target (14) comprises a tubular body (16) with a plurality of integrally-formed radially-extending sections (18). These sections (18) include two radial upper edge portions (24) which are supported by a radially-extending support which is set back from the edge portions (24). Each of the two upper edge portions (24) provide a target for the sensor. A sensor target (14) for use in a position sensor assembly (10), a method of production of the sensor target (14), and an electromechanical actuator which utilises the rotary position sensor assembly (10) are also provided.

This invention relates to position sensor assemblies for use with electromechanical actuators, and to an electromechanical actuator including such as position sensor. It also relates to sensor targets for position sensor assembly and to a method of manufacture of a sensor target.
It is known to provide a position sensor assembly that is able to determine the angular position of an object that is free to rotate around an axis, such as a rotor of a motor. This type of sensor is sometimes called a rotary encoder, and converts the rotary motion into one or more output signals that have values that independently or when combined indicate the angular position of the rotating object.
One application of a position sensor assembly of this kind is to measure the position of a motor rotor for use in control of the position of the motor. Motors come in many forms, but one particular form that has been considered by the applicant is a motor that is integrated into an electromechanical actuator for a hydraulic braking system. Such actuators may be used to convert rotary motion of the motor into a linear motion of a plunger that is connected to a cylinder of a hydraulic braking circuit. A high degree of accurate control of the position of the motor is needed, and in most cases space is limited so that it is difficult to locate a position sensor.
In one arrangement, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,577, an electromagnetic actuator comprises a motor having a stator and a rotor. The rotor is hollow and is provided on an inner surface with a helical groove that forms part of a ball screw linear drive located inside the rotor. The drive comprises an elongate screw having an external helical groove that complements that of the rotor. The two grooves are filled with metal balls and the balls act on the screw to create a linear movement of the screw relative to the stator. The linear movement of the screw is used to control the hydraulic pressure in a hydraulic braking circuit of a vehicle. The rotor is supported by bearings at both ends.
In an alternative arrangement disclosed in the applicant's earlier patent EP0317182 a stepper motor has a screw that is fixed to the protruding end of the rotor of a motor so that as the rotor rotates the screw also rotates. The screw protrudes into a bore formed in an end face of a piston that is in turn inserted in the bore of a cylinder filled with hydraulic fluid. The piston is prevented from rotating in the cylinder, and as the rotor rotates, the piston is moved along the cylinder. This alters the pressure of the fluid in the hydraulic brake circuit connected to the cylinder.
It is an object of the invention to provide a position sensor apparatus suitable for use with an electric motor and in particular with a motor of an electromagnetic actuator of a hydraulic braking system.


A CPU acquires bibliographic information of attached documents listed in an application document and bibliographic information given in each of the attached documents. If the application document or any of the attached document linked to the application document are in the form of image data, the CPU recognizes character information from the image data. Once the CPU determines the levels of agreement between bibliographic information in the application document and the corresponding bibliographic information in the individual attached documents, the CPU reports the bibliographic information in the application document, the corresponding bibliographic information in the attached documents, and the levels of agreement between these bibliographic information.

The widespread availability of communication infrastructure and advancement of information technology (IT) of recent years have led to paperwork becoming increasingly digitized, enabling the easing of workload. For example, the applicant provides a cloud service for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to help reduce paperwork associated with research and development of drugs (such as clinical research and clinical trials). Paperwork associated with drug research and development include the handling of semi-structured documents used in routine procedures, for example checking their contents and printing hard copies as well as posting, filing, and storing (for twenty to thirty years) these documents. By digitizing, not only can printing hard copies be cut down, but the labor involved in sending documents by post, filing, and storing document hard copies can be saved.
Through the provision of a cloud service, the applicant has learnt that the version number or the date of an attached document provided in an application document often does not agree with the version number or the date provided in the actual attached document. In some cases, inconsistencies are found in both the version number and the date. Version numbers and dates represent bibliographic elements that make up bibliographic information. Thus, bibliographic information of attached documents provided in an application document often lack agreement with bibliographic information given in the corresponding attached documents.
Patent Literature 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-076357) provides a teaching of prior art concerning the checking of bibliographic information. The abstract provided in Patent Literature 1 teaches the following: "During the distribution of a design document, the design information monitor 5 compares the version number of design data stored in the reference record database 3 with the version number of the design data that the design document being distributed referred to from the design database 2. If the version numbers are different, the distribution of the design document is suspended and the designer who placed the design document in the workflow is notified of the lack of consistency between the design document and the design data stored in the design database 2."

Documentation determination device and documentation determination program


A laser device with a housing which features a beam outlet window (24), particularly a laser device with an electro-optical mechanism for generating a horizontal and/or vertical light beam, where the housing is at least partially enclosed by a protective covering (10). In order to provide secure protection for the beam outlet window without significantly altering the outer dimensions of the housing when the device is not in use, it is proposed that the protective covering (10) be pivotable about an axis that passes through the housing, and that it feature a first section which, depending on the pivot position of the protective covering, covers or exposes the beam outlet window (24).

The invention pertains to a measuring device with a housing, which has a beam outlet window, particularly a laser device with an electro-optical mechanism for generating a horizontal and/or vertical light beam, where the housing is at least partially enclosed by a protective covering.
Such a measuring device in the form of a construction laser device is known from EP-B-1 376 055 (DE-U-202 09 856). The laser housing is enclosed by a frame-like receptacle, to which the laser device can be adjusted. This has the advantage that the device is particularly protected, while at the same time the housing, and therefore the laser level, can be adjusted as desired with structurally simple measures. The receptacle, which is to be designated a protective covering, is at least partially separated from the device housing.
According to EP-B-1 298 413, in order to be able to position a self-leveling construction laser on a surface in relation to a marker, the housing is enclosed by plate-like supports that pass through the opposing sides of the laser device off-center. Regardless of the position of the supports, the beam outlet window is always uncovered.
CH-C-442 774 relates to an automatic construction leveling device, the housing of which has beam outlet windows that are associated with mirrors which close off the openings if necessary in order to protect them.
For marking positions on a building, US-A-2003/0014872 provides a projection beam with optics that is disposed inside a collapsible housing.


A golf ball includes an inner core and an outer core, both made of highly neutralized acid polymers. The inner core does not substantially include any fillers, while the outer core does include fillers. The outer core may include fillers in an amount of from about 17.% to about 30.7% by weight. The filler may be barium sulfate. The core made from the inner core and the outer core may have an unexpectedly higher coefficient of restitution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to golf balls. Specifically, this disclosure relates to golf balls that include an inner core formed from a highly neutralized acid polymer, and an outer core that is also formed from a highly neutralized acid polymer, where the inner core does not include substantially any fillers but the outer core does include fillers.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern golf balls are known to be made from a variety of polymer materials. The material making up a golf ball may affect the golf ball's performance characteristics in several ways. For example, the selection of the material for use as a golf ball may affect the golf ball's coefficient of restitution, initial velocity off the tee, feel, durability over time, and other properties.
Suitable known materials for use in a golf ball include thermoset materials, such as rubber, styrene butadiene, polybutadiene, isoprene, polyisoprene, and trans-isoprene. Known materials also include thermoplastics, such as ionomer resins, polyamides or polyesters, and thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers. Suitable materials also include polyurea compositions, as well as other materials.
In particular, ionomers are often used for to form the various structural components of known golf balls. For example, ionomers such as Surlyn™ available from E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company are known to be used for cover layers of golf balls. Other types of ionomers, generally referred to as highly neutralized acid polymers, may also be used in golf balls.
Specifically, highly neutralized acid polymers are known to be used as the material for a golf ball core. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,436 to Rajagopalan et al., entitled "Golf Balls Comprising Highly-Neutralized Acid Polymers" and filed Apr. 9, 2002, discloses golf balls having highly neutralized acid polymer cores. The disclosure of this patent is hereby incorporated by reference. Other conventional highly neutralized acid polymers are generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,652,086 to Sullivan et al., entitled "Highly-neutralized Thermoplastic Copolymer Center for Improved Multi-layer Core Golf Ball" and filed Feb. 3, 2006, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In some known golf ball constructions, a multi-piece golf ball may include both an inner core and an outer core. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,006 to Sullivan et al. discloses a golf ball having an inner core and an outer core. In particular, this patent teaches that one layer is made from a relatively soft highly neutralized acid polymer composition, and another layer is made from a relatively hard highly neutralized acid polymer composition. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 7,468,006 to Sullivan et al. is hereby incorporated by reference.
The compositions of an inner core and outer core, or other layers of the golf ball, may be manipulated to achieve desired effects. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,651,415 to Ladd et al. discloses a golf ball with a core, intermediate layer(s), and cover layer(s) having a density gradient in its inner layers. The density of the innermost layer can be lowered with a density reducing filler, while outer layers include a density increasing filler. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 7,651,415 to Ladd et al. is hereby incorporated by reference.
The selection of material(s) in the core, as well as the golf ball's overall construction, may affect the coefficient of restitution ("COR") in particular. As is widely known, the COR of a golf ball is a measure of how efficiently the golf ball transfers kinetic energy. A high COR value means that, when the golf ball is struck by a golf club, the golf ball transfers more of the kinetic energy of a golf club into forward movement by the golf ball. A high COR value may achieve advantageous play characteristics such as an increased initial velocity, or an increased total distance.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a golf ball having an increased COR that may also incorporate the advantages of using highly neutralized acid polymers to form an inner and outer core.

Golf ball having multi-layer core with filler in outer core


There is provided a neurostimulator and method for delivering to a subject a stimulation in response to a predicted or detected condition. The neurostimulator including: a power circuit for providing electrical power to the neurostimulator; a recording array having a plurality of electrodes for recording a plurality of neurophysiological signals corresponding to a plurality of sites of the subject; a signal processor configured to: determine a phase synchrony among the neurophysiological signals; and associate selected phase synchrony calculations with the prediction or detection of a neurological or neurophysiological condition; and one or more stimulators for delivering to the subject a stimulation in response to the predicted or detected condition.

Micro-scale chips can be implanted or otherwise positioned in situ on a subject to measure target analytes. Integrating measurement functions of laboratory techniques into micro-scale implantable/wearable chips provides added convenience and accuracy of measurement. Excessive power draw from components of implantable/wearable micro-scale chips can limit utility given that power available to micro-scale chips is limited by either battery capacity or by the budget of a wireless power link. Further, excessive power consumption in such a chip may cause tissue damage to the surrounding area.
Several chips providing brain-neural interfaces have been reported in the literature; a handful of these are equipped with on-chip signal processing. However, the detection techniques of these chips are generally amplitude-based, resulting in late detection of neurophysiological events. For events such as epileptic seizures, a late detection makes it impossible to abort the seizures using responsive stimulation. Further, the published chips generally use OpAmp-based front-ends that can only tolerate up to a certain amplitude before being saturated. To combat this saturation, the published chips either use AC-coupled inputs which result in large recording channel area, or use DC-coupled front-ends with digitally-assisted feedback systems that can only reject up to ±50 mV, which is not sufficient in many cases.
The published neuro-stimulators are generally only capable of stimulating either a fixed pulse or at best a biphasic semi-programmable pulse train that is time-invariant and not subject-specific. These stimulators either have no programmability or require long stimulation parameter adjustment by a clinician for each new subject as well as frequent tuning over time for the same subject. Commercially-available neurostimulators are either open-loop (frequent periodic stimulation with no detection) or closed-loop with ineffective detection algorithms that result in very high false positive rate and inability to pre-emptively abort seizures due to late detection.

Neurostimulator and method for delivering a stimulation in response to a predicted or detected neurophysiological condition

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO


An apparatus for displaying an object on a structure is provided. Generally, the apparatus contains a holding portion that is fabricated so as to allow the apparatus to hold to the structure. The apparatus also contains a hook that is capable of allowing the object to be set thereon, and a central loop that is capable of allowing a second object to be situated therein.

Typically, each year during the holiday season festive decorations are arranged on structures such as Christmas trees, fireplace mantles, and banisters. Typical methods used for arranging decorations on structures include the use of adhesive tape and fasteners, such as metallic ties.
As an example, when hanging garland from a banister, adhesive tape is typically used to wrap the garland and prevent displacement of the garland. When using adhesive tape, a piece of adhesive tape is cut and the garland is stuck to the banister by wrapping the adhesive tape around the banister with the garland there between. Unfortunately, removal of the adhesive tape and garland is tedious since the adhesive tape sticks to the banister. Therefore, when removing the adhesive tape and garland, the adhesive tape tends to stick to the garland, thereby resulting in a portion of the garland being removed with removal of the adhesive tape.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating garland 10 set upon a banister 12 via use of adhesive tape 14. As shown by FIG. 1, the adhesive tape 14 is wrapped around the banister 12 to hold the garland 10 in place on the banister 12. Of course, less adhesive tape 14 may be utilized so that the adhesive tape 14 is not wrapped entirely around the banister 12. Even if the adhesive tape 14 is not entirely wrapped around the banister 12, removal of the adhesive tape 14 from the banister 12 may cause damage to the garland 10 and/or the banister 12.
Unfortunately, the use of fasteners is quite tedious since fasteners are typically tied or placed every few feet to secure the garland 10 and provide an ornamental design. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating garland 10 set upon a banister 12 via use of ties 20, such as metallic ties or plastic ties. As shown by FIG. 2, the tie 20 is wrapped around the banister 12 to hold the garland 10 in place on the banister 12. As mentioned above, an individual setting the garland 10 is encumbered by having to tie the garland 10 with a tie 20 every few feet. Setting the garland 10 on the banister 12 typically includes placing the garland 10 on the banister 12 in a desired arrangement and wrapping the tie 20 around the banister 12 to hold the garland 10 in place. When removing the garland 10 from the banister 12, the individual is required to find each individual tie 20 and unwrap each tie 20 prior to removal of the garland 10 from the banister 12.
Therefore, present systems for setting decorations on structures are tedious and potentially damaging to the structures on which the decorations are set upon.

Apparatus for displaying ornamental objects


In a frame-switched network, a sender sends frames to a receiver over a possibly unreliable channel. Sent frames include frame identifiers that can be used for a limited automatic repeat request. Upon receipt of a frame, the receiver determines, from the frame identifier, if frames prior to the received frame were lost in transit. If the receiver determines that it missed a prior frame, the receiver sends the sender a negative acknowledgment (nack) for the missed prior frame or frames. Otherwise, if the receiver receives a frame correctly, it does not acknowledge the frame. The frame identifiers can be a set of sequential integers with frames transmitted in sequential frame order. In some embodiments, when a receiver receives a frame out of order, the receiver buffers the out of order frame in a receiver buffer for a receive buffer period until preceding frames are received or a receive buffer period expires. The sender can send a reminder frame to the receiver to allow the receiver to detect a missed prior frame missing from an end of a frame sequence. The channel between the sender and the receiver can be a bidirectional channel over a telephone wire, a cable, a radio frequency link or a power wire. Multiple logical channels might be set up between a given sender-receiver pair, to allow for traffic of varying priorities.

The present invention relates to communications systems in general and, more specifically, to methods and apparatus for reducing data loss on a network with an unreliable physical layer.
Many frame-handling schemes and protocols have been used for data transport. In systems implementing those schemes and protocols, data is "packaged" into frames and sent from a sender to a receiver (or to a plurality of receivers in a broadcast mode). When the receiver receives a frame, it unpackages the data and uses it. In the standardized ISO seven-layer network, a transmitting application moves data to a receiving application by providing the data to a layer below an application layer, which in turn provides it to the next lower layer, until the data reaches the physical layer and is sent to the receiver. At the receiver, the process is reversed, with the data flowing up from the receiver's physical layer to its application layer. The seven layers, from the bottom to top are: 1) the physical layer, 2) the link layer, 3) the network layer, 4) the transport layer, 5) the session layer, 6) the presentation layer, and 7) the application layer. FIG. 1 illustrates this concept.
Much has been written on the benefits of such an arrangement of layers and need not be recounted here. Many standards for data communications between peer layers have also been proposed and are in common use. The most common form of networked communication in a local area network in use today is Ethernet/IEEE-802.3 network protocol communication ("Ethernet" for short). Because of its ubiquity, many Ethernet components are readily available at low cost. For example, single chips are readily available that perform much of the logic needed to implement Ethernet communications. Furthermore, because of their ubiquity, those chips have been widely tested and the technology is mature to the point where its usefulness and limitations are well known, in addition to being readily available.
The Ethernet link layer was designed to be supported by a relatively reliable physical layer below the link layer. Because of this, the Ethernet link layer, in its standard operating mode, does not correct errors in frames nor does it retransmit lost frames. A number of reliable physical layers have been standardized for Ethernet, including ones based on coaxial cables, high quality twisted pair, and optical fibers. These generally deliver very low error rates (e.g. less than 1 errored frame per million frames sent). Consequently, many higher layer protocols have been designed with low error rates in mind and perform poorly at higher rates. For example, streaming video applications require low error rates, as the loss of 1 frame or more in 1,000 frames can cause visible errors. As another example, the Transport Control Protocol (TCP), which is used for virtually all wide area (Internet) reliable transport, performs poorly when more than 1 frame in 20 is lost. If an unreliable physical layer were used with standard Ethernet link layer, higher layer protocols would have more lost frames.
With the growth of home networking, more and more computer users are expecting to be able to connect their home computers and other home appliances together. With the ready availability of inexpensive Ethernet components, the computer users might like to set up an Ethernet network for the interconnected home devices. However, unless the house is wired with standardized media such as CAT 5 twisted pair cables or the like, the network must be set up over existing wiring, which usually means either phone lines or power lines (unless the network is wireless). While phone lines and power lines can easily carry lower bit rate data streams, transmitting data at Ethernet rates is challenging, since neither phone lines nor power lines were designed to carry high bandwidth communications. The typical phone line is a set of twisted pairs terminated in RJ-11 sockets with no matching termination resistors and could be daisy-chained from phone jack to phone jack with many branches further degrading the lines and adding noise onto the lines. Power lines have their own set of problems with the power grid and appliances injecting noise onto the wires.
The unreliability of these lines at high bandwidths results in frame loss or delay. Where the noise or other impairments on a line cause the receiver to make even a single error in decoding a frame's data, that frame is lost. Loss of frames results in loss of data or delay due to retransmission of the lost data. For time sensitive applications, delay may pose a significant problem. For other applications, such as UDP-based multicast of audio/video streams, frequent lost frames are a problem.
Attempts to increase the reliability of an unreliable channel generally fall into two categories: using error-correcting codes (forward error correction) or using a reliable data stream protocol. Error correcting codes require that extra data be sent, using up extra channel capacity for all traffic and extra computational resources in the sender even when there are no errors. Even with strong error correcting codes, frames may still be lost because the frame is too badly damaged or is simply lost because of errors at the beginning or end of the frame. Therefore, extra effort will be expended computing and transporting extra bits that will either not be used, in the case of undamaged frames, or cannot be used, in the case of badly damaged frames.
Reliable data stream protocols, such as HDLC LAPB, provide a reliable data channel over an unreliable medium by having the receiver acknowledge receipt of frames and having the sender retransmit frames that are not acknowledged. A reliable data stream protocol is used to ensure that all frames are successfully received without regard to timeliness, and thus the protocol requires relatively frequent acknowledgments to be sent from the receiver to the sender, as well as flow control to halt the flow of data. These protocols also require explicit connection establishment between pairs of stations (a sender and a receiver) and do not support multicast applications. The above factors require extra bandwidth, may introduce delay and make the network less robust. For these reasons, the use of reliable data stream protocols has limitations as a method to increase reliability.
Therefore, a protocol and supporting methods and apparatus are needed that can reduce effective frame loss rates and delays to the level of standard Ethernet frame loss rates and delays, over a physical layer that is expected to be unreliable, and while doing so at minimal cost in terms of network bandwidth and host resources, and while preserving the connectionless, low-latency, and multicast service normally expected of Ethernet.

Limited automatic repeat request protocol for frame-based communications channels


IC 5 for exclusive use in wiring control has been used in conventional emtion system which is difficult in coping with various types of logic verification and results in high cost. An emulation system according to the invention comprises: a digital input terminal section 8 to which a digital signal is inputted; a plurality of field programmable gate arrays 1 to 4 for verifying logic of the inputted signal; a digital output terminal section 9 for outputting a signal of which logic has been verified; a wiring control selector section 7 which is connected to the digital input terminal section 8 and to the digital output terminal section 9; and an analog universal region 6 which is connected to said wiring control selector section 7; thereby carrying out wiring control between the wiring control selector section and the plurality of field programmable gate arrays, and wiring control among the plurality of field programmable gate arrays.

1. Industrial Field
The present invention relates to an emulation system used for logic verification, algorithm analysis, etc. by actual machine in the designing stage of an application specific integrated circuit (hereinafter referred to as "ASIC") under development.
2. Prior Art
Hitherto, in the development of ASIC, logic verification using any general purpose substrate and logic verification using a substrate prepared for exclusive use of ASIC have been carried out on an ASIC which is same as the one designed in EWS system. With the recent progress of semiconductor technology, it has been certainly possible to develop a large scale ASIC, but it takes a very long time to prepare such a large scale ASIC by manually applying a required wiring to a substrate. In case of the substrate for exclusive use of ASIC, since there is no versatility, it has been necessary to prepare a substrate every time an ASIC is developed.
To cope with the mentioned disadvantages, an emulation system has been introduced and, at present, logic verification in the development of ASIC may be smoothly carried out by actual machine.
FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing essential parts of a conventional emulation system. In the drawing, reference numerals 1 to 4 indicates FPGA(s) for emulation of field programmable gate array each serving as an integrated circuit of the programmable gate array to carry out logic verification (hereinafter referred to as "emulation FPGA(s)"), and numeral 5 indicates an IC for exclusive use in wiring control using a gate array (hereinafter referred to as "wiring control IC").
Operation of this conventional emulation system is hereinafter described.
Every input/output pin of the emulation FPGA 1 to 4 for carrying out logic verification is connected to the wiring control IC 5. For carrying out logic verification, a signal line is selected from among the input/output pins connected to the wiring control IC 5, then logic verification is carried out in the emulation FPGA 1 to 4, and a signal is outputted through the wiring control IC 5.
As mentioned above, the conventional emulation system of above arrangement is essentially provided with the IC 5 for exclusive use in wiring control, resulting in an emulation system of high cost. There is also another type of emulation system in which wiring control is carried out by utilizing a part of the emulation FPGA(s) 1 to 4. This another type of emulation system, however, has a disadvantage of reducing number of gates for carrying out logic verification due to such wiring control to which a part of emulation FPGA(s) is directed.
A further problemincidental to the conventional emulation system exists in that input signal for carrying out logic verification and output signal outputted after carrying out logic verification are all digital signals, and therefore it is necessary to prepare an analog circuit employing a separate substrate for carrying out logic verification on analog signal.

Mitsubishi Electric Micro-Computer Application Software Co., Ltd.


To simplify fuel piping for connecting a fuel distribution pipe and a fuel pump in a throttle body comprising two fuel injection valves, a fuel supply pipe F comprises a first fuel supply pipe 1 having a fuel flow-in passage 1b projected from a first cylindrical portion 1a, a first inserting pipe 1c projected in one side direction X, a fuel flow-in passage 1d, and a first fuel supply passage, a second fuel supply pipe 2 having a second insert pipe 2b projected in the direction X from a second cylindrical portion 2a and fuel supply passage 2c, and a fuel connecting pipe 3 connecting the fuel flow-in passage 1d and the second fuel supply passage 2c, and the first and second inserting pipes 1c, 2b are inserted into first and second inserting holes 6d, 7d opened toward another side direction Y from a second fuel distribution pipe 7 respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel injection device for injecting and supplying fuel toward an internal combustion engine from a fuel injection valve mounted at a throttle body, and more particularly, a structure of a fuel supply pipe in the throttle body comprising two fuel injection valves, in which a first fuel injection valve and a second injection valve are mounted at a single throttle body.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
A conventional structure of a fuel supply pipe in a throttle body comprising two injection valves is indicated in FIG. 5.
A reference numeral 30 is a throttle body in which an intake passage 31 is provided through the inside thereof. The intake passage 31 is opened and closed by a throttle valve 33 mounted at a throttle valve shaft 32. A subthrottle valve 34 is mounted at a subthrottle valve shaft 35 on the upstream side of the throttle valve 33, and opens and closes the intake passage 31.
The throttle valve 33 controls an air content flowing toward the internal combustion engine which is not illustrated in the drawings, and the subthrottle valve 34 controls an air content flowing toward the throttle valve 33.
J1 is a first fuel injection valve for injecting and supplying the fuel into an intake passage 31a on the downstream side of the throttle valve 33, and the first fuel injection valve J1 shares a fuel supply area at the time of low opening operation and intermediate opening operation of the internal combustion engine.
Further, the first fuel injection valve J1 is held between a first inserting hole 30a of the throttle body 30 and a first fuel injection valve inserting hole 36a of a first fuel distribution pipe 36. At this time, a longitudinal axial line J1a—J1a of the first fuel injection valve J1 is arranged to have a crossing angle of A° with respect to a longitudinal axial line Z—Z of the intake passage 31.
Further, the first fuel distribution valve 36 is provided with a first fuel flow-in passage 36b, which is connected with the first fuel injection valve inserting hole 36a.
J2 is a second fuel injection valve for injecting and supplying the fuel into an intake passage 31b on the upstream side of the throttle valve 33, and the second fuel injection valve J2 shares a fuel supply area at the time of intermediate and high opening operation of the internal combustion engine.
Further, the second fuel injection valve J2 is held between a second inserting hole 30b of the throttle body 30 and a second fuel injection valve inserting hole 37a of a second fuel distribution pipe 37. At this time, a longitudinal axial line J2a—J2a of the second fuel injection valve J2 is arranged to have a crossing angle of B° with respect to the longitudinal axial line Z—Z of the intake passage 31.
Further, the second fuel distribution valve 37 is provided with a second fuel flow-in passage 37b, which is connected with the second fuel injection valve inserting hole 37a.
In this case, the crossing angle of A° between the first fuel injection valve J1 and the intake passage 31 is acuter than the crossing angle of B° between the second fuel injection valve J2 and the intake passage 31.
That is, the crossing angle of B° is larger than the crossing angle of A°.
The reason why the crossing angle of A° of the first fuel injection valve J1 is more acute than the crossing angle of B° of the second fuel injection valve J2 as described above, is as follows. In the low and intermediate opening operations of the engine, the fuel injected from the first fuel injection valve J1 is supplied in as parallel state as possible along with the air flow flowing in the intake passage 31.
On the other hand, the reason why the crossing angle of B° of the second fuel injection valve J2 is more obtuse than the crossing angle of A° of the first fuel injection valve J1 is to prevent projecting of the second fuel injection valve J2 in the left direction in the drawings and reduce a whole size of the throttle body. Even when the crossing angle of B° of the second fuel injection valve J2 is an obtuse angle, the air flow flowing in the intake passage 31 is fast especially in the high opening operation of the throttle valve, so that the injected fuel can flow sufficiently along with the air flow.

Structure of fuel supply pipe in throttle body comprising two fuel injection valves


In a measuring apparatus 10, an arm 36 is lowered to insert a measuring sphere 30 into a hole 22A in a workpiece 22, and further the measuring sphere 30 is lowered in the depth direction of the hole 22A. Thereby, the back pressure of compressed air is detected at a plurality of locations by an A/E (air/electricity) converter 18. The detected value is compared with the master reference value by a controller 20 to convert the detected value into the inside diameter of the hole 22A. Thereby, the shape of various holes can be measured.

An air micrometer is available as one of measuring apparatuses for measuring the shape of a hole. For the conventional air micrometer, a measuring head is inserted into a hole, and compressed air is injected from a nozzle of the measuring head toward the wall surface of hole, by which the back pressure of nozzle is detected. Since the back pressure of nozzle depends on a gap between the inside wall of hole and the nozzle, the detected value can be converted into the inside diameter of the hole by comparing the value with the master reference value having been determined in advance. The conventional air micrometer can determine the shape of a hole by continuously measuring the inside diameter while the measuring head is moved in and out with respect to the hole.
However, for the conventional air micrometer, since the measuring head cannot be moved into or out of a bent or curved hole, the shape of a bent or curved hole cannot be measured.
The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and accordingly an object thereof is to provide hole shape measuring method and apparatus capable of measuring the shape of various holes.

Hole shape measuring method and apparatus


A passenger conveyor includes a platform floor having a slanting portion. A length of the slanting portion is not less than a length of each of treadboards of the passenger conveyor, and at least one of the treadboards of an advance side, when passing under the platform floor, is disposed horizontally beneath the slanting portion. With this arrangement, a push cart or the like can be smoothly moved from the treadboard to the platform floor.

This invention relates to a passenger conveyor such as an escalator and an electrically-operated sidewalk (people-mover).
Generally, with respect to a platform portion of a passenger conveyor, a distal end portion of a platform floor is slants downwardly toward treadboards, and a comb for meshing engagement with cleats of the treadboard is mounted on a distal end of the slanting portion (Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 57-18565).
In the above prior art, no consideration is given to the case where the passenger conveyor carries a push cart, and also to the case where elderly or physically-handicapped people use the passenger conveyor. Particularly when the passenger gets off the passenger conveyor, the passenger may hit his toe against the comb to fall, or when the push cart is moved onto the platform floor, the wheels of the push cart may strike against the comb.

Passenger conveyor, platform floor for passenger conveyor, and comb for platform floor


A mail box indicator for noting the arrival of mail. The indicator includes a sliding member that has a latch for connection to the door of the mail box. The latch slides through the use of a resilient cord such as bungee and the cord and latch are contained within an enclosed compartment to avoid exposure to the elements. The latch of the sliding member is connected to the latch of the mail box door when the apparatus is set for use. Opening of the mail box will break this connection and cause the sliding member to travel upward and so indicate that mail has arrived.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of mailbox indicators and in particular to an indicator that provides for a signal device that moves upward when the door of the mail box has been opened. The indicator includes a self contained compartment for the sliding of the indicator.
It is believed that such a sliding system that is contained in a somewhat enclosed compartment will function better than similar prior art mail box indicator systems. The sealed compartment will avoid exposure of the inside members to the elements and so prevent the rain, snow etc. from hampering movement of the slide. Use of a colored indicator will enhance the visual perception that the mail has arrived when the sliding member moves upward. The colored indicator also helps enclose the top of the compartment and so prevent exposure of the elements to the inside members of the compartment.
2. Prior Art
While there are devices that indicate that mail has arrived by moving a signal upon the opening of the mail door none of the prior art is believed to have the structural modifications shown in the applicant's invention described herein. The use of an enclosed compartment in connection with a sliding member is believed to be novel and useful.


Geographic location of a virtual server is predicted by determining a baseline geographic location of a virtual server of a computing environment, where the determining uses triangulation processing and known locations of multiple reference servers of the computing environment. Further, network communication-related data for communications between the multiple reference servers across a network is obtained, and a machine learning model is generated to predict an actual geographic location of the virtual server using, at least in part, the baseline geographic location of the virtual server and the obtained network communication-related data. The machine learning model is used to predict a current geographic location of the virtual server based, at least in part, on current network communication-related data for communications between the virtual server and one or more of the reference servers.

One or more aspects relate, in general, to facilitating processing within a computing environment, and in particular, to improving such processing.
A virtual server is, in one or more embodiments, a web server that shares computer resources with one or more other virtual servers. With a virtual server, the server shares hardware and software resources with other operating systems (OS), rather than being a dedicated server. Virtualization enables the separation of the image layer (operating system and application) from the underlying hardware platform, such that images can be freely moved from one host computer system to another host computer system, even without the need to restart the operating system or applications. Modern hosting providers can even move images between data centers for load balancing reasons. This concept has gained importance with the growing popularity of cloud computing. For a variety of reasons, a customer might need to know the current geographic location of the customer's virtual server(s) and data.


A bicycle front fork packing device including a bottom split taper ring supported within a top cover of a bearing assembly at the top end of the head tube of a bicycle frame, a top split taper ring mounted on the bottom split taper ring around the top coupling tube of a front fork and stopped at a bottom end of the vertical tube of a handlebar stem, and a sealing cover covered on the top cover of the bearing assembly around the bottom end of the vertical tube of the handlebar, the bottom split taper ring being moved up with the bearing assembly and the top split taper ring being forced to expand by the bottom split taper ring and to firmly engage with the inside wall of the sealing cover when the vertical tube of the handlebar stem and the top coupling tube of the front fork are fastened tight.

The present invention relates to a bicycle front fork packing devices adapted to secure the top coupling tube of the front fork of a bicycle to the head tube thereof, and relates more particularly to such a bicycle front fork packing device which seals out rain water when installed.
A regular bicycle front fork packing device is generally comprised of a locating socket mounted around the top coupling tube of the front fork and supported on a ball bearing above the head tube of the bicycle frame, the locating socket having an outer thread and a tapered center through hole, and a split holding-down ring fitted into the tapered center through hole of the outer thread of the locating socket to compress the holding-down ring by forcing an inside annular flange thereof into an outside annular groove on the holding-down ring, causing the holding-down ring and the locating socket to securely fix the front fork to the head tube. Because the design of the outer thread of the locating socket and the annular groove of the holding-down ring complicates the manufacturing process of the bicycle front fork packing device, the manufacturing cost of the bicycle front fork packing device is high. Further, this packing device can not effectively seal out rain water.
The present invention provides a bicycle front fork packing structure which is inexpensive to manufacture, and easy to install. According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the bicycle front fork packing structure comprises a bearing assembly mounted on and partially fitted into the top end of the head tube around the top coupling tube of the front fork, a bottom split taper ring supported within the top cover of the bearing assembly, a top split taper ring mounted on the bottom split taper ring around the top coupling tube of the front fork and stopped at the bottom end of the vertical tube of the handlebar stem, and a sealing cover covered on the top cover of the bearing assembly around the bottom end of the vertical tube of the handlebar. The bottom split taper ring is moved up with the bearing assembly and the top split taper ring is forced to expand by the bottom split taper ring and to firmly engage with the inside wall of the sealing cover when the vertical tube of the handlebar stem and the top coupling tube of the front fork are fastened tight.

Tieh San Tsun, Wei Pu Hsiang, Taichung Hsien


A seat suspension assembly is disclosed for a bicycle having an upper horizontal frame member. A boom member is pivotally attached at its front end adjacent the front end of the bicycle frame member. A support assembly having a seat mounted adjacent its upper end is connected to the boom member at its rear end. A tension member extends between the boom member and the bicycle frame member for applying a tension force when the bicycle hits a bump to urge the boom toward a position generally horizontal to the horizontal frame member.

The present invention relates to an improved bicycle suspension and more particularly to an improved bicycle seat suspension assembly.
In many prior art seat suspensions the force of the bicycle hitting, for example, a bump in the road results in a force being transmitted through the bicycle frame, the seat and to the rider.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,724 attempts to lessen such transmitted force by providing a flexible beam which is connected at one end to the bicycle frame while the other end mounts the bicycle seat. A portion of the beam includes a rigid foam core. However, the road forces, while lessened by the flexible beam are still transmitted through the bicycle seat to the rider.
The present invention relates to an improved bicycle suspension assembly where the mass of the rider on the seat holds the seat relatively constant and the road forces separate the pivotally joined upper horizontal bicycle frame member and a boom member. A torsion member mounted between the frame member and the boom member urges the two members toward a generally horizontal position. The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved bicycle seat suspension assembly where road forces transmitted to the rider through the seat are greatly lessened.


The present invention realizes proper driving circuits in a driving-circuit integral type liquid crystal display device which has an increased screen size. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel and a driving circuit which supplies video signals to video signal lines formed on the liquid crystal display panel. The driving circuit is comprised of a first driving circuit which is formed in a step similar to a step for forming pixels provided to the liquid crystal display panel and a second driving circuit which is connected to the liquid crystal display panel after formation of the liquid crystal display panel. The first driving circuit is constituted of a switching circuit which is capable of distributing an output of the second driving circuit to a plurality of video signal lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to an active-matrix type liquid crystal display device of a thin film transistor (TFT) type or the like which uses polysilicon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among liquid crystal display devices, liquid crystal display devices of a thin film transistor (TFT) type have been popularly used as display devices for personal computers or the like. The liquid crystal display device includes a liquid crystal display panel and driving circuits which drive the liquid crystal display panel. The liquid crystal display panel is configured such that two substrates are arranged to face each other in an opposed manner, a gap is defined between these two substrates, and a liquid crystal composition is filled in the gap. The substrates which form the liquid crystal display panel include pixel electrodes and counter electrodes. When a voltage is applied between the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes, the orientation direction of liquid crystal molecules present between the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes is changed so that the optical transmissivity of the liquid crystal display panel is changed. The display is performed by making use of this change of optical transmissivity. The liquid crystal display devices of a thin film transistor (TFT) type includes a switching element for each pixel electrode and the voltage is supplied to the pixel electrode through the switching element.
With respect to the liquid crystal display device of a thin film transistor (TFT) type, there has been known a vertical field type liquid crystal display device in which the pixel electrodes are formed on one substrate and the counter electrodes are formed on another substrate, and a lateral field type (in-plane type) liquid crystal display device in which the pixel electrodes and the counter electrodes are formed on one substrate.
A voltage supplied to the pixel electrodes is supplied to the vicinity of the pixel electrodes through video signal lines and is connected to the switching elements. Further, signals which turn on or off the switching elements are supplied through scanning signal lines. In the liquid crystal display device of a thin film transistor (TFT) type, a plurality of video signal lines extend in the vertical direction and are arranged in parallel in the lateral direction. Further, a plurality of scanning signal lines are extend in the lateral direction by intersecting the video signal lines and are arranged in parallel in the vertical direction. The pixel electrode is formed in a region which is enclosed by two neighboring video signal lines and two scanning signal lines which cross the video signal lines. The pixel electrodes are arranged in a matrix array so as to form a display region. In the periphery of the display region, driving circuits which supply signals to the video signal lines and the scanning signal lines are formed.
As the switching element, a TFT which uses an amorphous silicon and a TFT which uses polysilicon (hereinafter referred to as "polysilicon TFT") are known. With respect to the liquid crystal display device using the polysilicon TFTs, a liquid crystal display device which forms the driving circuits on the same substrate on which the pixel electrodes are formed (hereinafter referred to as "driving circuit integral type liquid crystal display device") is known.
An image is inputted from the outside (for example, a personal computer) to the liquid crystal display device as video signals. The video signals contain data on the voltages (gray scale voltages) applied to respective pixel electrodes. In general, the video signals are either analogue signals or digital signals. In the driving circuit integral type liquid crystal display device using the polysilicon TFTs, the driving circuits of an analogue signal inputting type have been used conventionally. The driving circuit of an analogue signal inputting type receives the video signals in the form of analogue signals from the outside, sample-holds the analogue signals and, thereafter, outputs the video signals to the video signal lines.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A shoulder support is fabricated of a light weight material. The shoulder support has a generally cylindrical front portion. The shoulder support has a connecting end and a rear portion. In this manner a generally triangular configuration is formed. The shoulder support has a central extent having a top end and a rear end with an intermediate portion. The rear portion has a concaved resting member. The resting member is adapted to rest against the front of a shoulder of a user. A coupling means is rotatable about a vertical axis and is adapted to couple the shoulder support to an end of a rifle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reconfigurable rifle stock system and more particularly pertains to insuring stabilization during firing and compactness during storage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of gun apparatuses of known designs and configurations is known in the prior art. More specifically, gun apparatuses of known designs and configurations previously devised and utilized for the purpose of stabilizing guns through known methods and apparatuses are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,970,642 to Martin discloses an ergonomic adjustable gun stock. U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,997 to Barrett discloses an adjustable comb apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,446 to Gregory discloses a butt plate and comb assembly for shoulder firearms. U.S. Pat. No. 3,442,042 to Gilbert discloses a rotatable and slidable gunstock. Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,316 to Miller discloses an apparatus for mounting and locking a folding stock on a rifle.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe reconfigurable rifle stock system that allows insuring stabilization during firing and compactness during storage.
In this respect, the reconfigurable rifle stock system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of insuring stabilization during firing and compactness during storage.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved reconfigurable rifle stock system which can be used for insuring stabilization during firing and compactness during storage. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


A gate electrode is formed over a semiconductor region with a gate insulating film interposed therebetween. An extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer of a first conductivity type is formed in part of the semiconductor region beside the gate electrode through diffusion of a first dopant. A pocket dopant diffused layer of a second conductivity type is formed under the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer through diffusion of heavy ions. The pocket dopant diffused layer includes a segregated part that has been formed through segregation of the heavy ions.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, which has a superfine structure contributing to ultralarge-scale integration of a semiconductor integrated circuit and can operate at a high speed with its power dissipation reduced, and also relates to a method for fabricating the same.
As ultralarge-scale integration of semiconductor integrated circuits advances, miniaturization of MIS transistors is demanded more and more strongly. For that purpose, an MIS transistor with a shallow junction is now in high demand.
FIG. 5 illustrates a cross-sectional structure for a known MIS transistor with a shallow junction. A gate electrode 3 has been formed over a p-type semiconductor substrate 1 with a gate insulating film 2 interposed therebetween. In respective surface regions of the semiconductor substrate 1 that are located on both sides of the gate electrode 3 (i.e., regions to be source/drain regions), high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5, extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 and pocket dopant diffused layer 7 are formed. The high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 is formed to have a deep junction by diffusing an n-type dopant (e.g., arsenic) thereto. The extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 is formed inside the high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 by diffusing an n-type dopant (e.g., arsenic) thereto and has a junction shallower than that of the high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5. And the pocket dopant diffused layer 7 is located under the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 and has been formed by diffusing a p-type dopant (e.g., boron) thereto. Also, a sidewall 8 has been formed out of an insulating film on the side faces of the gate electrode 3.
Hereinafter, a method for fabricating the known MIS transistor will be described with reference to FIGS. 6(a) through 6(e).
First, as shown in FIG. 6(a), a gate electrode 3 is formed over a p-type semiconductor substrate 1 with a gate insulating film 2 interposed therebetween.
Next, arsenic and boron ions are implanted in this order as n- and p-type dopant ions, respectively, using the gate electrode 3 as a mask, thereby forming n- and p-type-ion implanted layers 6A and 7A, respectively, as shown in FIG. 6(b).
Then, a silicon nitride film is deposited over the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 at a temperature of about 700° C., and then etched anisotropically, thereby forming a sidewall 8 on the side faces of the gate electrode 3 as shown in FIG. 6(c).
Subsequently, arsenic ions are implanted as n-type dopant ions using the gate electrode 2 and sidewall 8 as a mask. Then, annealing is conducted at a temperature between about 900° C. and about 1000° C. for about 10 seconds. In this manner, n-type high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 with a deep junction, n-type extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 located inside the high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 and having a junction shallower than that of the high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 and p-type pocket dopant diffused layer 7 located under the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 are formed as shown in FIG. 6(d).
Thereafter, a cobalt film and a titanium nitride film are deposited in this order to thicknesses of about 10 nm and about 20 nm, respectively, over the semiconductor substrate 1 by a sputtering process. Next, annealing is conducted at a temperature of about 550° C. for about 10 seconds. Then, the titanium nitride film and unreacted parts of the cobalt film are selectively etched away using a mixture of sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide and water. And then annealing is conducted at a temperature of about 800° C. for about 10 seconds. In this manner, a cobalt silicide layer 9 is formed to a thickness of about 30 nm on respective surfaces of the gate electrode 3 and high-concentration dopant diffused layer 5 in a self-aligned manner as shown in FIG. 6(e).
In the known MIS transistor fabrication process, the implant energy of arsenic ions for the n-type-ion implanted layer 6A, which is provided to form the extended highconcentration dopant diffused layer 6, is lowered to make the junction of the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 shallower and thereby increase the driving power of the MIS transistor. Also, to reduce the parasitic resistance of the source/drain regions, the implant dose of the arsenic ions is normally increased in this case.
However, if the n-type-ion implanted layer 6A is formed by implanting the arsenic ions at a high implant dose and with a low implant energy, then transient enhanced diffusion (TED) of arsenic and boron (i.e., dopants for the n-type-ion implanted layer 6A and pocket dopant diffused layer 7) occurs during the lower-temperature (e.g., about 700° C.) annealing process to be carried out after that to form the sidewall 8. In that case, the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 and pocket dopant diffused layer 7 cannot be formed to have respective shallow junctions as designed. It should be noted that the transient enhanced diffusion is a phenomenon in which an introduced dopant unintentionally diffuses at such a rate as exceeding its diffusion coefficient in thermal equilibrium state. This is because point defects, existing in excessive numbers between lattice sites, and the dopant interact with each other to mutually enhance their diffusion.
FIG. 7 illustrates profiles of the dopant ions, which have been introduced to form the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 and pocket dopant diffused layer 7, in the depth direction (i.e., the direction indicated by the line A–A′ in FIG. 5). As can be seen from FIG. 7, the profile of arsenic for the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer 6 as plotted in the depth direction shows that its diffusion is rather deep due to the transient enhanced diffusion effects during the anneal. Boron for the pocket dopant diffused layer 7 has also been much affected by the transient enhanced diffusion so that its profile has lost sharpness. As also can be seen from FIG. 7, according to the known method, it is difficult to form the extended high-concentration dopant diffused layer and pocket dopant diffused layer just as intended, i.e., so that these layers have shallow and sharp dopant profiles and exhibit excellent short channel effects.

Method for fabricating a semiconductor device having a pocket dopant diffused layer

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.